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

262

HISTORY OF THE SIKHS

CHAP. VIII

1844. Nevertheless there were not wanting causes of real or
Discussions alleged dissatisfaction with the British Government, which
with the at last served the useful purpose of engaging the attention
English of the Lahore soldiery. The protected Sikh Raja of Nabha
about the
village had given a village, named Moran, to Ranjit Singh at the
Moran, Maharaja's request, in order that it might be bestowed on
Dhanna Singh, a Nabha subject, but who stood high in
favour with the master of the Punjab. The village was so
given in 1819, or after the introduction of the English
supremacy, but without the knowledge of the English
authorities, which circumstance rendered the alienation invalid, if it were argued that the village had become separated
from the British sovereignty. The Raja of Nabha became
displeased with Dhanna Singh, and he resumed his gift
in the year 1843; but in so doing his soldiers wantonly
plundered the property of the feudatory, and thus gave
the Lahore Government a ground of complaint, of which
and about advantage was taken for party purposes.1 But Hira Singh
treasure and his advisers took greater exception still to the decision
buried by
Suchet of the British Government with regard to a quantity of
Singh. coin and bullion which Raja Suchet Singh had secretly
deposited in Ferozepore, and which his servants were
detected in endeavouring to remove after his death. The
treasure was estimated at 1,500,000 rupees, and it was
understood to have been sent to Ferozepore during the
recent Afghan War, for the purpose of being offered as part
of an ingratiatory loan to the English Government, which
was borrowing money at the time from the protected Sikh
chiefs. The Lahore minister claimed the treasure both as
the escheated property of a feudatory without male heirs
of his body, and as the confiscated property of a rebel killed
in arms against his sovereign; but the British Government
considered the right to the property to be unaffected by the
owner's treason, and required that the title to it, according
to the laws of Jammu or of the Punjab, should be regularly
pleaded and proved in a British court. It was argued in
favour of Lahore that no British subject or dependent
claimed the treasure, and that it might be expediently
made over to the ruler of the Punjab for surrender to the
1 Lieut.-Col. Richmond to Government, 18th and 28th May 1844.