1 50 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 whose skill the movements of Ahmad Shah had
3 been frustrated, was rewarded with the governorship
4 of the province.
5 Mir Mannu at once took active steps for the
6 suppression of the Sikhs. He marched against and
7 captured the fort of Ram Raoni, recently erected to
8 protect the approach to Amritsar, and was proceeding
9 to the infliction of further punishment when news of
10 the second approach of Ahmad Shah recalled him
11 hastily to his headquarters. By. promising the
12 invader the revenue of four districts as an annual
13 tribute, he obtained a temporary respite. But the
14 promise was soon broken, and at the head of a largely
15 increased force the Shah returned and invested
16 Lahore. Mir Mannu made a brave and protracted
17 defence ; but in the end he was forced to capitulate,
18 and Lahore became a province of the Afghan empire.
19 Mir Mannu transferred his allegiance to Ahmad
20 Shah, and continued in charge of Lahore as the
21 deputy of his new master. The latter then pushed
22 on to Kashmir, which he likewise annexed, and then
23 returned to Kabul. Shortly after his departure Mir
24 Mannu died, and his widow took over the control of
25 the province. The weakness of her administration
26 enabled the Sikhs to emerge from their obscurity, and
27 the horsemen of the Khalsa again became the terror
28 of the country. Wherever protection-money was not
29 forthcoming, villages were sacked, cattle swept off,
30 and crops devastated. The greater the anarchy that
31 prevailed, the stronger the Sikhs became.
32 The next invasion of Ahmad Shah took place
33 in 1755. The empire was by this time too exhausted