Page:Sir Henry Lawrence, the Pacificator.djvu/101

92 His account of the success, for the time, of Lord Hardinge's policy, and of his own administration, is as follows: —

'The Sikhs have come to terms, and have settled down, because they have been well treated by us, and protected from their own army and chiefs by us; because scarcely a single jágír in the country has been resumed, and because the rights and even prejudices of all classes have been respected. It is however by no means so certain that had the country been occupied — all jágírs summarily resumed as has been done elsewhere in India, and held until it might be the pleasure or convenience of Government to examine into the tenures — and had our system, even in its most moderate form, but with its necessary vexations to a loose wild people, been introduced, it is by no means so certain that the Sikh population would have sat down quietly under the yoke. They have lost little that they held under Ranjít Singh; they are therefore patient and submissive, if not contented and happy, but had they been reduced to the level of our revenue-paying population, there cannot be a doubt that ere now there would have been a strike for freedom. The Sikhs perhaps care as little for their Government as do other natives of India; but like others they care for themselves, their jágírs, their patrimonial wells, gardens, and fields, their immunities and their honour. And in all these respects the Sikh and Ját population had much to lose. The Sikh position must not be mistaken. They are a privileged race, a large proportion have jágírs and rent-free lands; all hold their fields on more favourable terms than the Mussulmen around them.

'These are substantial reasons for the Governor-General's moderation, and many others even as cogent might be found;