Tempo:
222
Punjab Monarchy and Imperialism
do-or-die school, who felt that the Maharajah should tear up the treaty and fight. Contacts were made with the Marathas, Rohillas, and Begam Samru, and the air in northern India was thick with rumours of a Sikb-Maratha alliance to expel the English from India. The English were perturbed by these rumours and moved a detachment of troops to Hansi to prevent a junction of the Maharajah's forces with those of Sindhia or Holkar. The Maharajah kept a cool head. He listened to Mohkam Chand, for whom he had great respect and admiration, but refused to take the Maratha promises of collaboration seriously. 'Let the MaraLhas make lhe first move and I will join them,' he told his courtiers. The Maratbas did not make the first move, nor is it likely that they would have moved at all unless the fortunes of war had favoured the Punjabis. As the months went by, the mmours died down, the clouds of suspicion cleared, and the relations between the Durbar and the English became normal and even friendly. By June of that vear the govemor general was able Lo write Lo the Maharajah expressing satisfaction at the relations existing between them. Ranjit Singh answered enthusiastically: 'Judge by the state of your own hean, what is the state of mine!' i:, The treaty of LahoreHl was a grievous blow to the Ptmjabi dream of a unified Ptutjab. Malwa was forever cut off from the rest of the country. Malwai chieftains resumed their favourite pastime of bickering and intrigue; the British government discovered that what they necdecl more than protection against the 15 Political Corrt'sponrlence of Lord Mimo. No. 275, Vol. rv, JulyDecember 1809. 16 There was some heart-searching in London and Calcutta about the ethics of occupation oft.he Cis-Sutlej stales so soon aft.er the passing of the solemn rt'soluLiou tl1at the Jumna would be tht" final boundary-and without any provocation from anv quaner. The Secret Comminee of the Board of Directors in London, when reviewing the Treacy of Lahore, was constrained to rt'mark that there had been a departure from the principles laid down on 19 October 1805 and 27 February 1806 fixing the western limits to the possessions in India. Perhaps it was this sense of guilt whlch made tht' English effusive m their protestations of friendship for Ranjit Singh and helped him to overcome the animosity that Metcalfe's ,.,;sit had aroused.
Punjab Monarchy and Imperialism
do-or-die school, who felt that the Maharajah should tear up the treaty and fight. Contacts were made with the Marathas, Rohillas, and Begam Samru, and the air in northern India was thick with rumours of a Sikb-Maratha alliance to expel the English from India. The English were perturbed by these rumours and moved a detachment of troops to Hansi to prevent a junction of the Maharajah's forces with those of Sindhia or Holkar. The Maharajah kept a cool head. He listened to Mohkam Chand, for whom he had great respect and admiration, but refused to take the Maratha promises of collaboration seriously. 'Let the MaraLhas make lhe first move and I will join them,' he told his courtiers. The Maratbas did not make the first move, nor is it likely that they would have moved at all unless the fortunes of war had favoured the Punjabis. As the months went by, the mmours died down, the clouds of suspicion cleared, and the relations between the Durbar and the English became normal and even friendly. By June of that vear the govemor general was able Lo write Lo the Maharajah expressing satisfaction at the relations existing between them. Ranjit Singh answered enthusiastically: 'Judge by the state of your own hean, what is the state of mine!' i:, The treaty of LahoreHl was a grievous blow to the Ptmjabi dream of a unified Ptutjab. Malwa was forever cut off from the rest of the country. Malwai chieftains resumed their favourite pastime of bickering and intrigue; the British government discovered that what they necdecl more than protection against the 15 Political Corrt'sponrlence of Lord Mimo. No. 275, Vol. rv, JulyDecember 1809. 16 There was some heart-searching in London and Calcutta about the ethics of occupation oft.he Cis-Sutlej stales so soon aft.er the passing of the solemn rt'soluLiou tl1at the Jumna would be tht" final boundary-and without any provocation from anv quaner. The Secret Comminee of the Board of Directors in London, when reviewing the Treacy of Lahore, was constrained to rt'mark that there had been a departure from the principles laid down on 19 October 1805 and 27 February 1806 fixing the western limits to the possessions in India. Perhaps it was this sense of guilt whlch made tht' English effusive m their protestations of friendship for Ranjit Singh and helped him to overcome the animosity that Metcalfe's ,.,;sit had aroused.
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