1 Mr Metcalfe at
2 Patiala, 1808,
3 He assures the Raja
4 cf the good-will of the
5 Buitish towards lim,
6 Ranyit’s power para-
7 mount in the Panyab,
8 A ambitious views,
9 a
10 374 HISTORY OF THE PANJAL.
11 Bengal Civilian, one of Lord Wellesley’s ablest pupils, who had already
12 distinguished himself for political sagacity and firmness, was sent as the
13 British plenipotentiary to the Court of Mahardjé Ranjit Singh at Lahore.
14 The aggressive policy of Ranjit Singh against the Cis-Sutlej States was, it
15 need hardly be said, an additional motive for deputing the mission to
16 Lahore.
17 Mr. Metcalfe reached Patidla on 22nd August, and was received by Rajd
18 Sahib Singh with great ceremony. In his first public interview with the
19 envoy, the raja delivered the State keys to him, meaning thereby, that he
20 had thrown himself on British protection, and implored the restoration of
21 these keys, as an assurance, that he was holding the charge of his State as a
22 trust from the British Government. The British officer, though he declined
23 ihe acceptance of the keys, assured the rdj& of the good-will of the British
24 Government towards him, remarking, at the same time, that the keys had
25 long remained perfectly safe in the réja’s own hands, and that there was every
26 prospect of their remaining so for a long time to come. The raj& now
27 adopted measures to strengthen Patidlaé and other forts against the threaten-
28 ed invasion of his territory by Ranjit Siugh. ;
29 The Maharaja was, about this time, at Lahore, having in his train Raja
30 Bhag Singh of Jhind, Rdjé Jaswant Singh of Nabha, Bhai Lal Singh of
31 Kythal and Sardar Gurdit Singh of Lédwd. The rdjé of Patiala, the chiefs
32 of Thanesar, Shahdbdd, Burid, Basidé and Kalsia, were represented by agents.
33 After the discouraging reply given to them at the Delhi conference, and the
34 recent meeting of Mr. Metcalfe with Rajd Sahib Singh at Patiala, wherein
35 the latter was recommended to rely on his own strength, every chief was
36 beginning to look on the court of Léhore as his asylum, and was disposed to
37 trust more to the mercy of the Lahore ruler than to British countenance and
38 support. Everybody had now seen the rising power and fortune of Ranjit
39 Singh. He had conquered city after city and town after town, without being
40 checked in any quarter in his ambitious career, which appeared to be
41 unlimited. He had got the better of the strongest leagues which had been
42 formed against him; he had broken the power of the united confederacies
43 and humbled to the dust many proud families and tribes. His arms had
44 conquered the countries between the old Hydaspes and the Bids, forming
45 the Panjab proper, and even penetrated beyond the limits of the Panjab
46 proper. The Afghdns, who were left in possession of the north-west portion
47 of the Panjab, the Saddozie family of Pathdns, who held the province of
48 Multan, and the hill raéjé of Kangra, had already felt the weight of his
49 power, and were treated by him as ordinary vassals. His highest ambition
50 now, as Maharaja of Lahore, was to unite all the Sikhs under one ban-
51 ner, and extend his sway from the banks of the Sutlej to the Jamna, and
52 thus to absorb into his own dominions all the independent States encom-
53 passed by those rivers. Already his last two Sutle}] campaigns had borne
54 good fruit, and his successive inroads and victories had reasonably led him to
55 hope that another season would see the whole country from the Sutlej to
56 the Jamna annexed to his new kingdom of Lahore. He was munificent in
57 his rewards and severe in his exactions. He was dreaded, if not loved, by
58 his subjects, and respected by those around him. His power was absolute,
59 and, from the chief of a State to the common soldier, cvery one implicitly
60 obeyed him. The British envoy had personally observed how submissive
61 the Cis-Sutlej réjds and other chiefs were tohim, He had no cause to be
62 attracted to the side of the English, whose interests he knew were adverse
63 to his own, so far as the Cis-Sutlej States, the choicest object of his ambition,
64 were concern
65 q, rae
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