1 THE FIRST SIKH WAR, 553
2 menb being also present. The Governor-General was, on this occasion, seated
3 on the throne, with the Maharaja on another throne on his right, and Prince
4 Waldemar, a distinguished guest, on his left. The British officers were
5 ranged on one side of the tent and the Sikh chiefs on the other. The
6 Governor-General’s band played at intervals outside. On the treaty being
7 duly ratified and duplicates executed and exchanged, the Governor.
8 General addressed the chief, his speech being translated, sentence by
9 sentence, by the Chief Secretary, Mr. Currie. In this address Sir Henry
10 repeated his desire that peace and friendship might always subsist between
11 the two Governments, and that a Sikh government might be re-established,
12 capable of controlling its army and of protecting its own subjects, whilst
13 respecting the rights of its neighbours. He commended the policy of
14 Ranjit Singh towards the British Government as the model for their future
15 imitation ;. and strongly enforced on them the desirability of “wisdom
16 in council and good faith in fulfilling agreements.” He declared that the
17 British Government had no objecis of aggrandizement by hostilities, and did
18 not desire in any way to interfere in their internal affairs; that he had
19 reluctantly consented, at the earnest solicitation of the Darbar, to leave a
20 British force in the garrison at Lahore until the Sikh army was re-organised
21 in accordance with the treaty, but adding that in no case should it remain
22 longer than the end of the year. “If” observed His Excellency, “friendly
23 assistance now afforded by the British Government were wisely followed up
24 by honest exertions, the State might prosper, and his co-operation should not
25 be wanting; but if they neglected this opportunity, no aid on the part of the
26 British Government could save the State.”
27 At the close of this speech, the chiefs present expressed their deep
28 gratitude to His Excellency for all the kindness he had shown to the young
29 Mahardj& and the valuable advice he had given, and expressed their readi-
30 ness to follow that advice.
31 By the terms of the treaty of peace, the Maharaj4 renounced all claim
32 to, or connection with, the territories south of the Sutlej, and ceded to the
33 Honourable Hast Indian Company, in perpetual sovereignty, the whole country,
34 hill and plain, between the rivers Bids and Sutlej. The Ldhore Govern-
35 ment being unable to pay the one-and-a-half crores of rupees as an indem-
36 nity for the expenses of the war, or to give security satisfactory to the
37 British Government for its eventual payment, the Mahardjd ceded to the
38 Honourable Company, as an equivalent for one crore, his possessions in the
39 hill countries between the Bids and the Indus, including the provinces of
40 Kédshmir and Hazdrd, engaging to pay the remaining fifty lakhs on or before
41 the ratification of the treaty, He engaged to disband the mutinous troops
42 of the Lahore army, and to re-organize the regular, or Ain, regiments of
43 infantry upon’ the system, and according to the regulations as to pay and
44 allowances, observed in the time of the late Mahardjdé Ranjit Singh. The
45 regular army of the Lahore State was not to exceed twenty-five battalions
46 of infantry, consisting of eight hundred bayonets each, and twelve thousand
47 cavalry, and the guns, thirty-six in number, which had been pointed against
48 the British troops on the right bank of the Sutlej, were to be surrendered.
49 The control of the rivers Bids and Sutlej, with the continuation of the latter
50 river, commonly called the Garréh and Panjnad, as far as the confluence of
51 the Indus at Mithankot, and from Mithankot to the borders of Biluchistdn
52 was, with respect to tolls, to rest with the British Government. Free pass-
53 age was to be allowed to the British troops through Léhore territories,
54 and no Exropean or American was to be employed by the Ldhore Govern-
55 ment without the sanction of the British, In consideration of the services
56 His Excellency’s
57 address to the Maha.
58 r4jas, Chiefs and
59 Sardars.
60 Terms of the treaty,
61 $th March, 1846,
62 Sri Satguru J agjit Singh Ji eLibrary NamdhariElibrary@ gmail.com