1 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS,
2 bis ears, arid he thus held a great power
3 in Ins hands, by which he was enabled to distribute
4 justice to all; and he never failed to investigate all
5 matters brought to his notice in this ingenious
6 wanner, A similar plan might be recommended
7 to the rulers of the land in our country, and .also
8 to judges and magistrates in India, who seldom
9 obtain any clue to the grievances of the poor, ex¬
10 cept through their amlah, who must be bribed,
11 ilunjeet was particularly struck with the justice of
12 British functionaries on his frontier, in settling
13 boundaries, and the task was really not an easy
14 one, when the district of Feerozpore lapsed to us.
15 To a man less acquainted with the subject than
16 Lieutenant Mackeson, the boundary question be¬
17 tween Feerozpore and the Sikh States on the left
18 bank of the Sutlej, might have become the source
19 of endless quarrels, The Maharajah knew and
20 owned the difficulties, and could not but admire
21 the patience and perseverance exhibited by the
22 .British officers employed on this knotty point, and
23 never failed to express his satisfaction at their pro¬
24 ceedings.
25 One thing occasioned his astonishment, and that
26 was the expense incurred by British troops in
27 marching through the country, where instead - of
28 helping themselves to anything they required in
29 the shape of supplies, they paid for all they re¬
30 ceived. He owned that he could not afford to be
31 thus liberal, and the people had become so accus¬
32 tomed to his exactions, that they would be dis-
33 VOh. i. . u