ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>BURNES SIR ALEXANDER (1805-1841)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="BURNES,SIR,ALEXANDER,Person,Person"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279BURNES, SIR ALEXANDER (1805-1841), British traveller, explorer and writer, was born on 16 May 1805. He joined Bombay infantry in 1821. Upon his arrival in India, he devoted himself to the study of the local languages and was, while still an ensign, selected for the post of regimental interpreter. In 1829, he was transferred to the political department as assistant to the Political Resident in Cutch. In 1831, he was sent on a complimentary mission to Lahore, in charge of English horses, including a team of cart-horses, four mares and a stallion, sent by the King of England as presents for Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh. The real object of Burnes' mission was to survey the River Indus and assess the power and resources of the Am&#299rs of Sindh, then being threatened by the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257. He submitted to his government a geographical and military memoir on Sindh, which formed the basis of Lord William Bentinck's Indus navigation scheme, a political device cloaked under commercial garb which ultimately barred the advance of Sikh power towards Shik&#257rpur and Sindh.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Burnes records in his writings observations on the Sikh State. He describes Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh's habits and government; his passion for horses, his troops and horse artillery, his dancing girls and the Koh-i-N&#363r diamond. In January 1832, Burnes visited Lahore again to solicit from the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 facilities of travel through the Punjab to Afghanistan, Central Asia and Balkh. and Bokh&#257r&#257. "I never quitted, " he writes, "the presence of a native of Asia with such impressions as I left this man : without education and without a guide, he conducts the affairs of his kingdom with surprising energy and vigour, and yet wields his power with a moderation quite unprecedented in an eastern prince. "</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 1837, Burnes was sent on another "commercial" mission to K&#257bul. His real aim was to wean Am&#299r Dost Muhammad <u>Kh</u>&#257n from Russian influence and to offer British mediation in his quarrel with the Sikhs. Dost Muhammad <u>Kh</u>&#257n readily agreed to Burnes' commercial proposals, but he pointed out that conflict with the Sikhs was an impediment to his participation in the Indus navigation scheme and suggested that the British government should assist him in recovering Pesh&#257war from Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh. Burnes gave him some vague assurance on behalf of the British, but Lord Auckland, the governor-general, was not much impressed by his suggestion of placating the Am&#299r of Afghanistan at the cost of the Sikhs. Alexander Burnes was recalled from K&#257bul, but was sent to the Af<u>gh</u>&#257n capital again in 1841 to succeed Sir William Macnaghten as British minister and envoy. He was assassinated by the Af<u>gh</u>&#257n insurgents on 2 November 1841.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Masson, Charles, <i>Narrative of Various Journeys in Baluchistan, Afghanistan and the Punjab</i>. London 1842<BR> <li class="C1"> Shahamat Ali, <i>The Sikhs and Afghans</i>. Patiala, 1970<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Sard&#257r Si&#7749gh Bh&#257&#7789&#299&#257<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>