[1846 A.D.] a half sterling, as an indemnity for the expenses of the war; the surrender of all the rest of the cannon that had been pointed against the British; and the total disbanding of the army, to be newly constituted upon principles approved by the British government.

The rajah signed the treaty, and the governor-general issued a proclamation to the effect that, as he had been forced into this war by an unprovoked attack on the part of the Sikhs, he felt it necessary to adopt such measures as would secure the British dominions from such aggressions in future; and that, as it was not the wish of the British government to take advantage of the success of its arms to enlarge its territories, he should endeavour to reestablish the Sikh government in the Punjab, on such a footing as should enable it to exercise authority over its soldiers and protect its subjects." It was then stipulated that the maharajah and principal chiefs should repair to the British camp to tender their submission. The summons was promptly obeyed, and the young prince, mounted on an elephant, and attended by Gulab Singh and about twelve of the sirdars, had an interview with the governor-general, when his submission was tendered by the minister, and it was then declared that he would in future be treated as a friend and ally.

These arrangements being all completed, Dhuleep Singh, who was only ten years of age, was conducted back in state to his palace in the citadel of Lahore by a large escort of European and native troops, who formed altogether a grand and imposing spectacle; the youthful sovereign, surrounded by his chiefs, in all the pomp of barbaric splendour, riding amid the victorious troops, who might be regarded as both his conquerors and protectors.

The treaty of peace had, however, still to be ratified, and as the Lahore government was not able to pay the sum that had been stated, it became necessary to alter the conditions. It was, therefore, settled that half a million in money should be paid, instead of one million and a half; and that as an equivalent for the deficient million, all the country should be ceded that lies between the Beas and the Indus, including the beautiful vale of Kashmir. The greater part of this territory was bestowed in full sovereignty on Gulab Singh, in consideration of the neutrality he preserved during the war; and he, in return for so valuable an acquisition of territory, was to pay seventyfive lacs of rupees, equal to four millions of dollars.

A treaty containing sixteen articles was drawn up and signed at Lahore, on the 10th of March, 1846, by the representatives of the late contending powers, and was afterwards confirmed by the seals of the governor-general and the maharajah. A separate treaty was then concluded with Gulab Singh, who thus became a sovereign prince under the supremacy of the British government, which he was to acknowledge by an annual present, or tribute, of a horse, twelve shawl-goats, and three pairs of Kashmir shawls; besides which, like the crown vassals of feudal times, he was bound to assist the superior power, with all his military force, in any wars in the states adjoining his territories.

The queen-mother remained at the head of the government, and a body of British troops was stationed at Lahore for the protection of the maharajah, who, when these arrangements were completed, received a visit of congratulation from the governor-general, accompanied by the commander-in-chief and other distinguished British officers. The dissolute rani, mother of the young maharajah, was not, however, long in the responsible position in which she had been permitted to remain; for, being detected in a conspiracy against the peace of the country, the British government determined to check it in the bud. She was, therefore, seized and conveyed to a fortress about twenty

[1848–1849 A.D.]

miles from Lahore, and there placed in close confinement. The earl of Dalhousie was appointed in November, 1847, to succeed Sir Henry Hardinge as governor-general. He arrived in India and assumed the reins of government early in the following year.b

DALHOUSIE'S GOVERNORSHIP AND THE SECOND SIKH WAR (1848-1849 A.D.)

Peace was not long preserved. The governor of Multan, Diwan Mulraj, desired to resign. Two English officers sent by the resident to take over charge of the fort were murdered, the 19th of April, 1848, and their escort went over to the diwan. Another of the assistants to the resident, Lieutenant Herbert Edwardes, then in the Derajat, west of the Indus, hearing of the attack on the two officers, hastened to their assistance. On hearing of their fate he collected a force with which to attack the Multan army while the insurrection was yet local. This he did with signal success. But Multan could not fall before such means as he possessed. The movement spread, the operations widened, and the Sikh and English forces were in the field again.j

The Battles of Chilianwala, Multan, and Gujrat (1849 A.D.)

On the 13th of January, 1849, the British forces under Lord Gough came in sight of the encampment of the enemy at Chilianwala. It was Lord Gough's intention not to attack the enemy so late in the day, but Shir Singh, the commander of the Sikh troops, knew the ground; he had possession of the jungle, and he knew, also, the reckless bravery of his antagonist. It suited his purpose that the conflict should be immediate. He allowed a few of his advanced posts to be overpowered, that the enemy might be enticed on; and when Lord Gough was close enough, the Sikh batteries opened upon him. The Sikh artillery, well placed and well plied, made fearful havoc. The British guns, pointed against the jungle, could do no such damage as the artillery of the enemy. A loss of about one hundred officers and two thousand five hundred men, on the part of the British, was the result. "Although," says Lord Gough, in his despatches, "the enemy, who defended not only his guns but his position with desperation, was driven, in much confusion and with heavy loss, from every part of it, and the greater part of his field artillery was actually captured, the march of brigades to their flanks to repel parties that had rallied, and the want of numbers and consequent support to our right flank, aided by the cover of the jungle and the close of the day, enabled him, upon our further advance in pursuit, to return and carry off, unobserved, the greater portion of the guns we had thus gallantly carried at the point of the bayonet."

Such was the battle of Chilianwala: the bravery of the British troops and their commander achieved a barren victory over a formidable enemy, who had all the advantages of position in his favor. After a battle so disastrous on both sides, the two armies encamped within four miles of each other to recruit their exhausted energies and to prepare, on the arrival of reinforcements, for another encounter which might prove more decisive, if not less bloody, than that of Chilianwala. There we will for the present leave them, and return to Multan, and give in brief the details of an attack, which resulted in the capture of this almost impregnable fortress and city.

Mulraj had about nine thousand men, and the besieging army under General Whish amounted to about twenty-eight thousand, well provided.

[1849 A.D.] The operations began on the 27th of December, by an attack upon two several points of the suburbs, which were carried at the bayonet's point; and after bombardment, breach, and storm, lasting, with but slight intervals of repose, for six days, the British flag was planted upon the walls of Multan by a sergeant-major of the company's fusiliers. A perfect storm of bullets for a time flew around him; the color was torn in tatters, and the staff broken. For an instant no one could reach him; but there he stood cheering his comrades to come on. There was no need of exhortation - onward they pressed, the enemy doggedly retiring before them, and fighting as they withdrew. The walls were scaled about three o'clock on the 2nd of January; by sunset, the city was fully in possession of the besieging forces. Mulraj took refuge in the citadel. But on the 22nd of January — when it had become evident that he could not hold his position for twenty-four hours longer - Mulraj surrendered himself, his forces, and the citadel, unconditionally into the hands of the British.

-

For four weeks after the battle of Chilianwala, the British and Sikh armies remained inactive, with a slight change of position. Chuttur Singh, father of Shir Singh, had affected a junction with his son but did not bring so numerous and well-appointed a reinforcement as was expected. The army of Lord Gough, on the contrary, had been considerably increased. After the capture of Multan, General Whish, by a series of rapid marches, arrived with his victorious detachment at the Chenab, and effected a junction with Lord Gough, when battle was given to Shir Singh without further delay. It was an open-field fight by daylight, the Sikhs not having, as at Chilianwala, the advantage of darkness and a thick jungle to protect them from the fatal aim of their enemy's guns.

The British army was about twenty-five thousand men, with one hundred cannon; that of the Sikhs was about forty thousand. Their artillery, however, was comparatively deficient, amounting to but sixty guns. Shir Singh chose his own position around the village of Gujrat, and the British army moved to attack him early in the morning of the 21st. The British line extended nearly three miles right and left. The Sikhs gave way on all points, and fled in the utmost confusion. The victory was obtained at a loss of life comparatively small on the part of the British- namely, of five officers and ninety-two men. The loss on the part of the Sikhs was enormous.

On the day after this decisive battle, General Gilbert, with a force of fifteen thousand men, was despatched in pursuit. On the 14th of March, Shir Singh and his father, Chuttur Singh, with eleven others of the principal sirdars, arrived in the British camp at Rawal Pindi, and delivered up their swords. Forty-one pieces of artillery and sixteen thousand stand of arms were at the same time surrendered.

Lord Dalhousie issued a proclamation declaring the Sikh dynasty at an end, and the Punjab annexed to the British dominions. The maharajah, no longer sovereign, was to receive an allowance of forty thousand pounds, and to reside within the British dominions. The few chiefs not convicted of treason were allowed to retain their estates.

The territory thus annexed to the British possessions in India amounted to one hundred thousand square miles. It had a population of three and a half millions, and a revenue equal to five millions of dollars.

THE KOH-I-NUR

Among the trophies which fell into the hands of the English during the Sikh War was the celebrated gem, the Koh-i-nur diamond. The gem passed

[1849 A.D.]

from Golconda to Delhi, where, in the year 1665, it was seen by the French traveller Tavernier, in the possession of Aurangzeb. Sometimes worn on the person of the Mughal emperors, sometimes adorning the famous peacock throne, this inestimable gem was safely preserved at Delhi until the invasion of Nadir Shah. Among the spoils of conquest which the Persian warrior carried back with him, in triumph, to Khorassan, and which have been variously estimated at from a hundred to five hundred millions of dollars, the Koh-i-nur was the most precious trophy. But it was destined to pass from Persia as quickly as that ephemeral supremacy in virtue of which it had been acquired. When the Persian conqueror was assassinated, in 1747, the Afghan chief, Ahmed Abdullah Shah, who had served under him as treasurer, on his return to Herat carried with him the treasure in his possession, including this diamond. It seemed as if the Koh-i-nur carried with it the sovereignty of Hindustan; for the conquests of Ahmed were as decisive as those of Nadir, and it was by his influence and assistance that the last emperor ascended the throne of the Mughals.

With the overthrow of the Durani monarchy by the consolidated power of the Sikhs, under Ranjit Singh, the jewel passed to a new master. Shah Shuja, of Kabul, was the last chief of the Abdullah dynasty who possessed it. When Shah Shuja was a fugitive from Kabul, under the equivocal protection of the Sikh chief, Ranjit Singh put the shah under strict surveillance, and made a formal demand for the jewel. The Durani prince hesitated, prevaricated, temporised, and employed all the artifices of oriental diplomacy, but in

vain.

When first given to Shah Jahan, the Koh-i-nur was still uncut, weighing, it is said, in that rough state, nearly eight hundred carats, which were reduced by the unskilfulness of the artist to two hundred and seventy-nine, its present weight. It was cut by Hortensio Borgis, a Venetian, who, instead of receiving a compensation for his service, was fined ten thousand rupees for his wastefulness, by the enraged Mughal. In form it is "rose-cut," that is to say it is cut to a point in a series of small faces, or "facets," without any tabular surface. The Koh-i-nur was seized by the British resident at Lahore, when first apprized of the outbreak at Multan. At the conclusion of the war it was taken to England, presented to the queen, and placed among the jewels of the crown.o

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS: THE SECOND BURMESE WAR (1849-1852 A.D.)

After these bloody wars, the British Empire in the East enjoyed several years of undisturbed repose. All the outbreaks which had occurred subsequent to the Afghanistan disaster, every effort at independence which had been made, had led to overthrow and subjugation. The Sind amirs had tried it, and failed; the Gwalior people had tried it, and failed. Even the great and colossal power of the Sikhs had been overthrown; and after two desperate and bloody campaigns, their capital had been taken, their army disbanded, their kingdom incorporated with the all-conquering state. Struck with this astonishing series of victories immediately succeeding so dire a calamity, the inhabitants of the vast peninsula of Hindustan, for the time at least, abandoned the contest; and, submitting to the dominion of the British as the decree of providence, sought only to improve the advantages which the general establishment of internal peace afforded, and to improve the means of industry which its vast extent and powerful protection seemed to promise.

The East India Company took advantage of this precious breathing-time

[1851-1852 A.D.] from external war to afford every facility in their power to the development of the internal resources of their vast territories. Canals were dug or restored, roads made, railroads surveyed, and in part at least executed. The mind of Lord Dalhousie, essentially administrative, was ardently and successfully directed to these great objects. Then were projected, and in great part executed, those magnificent public works which have so completely effaced the well-known reproach cast by Mr. Burke upon the British administration in India, and which will bear a comparison with any in the world for greatness of conception and perfection of execution.

The Taking of Fort Martaban

This happy state of tranquillity was first broken in upon, in 1852, by a second rupture with the Burmese government, which arose from the pride and

arrogance of a barbaric court, and their inconceivable ignorance of the strength of the power with which they were in close contact. So many cases of injury occurred in the course of the years 1851 and 1852, that the governor-general came to the conclusion that the law of nations had been violated, especially by the governor of Rangoon in his cruel and oppressive conduct to British subjects. The period allowed for accommodation having elapsed, an expedition was despatched under the command of General Godwin, an experienced officer, who had been engaged in the former war, to enforce redress. The expedition sailed for the mouth of the Irawadi on the 28th of March, the naval force being under the orders of RearAdmiral Austen. On the 5th of April the fort of Martaban, commanding one of the entrances of the river, was attacked, and the place carried, though garrisoned by five thousand of the best soldiers in the Burmese Empire.

After this success the expedition proceeded up the Irawadi to Rangoon, which stands on the left bank of the principal branch of the river, about twenty miles from the sea. Hostilities were commenced by a general attack by the war-steamers on the enemy's flotilla and river defences; and in a few hours the former were all burned, and the latter levelled with the ground. The troops were then landed without further resistance, and advanced against the town. The garrison fled in confusion through the southern and western