1 XXII INTRODUCTION.
2 state, in no way answerable to us, we should not have pro-
3 voked them ! — for to assert that the bridge of boats brought
4 from Bombay, was not a causa belli, but merely a defen-
5 sive measure is absurd ; besides, the Seiks had translations
6 of Sir Charles Napier's speech, (as it appeared in the Delhi
7 Gazette*) stating that we were going to war with them ;
8 and, as all European powers would have done under such
9 circumstances, the Seiks thought it as well to be first in the
10 field. Moreover, they were not encamped in our territo-
11 ry, but their own; and, although the second article of the
12 treaty of 1809 states, " the Rajah will never maintain in
13 " the territory, which he occupies on the left bank of the
14 " Sutlej, more troops than are necessary for the internal
15 " duties," still the third article states, " in the event of
16 " a violation of any of the preceding articles, or of a de-
17 " parture from the rules of friendship on the part of either
18 " state, the treaty shall be considered as null and void."
19 We have been told that the Seiks violated the treaty, by
20 crossing the river with their army ; but the question is,
21 Was not the treaty null and void when they crossed? To
22 expect a native power to make a regular declaration of war
23 is too ridiculous ; and I only ask, had we not departed from
24 the rules of friendship first? The year before the war
25 broke out, we kept the island between Ferozepore and the
26 Punjaub, though it belonged to the Seiks, owing to the deep
27 water being between us and the island.f
28 We either had or we had not a treaty with the Seiks ;
29 * " If they (the robber tribes of Scinde) were allowed to remain undisturbed while
30 Scinde was quiet, they would become turbulent and troublesome when the British
31 Army teas called on to move into the Punjaub."
32 t " Claims to islands in rivers between two Manors, and to alluvion are determin-
33 ed by what is called the ' Kuchmuch ' or ' Kishtie bunna,' which practice or rule
34 assigns the land to the proprietor of the ' bank or main,' upon which the alluvion
35 is thrown, and from which the water has receded."— Prinsep's Life of Runject,
36 p. 203.