1 132 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 ture to the tripartite treaty, and the next day Mr.
3 Macnaghten set out for Ludhiana to obtain that of
4 Shah Shuja. This proved a much easier task ;
5 though at the last moment even Shuja's buoyant
6 optimism showed signs of shrinkage, and he began
7 to wonder whether his position as the puppet of the
8 British would be altogether enviable, or likely to
9 enhance his dignity in the eyes of his subjects. On
10 July 19, Macnaghten reached Simla, and before the
11 end of the month the treaty had been ratified by the
12 Governor-General.
13 It is unnecessary for us to follow in detail the
14 course of the first Afghan war. For our present
15 purpose, a bare outline of the events connected with
16 the restoration and the downfall of Shah Shuja will
17 suffice. In December 1838, a British force set out
18 to escort the happy exile through Sind into southern
19 Afghanistan, while Timur, Shah Shuja's son, accom-
20 panied by a powerful Sikh contingent, left Firozpur
21 for Kabul, by way of Peshawar and the Khaibar Pass.
22 Kandahar was taken the following April, and Ghazni
23 three months later. On the fall of the latter strong-
24 hold, Dost Muhammad, with 2,000 horsemen and his
25 son Akbar Khan, fled across the Hindu Kush, and in
26 August, Shah Shuja-ul-mulk, " glittering with jewels,
27 and mounted on a white charger, was escorted in
28 triumph by British officers and troops through the
29 streets of Kabul into the castled palace of the Bala
30 Hissar." Macnaghten was knighted, the commander
31 of the British troops, Sir John Keane, received a
32 peerage, and the Governor- General was created Earl
33 of Auckland.