1 ASSASSINATION OF SHERE SING AND DEHAN SING. 70
2 father lias this clay been by the Scindawallas, who have
3 murdered your King*, and his Minister, my dear father*
4 And now listen, soldiers, they have done all this only
5 because while they were in Hindostan, they made traitorous
6 alliances with the British. They then agreed to do all this
7 that has this day been done, — to call in the British and to
8 deliver the country into their hands. In pursuance of this
9 purpose they have, since this morning-, sent off ten or twelve
10 expresses in the direction of Ferozepore and Loodiana to inform
11 the British authorities of their success here ; and now if some
12 bold and energetic steps are not immediately taken by you,
13 you will, before three days have passed, hear of forty or
14 fifty thousand British troops having crossed the Sutlej. If
15 the British come and obtain their purpose, they will disband
16 the entire Khalsa army. Yes ! you will be compelled to give
17 up your arms, and to go every man to his home. Your
18 invincible power, your great and glorious name, will be lost
19 in oblivion, and disgrace will be your lot. You will moreover,
20 be so impoverished that you will have to seek, and seek in
21 vain, an ignoble maintenance from the plough!* Soldiers, if
22 you would avert this humiliation listen to me. The old king's
23 coffers are yet full, but, believe me, I have no occasion to
24 resort to them ; my own, my father's, and my uncle's wealth is
25 sufficient to keep up an army of a hundred thousand good and
26 lo}ral Seiks for a hundred years, and I here solemnly promise
27 that it shall all to the last fraction be expended on you. It
28 is all yours and for your use. Now I here solemnly promise,
29 and if necessary will confirm my word by an oath, that
30 henceforth your pay shall be encreased one-half — each foot
31 soldier shall receive twelve rupees a month, and every horse-
32 man one rupee a day. Listen to me, follow my instructions, and
33 * This was a leaf from his father Dehan Sing's political pocket-book, by an
34 opportune reference to which the minister had often turned the Khalsa to his
35 purpose.