Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/127

 CHAPTER IX

The Treaty of Lahore

March, 1846

The army marched that same day to Kasúr, within thirty-two miles of Lahore, with no appearance of any hostile force in its front. Having been joined by six Native regiments and 100 European recruits on the road, it was now almost as strong numerically as before the action. The following extract from a letter from Kasúr, dated February, 1846, shows that at that early period the Governor-General had already sketched out his Punjab policy for the Home authorities: — 'A diminution of the strength of such a warlike nation on our weakest frontier seems to me to be imperatively required. I have, therefore, determined to take a strong and fertile district between the Sutlej and the Beas. This will cover Ludhiána and bring us within a few miles of Amritsar, with our back to the Hills. In a military sense, it will be very important — it will weaken the Sikhs and punish them in the eyes of Asia. I shall demand one million and a half in money as compensation; and if I can arrange to make Ghuláb Singh and the Hill tribes independent, including Kashmír, I shall have weakened this warlike republic. Its army must be