Page:The Marquess of Dalhousie.djvu/89

Rh making war. There never can be now any guarantee for the tranquillity of India, until we shall have effected the entire subjection of the Sikh people, and destroyed its power as an independent nation .'

These being the stern facts, Lord Dalhousie pointed out the folly of any make-believe system of annexing the Punjab in reality, holding it by means of British troops, and administering it by British Officers, and at the same time professing that we were governing it in the name of a native prince. Under such a system, he declared that 'it would be a mockery to pretend that we have preserved the Punjab as an independent State.' 'By maintaining the pageant of a Throne,' he added, 'we should leave just enough of sovereignty to keep alive among the Sikhs the memory of their nationality, and to serve as a nucleus for constant intrigue. We should have all the labour, all the anxiety, all the responsibility, which would attach to the territories if they were actually made our own; while we should not reap the corresponding benefits of increase of revenue, and acknowledged possession.'

Lord Dalhousie deeply lamented that the neces-