1 . MAHARAJA RANJIT SINGH. 377
2 received Rajé Sahib Singh with great kindness and cordiality. Ranjit Siogh
3 swore perpetual friendship with Raja Sahib 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, Rajé Bhag Singh of Jhind, Bhdéi Lal Singh of Kythal, and
8 other chiefs of the Cis-Sutlej States. He marched to Amritsar by forced
9 marches, and, arriving there on 4th December, was joined by Mr. Metcalfe,
10 the British envoy. 1
11 The decision of the .Governor-General. was now communicated to
12 Mahardjé, 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 Hindostdén; 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 Mahardj& had no claim on the country between the Sutlej and
20 the Jamna, and that in an. 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 Maharajd,'in those days, was well aware that
24 the country, in question, was dependent‘on the power paramount in the
25 north of Hindostdén. ' “ 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,tliem 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 sprotect and relieve.” It was on these
35 grounds declared. that the British Government. could not consent to these
36 chiefs being subjugated by the Mahardjé 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 Maharajd’ 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 Sutlej. ~ . :
43 Ranjit Singh was very unwilling: tovrelinquish his most cherished
44 conquests of the countries between the Sutlej and the Jamna. He protracted
45 the negotiations from time ta 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 Engl
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 The Maharéja re-
56 crosses the Sutley,
57 December 1808,
58 The ultimatum of
59 the British Govern-
60 Inent.
61 The Cis-Sutlej chiefs
62 declared to be under
63 British protection,
64 Ranyt Si:
65 the negot’
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