Ranjit Singh had wrested from him the province of
Peshawar in times of difficulty, and, as we would not assist him in
recovering it from our old ally, he thought himself justified in
seeking the aid of those who would, the Russians and Persians, who
were eager to avail themselves of so fair an occasion to establish a
footing in India. Such a footing would have been manifestly
incompatible with the peace and security of our dominions in India,
and we were obliged, in self-defence, to give to Shuja the aid which
he had so often before in vain solicited, to enable him to recover
the throne of his very limited number of legal ancestors.[7]
Notes:
1. Nadir Shah was crowned king of Persia in 1736, entered the Panjab,
at the close of 1738, and occupied Delhi in March 1739. Having
perpetrated an awful massacre of the inhabitants, he retired after a
stay of fifty-eight days, He was assassinated in May 1747.
2. Meshed, properly Mashhad ('the place of martyrdom'), is the chief
city of Khurasan. Nadir Shah was killed while encamped there.
3. Ahmad Shah defeated the Marathas in the third great battle of
Panipat, A.
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