On the 25th of February, the men of the 16th Lancers and of the 31st foot (Young Buffs) were ordered to Bombay to embark for England, permission being given to such of the men as thought proper to volunteer into regiments still serving in India. The bulk of the British army remained in the Punjaub for some months, various circumstances affording grounds for suspicion as to the good faith of the ranee and her durbar. The treaty of Lahore was however completed, and was sufficiently stringent. It has already been shown upon what terms negotiations were opened: when the stipulations were reduced to regular form, they assumed a more binding character, the following items having been introduced:—The hill country between the Beas and the Indus to be ceded instead of one lac of rupees, part of the indemnity. Fifty lacs of rupees to be paid by the maharajah on the ratification of the treaty. The Lahore army to be limited to twenty-five battalions of regular (Aeen) infantry, and twelve thousand cavalry. The entire control of the rivers Beas and Sutlej, to the confluence of the Indus at Mikenkote, and the control of the Indus from the point of the confluence to the borders of Beloochistan. The maharajah never to take into his service any British subject, nor the subject of any European or American state without permission of the British government. Rajah Gholab Singh to be recognised as an independent sovereign over such territories as the British should make over to him. All disputes arising between him and the Lahore government to be referred to the British. All change in the frontiers of the Lahore state prohibited without British sanction.
In pursuance of the stipulations concerning Gholab Singh, a treaty between him and the British government was concluded at Neuritzen on the 16th of March. The following articles of it will sufficiently disclose its character:—In the first article, the British made over to the rajah all the hilly country just conceded by the Lahore government. This territory was situated to the eastward of the river Indus, and westward of the river Ravee, including Ohumba, and excluding Lahool. In consideration of this transfer, the rajah should pay to the British government fifty lacs of rupees on the ratification of the treaty, and twenty-five lacs on the 1st of October. The British government to give the rajah assistance against all external enemies. Maharajah Gholab Singh to acknowledge the supremacy of the British government; and in token thereof to present annually one horse, twelve perfect shawl goats, and three pairs of Cashmere shawls. The symptoms of discontent, on the part of the disbanded troops and the defeated chiefs, rendered necessary an extra article to the treaty of Lahore, for the purpose of garrisoning that city for the defence of the young maharajah during the reorganisation of his army on a different footing. It was agreed to occupy the citadel and town of Lahore to the end of 1846.
While all these events were passing, Sir Charles Napier, the governor of Scinde, made great exertions to render such service as he could to the policy of the governor-general of India. Sir Charles hastened forward from the seat of his government, but on passing up the Sutlej was fired upon; he landed at Ooch, and proceeded to Bhawulpore, where he arrived on the 20th of February. He there made a political visit to the rajah, and proceeded on to Ferozepore, which he reached on the 22nd of February; but the governor-general was then in the neighbourhood of Lahore. Before Sir Charles could arrive, all that has been related transpired. By the same date, Lord Elphinstone had arrived as far as Delhi, en route to the governor-general’s camp.
Matters did not long remain quiet in the Punjaub. The ranee was an unprincipled woman; her paramour, Lall Singh, was an unprincipled man; and this pair began to plot further commotions before those which had so nearly overwhelmed them were entirely composed. Lall Singh hated Gholab; the installation of the latter as maharajah of Cashmere excited his jealousy, especially as Gholab, having been wuzeer, continued to tender his advice to the ranee. It was in fact determined at Lahore, that Gholab should never enter upon his independent sovereignty. Mohee-ood-Een had been governor of the district under the Lahore supremacy. A son of this person, entitled the Sheik Enam-ood-Een, was made Sail Singh’s instrument for carrying out his scheme. Acting as the new wuzeer of the ranee, who was regent during the minority of her son, Dhuleep Singh, Lall Singh directed the sheik to summon a meeting of the chieftains of the mountain country subjected by treaty to the new Maharajah Gholab Singh, and to organise among them an armed resistance to his power. Gholab was more of a diplomatist than a soldier; he marched against the bold mountaineers, was defeated, and obliged to call for the aid of the English. Brigadier-general Wheeler, an experienced, gallant, and spirited officer, was ordered to march upon Cashmere and occupy the capital. The sheik, panic-struck, came in and made submission, revealing the treachery of the ranee’s paramour and adviser. Lieutenant-colonel Lawrence got possession of such documents as proved the treacherous complicity of the Lahore government; a formal demand was therefore made upon that government for the expulsion of Lall Singh from the Lahore territory, and for a renewed promise that the treaty of the 9th of March between Gholab Singh and the British should be respected. The Lahore government was once again all submission, and Lall Singh was seized and carried across the Sutlej into the British territory. In consequence of these transactions, the governor-general demanded that a British resident should be received at Lahore, to whom all political questions should be referred before obtaining a practical application. Also that English troops should be at liberty to occupy any fort or territory, if necessary to preserve the public peace and enforce the due observance of the treaty. The Lahore state to pay twenty-two lacs of new Nameck-shee rupees, of full tale and weight, per annum, in order to reimburse the expenses which the British government should incur, in preserving by an armed force the authority of the maharajah, and the observance of the treaty against the refractory chiefs or disbanded soldiery. On the attainment of his sixteenth year, the maharajah to be recognised as of age, and the regency of the ranee and the council of regency to cease, or sooner, if the governor-general and the Lahore durbar so agreed. Thirteen of the principal sirdars of the Punjaub signed these agreements in the presence of Lieutenant-colonel Lawrence and Mr. Currie, not one of whom, in all probability, contemplated the observance of the stipulations a moment longer than suited their own views.
Little further of importance occurred in the Punjaub during 1846. British India generally was quiet, but disturbances of all sorts prevailed in the surrounding territories. The new conquest of Scinde was consolidated by the genius of the eccentric and gallant man who conquered it, and his name was, by a strange perversion of compliment, used as a synonyme for “Shatan” all over Beloo-chistan, Affghanistan, Delhi, and the Punjaub. Lieutenant-general Sir G. Arthur was incapacitated by ill-health from that active administration of the Bombay presidency which had characterised his government. He had done much to consolidate British authority there by his firmness and humanity, his goodness and justice, and not only by those high moral qualities, but also by his intellectual aptitudes for sustaining the responsibility imposed upon him.
One of the causes of disquietude in various places, and more especially in the Punjaub, was an increasing desire of the whole native population to expel the British. This partly arose from fanaticism, and partly from hostility of race. The Sikh ranks had been mainly recruited from our disbanded Sepoy soldiery and deserters. Sir Charles Napier made vigorous efforts to correct the evils which he found to exist in the army within his own government, and made representations to Sir Henry Hardinge full of prophetic foresight as to the disposition of the Sepoys, whom the gallant conqueror of Scinde believed to be disloyal almost to a man. According to statements made long afterwards by Major-general Tucker (the adjutant-general), and by Major-general Lord Melville, Sir Henry Hardinge, while he actually eulogised the Sepoy army especially for their loyalty, privately expressed his alarm at the unsafe foundation upon which British power in India rested, in consequence of the secret unfaithfulness of the Sepoy troops! This very much resembled Sir Henry’s procedure afterwards, when Lord Plardinge and commander-in-chief of the British army. Possessing administrative capacity, military talents of a high order, and as dauntless a heart as ever beat in a British soldier’s breast, he had the soul of a “red-tapist” and a “snob,” and was ready to sacrifice his own opinions and the welfare of the service, to official, aristocratic, or court influence. He fought and governed well, but not so much for the good of the country as the objects of his caste. His conduct in reference to the Sikh war was much reprehended for unpreparedness, want of promptitude, and for a tampering and concessive policy unsuitable to oriental nations. His extreme gallantry in the field, and the successful issue of the war, blotted out these reprehensions both from his own name and from the public mind. His instructions from home accounted for his time-serving hesitation, unpreparedness for the war, and forbearance with an enemy upon whom such indulgence was lost. All this vacillation harmonised with the foreign and domestic policy of Sir Robert Peel, under whose instructions he acted. It met with the disapprobation ab initio of all men competent to form an opinion on Indian affairs. The chivalry of the soldier covered the faults of the governor-general, and the impolicy of the government under whose instructions he acted.
When the tidings of these events in India reached England, the rejoicing was very great. Never had the arms of England been more signally crowned with success; and never had such suspense attended the first tidings of the dangers to our Indian empire, menaced by the invasion of the far-famed and highly-disciplined Khalsa army. The country felt relieved of a great pressure of care, as when, after a long and gloomy night—
“Man wakes again to joy, and peace, and hope, Day dreams, and bright reality.”
Parliament was prompt to express the general admiration for the brave.
On Monday, the 4th of May, the House of Commons resolved itself into a committee on a message from her majesty, respecting a provision for the governor-general and the commander-in-chief. Both these gallant men had been raised to the peerage. Sir Robert Peel (the minister) proposed a grant of £3000 a year to Lord Hardinge and his two next male heirs, and £2000 a year to Lord Gough and his two next male heirs. These propositions received the assent of the house. Mr. Hogg, on the part of the East India Company, announced that the company had made grants of £5000 per year to Lord Hardinge for life, and £2000 per year to Lord Gough. Lord Francis Egerton drew attention to the claims of Sir Harry Smith, which both Sir Robert Peel and Lord John Russell treated as an interference with the prerogative of the crown.