1 118 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 On two historic occasions, Ranjit Singh met the
3 Governor-General of British India. The first meeting
4 was with Lord William Bentinck in 1831, and took
5 place at Rupar, on the banks of the Sutlej. The two
6 courts, encamped on either side of the river, vied
7 with each other in the splendour of their equipment ;
8 and such was the pomp displayed in the exchange of
9 visits of state that the occasion has come to be
10 spoken of as the Indian " Field of the Cloth of Gold."
11 The second meeting was in 1838, when Lord Auck-
12 land visited the Sikh ruler in his own capital, and
13 the proceedings were no less magnificent. A full and
14 interesting account of this pageant is to be found in
15 the diary of the Honourable W. Osborne, Lord Auck-
16 land's military secretary. Osborne also accompanied
17 Sir William Macnaghten on his mission to Lahore
18 in connection with the Tripartite Treaty, to be
19 referred to later on, and his diary gives the following
20 graphic account of the manner in which the Maharaja
21 received his visitors at his garden palace : —
22 " Dismounting from our elephants at the gateway,
23 and entering the garden on foot, we were conducted
24 by the two Sikh chiefs up a broad gravel walk about
25 three hundred yards in length, lined on each side by
26 Ranjit's Ghorcharhas, handsomely dressed in chain
27 armour and quilted jackets, made of a rich silk of
28 either a bright yellow, green, or scarlet colour, giving
29 the walk from the gateway to the palace the ap-
30 pearance of a border of gaudy and gigantic tulips.
31 On reaching the verandah, Ranjit's Minister, Dhian
32 Singh, came forward and conducted us round the
33 palace to the hall of audience, at the entrance of