Tempo:
JSKARDO TAKEN
CHAP. VIII
217
been increased, and it was now sought' to extend cor- I84i. responding advantages to the land trade of the Punjab. Twenty years before, Mr. Moorcroft had, of his own instance, made proposals to Ranjit Singh for the admission of British goods into the Lahore dominions at fixed rates of duty.^ In 1832, Col. Wade again brought forward the subject of a general tariff for the Punjab, and the Maharaja appeared to be not indisposed to meet the views of his allies; but he really disliked to make arrangements of which he did not fully see the scope and tendency, and he thus tried to evade even a settlement of the river tolls, by saying that the prosperity of Amritsar would be affected, and by recurring to that ever ready objection, the slaughter of kine. Cows, he said, might be used as food by those who traversed the Punjab under a British guarantee,^ In 1840, when Afghanistan was garrisoned by Indian troops, the Governor-General pressed the subject a second time on the notice of the Lahore authorities; and after a delay of more than a year, Sher Singh assented to a reduced scale and to a fixed rate of duty, and also to levy the whole sum at one place; but the charges still appeared excessive, and the British viceroy lamented the ignorance displayed by the Sikh Maharaja, and the disregard which he evinced for the true interests of his subjects."
The Lahore Government was convulsed at its zorawar centre, but its spirit of progress and aggrandizement singh, the was active on the frontiers, where not hemmed in by deputy of British armies. The deputies in Kashmir had always ^'^®. Ja"^"!" been jealous of the usurpations of Gulab Singh in ^^ardo^'^^^ Tibet, but Mian Singh, a rude soldier, the governor of i84o. the valley during the commotions at Lahore, was alarmed into concessions by the powerful and ambitious Rajas of Jammu, and he left Iskardo, and the whole valley of the Upper Indus, a free field for the aggressions of their lieutenants.'* Ahmad Shah, the reigning 1
Moorcroft, Travels,
-
Cf.
Col.
i.
103.
Wade to Government, 7th Nov. and 5th Dec.
1832. These objections are often urged in India, not because they are felt to be reasonable in themselves, or applicable to the point at issue, but because religion is always a strong ground to stand on, and because it is the only thing which the EngUsh do not virtually profess a desire to change. Religion is thus brought in upon all occasions of apprehension or
disinclination. 3
1841,
Government to Mr. Clerk, 4th May 1840 and 11th and Mr. Clerk to Government of 20th Sept. 1841.
Oct.
* Sir Claude Wade (Narrative of Services, p. 33, note) represents the Jammu family to have obtained from the British
CHAP. VIII
217
been increased, and it was now sought' to extend cor- I84i. responding advantages to the land trade of the Punjab. Twenty years before, Mr. Moorcroft had, of his own instance, made proposals to Ranjit Singh for the admission of British goods into the Lahore dominions at fixed rates of duty.^ In 1832, Col. Wade again brought forward the subject of a general tariff for the Punjab, and the Maharaja appeared to be not indisposed to meet the views of his allies; but he really disliked to make arrangements of which he did not fully see the scope and tendency, and he thus tried to evade even a settlement of the river tolls, by saying that the prosperity of Amritsar would be affected, and by recurring to that ever ready objection, the slaughter of kine. Cows, he said, might be used as food by those who traversed the Punjab under a British guarantee,^ In 1840, when Afghanistan was garrisoned by Indian troops, the Governor-General pressed the subject a second time on the notice of the Lahore authorities; and after a delay of more than a year, Sher Singh assented to a reduced scale and to a fixed rate of duty, and also to levy the whole sum at one place; but the charges still appeared excessive, and the British viceroy lamented the ignorance displayed by the Sikh Maharaja, and the disregard which he evinced for the true interests of his subjects."
The Lahore Government was convulsed at its zorawar centre, but its spirit of progress and aggrandizement singh, the was active on the frontiers, where not hemmed in by deputy of British armies. The deputies in Kashmir had always ^'^®. Ja"^"!" been jealous of the usurpations of Gulab Singh in ^^ardo^'^^^ Tibet, but Mian Singh, a rude soldier, the governor of i84o. the valley during the commotions at Lahore, was alarmed into concessions by the powerful and ambitious Rajas of Jammu, and he left Iskardo, and the whole valley of the Upper Indus, a free field for the aggressions of their lieutenants.'* Ahmad Shah, the reigning 1
Moorcroft, Travels,
-
Cf.
Col.
i.
103.
Wade to Government, 7th Nov. and 5th Dec.
1832. These objections are often urged in India, not because they are felt to be reasonable in themselves, or applicable to the point at issue, but because religion is always a strong ground to stand on, and because it is the only thing which the EngUsh do not virtually profess a desire to change. Religion is thus brought in upon all occasions of apprehension or
disinclination. 3
1841,
Government to Mr. Clerk, 4th May 1840 and 11th and Mr. Clerk to Government of 20th Sept. 1841.
Oct.
* Sir Claude Wade (Narrative of Services, p. 33, note) represents the Jammu family to have obtained from the British
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