Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/117

Rh Major Henry Lawrence had by this time arrived at the Governor-General's head-quarters, to succeed Major Broadfoot as Political Agent. I can see him now in his long 'chogah,' with his Van Dyck beard and lathy figure. We little thought that he was destined subsequently to play so important a part in the history of India. The Governor-General had also fixed his eye on John Lawrence; and on these two brothers the future destinies of the Punjab in a great measure rested. Many were the pleasant rides we had from Firozpur to Sobráon two or three times a week. Starting at daybreak in the fresh air of the morning, we were then a group of joyous spirits, the Governor-General heading the cavalcade on his favourite Arab Miáni, and followed by the escort of the body-guard.

In the camp at Sobráon there was naturally disappointment at the slow progress of the siege train. 'The army,' says Herbert Edwardes, in the Calcutta Review, was 'sickening for want of a battle; a malignant fever or epidemic horrors must have broken out at Sobráon had it been delayed another week.' The first portion of the siege train, with reserve ammunition for 100 guns, reached the camp on the 7th and 8th February. On the 8th Sir Henry Smith's Division, which had been detached for the Ludhiána operations, rejoined the Commander-in-Chief. On the 10th was fought the battle of Sobráon.

Meanwhile, the days passed in constant recon-