invasion of their territories, and I have now directed them to prepare to repel the threatening aggression. I have, &c.

P.S.-It is right to add, that up to the last moment the regular troops were discussing the propriety of murdering Rajah Lal Singh and Sirdar Tej Singh, and sending for Rajah Gholab Singh to lead them. The two chiefs menaced look for escape to exciting enthusiasm against the English. This may delay or precipitate invasion.

The Commander-in-Chief to the Agent to the Governor-General. Camp, Umballa, 20th November, 1845.

SIR,

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt, this moment, of your letters of this date, conveying to me intelligence of the hostile attitude which has been assumed by the Lahore Durbar.

Under the circumstances, I have ordered the following preparations to be entered upon immediately, to meet whatever may take place :

Her Majesty's 9th Lancers to move at once from Meerut to Umballa.

To be held in readiness to move from Meerut to Kurnaul on the shortest notice; two troops of horse artillery, her Majesty's 16th Lancers, the 3rd Regiment of Light Cavalry, her Majesty's 10th Foot, save one company, the corps of sappers and miners, all, save one, of the regiments of native infantry.

The 8th Regiment of Irregular Cavalry will likewise be held prepared to move from Hansee to Kurnaul, and the Simoor battalion from Deyrah to Saharumpore, where it will be centrically situated, and ready to be moved wherever it may be most required; the 4th Regiment of Irregular Cavalry will be brought up from Bareilly to Meerut.

I beg that you will instruct the civil authorities at Simla to place themselves in communication with the officers commanding European corps in those hills, and ascertain from them what

number of coolies will be required to enable the regiments to move, in order that they may be collected at once. the corps in the hills will be required to be laid in leading thence to Sirhind.

Supplies for on the roads

I shall direct the other corps of all arms in this division to draw their carriage into cantonments, in view to the troops being prepared to act on the shortest notice.

Previous to adopting any further measures at present, I would await a communication of the views of the Governor-General.I have, &c. (Signed) H. GOUGH.

The Agent to the Governor-General to the Secretary to Government.

Umballa, 21st November, 1845.

The Durbar of the forenoon of the 18th was protracted till two o'clock, but I have not the details of the afternoon Durbar. Eleven A.M. was the hour found by the astrologers as auspicious for the march of the troops; not a chief stirred from his house. The officers and punchayets of the troops, regular and irregular, to the number of a couple of thousand, crowded to the Durbar and demanded the reason; the Ranee tried to soothe them, saying, that the fortunate hour being passed, the march could not be undertaken till the astrologers found another. The crowd demanded that this should be instantly done, and the court astrologer was ordered into their presence to find the proper time. He pored through his tables for two or three hours, while the Ranee sought to divert the attention of the military mob; at length he announced that the most favourable day was not till the 15th Mujsur (28th November). The military were furious, and declared that he was an impostor, and that they had to get from him two crores of rupees which he had made from the public money; the pundit implored mercy, and said the 7th Mujsur (20th) was also a good day; the military were still angry, and the poor pundit left amidst their menaces.

They proposed that the Ranee and her son should march, and intimated that till they made an example of some chief no march would take place.

The Ranee complained that whilst the troops were urging the march, they were still going home to their villages as fast as they got their pay; and Sirdar Sham Singh Attareewalla declared his belief that unless something was done to stop this, he would find himself on his way to Ferozepore with empty tents. The bait of money to be paid, and to accompany them was also offered, and at length the Durbar broke up at two P.M. Great consultations took place in the afternoon, but I know only one result, that the Ranee had to give to her lover his formal dismissal, and that he (Rajah Lal Singh) actually went into the camp of the Sawars he is to command, and pitched his tent.

What the Ranee says is quite true of the sepoys dispersing to their houses; the whole affair has so suddenly reached its present height, that many of the men themselves think it will come to nothing, and still more who had taken their departure do not believe it serious enough to go back. On the day after this scene took place, i.e., the 19th, the usual stream of sepoys, natives of the protected states, who had got their pay, poured across the Sutlej, at Hurrekee, on the way to their homes. Every preparation, however, for war is making with probably more energy than if it had been a long-planned scheme, for every person of whatever party must show his sincerity by activity and virulent professions of hatred to the English.

Enclosure No. 1, in No. 10.

The Agent to the Governor-General to the Lahore Vakeel.

2nd December, 1845.

I wrote to you a letter on the 18th ultimo, requiring explanations as to the reported orders of the Lahore Durbar to its troops, to move towards the Sutlej with unfriendly intentions.

On the 20th instant, you answered from Loodiana, that you had forwarded a copy of my letter to the Durbar immediately on receiving it, and you stated that on receiving an answer you would forthwith communicate it.

For several days past I have been in hourly expectation of your answer, but none came.

This day, on your waiting on me, you informed me, that though you had some days ago received from the Durbar an acknowledgment of the receipt of your letter, you had received no answer to it, but that you had in the interval written repeatedly to the Durbar on the subject of it, and that you confidently expected an answer this day, or, at furthest, to-morrow morning.

I pointed out to you that, notwithstanding the notoriety of the events which had occurred at Lahore, and notwithstanding the inconvenience suffered by the detention, on the frontier, of the battalions about to leave it for Scinde and Bareilly, the GovernorGeneral, in hopes of receiving without delay satisfactory explanations in answer to my letter, had continued the forbearance he has exercised so long, and to so great an extent; that no new troops had arrived on the frontier, and that the Governor-General had proceeded slowly on his journey in this direction, as intended, before the occurrence of the events of which explanation is now demanded; that I pointed out that, notwithstanding this forbearance, you had appeared, after so long an interval, without any answer to my demand for an explanation, and that I saw this with surprise and regret.

I have now to communicate to you the following orders from the Governor-General:

His Excellency has directed me to say, that the rules of friendship between the two states, and indeed the customs of all nations, require that in answering a demand for explanations of events so grave as those which have occurred at Lahore, not a moment is to be lost, because delay cannot but operate to confirm the (MOST UNFRIENDLY) worst construction of such events, and is, moreover an act of the highest discourtesy towards the Government demanding explanations. In this instance the requisition for explanation has been disregarded, and the apparently hostile movements have been continued.

Under these circumstances, the Governor-General feels it

impossible to permit you, who are the authorised representative of the Government which has offered to his Government so great a slight, to continue in his Excellency's camp, while this slight is persevered in; he has directed me not to admit you to any further interview with me, unless you come as the bearer of the answer of the Durbar to my remonstrance; and his Excellency further commands, that if this answer be not delivered before noon to-morrow, you will quit this camp.

To prevent, however, interruption to the business of this agency, as regards the Mahaja's estates on this side of the Sutlej, I request that you will leave with me a confidential Moonshee to communicate, during your absence, my orders, or those of the subordinate courts of the agency, to the managers of those estates; and you will warn the Kardars and residents in those estates to obey all orders coming from the ordinary courts through your Moonshee in the same way as if received from yourself.

(Signed)

Enclosure No. 2, in No. 10.

G. BROADFOOT.

The Lahore Vakeel to the Governor-General's Agent. Your letter, dated 2nd December 1845, has been delivered to me by Moulvee Rujub Ally Khan after midnight, and I have arranged for its immediate transmission to the Durbar.

The 2nd December 1845, after midnight, (i. e., by our reckoning, 1 A. M. 3rd.

The Governor-General to the Secret Committee.

Camp, Umballa, December 4th, 1845.

Major Broadfoot having reported to me that the Lahore Vakeel had joined the camp from Loodiana, I directed Major Broadfoot to see him, and to require from him the reply to his