Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/110

106 on the Staff to command personally the troops in India. The Duke has promised to write to the General, and to point out to him that this measure is one of absolute necessity under the very peculiar circumstances of a great crisis in India.'

The above extracts are now published for the first time. Few are even aware of their existence. But any biography of Lord Hardinge, however short, would not be accurate and complete without a record of this correspondence. So rapid, however, was the course of events that, before the second of these letters was written, not only had the crowning victory of Sobráon been won, but the British army had marched to Lahore without firing a shot after crossing the Sutlej. The necessity which had arisen no longer existed. None the less did the Governor-General appreciate the confidence in him which actuated the Cabinet in proposing that he should exercise supreme authority in matters military as well as political.

It remains only to observe that, up to the end of his administration, no friction occurred between the Governor-General and the Commander-in-Chief. The former had no reason to complain that his suggestions on military questions were disregarded; and the latter was glad to be supported by the advice of his colleague in every important crisis. The feeling of Sir H. Hardinge at the time may be learned from the following letter, which he addressed to the President of the Council at Calcutta on January 5th, 1846, only a