Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/51

Rh tending to show the policy which you had resolved to pursue, and the unprovoked and wicked aggression which you have repelled. Your escape and that of your sons, amid all the perils that surrounded you, has filled us with delight. Lady Peel is greatly pleased that you thought of her amid the pressure of such events as those in the midst of which your letter was written.

'My boy (William) is just come home from the Sandwich Islands, being sent home after a personal survey of the Oregon, with despatches.

'I think we shall be able to preserve peace with the United States, notwithstanding the blustering of Polk and the American Congress.

'God bless you, my dear Hardinge. Excuse my hurried letter. I am fighting a desperate battle here. Shall probably drive my opponents across the Sutlej, but what is to come afterwards, I know not.

'Ever affectionately yours,

'R. Peel.'

The above letter is now preserved in a case at the National Portrait Gallery, with others written by the most eminent men of the day.

I may here mention another letter, addressed by Sir Robert Peel to Sir Henry Hardinge, on the eve of his departure for India. Peel mentions how he had noticed that Hardinge wore only the ribbon of a