1 SINDE. 229
2 The disasters encountered by the English in Afghanistan were
3 calculated to call forth the latent particles of enmity to that power
4 wherever they might lurk, and some of the Ameers at last were
5 confidently believed to have passed beyond hostile wishes, and to
6 have committed themselves to acts inconsistent with their relations
7 of perfect amity and alliance with the British Government. These
8 circumstances were thought to call for some considerable changes
9 in the existing treaties, and Sir Charles Napier was intrusted to
10 negotiate new treaties,* his diplomatic functions being sustained
11 * The terms proposed to the Ameers will be found in the following extract
12 from a letter addressed by the Governor-General, Lord Ellenborough, to Sir
13 Charles Napier, 4th November, 1842 :—
14 “« Having stated to you, in my letter of yesterday’s date, the position in
15 which i¢ appears to me that the British Government stands with respect to
16 certain of the Ameers of Upper and Lower Sinde, I will now communicate to
17 you my views as to the course which should be pursued.
18 ‘© 2. The free navigation of the Indus through the dominions of the
19 Ameers of Lower Sinde, and the free introduction of all articles of con-
20 sumption into the British cantonments, are already provided for by the
21 treaty of 1839; and the strict observance of these provisions must be en-
22 forced.
23 ‘3, They appear to be sufficient for the purpose without any alteration
24 in words.
25 ‘4, The engagement of Meer Roostum Khan in the treaty of 1838,
26 that he would acquiesce in the arrangements made by other powers for the
27 free navigation of the Indus, must be construed as binding him to the per-
28 formance of the engagements subsequently entered into by the Ameers of
29 Lower Sinde for that object ; but it will be necessary to proceed one step fur-
30 ther, and to require that all articles of consumption shall be freely introduced
31 into the British cantonments.
32 “<5, I have always considered that the obligation on the part of the native
33 State to pay tribute to our Government is one which places us in a false posi-
34 tion. No character can be more offensive than that of an exacting creditor,
35 with which this obligation invests us. It gives rise to constant discussion of
36 an unfriendly nature between our Government and that of the native States,
37 and it makes us appear to be the cause of all the exactions which the native
38 State inflicts upon its subjects. I desire, therefore, to base the new arrange-
39 ments to be made with the Ameers of Lower Sinde upon the abolition of all
40 tribute now payable by them to the British Government.
41 «*6. In exchange for the tribute given up by us, we should exact the cession
42 of territory. In the first instance, the surrender of territory would be as
43 painful to the Ameers as the exaction of tribute; but the latter is a grievance
44 constantly recurring, brought continually to the recollection by incessant
45 applications for payment, which the debtor State continually invents excuses