A history of the Sikhs, from the origin of the nation to the battles of the Sutlej

· 1853 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1X author's preface.

2Sikhs, as the leaders of a congenial mental change ;

3the English, as the promoters of rational law and

4material wealth; and individual chiefe and rulers

5can merely play their parts in the great social move-

6ttients with more or less of effect and intelligence.

7Of the deeds and opinions of these conspicuous men,

8the Author has not hesitated to speak plainly but

9soberly, whether in praise or dispraise, and he trusts

10he may do both, without either idly flattering or

11malignantly traducing his country, and also with-

12out compromising his own character as a faithful

13and obedient servant of the State ; — for the soldiers

14of India are no longer mere sentinels over bales of

15goods, nor is the East India Company any longer a

16private association of traffickers which can with reason

17object to its mercantile transactions being subjected

18to open comment by one of its confidential factors.

19The merits of the administration of the East India

20Company are many and undoubted ; but its constitu-

21tion is political, its authority is derivative, and every

22Englishman has a direct interest in the proceedings

23of his Government ; while it is likewise his Country's

24boast that her children can at fitting times express in

25calm and considerate language their views of her

26career, and it is her duty to see that those to whom

27she entrusts power rightly understand both their own

28position and her functions.

292.5th October, 1849.