1 70 ITS EFFECT. A. D. 1808.
2 " Article Third. — In tlie event of a violation of any of
3 ** the preceding articles, or of a departure from the rules
4 " of friendship on the part of either State, this treaty shall
5 " be considered to be null and void." The fourth and
6 last article, provides for the exchange of ratifications.
7 The treaty being concluded, Mr. Metcalfe came
8 away on the 1st May following. All further discussions
9 with RuNJEET Singh were then dropped, audit became
10 a principle in all relations with this chief to confine com-
11 munications, as much as possible, to friendly letters and
12 the exchange of presents, but the British officers on the
13 frontier, were instructed to watch the proceedings of
14 RuNJEET Singh, and to require instant redress, in case
15 of any infringement of the terms of the treaty, by inter-
16 ference with, or encroachment on the rights and territo-
17 ries of Chiefs and Sirdars, east or south of the river Sut-
18 lej. The continued prosecution of this course of policy to
19 the present date, has weaned the chief from all apprehen-
20 sion of danger to his own authority, from the ulterior
21 views for which he long gave us credit ; and there is now
22 established between the two powers as complete and per-
23 fect a good-fellowship as can exist with states constituted
24 like those of India. It is based however on no better
25 foundation than the personal character of Runjeet
26 Singh, and his personal conviction that the British
27 Government desires to see him prosperous and powerful,
28 and would regard the extinction of his rule, and the con-
29 fusion and convulsions which must follow, as a serious evil
30 of mischievous influence to itself. Of this however, more
31 hereafter.