whom were the principal leaders of the Sikh rebellion in 1848; the Sirdárs of the house of Majíthia, of whom Sirdár Desa Singh and his son Sirdár Lehna Singh were the most conspicuous. Lehna Singh was known as Hasmuddaula, the Sword of the State, and was a man of considerable ability. He was a skilful mechanist and an original inventor. He much improved the Sikh ordnance, and some very beautiful guns of his manufacture were taken at Aliwál and elsewhere. Among other things he invented a clock which showed the hour, the day of the month, and the changes of the moon. He was fond of astronomy and mathematics and was master of several languages. As an administrator he was very popular. The poor were never oppressed by him, his assessments were moderate and his decisions essentially just. As a statesman, he may be said to have been almost the only honest man in Lahore. Fraud and corruption were supreme, but the hands of Lehna Singh were always clean: surrounded by the most greedy and unscrupulous of schemers, he preserved his honesty unsullied.
Had a man of the reputation and administrative talent of Lehna Singh taken the lead in 1845 in the Punjab, the great troubles which came upon the country might have been averted. But he was no true patriot. He did not understand that the religion of a statesman, and indeed of every honest man, is to stand by his country in times of danger, sharing her griefs and, if need be, falling with her fall.
