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168 Ranjít Singh in a spirit of frankness and friendship: they realized that he was a useful buffer between their unconsolidated provinces and the unknown, shadowy power beyond the passes of the North-West frontier, whence so many invading armies had poured down on the plains of Hindustán, and they never made a hostile movement against him. The Lahore State eventually fell from inherent weakness, and not from any designs on it by the British Government.

The story of the origin of the connection of our Government with the Cis-Sutlej States and the Mahárájá is a very instructive chapter of Indian history, but it is too lengthy to be told here in any detail. It is closely associated with the rise of the Maráthá power with its disciplined armies commanded by French generals, and with the romantic career of George Thomas, the English adventurer, who attempted, with much courage and audacity, to found a kingdom in Northern India, and came within a measurable distance of success. The mere outline of the situation is all that can be given.

The British power, at the beginning of this century, was spreading fast, like a rising tide, over Hindustán. The red line on the maps which marked its frontier was ever widening, and it was Ranjít Singh himself who truly prophesied that in time the whole of Hindustán would be red. Bengal, Benares, Oude, Allahábád, Cawnpore, Farukhábád, had in