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

CHAP. vii SUBMISSION OF GULAB SINGH

269

month he retired to Jammu, shorn of much real power, but 1845.
become acceptable to the troops by his humility, and to the
final conviction of the English authorities, that the levies of
the mountain Rajpufts were unequal to a contest even with
the Sikh soldiery.'
The able Governor of Multan was assassinated in the SawanMal,
month of September 1844 by a man accused of marauding, of Multan,
assassinand yet imprudently allowed a considerable degree of ated, Sept.
liberty.2 Mulraj, the son of the Diwan, had been appointed 1844.
or permitted to succeed his father by the declining govern- Mfilrs,
his son,
ment of Hira Singh, and he showed more aptitude for affairs succeeds;
than was expected. He suppressed a mutiny among the
provincial troops, partly composed of Sikhs, with vigour and
success; and he was equally prompt in dealing with a younger
brother, who desired to have half the province assigned to
him as the equal heir of the deceased Diwan. Milraj put
his brother in prison, and thus freed himself from all local
dangers; but he had steadily evaded the demands of the
Lahore court for an increased farm or contract, and he had
likewise objected to the large 'Nazarana ', or relief, which
was required as the usual condition of succession. As soon,
therefore, as Gulab Singh had been reduced to obedience, it
was proposed to dispatch a force against Multan, and the
' Khalsa ' approved of the measure through the assembled
Panchayats of regiments and brigades. This resolution and agrees
induced the new governor to yield, and in September (1845) to the
terms of
it was arranged that he should pay a fine of 1,800,000 rupees. the Lahore
He escaped an addition to his contract sum, but he was court,
deprived of some petty districts to satisfy in a measure the
letter of the original demand.3
1 Major Broadfoot confessed that 'late events had shown the Raja's
weakness in the hills', where he should have been strongest, had his
followers been brave and trusty. (Major Broadfoot to Government,
5th May 1845.)
2 Lieut.-Col. Richmond to Government, 10th Oct. 1844.
3 In this paragraph the author has followed mainly his own notes
of occurrences. The mutiny of the Multan troops took place in Nov.
1844. The Governor at once surrounded them, and demanded the
ringleaders, and on their surrender being refused, he opened a fire
upon their whole body, and killed, as was said, nearly 400 of them.
Diwan Mulraj seized and confined his brother in Aug. 1845, and in
the following month the terms of his succession were settled with the