still the largest work of the kind in the country; he turned the sod of the first Indian railway. He promoted steam communication with England viá the Red Sea; he introduced cheap postage and the electric telegraph. It is Lord Dalhousie's misfortune that these benefits are too often forgotten in the recollections of the Mutiny, which followed his policy of annexation, after the firm hand which had remodelled British India was withdrawn.
Second Sikh War, 1848-1849.—Lord Dalhousie had not been six months in India before the second Sikh or Punjab war broke out. Two British officers were treacherously assassinated at Múltán. Unfortunately, Henry Lawrence, our Resident at Lahore, was at home on sick leave. The British army was not ready to act in the hot weather; and, despite the single-handed exertions of Lieutenant (afterwards Sir Herbert) Edwardes, this outbreak of fanaticism led to a general rising in the Punjab. The khálsá army of the Sikhs again came together, and once more fought on even terms with the British. On the fatal field of Chilianwála, which English patriotism prefers to call a drawn battle, the British lost 2400 officers and men, four guns, and the colours of three regiments (13th January 1849). Before reinforcements could come out from England, with Sir Charles Napier as Commander-in-Chief, Lord Gough had restored his reputation by the crowning victory of Gujrat, which absolutely destroyed the Sikh army. Múltán had previously fallen, and the allied Muhammadan cavalry from Afghanistan, who had forgotten their religious antipathy to the Sikhs, and joined with them in a common hatred of the British name, were chased back with ignominy to their native hills. The Punjab, annexed by proclamation on the 29th March 1849, became a British Province—a virgin field for the administrative talents of Dalhousie and the two Lawrences. Mahárájá Dhulíp Singh received an allowance of £58,000 a year, on which he lived for many years as an English country gentleman in Norfolk. In 1849 the Earl of Dalhousie was advanced to a Marquessate.
Pacification of the Punjab.—The first step in the pacification of the Punjab was a general disarmament, which resulted in the delivery of no fewer than 120,000 weapons of various kinds. Then followed a settlement of the land tax, village by village, at
