1 232 HISTORY OF THE. SIKUS.
2 TheGovernor- peace between the British government and the
3 general’s
4 address to’ Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, in the presence of His
5 Stee the Excellency the Commander-in-chief, His Excel-
6 ee Baie. lency the Governor of Scinde, and the officers of
7 military and the British army on the one hand, and of the Sikh
8 chiefs on the other, I have to repeat the assur-
9 ances which have been so often given by me and
10 by my predecessors, of our desire that peace and
11 friendship may always subsist between the two
12 governments.
13 “«* The British government desires to see a Sikh
14 government re-established, which may be able to
15 control its army, protect its subjects, and willing to
16 respect the rights of its neighbours.
17 « « By this treaty, the Lahore government has
18 sufficient strength to resist and punish any Native
19 power which may venture to assail it, and to put
20 down all internal commotions.
21 “ «Wisdom in council, and good faith in fulfilling
22 its engagements, will cause the Sikh government
23 to be respected and enable it to preserve its national
24 independence.
25 “For forty years it was the policy, in Runjeet
26 Singh’s time, to cultivate friendly relations between
27 the two governments, and during the whole of
28 that period the Sikh nation was independent and
29 happy. Let the policy of that able man towards
30 the British government, be the model for your
31 future imitation.
32 «« The British government in no respect provoked
33 the late war. It had no objects of aggrandisement