1 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS. 305
2 state of our relations with the Lahore government,
3 your Excellency is aware, that I do not anticipate
4 the probability of any emergencies arising, which
5 can require the army,” &c.
6 Up to the latest period, the relations between
7 the two governments remained of the same friendly
8 character, and to the last moment the Governor-
9 general drew a just distinction between the inten-
10 tions of the people and their rulers.
11 He remarks, “ Having to deal with a mutinous
12 Sikh army, which has usurped the functions of the
13 government, and whose caprice may at any time
14 force on a rupture with our forces,” &. Here is a
15 candid view of the case: the Lahore government,
16 with which he had hitherto maintained friendly
17 terms, no longer existed; “ its functions were ‘A mutinoua
18 usurped by a mutinous Sikh army,” and hostile re- Sete
19 sults might be anticipated. It was not the Lahore thacoeee
20 government then, that made war upon the British, ™°"™
21 and invaded the territories of the latter, but “a
22 mutinous Sikh army.””
23 Though the anomalous state of the Lahore go-
24 vernment with regard to its army, was thus known
25 to the Governor-general and his agent, it is very
26 probable, that the Commander-in-chief required no
27 other justification of his arrangements, than the Arrangements
28 : aye panes «y_ of the Com-
29 risk of our territories being invaded by a hostile mander-in-
30 army. It was a matter of indifference to him, sree pate
31 whether such an army was a mutinous one, usurp-
32 ing the functions of its government, or acting under
33 the orders of the constituted authorities.
34 VQI.. Il m, ‘a