Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/146

142 as he discussed with energy the contents of the latest 'dák' from Lahore with some of the secretariat. After the labours and excitement of the campaign, the repose now permitted and the pleasant reflection that his rule was nearly at an end were meat and drink to him.

Shortly after my arrival the mail-bags from England wore opened, containing the list of honours for the army of the Sutlej. Few soldiers had better merited their rewards, which were distributed with no sparing hand. The two Chiefs received peerages, and Parliament voted to each an annuity of £3000 to sustain the dignity. It happened, however, that before the Cabinet could move in the matter, the Court of Directors had, by a unanimous vote, granted to Lord Hardinge a pension of £5000, charged on the revenues of India. It was obvious that no servant of the Crown could accept this double acknowledgment of his services; and Lord Hardinge was the last person to avail himself of such excessive liberality. In his absence, it fell to the lot of his wife to remove the difficulty which had arisen. In a letter from her, which was read in the House of Lords by Lord Lansdowne, she anticipated the expression of her husband's feelings, and declined the pension voted by the Court of Directors.

Lord Hardinge always maintained that such honours from his Queen and country more than repaid him for his previous months of exertion and anxiety. But what touched his heart more than anything else was the unanimous approval of the Cabinet, backed