Lord Dalhousie who forced his master-will upon the Lawrences.
The stronger man of the two illustrious brothers went heartily with the Governor-General from the first. When Lord Dalhousie asked him 'What is to be done with the Punjab now?' writes Lord Lawrence's biographer, 'John Lawrence, who knew well that his questioner had made up his mind, at all hazards, ultimately to annex the conquered province, answered with characteristic brevity, "Annex it now[1]."' Henry did not go heartily with the Governor-General either at first or afterwards. 'Had Lawrence been Dalhousie,' says Sir Henry's admiring chronicler, 'he would certainly have rid himself of a right-hand man who thwarted him — not indeed by disobedience, but by opposition of opinion — as did Dalhousie himself.' Lord Dalhousie took a wiser course.
At the outset he plainly, even sternly, told Henry Lawrence on what terms alone Henry Lawrence could continue to serve as his lieutenant in the Punjab. Henry Lawrence decided to serve on those terms. When his opinion against annexation was overruled, Henry Lawrence, after a struggle with himself, accepted the policy of annexation. Throughout his four years of service to Lord Dalhousie in the Punjab, however widely his own views might differ from those of the
- ↑ Bosworth Smith's Life of Lord Lawrence, vol. i, p. 242, ed. 1855.
