1 290 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS.
2 The necessity The garrison of Lahore must be prepared ‘to
3 aa oh crush every disturbance in the very bud, no matter
4 from what source it may originate. The members of
5 the Lahore government will carefully abstain from
6 giving any direct cause of umbrage. They will
7 assiduously endeavour to meet the wishes of the
8 British, but all this apparent good will and friendly
9 Weakly and feeling are not to be trusted. Every tumult that
10 unsettled state
11 of the Punjab, May occur, Will, in all likelihood, originate in a wish
12 on the part of the Sikh government, to show that it
13 is still capable of managing its own affairs, and so
14 long as the garrison at Lahore is composed of
15 British troops, the government will no doubt last.
16 At the present moment, it is with the greatest diffi-
17 culty that the revenues can be collected,* and the
18 order to deliver up the fort of Kangra to the
19 British authorities, was at first disregarded.t The
20 settlement of boundary lines has been at all times
21 a fertile source of discord, not only between indivi-
22 duals, but between nations. Goolab Singh is
23 already anxious to possess portions of the hill
24 states, which the Sikhs contend are the property
25 The grasping of.the Lahore government. A dire spirit of enmity
26 Alnimeaah ef exists between the Sikhs and this independent
27 } ‘ ie
28 gummoo and chief, and it is easy to see how unsettled an aspect
29 * Among the first to dispute the power of the Durbar, was the governor
30 of Moolton, Moolraj, the son of the late Saroum Mul; but the presence ofa
31 British garrison at Lahore has had the effect of bringing him to a sense of
32 his duty. It is probable that he will not be slow in withdrawing his alle-
33 giance when they are deprived of that garrison.
34 + And it was not until a large British force had reached Kote Kangra
35 that the killadar surrendered.