ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>POONA RESIDENCY CORRESPONDENCE</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="POONA,RESIDENCY,CORRESPONDENCE"> <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">&#65279POONA RESIDENCY CORRESPONDENCE is an English rendering, in several volumes, of selections from the Persian records of the Peshw&#257 Daftar, a collection of British official records ofthe Resident's transactions concerning the cis-Sutlej region. Prior to the establishment of the Delhi Residency (1803) and the Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 Agency (1809), the British Resident with the Scindia at Fatehga&#7771h was responsible for all such political transactions. The correspondence contains information, sometimes trivial, even conjectural, about the Sikhs before and after 1800. Mr Collins, who was the British Resident with the Scindia those days, drew the attention of the Governor-General of India to the fact that the Sukkarchakk&#299&#257 chief (Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh) had received a <i><u>Kh</u>ill'at</i> from K&#257bul and that Sikh-Af<u>gh</u>&#257n coalition against the British was in the offing (12 September 1797, No. 21A). However, Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh's communication to the Governor-General stating that the Af<u>gh</u>&#257n ruler was desirous of reconciliation with the British and that he was as inimical to the Sikh State as he was to the British State proves that Collins' report was unreliable. There is detailed information about Wellesley's mission to the M&#257lv&#257 and M&#257jh&#257 Sikh chiefs under M&#299r Y&#363suf 'Al&#299 <u>Kh</u>&#257n. Collins furnished the British emissary with letters of introduction to Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh and other principal Sikh chiefs (24 June 1800, No. 7). Y&#363suf ' Al&#299 <u>Kh</u>&#257n was entrusted with the task of weaning away the Sikhs from the Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns and impressing upon Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh and the M&#257lv&#257 Sard&#257rs the superiority of the British arms and the fact that, if they permitted the Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns to enter Hindust&#257n, the Sikh country would be utterly ruined (24 June 1800, No. 17B-Enclosures). Very interesting details of the reception of the British mission at the Court of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh are furnished.</p> </ol><p class="CONT">B. J. Hasrat<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>