BOOK II.
AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COUNTRIES
LYING BETWEEN INDIA AND THE CASPIAN
SEA.
CHAPTER I.
ON THE PUNJAB, AS RULED BY RUNJEET SING.
There are few countries on the globe defined by limits both natural and political like the Punjab. Northward, it is terminated by the Hemilaya Mountains; westward, by the Indus or Sinde, which is also the boundary of Hindostan to the ocean; and on the east and south it has the river Sutlege, with four kindred streams, that water the country, and affix to it the name of Punjab.
The following are the accurate words of the historians of Alexander, who traversed this territory:—“The greater part of this country is level and champaign; which is occasioned chiefly, as some suppose, by the rivers washing down quantities of mud during their overflowings, insomuch that many countries have borrowed their very names from the rivers which pass through them.” In the name of Punjab, or five rivers, by which this country is familiarly known in our own times, how strong is the verification! How much stronger is it, when we add, that three of the intervening tracts between these rivers have their designation in a compound word, that includes a syllable of the name in either river!
It is not necessary to dwell with minuteness on the physical peculiarities of this country, nor to mention in detail the various revolutions which have placed it under the dominion of one ruler. I shall endeavour to describe the existing condition of this kingdom, and its power as a state, together with the nature and character of its people, and its resources and strength; taking also a view of the moral and religious causes that have contributed to its rise, as well as the influence it exercises on the adjacent countries.
It is well known that, about the middle of the fifteenth century, a Hindoo priest, named Baba Nanuk, desiring to wash away the corruptions of his faith, founded a sect named Seik, over which his successors were prophesied to maintain a religious supremacy for ten generations. The pride of the tenth priest, named Govind Sing, raised a desire for temporal as well as spiritual power; and, since he could no longer perpetuate his name by a successor, he blended the cause of war with that of religion, and stirred up in his flock the ambition for worldly distinction. From that period we meet the Seiks, now called “Khalsa,” or “Sings,” as a fierce and formidable body, gradually rising in importance, till they at last resist the more hardy nations of the west. Yet, so late as the beginning of this century, we find them without a ruler, though in these days existing in the form of a settled monarchy. There is nothing very remarkable in this gradual developement of their power; but we cannot withhold our applause from the just predictions of an enterprising traveller (Mr. Forster), who thus expresses himself in the year 1783:—“Should any future cause call forth the combined efforts of the Sicques to maintain the existence of empire and religion, we may see some ambitious chief, led on by his genius and success, absorbing the power of his associates, display, from the ruins of their commonwealth, the standard of monarchy.” (Vol. I. p. 295.) This passage was penned about the time of Runjeet Sing’s birth; and the exploits of that prince have amply verified the sagacity of the historian.
The dominions of Maharaja Runjeet Sing assumed a consolidated state at an early period, from a chain of circumstances over which he himself had little control, but by which he has not failed to profit. On the east and south, his encroachments were opposed by the British; on the west, he could subdue, but he could not maintain, the countries beyond the Indus. To the north, his passage was opposed by snowy mountains; and he has prudently contented himself by only seeking Cashmeer, and the other rich valleys which the lower hills inclose. In a territory thus compactly situated, he has applied himself to those improvements which spring only from great minds; and here we find despotism without its rigours, a despot without cruelty, and a system of government far beyond the native institutions of the East, though far from the civilisation of Europe. In a country which has been subdued by an irregular force, with a due mixture of artifice and courage in the commander, we have the conquest maintained by disciplined armies under European leaders, and a general distribution of property among the chiefs, sufficient to uphold the national manners, without endangering the safety of the government.
It is too evident, however, that these improvements have taken no root in the minds of the people, and that the tone of them has its termination even in the precincts of the Court. Nor is it less true, that the disposition of the master mind to cherish these invaluable institutions declines with his advancing years, and that he bids fair to efface them with the transient glory of his reign. A well-stored treasury, with an army in arrears and clamouring for pay, increasing duties on the merchant and trader, exorbitant taxes on the husbandman, with embezzlement of the public revenues, and a general corruption in the higher officers of the state, are not symptoms favourable to the durability of a government. Yet the endurance of the people in an Asiatic kingdom, depends more on the power of the prince, than the inclinations of the community; and while the ruler wastes not his treasures in reckless extravagance, and is possessed of a mind beyond his age, we may safely reckon on the stability of the power during his natural life. It appears to me that Runjeet Sing, in his career, will have raised, formed, and destroyed a government.
The influence of the Sirdars, or chiefs of the Punjab, has decreased in proportion to the supremacy of the ruler. The power of most of the members of the original Seik confederacy has been subverted or neutralised; and the Maharaja has surrounded his person and filled their places by minions of his own, whose fortune, more than their merits, has led to their promotion. The Jemadar Khooshal Sing, and the three Rajas and brothers of Jummoo, Dihan, Ghoolab, and Soojait Sing, are strong instances in point. The first of these individuals once figured as a Hindoo, and in the humble capacity of a cook to a private soldier. He is now a Seik, and a great commander. The others, though of less obscure origin, are descended from a Rajpoot of some small patrimony in the Lower Hemilaya. These individuals now form a social band in the Court of Runjeet Sing, whose favours they have bountifully reaped. None of them possess talent; and, with one exception, they are ignorant of the first rudiments of education. It is not to be supposed that such men have any great influence with such a ruler; yet they have managed to instil that belief into the minds of the people; and make every use of their supposed influence, to fill their coffers, and nourish the arts of corruption. The elder brother, Ghoolab Sing (who can read), manages the salt monopoly, and a large portion of the territory towards the Jelum. He is a cruel and tyrannical man. Dihan Sing exercises his arts in the Court; while his brother enacts his part abroad, but he is devoted to the interests of his master, and is said to be a good man. He is now fortifying his native home, in the vicinity of Bimbur, which he has strengthened by guns taken from Lahore,—a fact which no one discloses to the Maharaja. The favourite judiciously prepares for a future time, when the tenure of his possessions will be weakened with the loss of his patron. The son of Dihan Sing, a boy of nine years, is the only individual, besides a sons and two priests, who is permitted to sit on a chair in Runjeet Sing’s Durbar. It may be imagined, that such a long line of innovation has not been effected without exciting the jealousy, perhaps envy, of the old Seik chieftains.
From the Sirdars, our attention is naturally directed to the Seik people; and, if we find a hollowness and decay in the former, we have here a healthy and vigorous body. The inhabitants are a robust and athletic race, of sinewy limbs and tall stature. The genuine Khalsa, or Sing, knows no occupation but war and agriculture, and he more affects the one than the other. No race of people could have been better constituted to firmly uphold their government; and, with ambition and patriotism (if I can use the word) equal to their power, they are a sufficiently numerous body to defend it. Their ascendency as a nation continues to increase, the numerical strength of the tribe; and, actuated in the common cause by common principles, they are certainly a powerful people. It is not to be doubted that the head of the Seik church, the Bedee, or Sahib Sing, might yet frustrate the designs of any ruler, and, by a crusade in behalf of this religion, overthrow the best laid designs of an ambitious prince. Runjeet Sing is aware of this influence, and, with but little religion, takes care to enlist the church in his cause, by constantly receiving two of its priests with distinction and confidence. Yet the Seiks are a most tolerant nation, and evince a merciful consideration in the differences of religion, that forms a bright contrast to their Mahommedan neighbours. It is with distrust that I attempt an enumeration of the people subject to the Punjab; but I am informed that the Khalsa or Seik population does not exceed 500,000 souls, and the remainder is composed of Seiks, Mahommedans, and Hindoo Juts, who may amount to 3,000,000.
With such materials, it may be imagined that there is little difficulty in forming an efficient army; and that of Runjeet Sing amounts to about 75,000 men. Of these, 25,000 consist of regular infantry, drilled as Europeans, fully equal to the troops of the Indian army. Their discipline might be improved by increasing the power of the native officers, and removing a just ground of discontent, which arises from giving different pay to individuals of the same rank, according to the caprice of the ruler. Without commissions, these men do not possess a respect for themselves, nor are they respected by their soldiers. The regular cavalry and artillery may be reckoned at 5000, with 150 guns; and the irregular troops, which are all cavalry, fall little short of 50,000. These are denominated “Ghorchuras,”—which simply means horsemen,—and are paid by assignments of land, in return for their military service. A regular muster of these forces is exacted, with a few favoured exceptions; and, as a native soldiery, they are an efficient, well-mounted, and serviceable body. Their superiority is said to consist in being easily rallied; while their neighbours, the Afghans, terminate a battle with the first discomfiture. The pay of the regular troops is superior to that of the Company’s army; they are clothed by the state; and the Seik portion live in messes, which are supplied by government, at a deduction of two rupees a month for each man. For some years past the army has been irregularly paid, and their affections have been alienated from their prince; but the Seiks make good soldiers, and are inured to long marches and every fatigue. This inattention on the part of Runjeet Sing to his army is traced by the soldiers themselves, and perhaps with truth, to his growing friendship with the British Government; but may be yet explained by the increasing avarice of age. If some change for the better does not take place in this branch of his economy, we shall either find the regular force of the Punjab in a state of mutiny, or greatly diminished; nor do I hazard the opinion unadvisedly.
The productions of the Punjab, together with the nature of its population, are favourable to its separate existence as a government. The nett revenue of the country amounts to about two and a half crores of rupees per annum. Of this sum, thirty-one lacs are derived from Cashmeer, exclusive of ten expended in its defence; but that province forms a kingdom of itself, and could yield double the amount. An individual, who lately held Cashmeer for three years, and paid his thirty-one lacs regularly, was found to have carried upwards of thirty lacs of rupees out of the country in goods and money, the whole of which have been confiscated; but his successors in office, some Cashmeer Pundits, are said to have rivalled in the following year this extensive peculator. The plains of the Punjab, which are diagonally intersected by so many rivers, might be successfully irrigated from canals; as is proved by the existence of some, and the remains of others, which are the work of the Emperors, in the eastern portion of the country. The land is not less fruitful in the munitions of war, than in corn and money. It abounds in horses, mules, and camels. The Dunnee horse, found between the Jelum (Hydaspes) and Indus, is well known, but no attention is paid to rearing it; and from the horses of Runjeet Sing’s regular cavalry, one could not imagine that his country produced that noble animal. The mules from the banks of the Jelum are strong, and capable of bearing great burdens; while the camels on the southern parts of the Punjab are equally serviceable. The cattle are small and ill-conditioned, but numerous. The rude structure of boats on the rivers of the Punjab does not indicate that it ever carried on an inland trade by water to any extent; but these rivers, though all of them be fordable (even the Indus) in the dry season, form so many lines of routes to commerce and an army. The craft on them are not numerous, and little wood is produced in the plain; but the rains yearly wash down trees from the mountains to increase their number, or construct bridges across them. We can readily discover the capabilities of the Punjab, not only to support its own army, but that of another country; and an enemy, whether native or European, if defeated in the plains, might defy, in the valley of Cashmere, every attempt at subjection, since it could subsist without foreign aid, in a natural fortress, abounding in resource, that might be rendered impregnable.
The influence of Runjeet Sing’s power is felt on all sides of his kingdom; and his policy seems to consist in exciting as much as possible the angry feelings of one neighbour towards another. As regards the British Government, he may be considered a most friendly ally, for his distrust has disappeared in the strict and continued preservation of our treaties. It is not to be doubted that he was long unable to appreciate the disposition of his formidable neighbours, and that his court formed a nucleus to the disaffected so late as the fall of Bhurtpore; but his better judgment always guided him, and, in later years, his experience has been aided by a few intelligent and enlightened French officers, who have schooled him in a knowledge of the European character and the British policy. The Maharaja is entitled to every praise for the extreme prudence which has guided his actions. Nothing is more improbable than a violation of friendship on his part; and we may rest assured, that his acumen and intimate knowledge of mankind will retain him as our faithful friend and ally. The advantages which he has derived from the good understanding with the British Government are not inconsiderable: he has been able to remove his troops from that frontier, and reduce their number; and he now employs them, and the name of his all-powerful neighbours, in perfecting his other designs.
With his neighbour on the south, the Khan of Bhawulpoor, his demonstrations of hostility have been more evident; and the whole of the territories of that petty state lying north of the Sutledge have been this year (1832) seized by the Seiks. The territories south of that river would long ere this have shared a similar fate, did not such a step infringe the treaty with the British Government. It is but just to remark, that the Khan held these lands as a tributary to Lahore, and that his arrears had not been paid; yet he was secretly encouraged by the highest officers of Runjeet Sing’s government to withhold the amount from a French officer being sent to collect it. This chief has now forfeited his paternal estates, as well as the farm of Dera Ghazee Khan, across the Indus, for both of which he paid about six lacs of rupees per annum. There is little cordiality between the Punjab and Sindian Governments; and if the Maharaja is prevented from attacking the Ameers of Sinde, it is more from this remote position than his want of inclination. It is certain that Runjeet Sing entertains designs against Shikarpoor, in which he has been encouraged by some chiefs on the right bank of the Indus; but it is very questionable if he will ever mature his plans. He has, however, succeeded in exciting suspicion, and raising dissension among the chiefs of Sinde; and it is a matter of little doubt that, if he assembled his army at Mooltan, the country about Shikarpoor would fall a prey to the disciplined valour of the Seiks in one campaign.
To the westward, Runjeet Sing has prudently bounded his territories by the Indus: his troops have frequently passed that grand barrier of Hindoostan; the city of Peshawur has been in their hands, and the Seiks might have marched to Cabool, but their ruler has contented himself with the forts on either side of the great ferry at Attok. Though the Afghan nation is without a head, that people are not without power; and such is their bigotry and hatred to the Seiks, that it would be impossible for them to retain the country, which they have so often overrun, without a large armed force. Runjeet Sing derives a yearly tribute of some horses and rice from Peshawur and the surrounding districts, and he holds a son of the chief as a hostage at Lahore; yet that country is far from settled, and the allegiance is most unwillingly paid. He, however, works on the fears of the Dooranees, by keeping up negotiations with two of their ex-kings, one of whom is his pensioner at Lahore. The Seiks are deterred from pushing their conquests beyond the Indus by a prediction in their Holy Book, or “Grinth,” that foretells a bloody conflict in the neighbourhood of Ghuzni and Cabool. The territory of Dera Ghazee Khan, which lies lower down the Indus, forms an exception to this line of policy; but it has been farmed to a Mahommedan chief since its conquest; and now that it is held immediately subject to Lahore, five regiments of regular infantry are cantoned in the country. The cupidity of the Maharaja has been excited by the prospect of an increased revenue; and he may also rejoice in the means of employing so large a division of his army. He lately made a pretended offer of this farm to one of the Sinde Ameers, much to the displeasure of the other chiefs.
There is no frontier of the Punjab that bears the yoke of the Seiks so unwillingly as the hill states that form its northern boundary. They were formerly ruled by a tribe of Rajpoots, converted to Mahommedanism, who retained the Hindoo title of Raja. I have not visited that portion of the country, but am informed that the people entertain a respect for their former Rajas bordering on veneration. Most of these have been displaced: those of Rajour and Bimbur (two of the principal states) are now confined in chains at Lahore. The country of both, even to the verge of Cashmere, has been transferred to the trio of Rajpoot brothers, for whom it will become a safe resting-place on a revolution of the government. The whole line of hills from the Sutledge to the Indus has been subdued by the Seiks, and either pays tribute, or is held directly subject to their government. The strength of the fastnesses in such mountains is very great, and the people have a tradition, that the fortress of Kumla, in Mundee, has never been captured by an army: that of Kot Kangra, to the eastward, which is surrounded by the Beas on three sides, is also described as impregnable.
With many defects, Runjeet Sing’s government is most vigorous, and well consolidated for a native state. The failings in it partake of the country and its customs; but its virtues (and it certainly has some) belong to a higher scale of civilisation. The greatest blemish in the character of the ruler himself may be found in his universal distrust of those around him; but he only shares this quality in common with his countrymen. To such an extent is this feeling carried, that none of the French officers are ever intrusted with a gun, and the different gates of Attok, and other important fortresses, are confided to separate individuals, who command independent of one another. Cunning is the chief weapon in the politics of Runjeet Sing, and he uses it at all times. Little addicted to speaking truth, and less given to the performance than the making of promises, he yet rules with an unprecedented moderation for an Indian prince. Few men, with such despotic power, have ever used it so mildly; and when we remember that he is without education, our estimate of his character must rise with the reflection, that he never sheds the blood of his subjects, and even spares the lives, (though not the persons,) of those who have perpetrated the blackest deeds. Runjeet Sing has now lost much of his personal activity; yet he manages all the concerns of his state, from matters of the highest importance to the merest trifle, without a minister, and without advice. With a frame enfeebled by age and premature decay, the pleasures of the world have long since palled upon this man; and though he still retains the full exercise of his faculties, his ambitious views seem to have departed with the inability to command and conquer in person.
Since the demise of such a man is fraught with much political importance, and his infirmities and habits hold out but faint hopes of longevity, we turn, with increased interest, to speculate on the probable termination of this kingdom. Nature has implanted in the breast of man, and, perhaps, more strongly in that of a king, a desire of transmitting his patrimony and his power to his children; but the character of Kurruck Sing, Runjeet’s only son, who has attained his thirtieth year, can hold out no hope to the father of his being able to follow his footsteps, even at the remotest distance. With a cast of features resembling his parent in a most striking degree, ends all comparison between them. He is imbecile, illiterate, and inanimate. With few favourites or enemies, he takes no share in the politics of the state, and conciliates no party which may avail him in the hour of difficulty. The blighted hopes of the father in so degenerate an offspring, may have rendered him indifferent and regardless to the increasing prosperity of his kingdom: but there is also a grandson, Noor Nihal Sing, who has attained the age of ten years. Besides Kurruck Sing, there are two adopted sons, and one of them, Shere Sing, now about twenty-six, is unquestionably the most rising person in the Punjab. To a commanding mien, and a disposition the most generous, he has already added the reputation of a brave and frank soldier. He has dissipated his treasures in riot and luxury; but he has been gaining the good opinion of the people, in particular the soldiery, to whom he has endeared himself by many sacrifices. His talents and acquirements (for a Seik) are said to be respectable; and, while he has obtained the esteem of the chiefs, he has equally secured the friendly offices of the French gentlemen in his father’s service. He now holds the government of Cashmere; and if he retains that important post on the demise of the Maharaja, he may be inducted, without much difficulty, into the extensive realm of his father. But it is to be remembered that he is a spurious child, and, with many friends, he has some enemies, and will have to contend with the legitimate son, and, perhaps, the treasures of his adopted father. It is believed by the people that Runjeet Sing might bequeath his government to any favourite, with a hope of its continuing permanent; but I cannot, for my own part, subscribe to the opinion. If Shere Sing does not secure a supremacy, this kingdom will probably relapse into its former state of anarchy and small republics; or be reduced to subjection by some neighbouring power.