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

xxvi AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION

escorting Dost Muhammad Khan under Colonel Wheeler.
During part of 1841 he was in magisterial charge of the
Ferozepore district, and towards the close of that year,
he was appointed-on the recommendation again of Mr.
Clerk-to proceed to Tibet to see that the ambitious Rajas
of Jammu surrendered certain territories which they had
seized from the Chinese of Lassa, and that the British trade
with Ladakh, &c., was restored to its old footing. He
returned at the end of a year, and was present at the interviews between Lord Ellenborough and Dost Muhammad
at Ludhiana, and between his lordship and the Sikh chiefs
at Ferozepore in December 1842. During part of 1843
he was in civil charge of Ambala; but from the middle of
that year till towards the close of 1844, he held the post of
personal assistant to Colonel Richmond, the successor
of Mr. Clerk. After Major Broadfoot's nomination to the
same office, and during the greater part of 1845, the author
was employed in the Bahawalpur territory in connexion
with refugee Sindhians, and with boundary disputes
between the Daudputras and the Rajpfits of Bikaner and
Jaisalmer. When war with the Sikhs broke out, the
author was required by Sir Charles Napier to join his army
of co-operation; but after the battle of Ferozeshah, he
was summoned to Lord Gough's head-quarters. He was
subsequently directed to accompany Sir Harry Smith,
when a diversion was made towards Ludhiana, and he was
thus present at the skirmish of Badowal and at the battle
of Aliwal. He had likewise the fortune to be a participator
in the victory of Sobraon, and the further advantage of
acting on that important day as an aide-de-camp to the
Governor-General. He was then attached to the head
quarters of the Commander-in-Chief, until the army broke
up at Lahore, when he accompanied Lord Hardinge's camp
to the Simla Hills, preparatory to setting out for Bh6pal,
the political agency in which state and its surrounding
districts, his lordship had unexpectedly been pleased to
bestow upon him.
The author was thus living among the Sikh people for
a period of eight years, and during a very important
portion of their history. He had intercourse, under every