Tempo:
CHAP. VII
REJOICINGS INTERRUPTED
195
He would inquire about the details of European war- i837. fare, and he sought for copies of the pay regulations of the Indian army and of the English practice of courts martial, and bestowed dresses of honour on the translator of these complicated and inapplicable systems;^ while, to further satisfy himself, he would ask what punishment had been found an efficient substitute for flogging.- He sent a lad, the relation of one of his chiefs, to learn English at the Ludhiana school, in order, he said, that the youth might aid him in his correspondence with the British Government, which Lord William Bentinck had wished to carry on in the English tongue instead of in Persian; ^ and he sent a number of young men to learn something of medicine at the Ludhiana dispensary, which had been set on foot by the political agent but in order, the Maharaja said, that they might be useful in his battalions.* In such ways, half-serious, half-idle, did Ranjit Singh endeavour to ingratiate himself with the representatives of a power he could not withstand and never wholly
—
trusted.
Ranjit Singh's rejoicings over the marriage and The British youthful promise of -his grandson were rudely inter- scheme of rupted by the success of the Afghans at Jamrud, and °p^"^8 ^^^ the death of his able leader Hari Singh^ as has been coinmerce already related. The old man was moved to tears ends in the when he heard of the fate of the only genuine Sikh project of chief of his creation; ° and he had scarcely vindicated restoring his supremacy on the frontier, by filling the valley of ^^^ shuja. Peshawar with troops, when the English interfered to embitter the short remainder of his life, and to set bounds to his ambition on the west, as they had already done on the east and south. The commercial policy of 1 Major Hough, who has added to the reputation of the Indian army by his useful publications, put the practice of courts martial into a Sikh dress for Ranjit Singh. (Govern-
ment to Capt. Wade, 21st November 1834.) 2 Government to Capt. Wade, 18th May 1835, intimating that solitary confinement had been found a good substitute. 3 Capt. Wade to Government, 11th April. 1835. Some of the princes of India, all of whom are ever pron suspicion, were not without a belief that, by writing in English, it was designed to keep them in ignorance of the real views and declarations of their paramount. 4 Some of these young men were employed with the force raised at Peshawar, in 1839, to enable Prince Taimur to
march through Khaibar.
5 Capt. Wade to Government, 13th May 1837, quoting Dr. Wood, a surgeon in the British army, temporarily deputed to attend on Ranjit Singh, and who was with his camp at Rohtis on this occasion.
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REJOICINGS INTERRUPTED
195
He would inquire about the details of European war- i837. fare, and he sought for copies of the pay regulations of the Indian army and of the English practice of courts martial, and bestowed dresses of honour on the translator of these complicated and inapplicable systems;^ while, to further satisfy himself, he would ask what punishment had been found an efficient substitute for flogging.- He sent a lad, the relation of one of his chiefs, to learn English at the Ludhiana school, in order, he said, that the youth might aid him in his correspondence with the British Government, which Lord William Bentinck had wished to carry on in the English tongue instead of in Persian; ^ and he sent a number of young men to learn something of medicine at the Ludhiana dispensary, which had been set on foot by the political agent but in order, the Maharaja said, that they might be useful in his battalions.* In such ways, half-serious, half-idle, did Ranjit Singh endeavour to ingratiate himself with the representatives of a power he could not withstand and never wholly
—
trusted.
Ranjit Singh's rejoicings over the marriage and The British youthful promise of -his grandson were rudely inter- scheme of rupted by the success of the Afghans at Jamrud, and °p^"^8 ^^^ the death of his able leader Hari Singh^ as has been coinmerce already related. The old man was moved to tears ends in the when he heard of the fate of the only genuine Sikh project of chief of his creation; ° and he had scarcely vindicated restoring his supremacy on the frontier, by filling the valley of ^^^ shuja. Peshawar with troops, when the English interfered to embitter the short remainder of his life, and to set bounds to his ambition on the west, as they had already done on the east and south. The commercial policy of 1 Major Hough, who has added to the reputation of the Indian army by his useful publications, put the practice of courts martial into a Sikh dress for Ranjit Singh. (Govern-
ment to Capt. Wade, 21st November 1834.) 2 Government to Capt. Wade, 18th May 1835, intimating that solitary confinement had been found a good substitute. 3 Capt. Wade to Government, 11th April. 1835. Some of the princes of India, all of whom are ever pron suspicion, were not without a belief that, by writing in English, it was designed to keep them in ignorance of the real views and declarations of their paramount. 4 Some of these young men were employed with the force raised at Peshawar, in 1839, to enable Prince Taimur to
march through Khaibar.
5 Capt. Wade to Government, 13th May 1837, quoting Dr. Wood, a surgeon in the British army, temporarily deputed to attend on Ranjit Singh, and who was with his camp at Rohtis on this occasion.
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