the Sutledge, where the British, enfeebled by their losses, were unable to follow them. In the course of January 1845 the Sikhs, emboldened by the forced inaction of the conquerors, recrossed the river, entrenched themselves on its left bank, and thus held command of both banks of the stream. Towards the end of the same month they passed the Upper Sutledge and established a magazine at Dhurrumkote, between Loodiana and Ferozepore. These movements drew on a fresh battle and victory. Sir Harry Smith, overtaking the enemy at Aliwal, drove him across the Sutledge with severe loss of men and guns. The new victory further inspirited the British troops, and induced their commander to make one more vigorous effort to bring the struggle to a conclusion.

The spot where the main army of the Sikhs was entrenched on either side of the Sutledge was known under the name of Sobraon. A ford at this point enabled their troops to cross from bank to bank. The entrenchments which the enemy had constructed to cover his position were of great strength; they were crowned with artillery more numerous and powerful than any which Gough could bring against them. This posi tion Gough, on the 8th of February, decided to storm. Even Hardinge, brave almost to a fault, shrank from the responsibility of attacking works of so great strength, manned by troops of such proved resolution. Three times he urged the Commander-in-Chief to desist from the attack unless he felt confident of success. The troops were already in position, the artillery was already opening fire, when Hardinge for the third time suggested caution. "What!" replied Gough, "withdraw the troops after the action has commenced, and when I feel sure of victory? Indeed, I will not; tell Sir Robert Dick (who was to lead the assault) to move on, in the name of God." 1

1 It is right to add that the accuracy of this story, which had never been told before, was questioned on the appearance of this work by the present Lord Hardinge in a letter to the Times. It was, however, confirmed by a letter of Sir Patrick Grant to the same journal. At Lord Hardinge's request I have pleasure in contrasting his father's (the Governor-General's) own account with that which is given in the text, and which is supported by Sir Patrick Grant.

The confidence of Gough was justified; the enemy's entrenched camp was carried by storm and his army almost annihilated; sixty-seven guns were captured; and, during the night of the 10th, on which this victory was achieved, the advanced brigade of the British army were thrown across the Sutledge.1 But the political consequences of the battle were more considerable than its military results. The earlier reverses of the Sikhs had induced them to place authority in the hands of Gholab Singh. This able but unscrupulous chieftain had repaired, after Aliwal, to Lahore, and had ever since maintained a secret correspondence with the GovernorGeneral.

The terms of peace.

The total defeat of the Sikhs at Sobraon compelled the Sikh Government to authorise Gholab to offer unconditional submission to the conquerors.2 And the terms on which Hardinge insisted were exceptionally severe. The British frontier was advanced from the Sutledge to the Beas; a vast tract of fertile territory was thus added to the Company's possessions; and the Sikhs were required to pay an indemnity of a million towards the expenses of the war. A treasury exhausted by misgovernment could not, of course, produce so vast an amount of treasure, and in lieu of it the Hill States from the Beas to the Indus were taken from Lahore. This acquisition would, however, have inconveniently increased the British frontier, and Hardinge accordingly decided on transferring it to Gholab Singh, this chieftain undertaking to pay in return for it the price of the indemnity. Gholab was thus rewarded for his treachery and for his services In a despatch to Lord Ripon of the 16th February 1846 the Governor-General wrote: "I sent Colonel Benson to Sir Hugh to say that, if he doubted the issue, he might exercise his own discretion: if he only apprehended a severe loss to go on. My own opinion was that we should succeed, or I should have stopped the attack." For the facts of the campaign see a rare book, Despatches and General Orders announcing the Victories achieved by the Army of the Sutledge, &c. These despatches, &c., however, will also be found in Papers respecting the Late Hostilities on the N.-W. Frontier of India; Further Papers respecting the Late Hostilities (Parl. Papers, 1846, Nos. 77, 85); Cunningham's History of the Sikhs, p. 297 sey. ; Quarterly Review, vol. lxxviii. pp. 196 seq.; Calcutta Review, vol. vi. p. 241 seq.

1 The text is taken almost literally from Sir H. Hardinge's despatch, Parl. Papers, p. 68, 2 Further Papers respecting Late Hostilities, pp. 53, 67, 68.

by being made an independent sovereign, and the boy Dhuleep was left the Maharaja of an impoverished and diminished territory.1

The whole history of the British in India affords one long proof that it is easier to destroy than to restore a system. Deprived of his artillery, stripped of much of his territory, his army beaten, his treasury exhausted, the boy king of the Sikhs could not stand alone, and his advisers urged the GovernorGeneral to give him the support of a British force and a British Resident. Hardinge acceded to both requests. He consented that a British army should remain, for a limited period, at Lahore. He appointed as agent at the Maharaja's court, Henry Lawrence, an officer whose life was a noble The Lawsacrifice to duty. At the same time he entrusted a rences. brother of this officer, John Lawrence, with the administration of the territory between the Beas and the Sutledge, which had just been annexed to the Company's dominions.2

Wiser appointments could not have been made. During the present century the Indian service has produced few greater and no better men than the two Lawrences. The stories of their lives should be familiar to those who have work to do, and desire to learn how good and great men do it. John Lawrence obtained a success such as no Anglo-Indian had achieved before. He was selected by his sovereign for the Viceroyalty of that vast Empire to whose service his best energies had been devoted. Years before the younger brother attained this high position, the elder brother, Henry, met a soldier's death at Lucknow. Yet many persons will be disposed to think that, if Henry had survived, he would have been the greater man and more capable Viceroy. The two brothers bore in some respects close resemblance, in others a notable contrast, one to the other. Henry, a soldier by profession, and no mean soldier by proof, was destined to achieve his chief successes in political and civil work. John, a member of the civil service, in several instances proved that he had 1 Further Papers respecting Late Hostilities, pp. 90, 99. 2 Life of Lord Lawrence, vol. i. p. 189.

VOL. VI.

P

Both

singular knowledge and capacity for military affairs. men had the readiness to incur responsibility which forms high qualification for independent rule. But, while John had that command of detail which makes a man the best of subordinates, Henry had the self-confidence and dislike of control which fits him for command.

Both brothers had that keen sense which all the best AngloIndians have displayed of the duty of Britain towards India. But they had different conceptions of policy. John was anxious to confer on the natives the benefits of British administration. Henry was more desirous of considering the views of the natives themselves. On the most memorable occasion of their lives, when these two high-minded men parted one from the other, John was in favour of the annexation of the Punjab, while Henry resisted its annexation; John was desirous of introducing the full benefit of British rule into the province, while Henry was anxious to defer to the scruples and feelings of native Indians.

The appointments which Hardinge thus made were fully justified. John Lawrence succeeded in organising an efficient

Their work in the Punjab.

administration in the recently annexed territory which he had been selected to rule. Henry Lawrence rapidly secured the confidence of the Sikhs among whom he had been deputed to reside. It is impossible, however, in a work of this kind to enter into details of their administration. It is sufficient to say that firm and just government pacified the country; and that Hardinge, on resigning the Governor-Generalship in 1848, declared to his successor that it would not be necessary to fire a shot in India for another five years.1 When Hardinge returned to England, Henry Lawrence accompanied him. Long residence in India had impaired the latter's health, and necessitated relaxation and rest in a temperate climate.2 The Governor-General

1 Life of Lord Lawrence, vol. i. p. 245.

2 Henry Lawrence was made, on his return, a K.C.B. Life of Sir H. Lawrence, p. 418. Hardinge and Gough had both been already rewarded for their share in the Sikh war. Hardinge received a viscount's coronet with a pension of £3000; Gough a baron's coronet with a pension of £2000 a year

Lord Dalhousie

Governor

received as his successor Dalhousie, who had held office under Peel; while the Residency at Lahore was temporarily entrusted to Frederick Currie, a member of the Governor-General's Council at Calcutta. No General. two opinions have ever been expressed upon Dalhousie's capacity. During his long rule he showed more character than any man who had governed India since Wellesley. Fortis in re, however, he was rarely suavis in modo; and even those who agree most closely with his decisions will regret that in communicating them to his subordinates he did not show more consideration for their feelings.

Some months elapsed after Henry Lawrence had left the Punjab before Currie entered upon the duties of its administration; and, in the interval, the work of organising the territory was to some extent delayed. Though Lawrence was nominally only political agent at Lahore, he was virtually ruler of the Punjab; the removal of Lal Singh for treachery, and of the Maharanee for corruption, forced the English to assume the Regency during the minority of Dhuleep Singh. One delicate task remained for accomplishment. The fortress of Mooltan, famous since the days of Alexander, is Mooltan. one of the strongest places in Hindostan. It lies

on the left bank of the Chenab, some distance below its confluence with the Ravee. Taken by Runjeet Singh, it had been entrusted to the care of Sawun Mull, who, after

for three lives. For the proposal of these pensions, see Hansard, vol. lxxxvi. p. 9. The East India Company, imitating the liberality of Parliament, introduced a bill enabling it to settle £5000 and £2000 a year on the two men. Ibid., p. 613. On this bill Peel engrafted a clause suspending the English pension to Hardinge while he was in receipt of the Indian pension. Ibid., p. 856. The Lords, rallying in defence of a Lord, struck the clause out; and Lansdowne moved its restoration on the third reading, producing a letter from Lady Hardinge assenting to its being restored. Ibid., vol. lxxxvii. p. 1138. Lady Hardinge, it has already been stated, was half-sister to Castlereagh; she was therefore niece to the second Lord Camden, who in 1817 voluntarily-surrendered to the public the fees of his sinecure office of Teller of the Exchequer. Different opinions may possibly be formed on the propriety of such concessions as those which were made by Lord Camden and Lady Hardinge. But their example has been so rarely followed that it is pleasing to find uncle and niece both distinguished for similar abnegation.