Tempo:
288 ia45-6.
HISTORY OF THE SHCHS
CHAP. IX
the gates of Delhi; and while negotiations were stiU pending, and the season advancing, it was desired to conciliate one who might render himself formidable in a day, by joining the remains of the Sikh forces, and by opening his treasures and arsenals to a warlike population.
Tlie parti-
tion of the
Punjab, and independence of
Gulab Singh.
The low state of the Lahore treasury, and the anxiety of Lai Singh to get a dreaded rival out of the way, enabled the Governor-General to appease Gulab Singh in a manner sufficiently agreeable to the P^aja himself, and which still further reduced the importance of the successor of Ranjit Singh. The Raja of Jammu did not care to be simply the master of his native mountains, but as two-thirds of the pecuniary indemnity required from Lahore could not be made good, territory was taken instead of money, and Kashmir and the hill states from the Beas to the Indus were cut off from the Punjab Proper, and transferred to Gulab Singh as a separate sovereign for a million of pounds sterling. The arrangement was a dexterous one, if reference be only had to the policy of reducing the power of the Sikhs; but the transaction scarcely seems worthy of the British name and greatness, and the objections become stronger when it is considered that ^ Gulab Singh had agreed to pay sixty-eight lakhs of rupees (£680 000), as a fine to his paramount, before the war broke out,^ and that the custom of the East as well as of the West requires the feudatory to aid his lord in foreign war and domestic strife. Gulab Singh ought thus to have paid the deficient million of money as a Lahore subject, instead of being put in possession of Lahore provinces as an independent prince. The succession of the Raja was displeasing to n acthe Sikhs generally, and his separation was les cordance with his own aspirations than the ministry of Ranjit Singh's empire; but his rise to sovereign power excited nevertheless the ambition of others, and Tej Singh, who knew his own wealth, and was fully persuaded of the potency of gold, offered twenty-five lakhs of rupees for a princely crown and another dismembered province. He was chid for his presumptuous misinterpretation of English principles of action; the arrangement with Gulab Singh was the only one of the kind which took place, and the new ally was formally invested with the title of Maharaja at Amritsar 1 Major Broadfoot to Government, 5th May 1845. The author never heard, and does not believe, that this money was paid by Gulab Singh.
HISTORY OF THE SHCHS
CHAP. IX
the gates of Delhi; and while negotiations were stiU pending, and the season advancing, it was desired to conciliate one who might render himself formidable in a day, by joining the remains of the Sikh forces, and by opening his treasures and arsenals to a warlike population.
Tlie parti-
tion of the
Punjab, and independence of
Gulab Singh.
The low state of the Lahore treasury, and the anxiety of Lai Singh to get a dreaded rival out of the way, enabled the Governor-General to appease Gulab Singh in a manner sufficiently agreeable to the P^aja himself, and which still further reduced the importance of the successor of Ranjit Singh. The Raja of Jammu did not care to be simply the master of his native mountains, but as two-thirds of the pecuniary indemnity required from Lahore could not be made good, territory was taken instead of money, and Kashmir and the hill states from the Beas to the Indus were cut off from the Punjab Proper, and transferred to Gulab Singh as a separate sovereign for a million of pounds sterling. The arrangement was a dexterous one, if reference be only had to the policy of reducing the power of the Sikhs; but the transaction scarcely seems worthy of the British name and greatness, and the objections become stronger when it is considered that ^ Gulab Singh had agreed to pay sixty-eight lakhs of rupees (£680 000), as a fine to his paramount, before the war broke out,^ and that the custom of the East as well as of the West requires the feudatory to aid his lord in foreign war and domestic strife. Gulab Singh ought thus to have paid the deficient million of money as a Lahore subject, instead of being put in possession of Lahore provinces as an independent prince. The succession of the Raja was displeasing to n acthe Sikhs generally, and his separation was les cordance with his own aspirations than the ministry of Ranjit Singh's empire; but his rise to sovereign power excited nevertheless the ambition of others, and Tej Singh, who knew his own wealth, and was fully persuaded of the potency of gold, offered twenty-five lakhs of rupees for a princely crown and another dismembered province. He was chid for his presumptuous misinterpretation of English principles of action; the arrangement with Gulab Singh was the only one of the kind which took place, and the new ally was formally invested with the title of Maharaja at Amritsar 1 Major Broadfoot to Government, 5th May 1845. The author never heard, and does not believe, that this money was paid by Gulab Singh.
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