Page:Sir Henry Lawrence, the Pacificator.djvu/38

Rh The Firozpur State lies on the south bank of the Sutlej, and, along with the other Cis-Sutlej States, had been taken under British protection, in accordance with the agreement with Ranjít Singh. On the death of its hereditary chief, in 1835, it had lapsed by feudal custom to the English, by whom its administration had then to be taken in hand.

This was no easy task, surrounded as the State was, on nearly all sides, either by the marauding Bikanír and other tribes or by the feudatories of Lahore, whose raids, and the rapine and violence that accompanied them, were costing hundreds of lives annually. By the end of 1838 matters had somewhat improved; but Henry Lawrence, on arriving, threw his whole energy into the work, and made such progress with the town and its fort and defences, and so punished and curbed the turbulent and settled the district, that at the end of twelve months Mr. Metcalfe, the Governor-General's agent, commented warmly on the flourishing state of affairs, and the great improvements that had been made. Lawrence had also begun to enter into kindly relations with the surrounding independent chiefs, and to adjudicate by their own request in their disputes and boundary questions. His success was such — notably in the case of the Farídkot State — that applications for his employment on these matters became more and more numerous, and the repute and influence that resulted from it were of great value. Such was his first essay at government; and, dealing as he was