1 138 APPENDIX.
2 in assodatioii with a shrewd Brahmin minister named
3 Nundee Rao, was appointed regent for the heir-apparent,
4 Kurum Singh, who was then a minor, and affairs were con-
5 ducted in his name. Maharajah Saheb Singh died a few
6 months after his deposal.
7 To return to Lahore — Nothing materially altered our
8 relations with the ruler of that state between 1810 and
9 1830.
10 On the 17th of July 1831, Lieutenant Bumes reached
11 Lahore, where his arrival with a present from the king of
12 England, and with the letter of Lord EUenborough which
13 accompanied it, was a source of great pride and rejoicing to
14 Runjeet Singh. The attention he paid to Lieutenant Bumes
15 was very marked, and he invited Captain Wade over firom
16 Loodianah, to assist at the ceremonial of reception. From
17 Lahore, Lieutenant Bumes proceeded to Simla, to render to
18 the Govemor-Greneral an account of his mission, and to
19 lay before his Lordship the valuable information obtained
20 during it.
21 The very favourable disposition in which the ruler of
22 Lahore seemed to be at this juncture, encouraged Lord
23 William Bentinck to hope, that a proposition for a personal
24 meeting between -himself and Runjeet Singh would be likely
25 to be well received. He accordingly instructed Captain
26 Wade, when at Lahore, on the occasion above related, to
27 sound the chiers confidential advisers on the subject As
28 anticipated by his Lordship, the ruler of Lahore showed
29 great desire for the meeting, but some difficulty was at first
30 started in respect to the etiquette of a previous return mis-
31 sion, Runjeet Singh having paid his Lordship the com-
32 pliment of sending one, similarly composed to that which
33 waited on Lord Amherst. The mission had been received
34 by Lord William Bentinck in April, soon after his arrival
35 at Simla : its members were the Dewn Mootee Ram, son of
36 Mphkum Chund, Huree Singh Sirdar, and the secretary,
37 Fukeer Uzeezooddeen. They had been treated by the
38 Govemor-Greneral with much distinction, and a return