THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE EAST. 125 



were afterwards given to capture him alive, The plot 

 miscarried, it is true. Utter Sing was overwhelmed by a 

 superior force, but he shot at and killed the general who 

 was about to capture him, which caused the ensuing battle. 



The Sikh army having passed the Sutlej, the soldiers 

 became aware that their leaders were playing the part of 

 traitors, not doing anything they ought to have done. In 

 the before-mentioned history of Smyth, we find the follow- 

 ing passage : — 



" They gave vent to their alarm and indignation in fierce 

 reproaches on the treachery of their leaders ; but that was 

 all they could do. ' We knew,' they said to their leaders, 

 ' that you had leagued with the court to send us against 

 the British, and to pen us up here like sheep, for them to 

 come and slaughter us at their convenience ; but remember, 

 that in thus acting, you play the part, not only of traitors 

 to your country, but of ruthless butchers and murderers. 

 You destroy a whole army, which, whatever its faults and 

 crimes may have been, has always been ready to obey 

 the orders of the state and its officers. We might even 

 now punish you as you deserve ; but we will leave you to 

 answer to your gooroo and your God ; while we, deserted 

 and betrayed as we are, will do what we can to preserve 

 the independence of our country," &c., kc. 



During this war of the Sikhs against the English, the 

 Rajah Gholab Sing remained neutral at Jummoo, in the 

 mountains. It is true he promised his support to the Sikhs, 

 but he hesitated in fulfilling them as long as possible. A 

 short time previous to the last battle, at Sobraon, some 

 hundreds of the Sikh delegated punches (deputies) succeeded 

 in drawing out the "bear," as they used to call him, from 

 Jummoo, his den. Under the pretext of getting the ord^^r 

 from the ranee herself and the durbar, he went, accom- 

 panied by them, to Lahore. But this was only done in 

 order to procrastinate. Arrived at Lahore, I called on htm, 

 because we were well acquainted with each other, and he 

 asked me for my advice how he ought to act in that 

 critical position. He complained of the embarrassment he 



