A history of the Sikhs, from the origin of the nation to the battles of the Sutlej.

238

HISTORY OF THE SIKHS

CIIAP. VIII

1841. the Maharaja himself desired such intervention.1 After
The mili- this, the disorders in the army near Lahore gradually subtary dis- sided; but the opinion got abroad that overtures had been
orderssub- made to the eager English; and so far were the Sildh
side, but
the people soldiery from desiring foreign assistance, that Lehna Singh
become Sindhianwala was imprisoned by his own men, in the Mandi
suspicious
of the hills, on a charge of conspiracy with his refugee brother to
English. introduce the supremacy of strangers.2
The suspicions and hatred of the Sikhs were further
Major
Broadfoot's roused by the proceedings of an officer, afterwards nominated
passage to represent British friendship and moderation. Major
unssab.he Broadfoot had been appointed to recruit a eorps of Sappers
and Miners for the service of Shah Shuja, and as the family
of that sovereign, and also the blind Shah Zaman with his
wives and children, were about to proceed to Kabul, he was
charged with the care of the large and motley convoy. He
entered the Punjab in April 1841, when the mutinous spirit
of the Sikh army was spreading from the capital to the
provinces. A body of mixed or Muhammadan troops had
been directed by the Lahore Government to accompany the
royal families as an escort of protection, but Major Broadfoot
became suspicious of the good faith of this detachment, and
on the banks of the Ravi he prepared to resist, with his
newly recruited regiment, an attack on the part of those
who had been sent to conduct him in safety. On his way
to the Indus he was even more suspicious of other bodies of
troops which he met or passed; he believed them to be
intent on plundering his camp, and he considered that he
only avoided collisions by dexterous negotiations and by
timely demonstrations of force. On crossing the river at
Attock, his persuasion of the hostile designs of the battalions
in that neighbourhood and towards Peshawar was so strong,
that he put his camp in a complete state of defence, broke
up the bridge of boats, and called upon the Afghan population to rise and aid him against the troops of their government. But it does not appear that his apprehensions had
1 Government to Mr. Clerk, 18th Feb. and 29th March 1841. The
Governor-General truly remarked that Mr. Clerk, rather than the
Maharaja, had proposed an armed interference.
2 Mr. Clerk to Government, 25th March 1841.