The Governor-General, Sir Henry (now Viscount Hardinge, G.C.B.), was well aware that there were 20,000 Khalsa troops under arms in another part of the Punjaub. Conversing with a field officer, and looking at our European troops, the Governor-General remarked, "See those men, there are only 3,200 fit for duty;" which observation was at the time interpreted somewhat thus: "Out of 7,000 or 8,000 Europeans at first employed in this army, see the reduced remnant; had I not made the treaty, I could not at this season have continued the war." The young and handsome Maharajah gazed upon the magnificent spectacle before him, with a kind of childish indifference, little concerned about the slice carved out by our swords from the dominions of his putative father; he is ignorant of his paternity, neither does he know whether he can legally call the Maharannee his mother. The Eastern mode of adoption is a very easy mode of providing a successor, for if a Rannee has no sons, others have, who may supply the place. Child-stealing, moreover, is very common in the Punjaub. Report assigns Jummoo as the place of his Highness' birth. The Rajah had a brother. I must leave the unravelling of the mystery, however, to those of my readers who feel an interest in tracing genealogies, with as much likelihood of success, at least, as the Sikh chiefs who tried the puzzle. On the 10th of March I was on escort duty with my regiment, from half-past two to six in the afternoon, accompanying the Governor-General to and from a visit to the Maharajah, in the palace at Lahore. On the 12th of March, the army of the Sutlej was broken up, and our kind-hearted Commander-in-chief bade it farewell. Let us consider our position at the present time, with respect to our late enemy. A treaty has been concluded: we garrison Lahore with our troops, and form a government of Sikh chiefs, superintended by a British officer, namely, Sir Henry Lawrence. We declare that we must withdraw our force from Lahore by the end of the year. The Sikh chiefs entreat us to remain, which we at last agree to, and enter into another treaty to govern until Dhuleep Singh shall be of age, which will be in September, 1854.[38] This period was fixed, because as the Company's charter expires on the 30th of April, 1854, an act of indemnity would otherwise have been required from Parliament.