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CHAP. VIII
AMBITION OF THE JAMMU RAJAS
221
When, in April 1841, the troops in Kashmir put i84i their governor to death. Raja Gulab Singh was sent to The ambirestore order, and to place the authority of the new tious views manager, Ghulam Muhi-ud-din, on a firm footing. The °f ^^^ J^'"mutinous regiments were overpowered by numbers J^^^^^g^^^he and punished with severity, and it was soon apparent indus. that Gulab Singh had made the governor whom he was aiding a creature of his own, and had become the virtual master of the valley.^ Neither the minister nor his brother had ever been thought well pleased with English interference in the affairs of the Punjab; they were at the time in suspicious communication with Nepal; and they were held to be bound to Sultan Muhammad Khan, whose real or presumed intrigues with the enemies of Shah Shuja had occasioned his removal to Lahore a year previously.- General Avitabile had become more and more urgent to be relieved from his dangerous post at Peshawar; the influence of Dhian Singh was predominant in Sikh counsels; and the -English opinion of the ability of the Jammu Rajas and of the excellence of their troops was well known, and induced a belief in partiality to be presumed.^ It
was therefore proposed by Sher Singh to bestow the Afghan province on the restorer of order in Kashmir. But this arrangement would have placed the hills from ciash with, the neighbourhood of Kangra to the Kaibar Pass in the policy the hands of men averse to the English and hostile to of the ^nghsh. Shah Shuja; and as their troublesome ambition had been checked in Tibet, so it was resolved that their more dangerous establishment on the Kabul river should be prevented. In the autumn of 1841, therefore, the engagements with the Lama of Lassa, drawn out on his part in yellow, and on the part of the Chinese in red ink, and each impressed with the open hand of the negotiators dipped in either colour instead of a regular seal or written signature. The 'Panja'. or hand, seems in general vse in Asia as typical of a covenant, and it is, moreover, a common emblem on the standards of the eastern Afghans. 1 Cf. Mr. Clerk to Government, 13th May, 9th July, and 3rd Sept. 1840.
- For this presumed understanding between the Jammu Rajas and the Barakzais of Peshawar, Mr. Clerk's letter of the 8th Oct. 1840, may be referred to among others. Mr. Clerk leant upon and perhaps much overrated Dhian Singh's capacity, 'his military talents, and aptitude for business.' (Mr. Clerk to Government, 7th Nov. 1840, and 13th May 1841.) General Ventura, for instance, considered the Raja to possess a very slender understanding, and in such a matter he may be held to be a fair as well as a competent judge, although personally averse to the minister. •"•
AMBITION OF THE JAMMU RAJAS
221
When, in April 1841, the troops in Kashmir put i84i their governor to death. Raja Gulab Singh was sent to The ambirestore order, and to place the authority of the new tious views manager, Ghulam Muhi-ud-din, on a firm footing. The °f ^^^ J^'"mutinous regiments were overpowered by numbers J^^^^^g^^^he and punished with severity, and it was soon apparent indus. that Gulab Singh had made the governor whom he was aiding a creature of his own, and had become the virtual master of the valley.^ Neither the minister nor his brother had ever been thought well pleased with English interference in the affairs of the Punjab; they were at the time in suspicious communication with Nepal; and they were held to be bound to Sultan Muhammad Khan, whose real or presumed intrigues with the enemies of Shah Shuja had occasioned his removal to Lahore a year previously.- General Avitabile had become more and more urgent to be relieved from his dangerous post at Peshawar; the influence of Dhian Singh was predominant in Sikh counsels; and the -English opinion of the ability of the Jammu Rajas and of the excellence of their troops was well known, and induced a belief in partiality to be presumed.^ It
was therefore proposed by Sher Singh to bestow the Afghan province on the restorer of order in Kashmir. But this arrangement would have placed the hills from ciash with, the neighbourhood of Kangra to the Kaibar Pass in the policy the hands of men averse to the English and hostile to of the ^nghsh. Shah Shuja; and as their troublesome ambition had been checked in Tibet, so it was resolved that their more dangerous establishment on the Kabul river should be prevented. In the autumn of 1841, therefore, the engagements with the Lama of Lassa, drawn out on his part in yellow, and on the part of the Chinese in red ink, and each impressed with the open hand of the negotiators dipped in either colour instead of a regular seal or written signature. The 'Panja'. or hand, seems in general vse in Asia as typical of a covenant, and it is, moreover, a common emblem on the standards of the eastern Afghans. 1 Cf. Mr. Clerk to Government, 13th May, 9th July, and 3rd Sept. 1840.
- For this presumed understanding between the Jammu Rajas and the Barakzais of Peshawar, Mr. Clerk's letter of the 8th Oct. 1840, may be referred to among others. Mr. Clerk leant upon and perhaps much overrated Dhian Singh's capacity, 'his military talents, and aptitude for business.' (Mr. Clerk to Government, 7th Nov. 1840, and 13th May 1841.) General Ventura, for instance, considered the Raja to possess a very slender understanding, and in such a matter he may be held to be a fair as well as a competent judge, although personally averse to the minister. •"•
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