1 The First Sikh War. m
2 since the Khalsa was to fight, that it should at least
3 fight with all its strength. At the beginning of
4 November the Rani announced her intention of
5 making Raja Lai Singh minister, and Sirdar Tej
6 Singh commander of the forces of the state. With
7 unwonted docility, the troops accepted her nominees,
8 and, it being felt that the occasion was a momentous
9 one, the process of their installation was conducted
10 with more than the customary solemnity. The as-
11 sembly was held at the tomb of Ranjit Singh, the
12 astrologers having first named an auspicious day.
13 The ceremony commenced with the reading of pas-
14 sages from the Granth Sahib, and then, the sacred
15 cakes having been distributed, all the sirdars, officers,
16 and Panches " were requested to lay their hands on
17 the grunth and on the hem of the sacred canopy
18 over the shrine of Runjeet, and thus to swear
19 allegiance to Maharaja Dulleep Singh, and obedience
20 to Raja Lai Singh as wuzeer, and to Sirdar Tej Singh
21 as commander-in-chief." '
22 We have no space for a detailed account of the
23 Sikh wars, for which the reader must be referred to
24 such works as The Sikhs and the Sikh Wars, by
25 General Sir Charles Gough and Arthur D. Innes;
26 The Life and Campaigns of Hugh, First Viscount
27 Gough, by R. S. Rait; and the biographies of
28 Viscount Hardinge and Lord Dalhousie. A short
29 summary of the outstanding features of these memo-
30 rable campaigns is all that can here be attempted.
31 Before the breaking up of the assembly above
32 1 The Reigning Family of Lahore, by Major G. Carmichael Smyth,
33 p. 170.