1 . MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH. 377
2 received Rajé Sahib Singh with great kindness and cordiality. Ranjit Singh
3 swore perpetual friendship with Rajd Sabib Singh, and exchanged turbans
4 with him, as a sign of eternal brotherhood. The following day, formal
5 treaties, duly sealed and signed by each chief, were executed, and, the
6 farce being over, Ranjit Singh recrossed the Sutlej on 2nd December, having,
7 in his train,, Raj4 Bhag Singh of Jhind, Bhai Lal Singh of Kythal, and
8 other chiefs of the Cis-Sutlej States. le marched to Amritsar by forced
9 marches, and, arriving there on 4th December, was joined by Mr. Metcalfe,
10 the British envoy.
11 The decision of the Governor-General was now communicated to
12 Mahardj4é, Ranjit Singh, that the Cis-Sutlej chiefs had been declared to be
13 under the protection ‘of the British Government, and that the State of
14 Léhore must sever all its connection with it. The Government argued
15 that these chiefs had long been considered under the protection of the
16 Power in the north of Hindostdn ; that, by the issue of the war with the
17 Mahrattas, the British Government became possessed of the power and
18 right formerly exercised by that nation in Northern India; that at that
19 time the Mahardjé had no claim on the country between the Sutlej and
20 the Jamna, and that inan early period of that contest, a communication
21 was received from the Mahardjé by the late Lord Lake, which proposed to
22 fix the Sutlej as the boundary between the British Government and his,
23 which was clear.proof that the Maharaja, in those days, was well aware that
24 the country, in question, was dependent:on the power paramount in the
25 north of Hindostén. “ Since the British Government has come into this
26 situation,” wrote Mr. Metcalfe in his note of 12th December, “it has re-
27 lieved the chiefs between the Sutlej and the Jamna from tribute, and that
28 degree of subserviency which they were used to pay to the Mahrattas,
29 and has allowed, them to carry on their own concerns without interference
30 or control. But this liberality on the part of the British Government was
31 meant for the benefit of those chiefs, not for their injury. It was never
32 intended that the forbearance of the British Government should be taken
33 advantage of by another power to oppress and subjugate those whom the
34 British Government wished to :protect and relieve.” It was on these
35 grounds declared. that the British Government could not consent to these
36 chiefs being subjugated by the Maharaja or any other power, and announc-
37 ed that those chiefs, according to established custom, were, and should re-
38 main, under the protection of the British Government. The Maharaja was,
39 therefore, called upon to restore all the places situated between the Sutlej
40 and the Jamna, of which he had taken possession (since the period of the
41 first reference of this question to the British Government), to their former
42 possessors, and to confine his army to the right bank of the Suitlej.
43 Ranjit Singh was very unwilling to» relinquish his most cherished
44 conquests of the countries between the Sutlej and the Jamna. He protracted
45 the negotiations from time to time on various pretences, and he even
46 affected to understand that the.declaration of the Governor-General was not
47 final. Being at length assured that the decision of the Government of
48 India was unalterable, he made preparations for war with the Engli
49 Great activity was shown in making military preparations; troops
50 assembled from all quarters, and munitions of war and stores ce’
51 the new fort of Govindgarh at Amritsar was put in.a state o”
52 guns were mounted on the ramparts, and a large quantity of «
53 vided for consumption in case of a siege, for which the
54 strengthened. Mohkam Chand, the favourite dewdn of #
55 one of his best generals, was hastily recalled from Ke
56 The Maharaja re-
57 ciosses the Sutlej,
58 December 1808,
59 The ultimatum of
60 the British Govern-
61 ment.
62 The Cis-Sutlej chiefs
63 declared to be under
64 British protection,
65 Ranj‘t Si-
66 the negot*
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