Page:The Sikhs (Gordon).djvu/203

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THE SECOND SIKH WAR.
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in the form of English officers sent by the Regency Council to various parts of the country to see orders obeyed, burst the old bottles of Sikh government, which had so long held methods of barbarism. The climax came in April 1848, when the reformed Durbar was forced to interfere with Mul Raj, the rapacious Hindu Governor of Multan, whose tyranny could not be tolerated under the eye of the British protectorate. He resigned, and a Sikh sardar was sent to relieve him, accompanied by two English officers—Mr Vans Agnew of the Civil Service and Lieutenant Anderson, with an escort of Durbar troops—to see him installed. They were treacherously wounded while returning from the fort with Mul Raj on his giving over the keys, and shortly afterwards murdered by some of his soldiers. Only the new Sikh Governor, his son, a few faithful horsemen, and some servants remained with them to the end, the escort having gone over to the enemy. They scorned to wave the white sheet of