1 THE SECOND SIKH WAR, 565
2 Rajé left the Dewan in disgust, and formed a junction with his father near, Shér Singh effects a
3 Wazirabdd, where their united forces amounted to about 30,000 men. The dather ab Wasirabid.
4 Rajé& had already issued inflammatory manifestoes and seditious letters to
5 the Sikh community, reminding them that the Feringés had treated the
6 Maharani, the widow of the great Mahardj4 Ranjit Singh, and the mother His seditious
7 of the people, with undue violence, that the kingdom had lost its former ™”""°™
8 repute, and calling on all the servants of the Khdélsé Ji, of the holy Guru
9 and of the Mahardjé to sacrifice their lives and to murder all the Fering?és,
10 in return for which service, he said, they would receive the blessings of the
11 holy Guru and be recompensed with higher rank and a distribution of
12 rewards. His route, in marching to join his father, was marked by the
13 plundering of villages, the defilement of mosques, the murder of priests,
14 the oppression of merchants and other excesses characteristic of Asiatic”
15 warfare, Thus, the whole Panjdb was in a flame, and the seeds of dis-
16 sension so deeply sown, sprung up vigorously in various quarters, and brought
17 about circumstances which led to the final struggle for the mastery in the
18 Panjéb. Dost Muhammad’s dream of occupying Peshawar, or Bannd, was
19 not destined to be realized. An effectual check was put on his troops
20 by Lieutenant Taylor, while the expedition to Harrand from Kandahar had
21 to be abandoned, as the assembled armies suffered severely from fever and _,,Thesiege of Multan
22 A aes tes dispersed. The siege of Multén was resumed on the 27th of December, 1818.
23 ecember,
24 . The Bombay division, commanded by Brigadier Dundas, reached Multéa
25 on the 21st of that month. Mul Raj had by this time further strengthened
26 the fortifications of the town and suburbs. The citizens, in their zeal for
27 the “holy war,” tore down their doors and shutters to be converted into
28 traverses for the ramparts. But the forces under Mul Rdj were much ,,eprfopson the
29 reduced, and numbers deserted him to join the standard of Chattar Singh
30 on the Jhelum, which locality was now becoming the focus of rebellion.
31 Mul R4j suffered from want of money and began to coin his store of gold.
32 He had still at his command 12,000 fighting men within the fort. On the
33 arrival of the Commander-in-Chief, hostilities were commenced, the forces 2
34 under his personal command numbering upwards of 20,000 men, with
35 nearly a hundred pieces of artillery.
36 Sir Henry Lawrence, who had gone to England on sick leave, returned __ Sir Henry Lawrence
37 to Multén in time to witness the commencement of the second siege. He had “™™" "ENN"
38 not fully recovered his health; but his strong sense of duty outweighed
39 all personal considerations, and, as Sir Frederick Currie’s term of office had
40 not yet expired, his services were placed at the disposal of Lord Gough in
41 connection with the impending operations. On the 27th of December, one
42 british column was sent to deliver an attack on the suburbs, which included
43 Mal Rdj’s own garden-house, Am Khas, while three other columns were , Spveralimporant
44 ordered to make diversions, so as to distract the enémy. The irregular captured.
45 forces commenced the diversion at noon, and by 4.3. the whole line of
46 the suburbs, including the tomb of Séwan Mal, the blue mosque of the Saint
47 of Tabrez, and the cantonments of the Am Khas, was in possession of the
48 British. Brigadier Dundas captured, occupied and crowned with guns
49 several important posts, while the Bombay Fusiliers, charging the enemy
50 at the point of the bayonet, drove them towards the city, and the Bombay
51 Native Rifles actually entered one of the city gates.
52 Ib was now resolved to take the city first and to attack the fort from Attack on the city.
53 the city, which was considered to involve less difficulty to the besiegers than
54 if the attack were made on it from any exposed point outside. The irre-
55 gulars under Major Edvard Sa q Licutenant Lake were ords red to_maio-
56 Sri Satgu agit ingh | rel rary NamdharicElibrary@ gmail.com