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22 mission the chiefs in the neighbourhood of his capital, determined to conquer the whole country to the south of the Sutlej, as far as the river Jumna, which, he believed, he might safely accomplish, without coming into collision with the English power. The condition of the Cis-Sutlej States eminently favoured the success of his design. Jealous of each other, and with no common bond of union now that the Muhammadan power had finally collapsed, they would, one by one, have fallen victims to the energy and determination of Ranjít Singh, whose ambition knew no limits and scruples, and to whom the very names of honour and pity were unknown. The Málwá chiefs saw their danger in time, and at the very moment when their annihilation seemed inevitable, threw themselves on the mercy of the British Government, which, after much hesitation, accepted the position and declared the Cis-Sutlej territory under its protection.

Then followed a period of unbroken security, during which the strong power which prevented any attack from without insisted upon tranquillity within, and maintained the smallest as well as the largest States in the possession of the dignity and power which they had possessed when first they claimed its protection. It was during this period that the rules of succession became, to a certain degree, uniform and consistent, although it will be understood that these are but comparative terms when applied to laws that prevailed in a society so exceptionally constituted, which had learned so lately the advantages of order,