The victory of the English at Sobraon was of a decisive nature. They were relieved of the danger from “the bravest and steadiest enemy ever encountered in India” which almost shook to the very base the edifice of British dominion in the Upper Provinces. As a reward for these brilliant victories of great significance, the authorities in England, justly jubilant over the fall of the Sikhs, conferred peerages on the Governor-General, Sir Henry Hardinge, and the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Hugh Gough; and freely distributed honours and favours among all ranks.
The Governor-General with the victorious British army crossed the Sutlej by a bridge of boats on the 13th February and occupied Lahore on the 20th February. The Sikhs, now utterly prostrate, had no alternative but to submit to any arrangement that Lord Hardinge might impose on them. He, however, shrank from complete annexation of the Punjab in view of the necessity of greater forces for this purpose than what he had at his disposal; and he also abstained from the expedient of subsidiary alliance in consideration of the future disadvantages of this course. He dictated a treaty to the vanquished Sikhs in their own capital on the 9th March, 1846. By it the Sikhs were required to cede to the British all territories to the south of the Sutlej, together with the extensive Jullundur Doab, lying between the Sutlej and the Beas. A heavy war indemnity amounting to one and a half crores of rupees was paid by the Lahore Darbar, fifty lacs in cash and the balance by ceding to the British the hill districts between the Beas and the Indus including Kashmir and Hazara. The Sikh army was reduced to 25 battalions of infantry and 12,000 cavalry, and 36 guns, besides those already captured, were surrendered to the English. The Sikhs were prevented from employing any British, European or American subject, and from changing the limits of their territory, without the consent of the British Government. The minor Dalip Singh was recognised as the Maharaja with Rani Jhindan as his regent and Lal Singh as the chief minister. The Governor-General agreed not to interfere in the internal administration of the Lahore State. But it was provided that a British force, sufficient to protect the person of the Maharaja, should be stationed at Lahore till the close of the year 1846; and Henry Lawrence was appointed British Resident there. To reduce the Lahore State in size, Kashmir was sold by the English to Golab Singh, a sardar of the Lahore Darbar, in return for one million sterling, by a separate treaty concluded with him at Amritsar on the 16th March. This arrangement, remarks Cunningham, “was a dexterous one, if reference be only had to the policy of reducing the power of the Sikhs; but the transaction scarcely seems worthy of the British name and greatness, and the objections become stronger when it is considered that Golab Singh had agreed to pay sixty-eight lacs of rupees as a fine to his paramount authority before the war broke out, and that the custom of the East as well as of the West requires the feudatory to aid his lord in foreign war and domestic strife. Golab Singh ought thus to have paid the deficient million of money as a Lahore subject, instead of being put in possession of Lahore provinces as an independent prince “.
The outbreak of some disorders, particularly an insurrection against Golab Singh at the instigation of Lal Singh, who was dismissed for this offence, led to a revision of the original Lahore treaty on the 16th December, 1846, in such a manner as served to bring the Punjab under the more effective control of the English. It transferred the Lahore administration to the hands of a Council of Regency of eight Sikh sardars, who were to act under the virtual dictatorship of the British Resident. A British force was to be maintained at Lahore, the Government of which was to pay twenty-two lacs of rupees for its expenses. It was laid down that the new arrangements were to continue till the Maharaja attained his majority on the 4th September, 1854, or till such period as the Governor-General and the Lahore Darbar might think necessary. The British Resident, Sir Henry Lawrence, sailed for England with Lord Hardinge on the 18th January, 1848; and his office, being held, for a brief interval, by his brother Sir John (afterwards Lord) Lawrence, was given to Sir Frederick Currie on the 6th April, 1848.
The Second Anglo-Sikh War and Annexation of the, Punjab
Lord Hardinge’s arrangements in the Punjab with the Sikh chiefs lacked any “prospects of permanence”. The defeat of the Sikh army did not mean the extinction of national aspirations among the Sikh people, who had behind them traditions of brilliant achievements and had so recently opposed the English with grim determination. They justly attributed their humiliation to the treachery of their leaders and chafed under the ascendancy of the English in the Punjab. The removal of the Queen-mother, Rani Jhindan, from Lahore, on a charge of conspiracy against the British Resident, added to their discontent. A violent outburst in the shape of a national rising was imminent. Another trial of strength between the disaffected Sikhs and their victorious adversaries was inevitable, and it occurred very soon, the immediate occasion being supplied by an incident in the city of Multan.
Diwan Mulraj, governor of Multan, was in financial trouble through a fall in the revenue collection in his district, and on being pressed by the Lahore Darbar for a payment of one million sterling, as the price of his office, he resigned in anger in March, 1848. The Lahore Darbar appointed Sardar Khan Singh in his place and sent him to take charge of Multan in the company of two young British officers, Vans Agnew of the Civil Service and Lieutenant Anderson of the Bombay European Regiment. These two officers were murdered on the 20th April. It was believed that the crime was committed at the instigation of Mulraj, who made preparations for resisting the English. The Commander-in-Chief, Lord Gough, and the Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, did not adopt any iimmediate measures to suppress the rising but decided to wait till the cold weather. Their policy was approved by the home authorities but was subjected to much criticism in other quarters. It is, however, true that there were political motives behind their action. Besides taking into consideration the difficulties of distant campaigns, and the movement of troops during the hot weather and the rains, they wanted to gauge the strength of the Lahore Government and its ability to quell the disturbance, which it was technically bound to do, and also not to risk much in trying only to reduce it when there were sufficient indications of a widespread Multan rising. Despite the “wait and see” policy of the Supreme Government, a young British lieutenant named Herbert Edwardes, who was employed under the Sikh Council of Regency, and the British Resident, Currie, made some unsuccessful attempts to suppress the rising and besiege Multan. Sher Singh, son of Chatter Singh, the Sikh governor of the Hazara district, unwisely sent by the British Resident to join the besieging troops at Multan, went over to the side of Mulraj on the 14th September, 1848. The activities of Rani Jhindan added fuel to the fire of Sikh discontent, and the veteran Sikh leaders began to rally round Sher Singh. Thus the Multan revolt soon assumed the nature of a Sikh national movement, and the inevitable Second Anglo-Sikh War began. The Sikhs had this time won over their old foes, the Afghans, to their cause by holding out to them the city of Peshawar as a bait.
