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

CHAP. IX WAR WITH THE ENGLISH

309

General; but the first object was to drive the Sikhs across 1845-6.
the Sutlej by force of arms, or to have them withdrawn to
their own side of the river by the unconditional submission
of the chiefs and the delegates of the army; for, until that
were done, no progress could be said to have been made in
the war, and every petty chief in Hindustan would have
silently prepared for asserting his independence, or for
enlarging his territory on the first opportunity. But the
total dispersion of so large and so well equipped a body of
brave men, as that which lay within sight of the available
force of the BritishGovernment, could not be accomplished
by one defeat, if the chiefs of the country were to be rendered
desperate, and if all were to place their valour and unanimity
under the direction of one able man. The English, therefore,
intimated to Gulab Singh their readiness to acknowledge a
Sikh sovereignty in Lahore after the army should have been
disbanded; but the Raja declared his inability to deal with
the troops, which still overawed him and other well-wishers
to the family of Ranjit Singh. This helplessness was partly
exaggerated for selfish objects; but time pressed; the
speedy dictation of a treaty under the walls of Lahore was
essential to the British reputation; and the views of either
party were in some sort met by an understanding that the An underSikh army should be attacked by the English, and that stoandg
when beaten it should be openly abandoned by its own that the
government; and further, that the passage of the Sutlej Sikh army
shall be
should be unopposed and the road to the capital laid open attackedby
to the victors. Under such circumstances of discreet policy tes rted bd
and shameless treason was the battle of Sobraon fought.' the other.
The Sikhs had gradually brought the greater part of their The
force into the entrenchment on the left bank of the Sutlej, defstiveof
which had been enlarged as impulse prompted or as oppor- the Sikhs.
tunity seemed to offer. They placed sixty-seven pieces of
1 Cf. the Governor-General's letter to the Secret Committee, of
the 19th Feb. 1846; from which, however, those only who were mixed
up with the negotiations can extract aught indicative of the understanding with Gulab Singh which is alluded to in the text. It was for
this note chiefly, if not entirely, that the author was removed from
political employment by the East India Company. This was the
author's own conviction, from careful inquiries made in India; and
has been the result of equally careful inquiries made by me in England.