Page:Sir Henry Lawrence, the Pacificator.djvu/111

102 Thus ended the Punjab campaign. The flame of war had been lit, not in the capital, or the Mánjha, or by the Sikhs, but in an out-of-the-way Muhammadan corner of the kingdom, by its Khatrí governor and his followers. The British Government had deliberately allowed the excitement in the Darbár army and the disbanded Sikh troops to grow and develop unchecked; only a very few Sikh chiefs had, like Chattar Singh and his son Sher Singh, taken part in inciting to the war. Many of them remained loyal to the British interests; whilst others, as a matter of patriotic duty, had, like the Scottish highlanders a hundred years before, sided with their countrymen when open war began; and, though against their own inclinations and interest, led them gallantly in the struggle, and were now shattered by the blow. These had not sought the war, and had hoped that Hardinge's policy and Lawrence's guidance would have led to its being permanently averted.

Shortly after reaching England, Henry Lawrence received the honour of K.C.B. in recognition of his recent services; but he had been at home only about three months when the news arrived of the Múltán outbreak. It is needless to say what profound grief this catastrophe and the action that was taken on it caused him. Putting aside the other aspects of the matter, he realized that his efforts to keep the Sikhs straight would now prove to have been in vain. A similar crisis had been averted in Kashmír by his own vigorous and politic conduct in dealing with