Tempo:
CHAP. IX
WAR WITH THE ENGLISH
287
dependent Punjab; nor was it perhaps thought that the 1845-6. overtures of the Raja after the battle of Aliwal had foreboded the total rout of the Sikh army were all made in the hope of assuring to himself a virtual viceroyalty over the whole dominion of Lahore. Gulab Singh had been appointed Wazir by the chiefs and people when danger pressed them, and he had been formally treated with as minister bj' the English when the Governor-General thought time was short, and his own resources distant; - but when Lai Singh saw that Lai singh. ^
—
—
after four pitched battles the English viceroy was content or compelled to leave Lahore a dependent ally, he rejoiced that his undiminished influence with the
mother of the Maharaja would soon enable him to supplant the obnoxious chief of Jammu. The base sycophant thus congratulated himself on the approaching success of all his treasons, which had simply for their object his own personal aggrandizement at the expense
Gulab Singh felt his inability of Sikh independence. to support himself without the countenance of the English; but they had offered no assurance of support and he suddenly perplexed the GovernorGeneral by asking what he was to get for all he had done to bring about a speedy peace, and to render the army an easy prey. It was remembered that at Kasur he had said the way to carry on a war with the English was to leave the sturdy infantry entrenched and watched, and to sweep the open country with cavalry to
as minister,
This had been the aim of the family for many years; from the time that Dhian Singh exerted himself to remove Col. Wade, in the hope that a British representative might be appointed who would be well disposed towards himself, which he thought Col. Wade was not. Mr. Clerk was aware of both schemes of the Lahore minister, although the greater prominence was naturally given to the project of rendering the Jammu chiefs independent, owing to the aversion with which they were regarded after Nau Nihal Singh's death. Had the English said that they desired to see Gulab Singh remain minister, and had they been careless whether Lai Singh lived or was put to death, it is highly probable that a fair and vigorous government would have been formed, and also that the occupation of Lahore, and perhaps the second treaty of 1846, need never have taken place. - Cf. the Governor-General's letter to the Secret Committee, of the 3rd and 19th Feb. 1846. In both of these dispatches Lord Hardinge indicates that he intended to do something for Gulab Singh, but he does not state that he designed to make him independent of Lahore, nor does he say that he told the Sikh chiefs the arrangements then on foot might include the separation of Jammu; and the truth would seem to be, that in the first joj of success the scheme of conciliating the powerful Raja remained in a manner forgotten. 1
or, at least,
WAR WITH THE ENGLISH
287
dependent Punjab; nor was it perhaps thought that the 1845-6. overtures of the Raja after the battle of Aliwal had foreboded the total rout of the Sikh army were all made in the hope of assuring to himself a virtual viceroyalty over the whole dominion of Lahore. Gulab Singh had been appointed Wazir by the chiefs and people when danger pressed them, and he had been formally treated with as minister bj' the English when the Governor-General thought time was short, and his own resources distant; - but when Lai Singh saw that Lai singh. ^
—
—
after four pitched battles the English viceroy was content or compelled to leave Lahore a dependent ally, he rejoiced that his undiminished influence with the
mother of the Maharaja would soon enable him to supplant the obnoxious chief of Jammu. The base sycophant thus congratulated himself on the approaching success of all his treasons, which had simply for their object his own personal aggrandizement at the expense
Gulab Singh felt his inability of Sikh independence. to support himself without the countenance of the English; but they had offered no assurance of support and he suddenly perplexed the GovernorGeneral by asking what he was to get for all he had done to bring about a speedy peace, and to render the army an easy prey. It was remembered that at Kasur he had said the way to carry on a war with the English was to leave the sturdy infantry entrenched and watched, and to sweep the open country with cavalry to
as minister,
This had been the aim of the family for many years; from the time that Dhian Singh exerted himself to remove Col. Wade, in the hope that a British representative might be appointed who would be well disposed towards himself, which he thought Col. Wade was not. Mr. Clerk was aware of both schemes of the Lahore minister, although the greater prominence was naturally given to the project of rendering the Jammu chiefs independent, owing to the aversion with which they were regarded after Nau Nihal Singh's death. Had the English said that they desired to see Gulab Singh remain minister, and had they been careless whether Lai Singh lived or was put to death, it is highly probable that a fair and vigorous government would have been formed, and also that the occupation of Lahore, and perhaps the second treaty of 1846, need never have taken place. - Cf. the Governor-General's letter to the Secret Committee, of the 3rd and 19th Feb. 1846. In both of these dispatches Lord Hardinge indicates that he intended to do something for Gulab Singh, but he does not state that he designed to make him independent of Lahore, nor does he say that he told the Sikh chiefs the arrangements then on foot might include the separation of Jammu; and the truth would seem to be, that in the first joj of success the scheme of conciliating the powerful Raja remained in a manner forgotten. 1
or, at least,
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