1 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS.
2 » >o
3 1
4 ence had taught him, that the utmost he
5 expect across the Indus was to keep his
6 :ul riVal Dost Mohummud in check, so as to
7 _ re his own conquests entire. The defeat of
8 Htrrrec Singh in 1837, had shown the Maharajah
9 that either his adversary’s power was on the in¬
10 crease, or his own on the decline, and in either
11 case, it became necessary for him to look for aid
12 in preventing the encroachments of Dost Mohum-
13 nmd, and the proposal on the part of the British
14 to substitute Shah Soqjah lor the ameer, was of a
15 nature which suited his views exactly. Had he
16 imagined his position safe without foreign aid, he
17 #oul<J not have so easily agreed to our designs re¬
18 garding Shall Soojah, but the recent example of
19 defeat was fresh in his recollection, and he cor¬
20 dial!'/ agreed to the contemplated invasion of
21 Afghanistan*
22 Though the invaders of a country may be gain¬
23 ers in the first instance, and appear to be suffi¬
24 ciently powerful for retaining their conquests, yet
25 the history of past and present times proves that
26 the retention of a country thus won, is a matter of
27 extreme difficulty, and that the Natives will lose no
28 opportunity of throwing off the yoke of a people
29 who have no other right to impose it than the
30 force of arms. Look at Poland, even at the pre¬
31 sent, day. Though governed by the vast and
32 tyrannical power of Russia, the spirit of independ¬
33 ence is as strong in the minds of the gallant Poles,
34 as it was when Russia first deprived them of their