to employ military men in civil work, and by a development of the subordinate police-service. He left the Sikh problem to be solved by his successor.

66

[v. Colchester; "Administration of Lord Ellenborough ; London, 1874. Kaye; "Memorials of Indian Government;" London, 1883. Conquest of Scinde," Outram, Edinburgh, 1846; Ditto., "Sir W. Napier" (2nd edition), London, 1857. The letters (to the Queen and Wellington), published, without comment, by Lord Colchester, form an ample picture of an ardent will, with a vigilant and generally far-seeing observation. Of course, Ellenborough made mistakes; and the mistakes of such a mind-though not so dangerous as the errors of a weak man who, having once gone wrong knows not how to recover himself are sure to be conspicuous, and a cause of alarm to official superiors.* For an extreme view of Ellenborough's conduct, and of possible peril to which it might lead, Tucker's "Memorials" may be consulted. Tucker was also without question an able man ; but he was more a man of business, perhaps, than a statesman; age and experience, too, produced in him a caution, which may have been somewhat in excess. It is, however, to be noted that the Duke of Wellington, in February, 1843, sent Ellenborough a strong warning as to the use of "caution and temper."]

The proclamation about the alleged "Gates of Somnath," has become a bye-word. The destruction of the Cantonment of Karnál, the grant of the China medal, the re-organisation of the police, and the wholesale removal of the officers of the Ságar Commission, were all acts of unnecessarily arbitrary character which might have been referred home for approval without injurious delay.

CHAPTER XVIII.

A SOLDIER'S RULE.

Section 1: The Punjab, 1839-46-Section 2: Material prosperity and progress of India under Hardinge-Section 3: Retrenchment, Finance, etc.

SECTION 1. Sir H. Hardinge-like Napier, a distinguished Peninsula warrior-arrived in Calcutta, July 23rd, 1844. He landed with the usual pacific intentions, and was at once confronted with the usual call for warlike preparation.

Ever since the murder of the Maharája in 1843 the Punjab had presented a great and growing problem; and Ellenborough had not been granted time for its solution, though he had been quite aware of its urgency. He had not only had it in his mind in his action against Gwalior but had taken other preparatory measures, such as the examination of the defences of Delhi; the arrangement for cantoning troops at Firozpore, Ambála, and Kasauli; and the ordering pontoons to be got ready on the Indus, whence they could, if necessary, proceed to the Sutlej.

In other parts of the Empire the arrangements of the late Governor-General, however despotic, had been mostly attended with success. Rawlinson had been sent to look after Indian interests in the Persian Gulf on the other boundary, Broadfoot had taken the place of an unsuccessful Commissioner in Tenasserim. The Nizám's affairs were in a bad condition, and Ellenborough had contemplated the possibility of the

VOL. II.

administration of the State being assumed by the British Government, but at the eleventh hour the Nizám had agreed to introduce all the desired reforms. Henry Lawrence had been sent as Resident to Káthmándu; and, after a sanguinary political crisis, "order reigned " in Nepal.

In Audh, Pollock was resident in the room of Low, promoted to Haidarábád. The "King," whom Low had enthroned on that memorable July night,* just seven years ago, had died and been succeeded by a son of the Nasir-ud-din breed, under whom all went to ruin. One of Hardinge's first duties was to address to this worthless ruler a warning which was completely, though silently, ignored. This matter will be more fully noticed hereafter.

Outram had been provided for in the Southern Mahratta country, where he soon had an opportunity of showing his qualities, doubted or denied by Napier and Ellenborough.

By the time of Rája Sher Sinh's murder (1843) the active and able British agent, George Clerk, had been transferred, as Lieutenant-Governor, to Agra; and his successor was a less competent man, in bad health besides. The new Government at Lahore was weak and distracted; carried on nominally by Jindán Köur, mother of the infant Maharája, Dulip Sinh, under an opposition on the part of Ghuláb Sinh, the Rájput Chief of Jammu, whose nephew-Hira Sinh-was, for the time, in power as Prime Minister. Anxious to furnish the Pretorians of the Khalsa with distant and dangerous occupation, Hira Sinh marched the bulk of the army towards the Sutlej. The agent addressed Lord Ellenborough in terms of exaggerated acerbity against Hira Sinh, and the Governor-General wisely resumed the preparations already briefly noted. Other misunderstandings followed, in which the British officials unfortunately gave the Sikhs some grounds of just complaint; and while these dis

* See CHAPTER XVII., Section 1.

putes were still pending, Col. Richmond – the agent in question -took sick-leave, and Broadfoot was sent to relieve him.*

On the 1st November, 1844, the new agent assumed charge of his post, and he had a conference with the Envoy of the Lahore Government a few days later. It was soon evident that the Durbar was in great trouble, both with the Sikh aristocracy and with the army; and that there was a disposition to urge the grievances above noticed, yet without any apparent wish for war. But Jindán Köur, known as "the Ráni" and mother of the boy Maharája,† was restless and secretly planning the destruction of the Minister, Hira Sinh. There were, in fact, three parties: the Rájputs of Jammu-of whom the Minister was one-had the apparent and legitimate power; the Sikh nobles formed a regular opposition; but the arbitrament was likely to lie with the Army-Committees. This the Ráni had found out, and was beginning to act upon her discovery. Before the end of the year these plots developed, so that the Minister was attacked, and forced to fly from Lahore. He made for Jammu, the mountain-home of his family, but was overtaken and killed before he had got many miles on the way. For some time the Ráni profited by his death; for his uncle, Guláb, was too intimidated to leave the hills; while the army was quite willing to leave to others the semblance of power so long as there was double pay to be had. The Ráni, who was personally popular, governed through her brother, Jowáhir Sinh.

The next few months were full of anxiety; for her, and for the British. It is wearisome to have to repeat the old story of involuntary aggression, but from the correspondence of the period one can hardly avoid the conclusion that both Hardinge

* Richmond was soon after transferred to Lucknow, vice Sir George Pollock, promoted to be military Member-of-Council at Calcutta.

It is said by Sir L. Griffin to be doubtful if she was the mother of Dulip, and certain that Ranjit was not his father ("Ranjit Singh," Rulers of India).

Nor

and his agent on the Sutlej were really using great exertions to avoid a collision to which there could be but one end.* does it appear that the nominal rulers of the Punjab-Jowáhir Sinh, the Ráni's brother, and her favourite Lál Sinh-had originally any feeling of personal hostility, or violent desire to enter upon a struggle with the British Government, a course opposed alike to the traditions of the late Ránjit, and to their own sense of inferior means. Yet the Ráni's secret mind was already unfavourable to peace. The Treasury at Lahore was becoming exhausted; Jowáhir Sinh had no popularity, nor administrative experience; Guláb Sinh was not likely to remain long quiet. On the British side there was much reason to mistrust the sepoys of the Bengal army, who saw a host on the other bank of the river extorting double pay from their employers, and had for some time shown a spirit of insubordination in their own ranks. In such circumstances it would have been worse than idle to neglect preparations; and Hardinge gradually increased his forces at Meerut and Ambála, and caused the train of boats, provided by his predecessor, to be moved from the Indus to Firozpore. These movements were, of course, observed by the Lahore Government and the Sikh army. To the former it seemed natural to appeal to the power which had been allied with old Ránjit for protection against Pretorian violence. To the latter it was, by many supposed to be indifferent how soon matters came to a crisis with troops to whom they knew themselves superior in numbers, and may have believed themselves not unequal in other respects.†

*Hardinge's maxim was "The Punjab must be either Sikh or British." But he preferred that, if possible, it should be Sikh.

†The Khálsa army was returned at the time as 88,662 men with 484 guns, while the Governor-General had accumulated a force about 40,000 strong with 100 pieces of artillery, between Delhi and the Sutlej. The Sikh troops were insubordinate: but their military discipline was high and their spirit that of a dominant class.