Captain Burnes, the English envoy sent in 1831 with a letter and presents from King William IV. of England, writes of his reception, when he suddenly found himself in the arms and tight embrace of a "diminutive old-looking man," the great Maharaja Ranjit Singh: "I never quitted the presence of a native of India with such impressions as I left this man. Without education and without a guide he conducts all the affairs of his kingdom with surpassing energy and vigour, and yet he wields his power with a consideration quite unprecedented in an Indian prince." In conversation with him he praised the bravery of his Sikhs, to whom he acknowledged he owed his success; that they were devoted to their duty and free from prejudice; would in emergencies carry eight days' provisions on their backs, dig wells when water was scarce, build forts and construct roads. Jacquemont, the distinguished French oriental traveller, who visited him at Lahore, wrote of him as an extraordinary man, a
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