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Rh when Sir Henry reached Lucknow, added to which was the general disaffection and unrest throughout the country, while Oudh itself was seething with anger and sedition. Here was a task for the veteran pacificator that surpassed in difficulty, and even in importance, the duty that had been laid on him after the annexation of the Punjab; for, while pacifying Oudh, he had also to prepare for hostilities with a general enemy all around him, and to do so when he alone among the magnates of India realized, and meant to act on the conviction, that grave troubles and warfare were impending and must be prepared for.

Having cleared the ground, as has been shown, by smoothing away the disaffection of the people and reducing the local difficulties, he at the same time on his arrival took immediate steps for the improvement of the military situation, and as a precaution against the danger he felt to be impending. He had been in Lucknow in 1845, during the course of his employment in Nepál before being summoned to the Sutlej war, and he had doubtless taken in the bearings of the salient features of the city. At any rate, not more than a day or two after his arrival he directed the Engineers to clear out and repair the old Sikh fort and position of Mutchi Bhown, for use ostensibly as a store depôt, but in fact as a place of refuge in case of need or of an émeute.

Within a few days after, the prospect of affairs had been further darkened by the mutiny at Barrack-