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

214

HISTORY OF THE SIKHS

CHAP. VII

1837. Ranjit Singh had invited the Governor-General of India,
The the Governor of Agra (Sir Charles Metcalfe), and the
marriage of Commander-in-Chief of the British forces to be present at
Nau Nihal the nuptials of his grandson, which he designed to celebrate
Singh,
1837. with much splendour. The prince was wedded to a daughter
of the Sikh chief, Sham Singh Atariwala, in the beginning
Sir Henry of March 1837, but of the English authorities Sir Henry Fane
Fane at alone was able to attend. That able commander was ever
Lahore.
a careful observer of military means and of soldierly
qualities; he formed an estimate of the force which would
be required for the complete subjugation of the Punjab, but
at the same time he laid it down as a principle, that the
Sutlej and the wastes of Rajputana and Sind were the
best boundaries which the English could have in the east.1
The prospect of a war with the Sikhs was then remote, and
hostile designs could not with honour be entertained by
a guest. Sir Henry Fane, therefore, entered heartily into
the marriage festivities of Lahore, and his active mind was
amused with giving shape to a scheme, which the intuitive
sagacity of Ranjit Singh had acquiesced in as pleasing to
The Sikh the just pride or useful vanity of English soldiers. The
mtaryf project of establishing an Order of merit similar to those
the Star. dying exponents of warlike skill and chivalrous fraternity
as, agreeably to Persian and Indian practice, king or queen is always
translated ' Padshah' equally with emperor. Sir Claude Wade seems
to think that the real design of the French was to open a regular
intercourse with Ranjit Singh, and to obtain a political influence
in the Punjab. The Maharaja, however, after consulting the British
Agent, decided on not taking any notice of the overtures. (Sir
Claude Wade, Narrative, p. 38, note.) [A piece of diplomacy on
the part of the French Government, typical of the chicanery of Louis
Philippe and his advisers. The monarch who could perpetrate the
sordid scandal of the Spanish marriage was equally capable of an
underhand intrigue with Ranjit Singh.-ED.]
1 These views of Sir Henry Fane's may not be on record, but they
were well known to those about his Excellency. His estimate was,
as I remember to have heard from Capt. Wade, 67,000 men, and he
thought there might be a two years' active warfare.
This visit to Lahore was perhaps mainly useful in enabling Lieut.Col. Garden, the indefatigable quarter-master-general of the Bengal
Army, to compile a detailed map of that part of the country, and which
formed the groundwork of all the maps used when hostilities did at
last break out with the Sikhs.