A brigade of cavalry were left in charge of the baggage, and this onerous duty caused the troops to march more in the semblance of a funeral procession than that of the advance of a victorious army.
The weather, at this season, was fine, though the sun at noon was becoming rather severe. The country was generally open and cultivated, but with large patches of low jungle or underwood interspersed, which rendered it unfavourable for cavalry manœuvres, and would have afforded excellent shelter for the enemy's Light Infantry; but they had had fighting enough to satisfy them for the present.
On the evening of the 18th, after our arrival in camp, at a small village named Lullianee, the Sikh chiefs arrived from Lahore, escorting their youthful Maharajah. The deputation were fully as humble in their deportment as the most punctilious despot could have required; and Dhuleep Singh, having been graciously forgiven for the offences of his countrymen, and raised to the precarious honours of acknowledged sovereignty, was at last treated to a royal welcome from the voices of our heavy cannon. A proclamation had been issued from Kussoor, giving notice that territorial aggrandisement was not the object of the British government, but that they were desirous only of establishing such authority at Lahore as would be competent to restrain the soldiery from the perpetration of outrages similar to the past. The chiefs and sirdars were invited to act in concert for the furtherance of such an arrangement, and as the wording of the proclamation gave a special invitation to the "well wishers of the descendants of Runjeet Singh," the Lahore Durbar were made aware that the semblance and name of a kingdom would not be taken from them.
Subsequently to Dhuleep Singh's visit at Lullianee, a second proclamation was issued from our camp, giving notice that the Durbar had acquiesced in all the terms, and that if no further opposition were offered to the British arms, measures would be taken to re-establish the descendants of Runjeet, and to protect the inhabitants.
The British army, continuing to advance in the same order as before, came in sight of Lahore on the morning of the 20th of February, and took up their encampment about three miles from the city, forming three sides of a square, and occupying the parade ground and cantonments recently held by the Aeen battalions.
The soldiers were strictly required not to stray from their lines or visit the city, which at present was crowded with people of every denomination, few of whom, it may be supposed, could feel very favourably disposed towards their conquerors. The troops of Ghoolab Singh were encamped near the walls, and held the most important positions in the capital.
On the afternoon of our arrival, the secretary to government, accompanied by a large military escort, under the directions of Brigadier Cureton, proceeded to the palace with the young Maharajah. Marching round the walls of the city, nearly suffocated with dust, which rolled in dense columns and obscured the whole scene, we were received and saluted by Ghoolab Singh's forces, drawn up on their several posts around Lahore. Most of these were fine wiry looking soldiers, and bore some resemblance in appearance to our Goorkha battalions, though inferior in appointments, and evidently not half disciplined. The gateway to the palace, then occupied by the Ranee, opened from the north-western quarter of the city, and the escort formed line fronting the citadel, whilst the governor-general's representative and his party proceeded on their mission. On arriving at the entrance, the political agent and a few officers proceeded to the interior, and shortly afterwards a salute from the light guns announced that the boy whom we had set up to be a king over the Sikhs had been placed in the hands of his anxious mother, the Ranee, of drunken notoriety.
The interview was not of long duration, much to our relief, as the sombre walls which we were left to contemplate did not present a very cheerful aspect, and the inhabitants of Lahore evinced no interest or curiosity in the transactions.
The ceremonial being ended, we wound about the exterior of the city towards our camp, thus completing the whole circuit of the walls, and returned to our quarters about nightfall, after a tolerably fatiguing day; but we had now become so well used to living in our saddles, that it was rather a variety to pass the day anywhere else.
As the conclusion of the war now rested in the hands of the political department, we were at length able to lie down at night, with some hopes of not being trumpeted into our saddles before we had well fallen asleep; and there were few soldiers of the British army who did not take full advantage of this immunity, save the unfortunate members of the standard guards and outlying pickets.