ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>HARLAN JOSIAH (1799-1871)</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="HARLAN,JOSIAH,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">&#65279HARLAN, JOSIAH (1799-1871), adventurer and medical practitioner who served the British, the Sikhs and the Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns, was born in Philadelphia, U.S.A., in 1799. At the age of 24, he arrived at Calcutta and was employed as an assistant surgeon by the East India Company and attached to the British army then operating in Burma (1824) . After the war, Harlan proceeded towards the Punjab to try his luck there. At Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257, he met Sh&#257h Shuj&#257, the deposed king of K&#257bul, then a pensionary of the English, who engaged him as his secret agent and despatched him to K&#257bul to stir up a revolt in Afghanistan. He did not meet with much success in K&#257bul and came to Lahore to take up service under Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh on an oath of fealty in the name of Christ. He also promised, in writing, to serve the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 honestly all his life and fight against his enemies. He also volunteered to keep supplying news about the British as well as about the Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns. Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh appointed him governor, on a salary of Rs 1, 000 per month, of the provinces of Jasro&#7789&#257 and N&#363rpur, two districts then newly annexed to Lahore. In 1832, he became governor of Gujr&#257t.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 1835, during the Pesh&#257war campaign, Harlan and Faq&#299r 'Az&#299z ud-D&#299n were Sikh envoys sent to Dost Muhammad's camp for negotiations, a duty they performed at great personal risk. Dost Muhammad had both of them interned with the intention of bargaining for Pesh&#257war. But their lives were saved by Sult&#257n Muhammad <u>Kh</u>&#257n, Dost Muhammad's disgruntled brother.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Harlan, however, could not retain Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh's favour for long. According to Sohan L&#257l S&#363r&#299, the court historian, Harlan was summoned to attend on Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh when he had an attack of paralysis of the tongue. Harlan, it is said, mentioned a fee of a lakh of rupees which was readily agreed to, but when Harlan insisted on money being paid beforehand, the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 was beside himself with rage and gave orders that he be stripped and put across the Sutlej, which was done.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In order "to avenge myself and cause him [Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh] to tremble in the midst of his magnificence, " Harlan entered, towards the end of 1836, the service of Dost Muhammad who gave him command of his regular troops. It is said that it was at Harlan's instigation that Dost Muhammad had declared war against Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh culminating in the battle of Jamr&#363d in April 1837. Although the celebrated General Har&#299 Si&#7749gh Nalv&#257 was killed in this battle, the Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns had to retreat without any gain.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 1839, when the army of the Indus approached K&#257bul, Harlan was deputed to negotiate with the mission headed by Sir Alexander Burnes. As the British forces reached K&#257bul, Dost Muhammad fled to the mounta&#299ns, and Harlan quickly shifted over to the British. Thereafter, he left Afghanistan for India from where he proceeded to Philadelphia.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Back home, Harlan settled down to a quiet life. He published an account of his adventures, <i>A Memoir of India and Afghanistan</i>. He died in San Francisco in October 1871.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Grey, C., <i>European Adventurers of Northern India</i> [Reprint]. Patiala, 1970<BR> <li class="C1"> S&#363r&#299, Sohan L&#257l, <i>'Umd&#257t-ut-Tw&#257r&#299<u>kh</u></i>, Lahore, 1885-89<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">Gulcharan Si&#7749gh <br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>