1 The Last Years of Ran jit Singh. 137
2 violence or by fraud, or if necessary by both com-
3 bined. In this unruly company, the Jammu brothers
4 (referred to on page 110) were by far the most
5 striking figures. Dhian Singh, Ghulab Singh, and
6 Suchet Singh were the handsomest men at the court
7 of Ranjit Singh, and the two former were equally
8 conspicuous for their intelligence and administrative
9 ability. Dhian Singh, who had raised himself from
10 door-keeper to prime minister, was now the virtual
11 ruler of the state, and he had an able supporter in
12 his son Hira Singh. Ghulab, who, in return for his
13 military services, had been granted the estate of
14 Jammu, had increased his possessions to such an
15 extent that he was become the greatest sirdar in the
16 Punjab. Both were skilled in the art of oriental
17 diplomacy, and their manners were, when occasion
18 demanded it, as engaging as their looks. Suchet
19 Singh was handsomer than his brothers, but much
20 inferior to them in attainments, while all three were
21 equally distinguished for their cruelty, their duplicity,
22 and their insatiable ambition. It was the aim of the
23 Jammu brothers to bring the whole of the Punjab
24 under their joint dominion, Dhian looking forward to
25 the control of the south, and Ghulab to that of the
26 north. Dhian speedily fell a victim to his own
27 intrigues; but Ghulab was luckier, and lived to
28 attain, through the generosity of T)he British, the
29 object of his ambition. Of the latter, the writer in
30 the Calcutta Review quoted above gives us the
31 following picture : * Golab Singh is rather cor-
32 pulent. His features are good, and the expression of
33 his countenance is mild. No man better dilates on