Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
21S 1841.
chap, viii
chief of Balti, had differences with his family, and hej proposed to pass over his eldest son in favour of a' younger one, in fixing the succession. The natural heir would seem to have endeavoured to interest the Governor of Kashmir, and also Zorawar Singh, the Jammu deputy in Ladakh, in his favour; and in 1840 he fled from his father and sought refuge and assistance in Leh. Gnodup Tanzin, the puppet king of Ladakh, had conceived the idea of throwing off the Jammu authority; he had been trying to engage Ahmad Shah in the design; the absence of Zorawar Singh was opportune, and he allowed a party of Iskardo troops to march on Leh, and to carry off the son of their chief. Zorawar Singh made this inroad a pretext for war; and before the middle of the year 1840 he was master of Little Tibet, but he left the chiefship in the family of Ahmad Shah, on the payment of a petty yearly tribute of seven thousand rupees, so barren are the rocky principalities between Imaus and Emodus.^ Zorawar Singh was emboldened by his own success and by the dissensions at Lahore; he claimed fealty from Gilgit; he was understood to be desirous of quarrelling with the Chinese governor of Yarkand; and he renewed antiquated claims of Ladakh supremacy, and demanded the surrender of Rohtak, Garo; and the lakes of Mansarowar, from the priestly king of Lhasa.-
Zorawar Singh seizes
Garo from iiie
Chinese
of Lassa, 1841.
Zorawar Singh was desirous of acquiring territory, and he was also intent on monopolizing the trade in shawl-wool, a considerable branch of which followed the Sutlej and more eastern roads to Ludhiana and Delhi, and added nothing to the treasury of Jammu.'* In May and June 1841, he occupied the valleys of the Indus and Sutlej, to the sources of those rivers, and he fixed a garrison close to the frontiers of Nepal, and on the opposite side of the snowy range from the British post of Almora. The petty Rajput princes between the Kali and Sutlej suffered in their revenues, and trembled for their territories; the Nepal GovernGovernment an assurance that the hmitations put upon Sikh conquests to the west and south by the Tripartite Treaty of 1839 would not be held to apply to the north or Tibetan side, in which ^direction, it was said, the Sikhs were free to act as they might please. Cf. Mr. Clerk to Government, 26th April, 9th and 31st May. and 29th Aug. 1840. - Cf. Mr. Clerk to Government, 25th Aug. and 8th Oct. 1
1840, ^
and 2nd Jan. and 5th June 1841. Cf. Mr. Clerk to Government, 5th and 22nd June.
1841.
21S 1841.
chap, viii
chief of Balti, had differences with his family, and hej proposed to pass over his eldest son in favour of a' younger one, in fixing the succession. The natural heir would seem to have endeavoured to interest the Governor of Kashmir, and also Zorawar Singh, the Jammu deputy in Ladakh, in his favour; and in 1840 he fled from his father and sought refuge and assistance in Leh. Gnodup Tanzin, the puppet king of Ladakh, had conceived the idea of throwing off the Jammu authority; he had been trying to engage Ahmad Shah in the design; the absence of Zorawar Singh was opportune, and he allowed a party of Iskardo troops to march on Leh, and to carry off the son of their chief. Zorawar Singh made this inroad a pretext for war; and before the middle of the year 1840 he was master of Little Tibet, but he left the chiefship in the family of Ahmad Shah, on the payment of a petty yearly tribute of seven thousand rupees, so barren are the rocky principalities between Imaus and Emodus.^ Zorawar Singh was emboldened by his own success and by the dissensions at Lahore; he claimed fealty from Gilgit; he was understood to be desirous of quarrelling with the Chinese governor of Yarkand; and he renewed antiquated claims of Ladakh supremacy, and demanded the surrender of Rohtak, Garo; and the lakes of Mansarowar, from the priestly king of Lhasa.-
Zorawar Singh seizes
Garo from iiie
Chinese
of Lassa, 1841.
Zorawar Singh was desirous of acquiring territory, and he was also intent on monopolizing the trade in shawl-wool, a considerable branch of which followed the Sutlej and more eastern roads to Ludhiana and Delhi, and added nothing to the treasury of Jammu.'* In May and June 1841, he occupied the valleys of the Indus and Sutlej, to the sources of those rivers, and he fixed a garrison close to the frontiers of Nepal, and on the opposite side of the snowy range from the British post of Almora. The petty Rajput princes between the Kali and Sutlej suffered in their revenues, and trembled for their territories; the Nepal GovernGovernment an assurance that the hmitations put upon Sikh conquests to the west and south by the Tripartite Treaty of 1839 would not be held to apply to the north or Tibetan side, in which ^direction, it was said, the Sikhs were free to act as they might please. Cf. Mr. Clerk to Government, 26th April, 9th and 31st May. and 29th Aug. 1840. - Cf. Mr. Clerk to Government, 25th Aug. and 8th Oct. 1
1840, ^
and 2nd Jan. and 5th June 1841. Cf. Mr. Clerk to Government, 5th and 22nd June.
1841.
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