Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/177

Rh co-operation with the Governor-General, have overcome many serious obstacles.' Their complete unanimity on the night of the 21st of December, as well as in the plan of attack at Sobráon, is an instance showing how any want of such co-operation might have led to deplorable results. Again, in a letter written to a friend from Simla in May, 1846, Lord Hardinge remarks: 'I am most gratified that my excellent and distinguished friend the Commander-in-Chief has received the honours he has so nobly won. He is a fine specimen of an English officer and an English gentleman.' The two soldiers were always on friendly terms, and these relations continued till Lord Hardinge's death.

The Governor-General was now on his way to Calcutta, the seat of government which he had quitted three years before with very different feelings. Then, the state of the Punjab was a source of extreme anxiety; now, its prospects were peaceful. The captured Sikh guns, 256 in number, had already been conveyed in triumph through the country, deeply impressing the native population with a sense of our military power and inexhaustible resources.

On the 24th of December, 1847, after Lord Hardinge's arrival in Calcutta, the European and native inhabitants of the Presidency approached him in the following terms: —

'The inhabitants of Calcutta addressed your Lordship on the occasion of your return to the Presidency, and declared their sense of the distinguished services ren-