Page:Sir Henry Lawrence, the Pacificator.djvu/99

90 that no advantage that might be gained by annexation could equal that of having an independent and warlike but friendly people between us and the loose, wild, Muhammadan hordes of Central Asia. Not that the latter are in themselves formidable, even in their own country, but that their unsettled government, or too often absence of all government, must ever render them unsatisfactory neighbours. Much however as the maintenance of a Sikh Government in the Punjab was desired, it was early perceived that the chances were against it. One after another the ablest men in that unhappy country were cut off; falling by each other's hands or plots, often the assassin with his victim.'

His account of this situation in the Punjab, and the uncontrollable state and pretorian bearing of the Sikh troops that led up to the outbreak, is as follows: —

'Intoxicated with success at home, where no man's honour was safe from their violence, where they had emptied the coffers of the State and plundered those of Jammu, the unsated soldiery now sought to help themselves from the bazárs and treasuries of Delhi. This madness of the Sikh army was the true cause of invasion, and not either the acts of the British Government or its agents.

'Next to Ranjít Singh, Mahárájá Sher Singh was the truest friend in the Punjab to the British alliance. He was not a wise man, but in this at least he showed wisdom. Few indeed are the native chiefs, or natives of any rank, whose wisdom is consistent and complete. Many are clever in the extreme, acute, persevering, energetic, able to compete with the best of Europeans in ordinary matters, to surpass them in some; but the most accomplished character among them has its flaw. Mahárájá Sher Singh is an instance. Brave, frank, and shrewd, he might have been a