1 88 SECRET HISTORY OF THE LAHORE DURBAR.
2 The officers and Punches of the army being assembled at the
3 Hazooreebagh, Heera Sing told them that he had summoned
4 them to decide on the best means of tranquilising and govern-
5 ing the country, and that they might choose and appoint a
6 rajah and his Minister, would consult with them as the representatives of the whole
7 army. Itwas further proposed by Shere Sing and the Wuzeer, that all the officers
8 of the army should be present at this conference, and orders were accordingly issued
9 for their attendance ; but the soldiery would not agree to this, and to secure the
10 absence of (their officers, they put them under a kind of arrest until the consulta-
11 tion was over and its results declared. The meeting of this council was, as the
12 Seiks themselves express it, the birth-day of the Painches. The deputies set forth
13 all the claims and demands of the army, and the Durbar proposed measures for their
14 satisfaction ; but nothing was definitively settled, as the Painches declared that
15 they would do nothing without consulting their brethren. In two days, however,
16 matters assumed a more pacific aspect, and Shere Sing once more ventured to present
17 himself in the Seik camp. When he did so the soldiers gathered around him
18 declaring, that though they were well satisfied with the arrangements that had
19 been made, there remained one matter yet which required to be settled. They
20 stated, that during the time of Runjeet Sing many of their officers, aided by the
21 moonshees or writers, had treated them in such a manner by fraud and extortion,
22 that they could no longer consent to be commanded by them. They, there-
23 fore, demanded that the officers indicated should be either posted to other corps
24 willing to receive them, or be dismissed from the service altogether. Shere
25 Sing, inconsiderately, it may be, gave them full permission to act as they thought
26 fit in the matter, and to select or reject the officers as they pleased. On this
27 great confusion ensued, arising out of the conflicting opinions of the Painches
28 as to which officers should be kept and which dismissed. One corps refused to take
29 these officers, and another refused to give up those which were demanded by a
30 third ; and so a fierce contention arose among them which went so far that the
31 drums of some battalions beat to arms, and there seemed every likelihood of a fierce
32 and bloody strife ensuing. Shere Sing, however, to restore order and to extricate
33 himself from the dangerous position in which he found himself, after having with
34 some difficulty obtained a hearing, requested them to convene an orderly and regular
35 meeting of their Painches, and therein to settle the matter amicably and quietly.
36 Having given this advice, which had the immediate effect of restoring order, for
37 the moment at least, he took the opportunity of withrawing from among the
38 unruly mob of soldiers, and as he departed, uttered the words, " Kucha pucka
39 samalo .'" " Good or bad settle the matter among yourselves." These words
40 had the effect of preventing strife among the soldiers, but they were the
41 death warrant of many an unfortunate officer and moonshee. Shere Sing
42 had not reached the city ere the troops had murdered many of their officers
43 and moonshees, shooting some, cutting down others, and even burning some of
44 them alive, rolled up in scarfs ! Others were bound, gagged, beaten, and
45 thrown into prison. When once the fierce lust of vengeance was let loose, Shere
46 Sing found it vain to attempt to check it either by threats or promises. Henoe