( 161 ) Khelat. The state of Khelat and Baluchistan was, until quite recently, left entirely to its own devices ; and had never been interfered with. At the invitation of the ruling chief or Khan the government of India have placed an agent at Quetta, and have, by mutual arrangement, quartered troops there. The independence of the Khan of Khelat is otherwise maintained. North-Western Frontier. The British policy on the north-western frontier extends only to strengthening and protecting the natural frontier line, and is not aggressive ; where it goes so far as to extend the =gis of its protection to Afghanistan and Khelat, it does so at their request and in their interests, and, moreover, at some considerable sacrifice; for it undertakes pecuniary and political obligations, which are demanded more in the interests of those outlying states themselves than in those of the integrity of the Indian empire, The results of the recent Afghan wars, and of the two conferences with the rulers of Afghanistan, will satisfy all of the impartiality and moderation of the British policy. Kashmiy The state of Kashmir formed part of the terri: tories ceded to the British, after the Sikh war, by the treaty of 1846. By a treaty made in the same year all the hill country between the Indus and the Ravi, including Chamba, and excluding Lahou! was