Page:Ranjit Singh (Griffin).djvu/116

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110
RANJÍT SINGH

succeeded the death of Sher Singh, when all the scum of the pot rose to the surface, Jindan, with her last professed lover, Rájá Lál Singh, played a conspicuous and infamous part, and her debaucheries and her unworthy paramour were in large part the cause of the Sutlej war and the ruin of the Sikh kingdom. Dhulíp Singh, a child of nine years, was the titular Mahárájá when the British army reached Lahore after the campaign; and as it was convenient to accept the status quo, and as a nominal ruler was required for a country which the English Government had then no desire to annex or permanently occupy, the reputed child of the servant-maid and the water-carrier was confirmed on the throne of the Lion of the Punjab. Fortune, with her ever-turning wheel, must have laughed at the transformation.