1 168 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 of these districts were read to the assembled Panches,
3 in which it was stated that the people of their
4 villages were being compelled to pay tribute to
5 the British Government.
6 Various circumstances combined to precipitate the
7 storm ; but the underlying cause of the enmity
8 of the Sikhs was their consistent misunderstanding
9 of the aims and actions of the British authorities.
10 The latter had, indeed, realized that, if anarchy
11 continued to reign in the Punjab, the occupation
12 of that province might be forced upon them. But
13 such a necessity, so far from being one that they
14 were prepared to welcome, was one that they
15 earnestly desired to avert, nor had they taken a
16 single step in anticipation of its arising. The
17 measures adopted to strengthen the Sutlej frontier,
18 which the Sikhs regarded as aggressive preparations,
19 were of a purely defensive character, and as such
20 were undertaken on a much smaller scale than the
21 dangers of the situation demanded, so determined
22 was Sir Henry Hardinge, the Governor-General, to
23 avoid giving any grounds of provocation to the
24 Lahore Government.
25 These suspicions and rumours permeated all classes
26 of the Sikh community. There were at the Rani's
27 court, and among the better informed sirdars, those
28 who knew them to be groundless ; but these were the
29 very men who gave them currency. None knew
30 better than the Rani herself how little likelihood
31 there was of the British making an unprovoked
32 attack on the Punjab. But she and her chief ad-
33 visers were now no less anxious than the Panches