1 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS. 261
2 districts made over to Goolab Singh. Had the
3 ’ latter not thus received them, there is every pro-
4 bability that he would have seized upon them by
5 force, if they had remained as portions of the king-
6 dom of Lahore. A government, though not en-
7 tirely overthrown, may be so far weakened, as to
8 be incapable of defending itself against internal
9 disorders and anarchy ; and this has been the posi-
10 tion of that of Lahore, not only since the campaign
11 with the British, but from the day of the death of The Lahore
12 Shere Singh and the Prime Minister Dhyan Singh. Feak since the
13 The government of the Punjab has been, virtually, 70%,
14 in the hands of the soldiery, who plundered the
15 state as long as anything remained ; and when the
16 treasury was exhausted, and the disaffected troops
17 saw no prospect of their being longer maintained,
18 they resolved to hasten a crisis, whereby the inde
19 pendence of themselves and their government
20 would be compromised, or their ambitious views
21 realized. But they cared not for consequences:
22 they were reckless and determined to fight; and
23 though their several defeats have taught the Sikhs
24 a lesson, yet their return to order and peace is far Military anar-
25 distant. Their progress has been arrested and santas
26 themselves beaten and destroyed in great numbers;
27 but the Punjab is a populous country, and it is not
28 likely that those men who have been disbanded, The reason
29 . < why it should.
30 will all at once settle down quietly; they must have
31 employment, but they will not exchange the sword
32 for the ploughshare, and therefore their only
33 means of procuring a livelihood must depend on