1 The Lahore
2 government
3 unable to en-
4 force its ©
5 orders.
6 Probable rea~
7 sons for Kan-
8 gra holding
9 out.
10 Would Go-
11 vindghur and
12 Umritsir yield
13 to the British?
14 316 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS.
15 a government, than the refusal of its servants to
16 obey its orders. Here, at no great distance from
17 the capital, we see the commander of a fort put-’
18 ting his government at defiance; and, therefore,
19 instead of receiving the fort of Kote Kangra from
20 the Lahore authorities, we w8re absolutely obliged
21 to send a force against it.
22 We are almost inclined to adopt the belief, that
23 already has the Lahore government repented of its
24 having given up the Jalindhur Doab into the hands
25 of the British; and though the towns in the plains
26 of this Doab, such as Jalindhur itself, Hooshyar-
27 pore, &c. could offer no resistance, yet the hill
28 forts of Kangra, Kumlaguth and others, may have
29 received a hint, that necessity alone caused their
30 surrender to the British. If such be the case, it
31 cannot be wondered at, that the killadars take
32 upon themselves the responsibility of holding out
33 against the latter.
34 It is true that the capital of the Punjab is at
35 present garrisoned by Britisn troops, but would the
36 killadar of Govindghur, if ordered to do so by
37 Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, deliver the keys to the
38 British? Or would the commandant of Umritsir
39 comply? One or both might have done so when
40 the army of the Sutlej was encamped at Meean
41 Meer, on the 25th March, but it is doubtful if
42 these authorities would yield on the 25th June.
43 It may be said, that the British have not con-
44 quered the Punjab, though the army of the latter
45 has been beaten in four engagements. And there-