THE OUTBREAK AT MULTAN, AXD AFTER. 73 



'Mulraj is in a bad way,' 'at a standstill,' and, in 

 fact, on the eve of submission ! Clearly you are 

 under the thumb of some awful traitor whose in- 

 terest it is to keep you in the dark. Mulraj is daily 

 adding to his means of resistance ; digging up and 

 mountino- lono;-buried guns ; enlistins; on an averag;e 

 100 men per diem; storming the fort ; clearing away 

 houses round its base ; collecting revenue, &c., &c. 

 Is this the sort of ' standstill ' you all contemplate 

 for five months ? . . . 



" While I write this the rebels are firing a salvo 

 on the opposite side of the river, and have alreadj' 

 fired nearly 100 rounds ! Magazine is more plenti- 

 ful with them than it is with me. You express a 

 hope in your letter that the British Government 

 will act for itself, and not prop up a fallen 

 dynasty. In other words, you hope we shall seize 

 the opportunity to annex the Punjab. In this I 

 cannot agree with you, for I think, for all that 

 has yet happened, it would be both unjust and 

 inexpedient. The treaty we made with the Sikh 

 Government and people cannot be forfeited by 

 the treachery of a Gurkha regiment in Multan, the 

 rebellion of a discharged karddr, or the treasonable 

 intrigues of the queen-mother, who has no con- 

 nection with the Sikh Government of her son." 



Events, however, were clearly tending to justify 

 the policy which Hodson already deemed inevi- 

 table, and which Lord Dalhousie, the new Governor- 

 General, resolved a few months later to carry out. 

 It is true that the treaty of Bhairowal had deprived 

 the queen-mother of all direct authority in public 

 afi*airs. But her power for mischief had not l^een 

 lessened either by her seclusion at Shaikhopura 



