Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/200

196 quietly away on the 23rd of September, 1856, in the seventy-second year of his age.

His remains lie in the quiet and picturesque churchyard of Fordcombe Church, near Penshurst, a church to the erection of which he had largely contributed as a thank-offering for many mercies. His funeral was of the most simple character, in strict accordance with his wishes. The body was carried to the grave by his own labourers. Lords Gough and Ellenborough stood by the coffin, on which were laid, as the only marks of his rank, his head-dress and the sword of Napoleon which had been given to him by the Great Duke.

A monument in Penshurst Church incorporates the following General Order, which was issued to the army on the 2nd October, 1856: —

'The Queen has a high and grateful sense of Lord Hardinge's valuable and unremitting services, and in his death deplores the loss of a true and devoted friend. No sovereign ever possessed a more honest and faithful councillor, or a more loyal, fearless, and devoted servant.'

Can any subject desire a more touching or a more honourable epitaph?