Tempo:
HAP. VIII
COL. WADE AND MR. CLERK
205
md a supply of stores and ammunition had to be col- i84o. ected for transmission to Kabul on Col. Wade's 'esumption of his duties at Ludhiana, towards, the end It was desired to send a regiment of Sepoys 3f 1839. as a guard with the convoy, but the Sikh minister and leir apoarent urged that such could not be done under ;he terms of the agreement concluded a few months previously. Their aversion to their old English representative was mixed up with the general objection to making their country a common highway for foreign armies, and they thus ventured to offer obstructions to the speedy equipment of the isolated British forces, mainly with the view of discrediting Col. Wade. The Governor-General was justly impressed with the necessity of keeping open the straight road to Kabul, and he yielded to the wishes of the Lahore factions and removed his agent, but not before Dhian Singh and the prince had despaired of effecting their object, and had allowed the convoy bristling with bayonets, to proceed on its way.^ In the beginning of April 1840, Mr. Clerk succeeded to the charge of the British relations with the Punjab; and, independent of his general qualifications, he was the person best suited to the requirements of the time; for the verj' reason which rendered the agency of Col. Wade invaluable when it was desired to preserve Sind and to invade Afghanistan, now rendered that of Mr. Clerk equally beneficial to the indeterminate policy of the English in India. Both officers had the confidence of the de facto Sikh rulers of the time, and all their recommendations wer? held to be given in a spirit of goodwill towards the Government of the Punjab, as well as in obedience to
the dictates of British interests.
The Sikh prince and the English viceroy had thus English neeach accomplished the objects of the moment. On the gotiations one hand, the Maharaja was overawed by the vigour ^^°^t trade. and success of his aspiring son, and, on the other, the Punjab was freely opened to the passage of British troops, in support of a policy which connected the west of Europe with the south of Asia by an unbroken chain of alliances. The attention of each party was next turned to other matters of near concern, and the English recurred to their favourite scheme of navigating the Indus, and of forming an entrepot on that river, 1 The Governor-General was about lo proceed to Calcutta, which made him the more desirous of having an agent on the frontier, at once approved of by himself and agreeable to the
Sikhs,
i.e. to the influential parties for the time being Lahore. (Government to Col. Wade, 29th Jan. 1840.)
at
COL. WADE AND MR. CLERK
205
md a supply of stores and ammunition had to be col- i84o. ected for transmission to Kabul on Col. Wade's 'esumption of his duties at Ludhiana, towards, the end It was desired to send a regiment of Sepoys 3f 1839. as a guard with the convoy, but the Sikh minister and leir apoarent urged that such could not be done under ;he terms of the agreement concluded a few months previously. Their aversion to their old English representative was mixed up with the general objection to making their country a common highway for foreign armies, and they thus ventured to offer obstructions to the speedy equipment of the isolated British forces, mainly with the view of discrediting Col. Wade. The Governor-General was justly impressed with the necessity of keeping open the straight road to Kabul, and he yielded to the wishes of the Lahore factions and removed his agent, but not before Dhian Singh and the prince had despaired of effecting their object, and had allowed the convoy bristling with bayonets, to proceed on its way.^ In the beginning of April 1840, Mr. Clerk succeeded to the charge of the British relations with the Punjab; and, independent of his general qualifications, he was the person best suited to the requirements of the time; for the verj' reason which rendered the agency of Col. Wade invaluable when it was desired to preserve Sind and to invade Afghanistan, now rendered that of Mr. Clerk equally beneficial to the indeterminate policy of the English in India. Both officers had the confidence of the de facto Sikh rulers of the time, and all their recommendations wer? held to be given in a spirit of goodwill towards the Government of the Punjab, as well as in obedience to
the dictates of British interests.
The Sikh prince and the English viceroy had thus English neeach accomplished the objects of the moment. On the gotiations one hand, the Maharaja was overawed by the vigour ^^°^t trade. and success of his aspiring son, and, on the other, the Punjab was freely opened to the passage of British troops, in support of a policy which connected the west of Europe with the south of Asia by an unbroken chain of alliances. The attention of each party was next turned to other matters of near concern, and the English recurred to their favourite scheme of navigating the Indus, and of forming an entrepot on that river, 1 The Governor-General was about lo proceed to Calcutta, which made him the more desirous of having an agent on the frontier, at once approved of by himself and agreeable to the
Sikhs,
i.e. to the influential parties for the time being Lahore. (Government to Col. Wade, 29th Jan. 1840.)
at
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