4. The conquest of the Punjab was followed by its annexation. The Sikhs were informed that they must henceforth regard themselves as British subjects, and the Land of the Five Rivers as a part of British India. Two famous brothers, Henry and John Lawrence, were appointed to set things in order in this great province and to establish a firm and just government. The Sikh soldiers readily took service under our flag. They were proud to be enlisted in the regiments that had so well beaten them. Forts were built to defend the new frontier, the taxes were lightened and made more even, canals were cut, roads laid out, criminals punished, and honest labour protected; in fact, in a few short years the latest British conquest became the best managed, the most contented, and the most loyal of all the British provinces in India. 5. Three years after the annexation of the Punjab, war broke out at the opposite end of the Indian Empire, in what was then called Further India. It is known as the _Second Burmese War_ (1852). Burma was at that time under the rule of an upstart king, whore throne was at Ava. He seems to have been as ignorant and arrogant as the King of Ava in the First Burmese War (1824), who on being requested by the governor-general of India to withdraw his troops from Assam, which they had invaded, ordered his commander-in-chief to proceed to Calcutta, arrest the governor-general, and bring him to Ava, bound in golden fetters, for execution. As a result of that First Burmese War Assam had been added to the empire. It now forms the great tea-plantation of India. 6. The spoils of the Second Burmese War were still more valuable. The most brilliant feat of arms in that war was the storming of Rangoon. The Burmese troops held the city and pagoda of Rangoon with 18,000 men; the British could only bring one-third that number to the attack. Among the Burmese were the picked guards known as "The Immortals of the Golden Country," whose military oath compelled them to conquer or die at their posts. The courage of the ordinary troops was also insured, as their women and children were fastened up at the back of the fort to incite the valour of their husbands, sons, and brothers. But all to no purpose. The headlong rush of our troops, and the fierce cheer with which they came on, seemed to take the heart out of the defenders, and when the storming party entered at one gate the garrison fled by the opposite one, the brave Immortals in their gilt lacquer accoutrements leading the way.