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2 serious that the gates of the city were ordered to be shut. The
3 residency was still in the city ; and at this critical moment, the
4 resolute Resident, accompanied by Major Edwardes and a few
5 sowars (mounted soldiers), appeared on the spot where the
6 tumult of the mob was raging, in order to establish tranquillity ;
7 but they were welcomed by the mob with a volley of stones;
8 Major Edwardes received a slight wound on his forehead, and
9 one of the sowars a sabre wound. On the request of the Resident,
10 Lall Sing caused the ringleaders to be captured ; and one of
11 them, a Brahmin, was hung before the city gate, without cere-
12 mony or hesitation.
13 The principal cause of this by no means insignificant riot, was
14 said to be that an English soldier of the garrison gave a cut
15 with his sword to an ox, which is esteemed by the Brahmins as a
16 sacred animal. Since then, however, oxen are not only killed at
17 Lahore, but at Umritsir, the holy city, and the meat is publicly
18 sold at the bazaars. The Sikhs and Hindoos, who consider the
19 killing of oxen and cows to be a capital sin, can do nothing but
20 grieve at the sacrilege, and weep at their inability to prevent it.
21 Their feelings on this point, however, would sometimes take a
22 more active and dangerous turn ; and on one occasion, when
23 the Resident gave an entertainment in the royal gardens, called
24 Shallemar, to which many ladies and gentlemen, and their
25 children were invited, and I also happened to be among the
26 number of the guests, we were near falling victims to the
27 people’s vengeance. By good fortune, however, the Resident was
28 apprised of the conspiracy, and all preparations were made for
29 our security, otherwise it would, I am afraid, have gone hardly
30 # with us, as the quarters of the troops were at Anarkhali, five
31 miles from the gardens.
32 Bad health induced the Resident to accompany the Governor-
33 General, Lord Hardinge, to England, and Sir F. Currie replaced
34 him; but as he treated the Sikhs with more indulgence, not being
35 so well acquainted with oriental policy as Sir H. Lawrence, the
36 people soon began to abuse his kindness. Two officers also,
37 named Agnew and Anderson, both of them unacquainted with