Page:Sir Henry Lawrence, the Pacificator.djvu/112

Rh Sheik Emam-ud-dín's rebellion, but he felt assured that the Sikh troops, left to themselves to operate against Mulráj, who had proclaimed his outbreak to be against the English, would not be able to resist the temptation to assert their own pretorian independence as before, and again try conclusions with the English power; and that the fate of the Sikh kingdom was sealed. There can be no doubt that he felt it to be certain that for every British soldier whose life would have been risked by an immediate hot-weather movement against Mulráj, tens or fifties would be lost in the war that was sure to ensue; and, in his heart, he thought with others, though he could not say so openly, that a sweeping war in the following winter and the conquest of the Punjab formed the real aim of the new rule in India; that no fair chance was now being given to the Sikhs, or to the policy which he had been placed in his post in the Punjab to further, and had carried out with such marked success while there.

On hearing of the outbreak he decided on rejoining, if possible; and, having asked for leave to return, he was informed at the end of July that his returning was left to his own option. Afterwards, receiving the concurrence of the Duke of Wellington in the opinion that he should rejoin, he returned to India, and reached Bombay in December, 1848.

But it may be observed that the above reply from the E. I. Board, though perhaps a courteous recognition of his zeal, showed a marked indifference to