In order to use the Indus River for commercial navigation to Punjab, the British signed a treaty with the rulers of Hyderabad and Khairpur that guaranteed the British free passage along the Indus and through Sindh. Mir Murad Ali was pressured into accepting an 1838 treaty which resulted in the stationing of a British Resident in the city. The British also signed a treaty of "eternal friendship" with the Talpur rulers of Hyderabad in the early 19th century, who promised not to allow the French to set up residency in Sindh. In 1839, they were pressured into forcing another treaty that guaranteed the British trade and security privileges.