Tempo:
CHAP. IX
WAR WITH THE ENGLISH
251
member
their kingdom by bestowing Peshawar on 1845-6. Shah Shuja, when Ranjit Singh's line was held to end with the death of his grandson; but it would be idle to suppose the Lahore government ignorant of a scheme which was discussed in official correspondence, and doubtless in private society, or of the previous desire of Sir Alexander Burnes to bestow the same tract on Dost Muhammad Khan, which was equally a topic of conversation; and the Sikh authorities must at least have had a lively remembrance of the English offer of 1843, to march upon their capital, and to 'disperse their army. Again, in 1844 and 1845, the facts were whispered abroad and treasured up, that the English were preparing boats at Bombay to make bridges across the Sutlej, that troops in Sind were being equipped for a march on Multan,i and that the various garrisons of the north-west provinces were being gradually reinforced, while some of them were being abundantly supplied with the munitions of war as well as with troops.None of these things were communicated to the Sikh government, but they were nevertheless believed by aH parties, and they were ^
The collection of ordnance and ammunition
for the
at Sakhar equipment of a force of five thousand men, to march
towards Multan, was a subject of ordinary oflficial correspondence in 1844-5, as, for instance, between the Military Board in Calcutta and the officers of departments under its control. Sir Charles Napier assures the author that he, although Governor, had no cognizance of the correspondence in question, and made no preparations for equipping a force for service. Of the fact of the correspondence the author has no doubt; but the expression 'collection of the means', used in the first edition, can be held to imply too much, and the meaning is now correctly restored to 'ordnance and ammunition'^ The object of the Supreme Government was not to march on Multan at that time, but to be prepared^ at least in part, for future hostilities. - The details of the preparations made by Lords Ellenborough and Hardinge may be seen in an article on the administration of the latter nobleman, in the Calcutta Review, which is understood to be the production of Lieut. -Col. Lawrence. Up to 1838 the troops on the frontier amounted to one regiment at Sabathu, and two at Ludhiana, with six pieces of artillery, equalling in all little more than 2,500 men. Lord Auckland made the total about 8,000, by increasing Ludhiana and creating Ferozepore. Lord Ellenborough formed further new stations at Ambala, Kasauli, and Simla, and placed in all about 14,000 men and 48 field guns oh the frontier. Lord Hardinge increased the aggregate force to about 32,000 men, with 68 field guns, besides having 10,000 men with artillery at Meerut. After 1843, however, the station of Karnal, on the Jumna, was abandoned, which in 1838 and preceding years may have mustered about 4,000 men. •
WAR WITH THE ENGLISH
251
member
their kingdom by bestowing Peshawar on 1845-6. Shah Shuja, when Ranjit Singh's line was held to end with the death of his grandson; but it would be idle to suppose the Lahore government ignorant of a scheme which was discussed in official correspondence, and doubtless in private society, or of the previous desire of Sir Alexander Burnes to bestow the same tract on Dost Muhammad Khan, which was equally a topic of conversation; and the Sikh authorities must at least have had a lively remembrance of the English offer of 1843, to march upon their capital, and to 'disperse their army. Again, in 1844 and 1845, the facts were whispered abroad and treasured up, that the English were preparing boats at Bombay to make bridges across the Sutlej, that troops in Sind were being equipped for a march on Multan,i and that the various garrisons of the north-west provinces were being gradually reinforced, while some of them were being abundantly supplied with the munitions of war as well as with troops.None of these things were communicated to the Sikh government, but they were nevertheless believed by aH parties, and they were ^
The collection of ordnance and ammunition
for the
at Sakhar equipment of a force of five thousand men, to march
towards Multan, was a subject of ordinary oflficial correspondence in 1844-5, as, for instance, between the Military Board in Calcutta and the officers of departments under its control. Sir Charles Napier assures the author that he, although Governor, had no cognizance of the correspondence in question, and made no preparations for equipping a force for service. Of the fact of the correspondence the author has no doubt; but the expression 'collection of the means', used in the first edition, can be held to imply too much, and the meaning is now correctly restored to 'ordnance and ammunition'^ The object of the Supreme Government was not to march on Multan at that time, but to be prepared^ at least in part, for future hostilities. - The details of the preparations made by Lords Ellenborough and Hardinge may be seen in an article on the administration of the latter nobleman, in the Calcutta Review, which is understood to be the production of Lieut. -Col. Lawrence. Up to 1838 the troops on the frontier amounted to one regiment at Sabathu, and two at Ludhiana, with six pieces of artillery, equalling in all little more than 2,500 men. Lord Auckland made the total about 8,000, by increasing Ludhiana and creating Ferozepore. Lord Ellenborough formed further new stations at Ambala, Kasauli, and Simla, and placed in all about 14,000 men and 48 field guns oh the frontier. Lord Hardinge increased the aggregate force to about 32,000 men, with 68 field guns, besides having 10,000 men with artillery at Meerut. After 1843, however, the station of Karnal, on the Jumna, was abandoned, which in 1838 and preceding years may have mustered about 4,000 men. •
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