1 42 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS.
2 while obtaining the credit of restoring peace, he
3 would insure independence for himself. The Rajah
4 had a difficult part to play, and the repeated
5 demands of the Sikh army that he would join it,
6 obliged him to leave Jummoo and proceed to
7 Lahore, but he had determined to keep clear of
8 the struggle until the onset should show how he
9 was to act.
10 Hlad Goolab Singh succeeded Juwaheer Singh
11 as Prime Minister, he would have used his best
12 endcayours to prevent a collision between the Sikhs
13 and the British; but he did not forget, that a
14 brother and nephew who had held that responsible
15 post had both fallen victims to the sword, and a
16 similar fate might befall him. From every consider-
17 ation, therefore, the Rajah believed that a rupture
18 with the British would most effectually:accomplish
19 his ambitious views; and he was resolved to act
20 with great caution and avoid mixing himself up in
21 the quarrel: even when he reached Lahore, after
22 the war had begun and he «was requested by the
23 Rance and the Punches of the army to join the
24 latter, he availed himself of the excuse of wishing
25 to act independently at the head of his own troops
26 in any work she might assign to him.
27 Such, then, was the aspect of affairs in Novem-
28 ber, 1845. But though daily reports were spread,
29 that the Sikhs intended to invade the British ter-
30 ritories, and though the news-writers at Lahore
31 gave minute accounts of the hostile preparations,
32 yet the British government would not believe that