Lord Auckland, at that time, asked permission of the Maharajah to allow the British troops a free passage through his territory, on their march to Cabool, and to join his forces with those of the British, in this expedition into Affghanistan. This Runjeet Singh acceded to rather as a matter of necessity than of choice. Though only 59 years of age, his mind and body had become so enfeebled by his irregular course of life, that during his interview with Lord Auckland, his speech was already affected. He sank rapidly, from dropsy, and was finally carried off by paralysis. When the death of their great chief was approaching, the army was drawn up in a line, and the dying monarch was carried in a litter through the ranks. As the procession moved slowly along, his favourite minister, Dhean Singh, appeared, to receive orders from his expiring sovereign, and informed the army, that Runjeet Singh declared, that his son, Khurruk Singh, should succeed him, and that Dhean Singh should be the chief minister of the kingdom. The soldiers received this intimation in perfect silence. According to the custom of the Sikhs, the body of the Maharajah was burnt the next day, before the gates of his palace, in the presence of all the great persons of the kingdom, and of the assembled troops. Four of his wives, two of whom were only sixteen years of age, and endowed with great personal beauty, together with seven of his concubines, committed themselves to the flames with his body. Dhean Singh also made a semblance of profound grief, and appeared to be in the act of throwing himself upon the funeral pile, but was forcibly withheld by the family of the Maharajah. The death of Runjeet Singh occasioned considerable difficulty in the management of the auxiliary Sikhs under Colonel Wade, the British agent at Lahore who was now with the British army, and had the command of the column that was to force the Khyber pass. This glorious achievement he accomplished from the 22nd to the 27th of June, when he made himself master of Ali Musjid. He was nobly sustained in this campaign by the troops of Runjeet Singh; and on the 6th of August, the army of the Indus entered Cabool and forced Dost Mahomed to fly to Bokhara. Runjeet Singh was succeeded by his son Khurruk Singh, then thirty-seven years of age. He was a weak and luxurious prince, and was totally incompetent to the affairs of government. Soon after his accession he was seized with a severe illness, of which he died, in November, 1840. His son, Nou Nehal Singh, and the chief minister, Dhean were supposed to have been not altogether innocent of his death.