500 that had been captured, had been handed over to the 35th Regiment of Sepoys. These men at once made them over to their English comrades, declaring that Europeans required animal food more than they themselves did. While General Pollock was standing fast at Jalalabad daily expecting his orders to advance, he received a dispatch from Lord Ellenborough thus worded: "The only safe course is that of withdrawing the Army under your command at the earliest practicable period, into positions within the Khaibar Pass, where it may possess easy and certain communications with India.'

In General Pollock, fortunately, the nation possessed a man of initiative and resolution. He would not act on the instructions thus indirectly conveyed until he had tried what a strongly-worded protest might effect this he promptly sent; and at the same time he wrote that, he regarded an advance in combination with General Nott to vindicate British honour, as far less perilous than a retreat without the prisoners whom his conscience forbade him to leave behind.' General Nott at Kandahar had received in April a still more definite order instructing him to fall back upon Quetta, after relieving the garrison of Khelat-i-Ghilzai. He too had not acted precipitately, and though he had no intention of disobeying orders, circumstances had prevented him from carrying them out immediately. Moreover, the fact that both generals had been allowed some discretion as to the time when they were to carry out the instructions given them justified them in deciding to stand fast where they were, until wiser counsels prevailed. In July came fresh instructions to General Nott: he was to retire from Kandahar, but he could choose his own route, and if it pleased him, he could retire to India by way of Kabul and Peshawar. Thus Lord Ellenborough adroitly removed the responsibility of action off his own shoulders, on to those of men who were only too willing to accept it. There had been some excuse for his indecision and irresolution. Before he arrived in India, he had given out that his mission was to restore peace to Asia. Only the irony of events had been too much for him. Never was that irony better illustrated than in the events that made a man of war out of a pro

fessed man of peace. The whole of his short period of office was practically a period of war. The war to which he was now committed was only the first of a series of wars, one of which was to lead to the annexation of the Province of Sindh. The combined operations of Generals Nott and Pollock resulted, as history has recorded, in a brilliant success.

Lord Ellenborough dearly loved display, and he could not let the opportunity pass which the brilliant conclusion of the short campaign in Afghanistan gave him, of formally welcoming the triumphant Army on its return to India. He had collected another great army at Firozpur, largely with the object of overawing the Sikhs of the Punjab, who had been credited with the intention of attacking the Army returning from Afghanistan as it passed through their territories. Lord Ellenborough had invited a large and representative gathering of princes, nobles, great officers of State, and English ladies to be present on the occasion and a great reception was accorded to the Army of Kabul. The total force reviewed consisted of 40,000 men with 100 guns. The war with China had just been brought to a successful conclusion about the same time. For the time being his mission of peace seemed accomplished, and he had a medal struck with the magniloquent inscription engraved on it, 'Pax restituta Asiae '; Peace restored to Asia.' It had been decided that Dost Mahomed was to be restored to the throne of Afghanistan and it is recorded that, as he was taking leave of Lord Ellenborough, he was asked what he thought of the English in India. His reply was noteworthy and significant I have been struck,' he said,' with the magnitude of your power, and your resources, with your ships, your arsenals, and your armies, but I cannot understand why the Rulers of so great an Empire should have gone across the Indus to deprive me of my poor and barren country.' Once again since that time did the British Government adopt a policy of active intervention in Afghan affairs, and once again did the Afghan people show that, if they were to have a master, he should be one of their own choice, and not a man imposed upon them by foreign bayonets. The causes of the Afghan War of 1878 and the

results were almost identical with those of the war of 1838, the only difference being, as Sir Alfred Lyall has said, that by 1878 the Punjab and Sindh had become British, and communications between India and Kabul were preserved intact. With the recent conclusion of the Anglo-Russian agreement, it seems unlikely that Afghanistan will again have any reason to fear a forward movement into her territories from either side, on the part of her powerful European neighbours and whether she remains a strong, friendly and united nation', will largely depend henceforth upon the attitude of her own people. The British Empire in India is now close up to the Afghan frontiers. Between the two frontiers lies only that Debatable Land which has recently been the scene of two of England's many little wars on the frontier. And, as the historian has pointed out, 'the management of these intractable and fanatic Highlanders is by far the most troublesome of the political and military difficulties that confront the Government along the whole external frontier of the Indian Empire.'

After his return to England, Lord Auckland had further opportunities of serving his country in public office, and again he won a great reputation. He died on the first day of the year 1849, leaving behind him, records the historian, 'a memory universally honoured and regretted, and cherished by the tender affection and inconsolable grief of his family and friends.'

THE ADVANCE OF THE BRITISH DOMINIONS INTO THE PUNJAB

VISCOUNT HARDINGE, 1785-1856

LORD HARDINGE was another of the many sons of the rectory' who have distinguished themselves in the service of their country. A notable ancestor of his had been one of Charles I's most loyal adherents: he raised a troop of horse and received the honour of knighthood for his services. The epitaph on his tomb describes him as having been a faithful servant to God, the King, the Church of England, and his Country in the worst times'. An elder brother of Lord Hardinge's was a distinguished naval officer. He had received post rank very early in his career owing to his gallant conduct during the naval wars with both the Dutch and the French. His greatest achievement had been his capture of a French man-of-war that had been in pursuit of some Indiamen, after a three days' hard fight. He died in the hour of victory. A public monument in St. Paul's was voted by Parliament in honour of the young naval captain of twenty-three and the merchants of Bombay erected another in that city. At school, Hardinge early showed his adventurous spirit by climbing the buttresses of Durham Cathedral in search of birds' nests. An amusing story is told of his early boyhood. His aunts, with whom he was staying, thinking he was too short for his age, tried to increase his height by making him hang with his arms on a door. His school career was not a long one: at the age of fourteen he was gazetted ensign in a small corps known as The Queen's Rangers, which was in Canada, where he proceeded to join it. He remained in Canada till the Peace of Amiens in 1802. He very early displayed that courage which was to be so marked a feature of his character throughout his career. He was returning from mess one night in Montreal,

when he saw three ruffians attacking and robbing a man who was lying on the ground. He at once drew his sword and rushed to the rescue: the three ruffians, after a short show of resistance, fled before his vigorous onset. The man whose life he thus saved, Mr. Edward Ellice, afterwards became a Cabinet Minister and Secretary for War, both distinctions which young Hardinge himself was also destined to attain to. In 1802, Hardinge was promoted lieutenant, and two years later became captain. He spent a year at the Military College which was then at High Wycombe.

When the Peninsular War broke out, Hardinge went out, holding a Staff appointment as Deputy Assistant Quarter-Master-General. He was with Sir John Moore during the famous retreat to Corunna, and was by that gallant general's side when he was mortally wounded. He has described the fortitude with which the general bore his sufferings: the resolution and composure of his features completely deceived Hardinge into thinking that he would recover, and when he expressed a hope to that effect, the heroic commander replied: No, Hardinge, I feel that that is impossible.' An anecdote in keeping with the character of the heroic Sir John Moore has been recorded. Thinking that the general's sword was in the way when he was arranging for his removal in a blanket to the Field Hospital, he was unbuckling it, when the general remarked, 'It is as well as it is: I had rather it should go out of the field with me.' Hardinge attracted the attention of Sir John Moore's successor in the command, General Beresford, by the active share he took in the embarkation of the force the next morning. Wellington had also had a good opportunity of testing his quality. He had seen how he bore himself in some of the earlier battles of the campaign. After the battle of Vimiera, where he had been severely wounded, the Quarter-MasterGeneral had written, 'I grieve to tell you that our inestimable friend, Captain Hardinge, was wounded in the hottest point of attack: it is his custom to be foremost in every attack where an unaffected gallantry of spirit irresistibly carries him here he was conspicuous where all were brave.' The same officer, it is recorded, on noting the fortitude with which Hardinge bore his sufferings,