2-996-104 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Interview at Sealkote, on the 9th March, between the Maharajah Runjeet [sic] Singh of Cashmere and His Excellency Lord Canning - from a sketch by Mr. Simpson, 1860. British imperialists at Sialkot India, (now in Pakistan). 'Maharajah Rumbeer Singh is the son of the well-known Maharajah Gholab Singh, to whom the valley of Cashmere was made over by treaty by the British Government, when the whole of the Punjaub was at the disposal of Government, in 1846, after the victories of Lords Gough and Lord Hardinge...During the mutiny in 1857 Maharajah Rumbeer Singh sent a force to co-operate with the British Army before Delhi, and throughout proved himself to be a stanch supporter of the British Government...The Maharajah...led his Excellency through the spacious inclosures of his camp to the inner or durbar tent, where a golden chair was prepared for the Governor-General under a canopy. The annual tribute of shawls of extraordinary beauty from the Ruler of Cashmere to the Queen was first presented to, and accepted by, the Viceroy in the name of her Majesty...The Court of the Maharajah exceeded in numbers and magnificence that of any other Indian chief who has hitherto attended the camp of the Governor-General'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.