Tempo:
200 1839.
but chafed in mind,
and enfeebled in_ health.
Death of Ran] it Singh, 27*h June 1839.
The political condition of the Sikhs, as modified by the genius of
Ran jit
Singh.
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
CHAP. VII
fairly in collision with the English, and he became indifferent about the careful fulfilment of the engagements into which he had entered. Shahzada Taimur marched from Lahore in January 1839, accompanied by Col. Wade as the British representative; but it was with difficulty the stipulated auxiliary force was got together at Peshawar, and although a considerable army at last encamped in the valley, the commander, the Maharaja's grandson, thwarted the negotiations of Prince Taimur and the English agent, by endeavouring to gain friends for Lahore rather than for the pro-
claimed sovereign of the Afghans.^ Ranjit Singh's health continued to decline. He heard of the fall of Kandahar in April, and the delay at that place may have served to cheer his vexed spirit with the hope that the English would yet be baffled; but he died on the 27th of June, at the age of fifty-nine, before the capture of Ghazni and the occupation of Kabul, and the forcing of the Khaibar Pass with the aid of his own troops, placed the seal of success on a campaign in which he was an unwilling sharer. Ranjit Singh found the Punjab a waning confederacy, a prey to the factions of its chiefs, pressed by the
Afghans and the Marathas, and ready to submit to English supremacy. He consolidated .the numerous petty states into a kingdom, he wrested from Kabul the fairest of its provinces, and he gave the potent English no cause for interference. He found the military array of his country a mass of horsemen, brave indeed, but ignorant of war as an art, and he left it mustering fifty thousand disciplined soldiers, fifty thousand well-armed yeomanry and militia, and more than three hundred pieces of cannon for the field. His rule was founded on the feelings of a people, but it involved the joint action of the necessary principles of military order and territorial extension; and when a limit had been set to Sikh dominion, and his own commanding genius was no more, the vital spirit of his race began to consume itself in domestic contentions.'' 1 See, among other letters, Capt. Wade to Government, 18th Aug. 1839. For some interesting details regarding Capt. Wade's military proceedings, see Lieut. Barr's published Journal; and for the diplomatic history, so to speak, of his mission, see Munshi Shahamat Ali, Sikhs and Afghans. 2 In 1831, Capt. Murray estimated the Sikh revenue at little more than 2| millions sterling, and the army at 82,000 men, including 15,000 regular infantry and 376 guns. (Murray, Ranjit Singh, by Prinsep, pp. 185, 186.) In the same year Capt. Burnes (Travels, i. 289, 291) gives the revenue at 2^ millions, and the army at 75,000, including 25,000 regular
but chafed in mind,
and enfeebled in_ health.
Death of Ran] it Singh, 27*h June 1839.
The political condition of the Sikhs, as modified by the genius of
Ran jit
Singh.
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
CHAP. VII
fairly in collision with the English, and he became indifferent about the careful fulfilment of the engagements into which he had entered. Shahzada Taimur marched from Lahore in January 1839, accompanied by Col. Wade as the British representative; but it was with difficulty the stipulated auxiliary force was got together at Peshawar, and although a considerable army at last encamped in the valley, the commander, the Maharaja's grandson, thwarted the negotiations of Prince Taimur and the English agent, by endeavouring to gain friends for Lahore rather than for the pro-
claimed sovereign of the Afghans.^ Ranjit Singh's health continued to decline. He heard of the fall of Kandahar in April, and the delay at that place may have served to cheer his vexed spirit with the hope that the English would yet be baffled; but he died on the 27th of June, at the age of fifty-nine, before the capture of Ghazni and the occupation of Kabul, and the forcing of the Khaibar Pass with the aid of his own troops, placed the seal of success on a campaign in which he was an unwilling sharer. Ranjit Singh found the Punjab a waning confederacy, a prey to the factions of its chiefs, pressed by the
Afghans and the Marathas, and ready to submit to English supremacy. He consolidated .the numerous petty states into a kingdom, he wrested from Kabul the fairest of its provinces, and he gave the potent English no cause for interference. He found the military array of his country a mass of horsemen, brave indeed, but ignorant of war as an art, and he left it mustering fifty thousand disciplined soldiers, fifty thousand well-armed yeomanry and militia, and more than three hundred pieces of cannon for the field. His rule was founded on the feelings of a people, but it involved the joint action of the necessary principles of military order and territorial extension; and when a limit had been set to Sikh dominion, and his own commanding genius was no more, the vital spirit of his race began to consume itself in domestic contentions.'' 1 See, among other letters, Capt. Wade to Government, 18th Aug. 1839. For some interesting details regarding Capt. Wade's military proceedings, see Lieut. Barr's published Journal; and for the diplomatic history, so to speak, of his mission, see Munshi Shahamat Ali, Sikhs and Afghans. 2 In 1831, Capt. Murray estimated the Sikh revenue at little more than 2| millions sterling, and the army at 82,000 men, including 15,000 regular infantry and 376 guns. (Murray, Ranjit Singh, by Prinsep, pp. 185, 186.) In the same year Capt. Burnes (Travels, i. 289, 291) gives the revenue at 2^ millions, and the army at 75,000, including 25,000 regular
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