their track strewn with the wounded, their arms and military equipments, A.D. 1849. which they threw away to conceal that they were soldiers." results of There was no room to doubt, as at Chillianwalla, whether a victory had Important been gained. The enemy's army had been annihilated, fifty-three of their guns, battle of being, except six, the whole they brought into action, had been captured, and Gujerat. the Sikh war was in fact ended. What made this signal success still more gratifying was the comparatively small cost at which it had been purchased, the Afghan The day after the victory Major-general Gilbert, at the head of a force of Pursuit of about 15,000 men, with forty guns, resumed the pursuit of the fugitives in the auxiliaries. direction of the Jhelum, but on reaching Noorungabad, on the left bank, found that Shere Sing had already crossed, and was encamped on the right bank with the relics of his army, estimated at about 8000 men. The Sikh leader, however, had no idea of continuing the contest, and employed the intervention of Major Lawrence, who had formerly been treacherously detained as a prisoner, to make his own submission together with that of the other rebel chiefs. Meantime, General Gilbert having crossed the Jhelum, directed his attention chiefly to the Afghans, who were now in full flight toward the Indus. He so nearly overtook them that he reached Attock, which they had just evacuated, before they had time entirely to destroy the bridge of boats, with the view of precluding further pursuit. He was therefore able to convey his troops across, and enter the territory of Afghanistan, but as there was now no hope of reaching the flying Afghans before they entered the fatal Khyber Pass, he prudently desisted from following them, and retraced his steps. of the Sikh With regard to the future government of the Punjab, the governor-general Extinction had already decided, and therefore no time was lost in acquainting the Lahore dominion. council of regency that the Sikh dominion was at an end. The members, aware that resistance would be unavailing, contented themselves with endeavouring to obtain favourable terms, and on being assured that those of them who had not taken part in the rebellion would be liberally dealt with, gave their consent to a treaty, which, though made in the name of the maharajah, and signed by of the Sikh A.D. 1849. him, could not be considered as his, since he was then a boy of only eleven years of age. By this so-called treaty, consisting of five articles, the maharajah Extinction for ever renounced all right of sovereignty in the Punjab, gave up all state dominion. property as confiscated to the British government; surrendered to the Queen of England "the gem called the Koh-i-noor, which was taken from Shah Shujah-ulMoolk by Maharajah Runjeet Sing;" and agreed to reside at such place as the governor-general should select, only stipulating in return that he should be treated with respect and honour, retain the title of "Maharajah Dhuleep Sing MAHARAJAH DHULEEP SING. From Hardinge's Recollections of India. Bahadoor," and receive a pension of not less than four, and not more than five lacs of rupees. It may here be mentioned as an interesting fact that this youthful prince has since embraced Christianity. On the 29th of March the governor-general issued a proclamation in which, after narrating the peace and friendship which prevailed in the time of Runjeet Sing, the subsequent gross violation of treaties by the Sikhs, the clemency extended to them after their discomfiture, and the most ungrateful return which they had recently made by waging "a fierce and bloody war for the proclaimed purpose of destroying the British and their power," proceeded as follows:-"The government of India formerly declared that it desired no further conquest, and it proved by its acts the sincerity of its professions. The government of India has no desire for conquest now; but it is bound in its duty to provide fully for its own security, and to guard the interests of those committed to its charge. To that end, and as the only sure mode of protecting the state from the perpetual recurrence of unprovoked and wasting wars, the governor-general is compelled to resolve upon the entire subjection of a people whom their own government has long been unable to control, and whom (as events have now shown) no punishment can deter Annexation from violence, no acts of friendship can conciliate to peace. Wherefore the Governor-general of India has declared, and hereby proclaims, that the kingdom of the Punjab is at an end, and that all the territories of Maharajah Dhuleep Sing are now and henceforth a portion of the British empire in India." The action of Chillianwalla, when the news of it reached this country, was generally regarded by the British public as equivalent to defeat and prognostic of future disaster, and all eyes were turned to Sir Charles Napier as the man best qualified to bring the war to a successful termination. The cry for his appointment became in consequence so loud and determined that the directors, though he was almost at open war with them, were compelled to yield, and the of the Punjab. Napier pro India as commander conqueror of Scinde, who thought he had bidden a final farewell to India, sailed A.D. 1849. for it again as commander-in-chief, on the 24th of February, 1849. During the voyage, when off Ceylon, he received intelligence of the victory of Gujerat. As Sir Charles the circumstances under which his appointment had been made were thus ceeds to entirely changed, and as he was himself by no means of a tractable temper, it is easy to understand that it was not long before he began to find himself in a false in-chief. position. Others soon came to be of the same opinion, and not a few, who were smarting under his severe though probably not undeserved censures, began to wait for his halting. The governor-general was far above entertaining any such feeling himself, or of countenancing it in others, but he was jealous of his authority, and is said to have hinted to the new commander-in-chief, at their very first interview, that he must beware of encroaching on it. There was thus from the outset no great prospect of harmonious co-operation, and before a year elapsed a collision took place. Believing that a mutinous spirit prevailed among the sepoys serving in the Punjab, and that one main cause of it was a diminution of pay, produced by a government regulation affecting their allowance for purchasing food, Sir Charles Napier suspended the regulation on his own responsibility, without waiting to obtain the sanction of the governor-general, who was then at sea, or even consulting the supreme council. Subsequently he had not only disbanded the 66th native infantry, on the ground of mutiny, as he was entitled to do, but also by another stretch of authority had given its colours to a Ghoorka battalion, which was henceforth to rank as the 66th instead of the regiment disbanded. This latter proceeding the governor-general simply disapproved of by letter, but the former proceeding was deemed too serious an encroachment to be thus quietly disposed of, and the decision in regard to it was communicated in a formal letter addressed by the government secretary to the adjutant-general of the army. This letter was a reprimand of the harshest Misunderdescription, both in form and in substance. Through it the commander-in-chief with the was told that the governor-general in council viewed the orders which he has general. issued to the officers in the Punjab "with regret and dissatisfaction"—and given to understand for his future guidance "that the governor-general in council will not again permit the commander-in-chief, under any circumstances, to issue orders which shall change the pay and allowances of the troops serving in India, and thus practically to exercise an authority which has been reserved, and most properly reserved, for the supreme government alone." After such a reprimand nothing but resignation could have been anticipated, and accordingly on the 22d May, it was transmitted through Lord Fitzroy Somerset to the Duke of Wellington, the commander-in-chief. His grace, who had always been a stanch friend of Sir Charles Napier, and had exerted himself in procuring his appointment, was greatly displeased with the manner in which he had thrown it up, and moreover declared his conviction that his conduct had been justly censured. Sir Charles Napier arrived in England in March, 1851, and it is VOL. III. 263 standing governor and death of Napier. A.D. 1853. pleasing to add, that by none was he welcomed more heartily than by the Duke of Wellington. The interview is thus graphically described by himself: "I never Resignation was so kindly, so graciously received as just now by the duke; I thought he Sir Charles Would have embraced me. Will your grace let me put your name on my card for the levee on Wednesday? Oh yes! yes! and I will go there, and take care to tell the queen that you are there; she will be glad to see you safe back, and so am I, so is everybody." As an appropriate supplement to this anecdote, it may be mentioned that Sir Charles was one of the pall-bearers at the duke's funeral, and caught a cold which accelerated his death. Disease had indeed long been preying upon him, but he was permitted to exceed the allotted span of life, and was in his seventy-second year when he expired on the morning of the 29th of August, 1853. New Bur mese war. CHAPTER IX. A new Burmese war-Capture of Martaban, Rangoon, and Prome-Annexation of Pegu-Peace with HE Sikh war was no sooner triumphantly terminated, than attention was called to an opposite quarter. Under the treaty with Burmah, British subjects trading to its ports were entitled to "the utmost protection and security." The governor of Rangoon was charged with grossly violating this obligation, and in addition to individual complaints, a formal memorial was presented to the council at Calcutta, by several merchants and commanders of trading vessels, in which they stated that they had "for a long time suffered from the tyranny and gross injustice of the Burmese authorities" at Rangoon, and that trade was "seriously obstructed and almost suppressed in consequence." Commodore Lambert, of her majesty's ship Fox, was therefore ordered to proceed with his ship and a small squadron to Rangoon, to demand reparation. In doing so, he was directed to use the utmost caution. He was first to address a letter to the governor of Rangoon, briefly setting forth the facts of each case. If compensation was granted, the matter was not to be carried any further; but as it seemed very probable that this amicable settlement would not be acceded to, he was furnished with a letter to the King of Ava, which was to be forwarded only in the event of a refusal by the governor of Rangoon, and recommended the removal of this officer as essential to a continuance of good understanding between the two governments. of Commo bert. Commodore Lambert arrived at Rangoon in the end of November, 1851, and on A.D. 1852. the 28th of this month addressed a letter to the council at Calcutta, explaining his reasons for "deviating" from part of their instructions as to the mode of demanding Proceedings redress. The charges made against the governor, instead of being overcharged, dore Lamfell, he said, far short of the truth, and therefore, since it must be as useless as it was unpleasant to attempt an arrangement with an official guilty of such gross misconduct, he had at once forwarded the letter to the King of Ava, and along with it a letter from himself to the prime-minister. In transmitting these letters through the governor of Rangoon, he addressed him in the following laconical terms:-"I shall a sound discretion" in so far deviating from his instructions by "cutting off all discussion with the local governor," but he at the same time cautioned him "not to have recourse to the terrible extremity of war except in the last resort, and after every other method has been tried without success." On the supposition that the King of Ava might either decline to answer the letter, or refuse to comply with its demands, the governor-general concluded thus: "The only course we can pursue which would not on the one hand involve a dangerous submission to injury, or on the other hand precipitate us prematurely into a war which moderate counsels may yet enable us to avert, will be to establish a blockade of the two rivers at Moulmein, by which the great mass of the traffic of the Burmese empire is understood to pass." amicable On the 1st of January, 1852, the court of Ava returned an answer which Hopes of an seemed to leave no doubt of an amicable settlement, since it announced that the settlement. obnoxious governor had been recalled, and his successor instructed to make due compensation. The commodore, encouraged by this friendly proceeding, immediately endeavoured to open a communication with the new governor, and with this view having addressed a letter to him, sent Commander Fishbourne and two other officers ashore to deliver it. Their reception was the very opposite of what had |