1 30 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS.
2 expect. In 1837, when attending the marriage of.
3 Nonehal Singh, he was a stout, fair man,; he was’
4 strongly built, and shorter in stature than cither
5 Dhyan Singh or Soochet Singh. Like all other
6 chiefs dependent on the Lahore Government, he
7 was perfectly submissive during the reign of the
8 Maharajah Runjeet Singh, but it might casily have
9 heen anticipated, that in the event of any disturb-
10 ance in the Punjab, or rupture with the British, he
11 would not be slow in seizing an opportunity of
12 aggrandising himself. During the life time of Shere
13 Singh, the prime minister had frequently threat-
14 ened to supplant him by a reputed son of Runjeet,
15 who, with his mother, had been under the protec-
16 tion of Goolab Singh at Jummoo. On the death
17 of Shere Singh, and even before that event, arrange-
18 ments had been made by the Jummoo family for
19 bringing this boy to Lahore; and the first step
20 taken by Heera Singh as well as Ajeet Singh was
21 to acknowledge him as king. Though the events
22 in Sikh history possess an interest as evincing their
23 extraordinary rise and formation into a warlike
24 nation under the auspices of Runjeet Singh; yet
25 the history of the Sikhs under the reign of Dhuleep
26 Singh, places them in a position which must be
27 considered of vast importance by the civilized
28 nations of Europe; for it was during his reign,
29 that the Sikh power had become so arrogant, that
30 no longer confining itself to the Punjab, it aimed
31 at the conquest of Hinsdostan and imagined itself
32 capable of overthrowing the British supremacy.