Punjab, Colonel Mackcson, fell by an Afghan knife. His loss, Dalhousie declared in a General Order, 'would have dimmed a victory.' Two years before, he had mourned the sudden end of his great English Chief, Sir Robert Peel — his stern composure melting into tears at the news. Now, in 1853, he was also to lose his right-hand man in India, Sir Henry Elliot, most accomplished of Foreign Secretaries, and most brilliant and genial of private friends.
But the desolation which fell upon Lord Dalhousie in that year and wrung his heart, was of a more intimate character. Although Lady Dalhousie had improved by her visit to Ceylon in 1852, yet it was found necessary in the following spring that she should again leave India. She started via the Cape for England, in the hope that the long sea voyage, and the meeting at home with the two daughters for whom she yearned, might enable her to return to Calcutta at the beginning of winter in restored health. The longings of the mother's heart were destined never to be satisfied in this world; nor were the hopes of the husband ever to be fulfilled. Lady Dalhousie died on the homeward voyage, on the 6th of May, 1853.
The terrible task of breaking the news to her husband fell upon his kinsman and Military Secretary, Major James Ramsay. Lord Dalhousie one evening returned from his usual drive on the Cal-
