Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/137

Rh in the Indian treasury. The hot season was setting in, while four general actions had palpably weakened the strength of our European regiments. Must it not then occur to every one that in the event of insurrection, such as occurred not long after at Múltán, the presence of the British troops at Lahore, backed by the concentrated force under the Commander-in-Chief, would greatly facilitate the annexation of the whole province whenever such an extremity might become necessary?

With regard to the transfer of Kashmír to Ghuláb Singh, the Governor-General gives the following reasons in a letter written to a near relative: — 'It was necessary last March to weaken the Sikhs by depriving them of Kashmír. The distance from Kashmír to the Sutlej is 300 miles of very difficult mountainous country, quite impracticable for six months. To keep a British force 300 miles from any possibility of support would have been an undertaking that merited a strait-waistcoat and not a peerage.' The arrangement made was the only alternative. The Government took away with one hand and gave with the other, as the exigencies of the case required; and as regards the honesty of the transaction, the names of Currie and Lawrence are a sufficient guarantee. Ghuláb Singh's character was not without reproach; but where was the native chief or minister to be found without similar blots on his escutcheon?

The most complete explanation of Lord Hardinge's views on this subject is to be found in a letter to