1 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS. 271
2 but the fierce and barbarous character of these
3 people must be taken into account; and if any one
4 is inclined to believe that clemency would be shown
5 by the Sikhs, were any untoward and unlooked-for
6 event to cause our troops to fall into their hands, he
7 is more mistaken than if he looked for it from the
8 Affghan in the defiles of the Khyber Pass. The The Sikhs
9 Mussulman will spare, as was evinced in the case wre Mile
10 of Akhber Khan, but such pity is not to be ex- ulna
11 pected from the followers of Gooroo Govind. How
12 did Biddulph escape? Merely through the kind-
13 ness of the Mussulman artillery-men. Does any one
14 suppose that Dr. Banan and the men of the 31st
15 would have escaped death if the Sikhs, under
16 Runjoor Singh, had got possession of them? No Dis iee of
17 wonder, then, that the British government should the part of the
18 feel disinclined to have any thing further to do with oes
19 the Sikhs beyond endeavouring to re-establish rule
20 and order, and assisting their government in obtain-
21 ing and preserving control over its own subjects.
22 Rather than come in contact with this sanguinary
23 people by keeping possession of Cashmere, this
24 fertile tract has been made over to Goolab Singh,
25 who, though not a Sikh himself, is yet, from ex-
26 perience, well adapted for defending his own pos-
27 sessions against their assaults.
28 There is some reason for believing, that sooner
29 than annex the whole of the Punjab to the British
30 territories, the country might be placed in the
31 hands of the Rajah of Jummoo and Cashmere.