Now the Board showed its statesmanship because it did straightway, almost out of hand, with comparative completeness, that which others had done elsewhere by degrees at first and sometimes incompletely at last. To enjoin authoritatively the carrying out of such measures and to describe them when carried out may be comparatively easy; but to carry them out all at once in a new province under strange conditions, and in the teeth of innumerable obstacles, is hard indeed. Yet this is what the Board actually accomplished. It set to work simultaneously upon varied and intricate subjects, which other authorities elsewhere had been content, or else had been forced, to undertake by degrees, or piecemeal one by one according to opportunities in the course of years. But to the Board every week was precious and every month was eventful. It thus managed to effect, in a short span of years, as much as had been effected elsewhere in two or more decades. It is indeed but too easily conceivable that work done with rapid energy may result in imperfections injuring the effect of the whole. But the Board’s operations were masterly in conception, thorough in foundation, business-like in details. So far the work has never been excelled and seldom rivalled in other provinces, either before or since that era. On the other hand, the Board enjoyed several advantages which were almost unique. Its genius was partly shown in this that such advantages were seized, grasped tightly and turned to the best use. A mass of valuable experience has been garnered up amidst the older provinces, and was available for guidance or encouragement. Thus many projects became demonstrably practicable as well as desirable, which might otherwise have been disputable or untenable. The Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, having annexed the Punjab, had justly the strongest motives for ensuring speedy success for the administration of the province. He had at his disposal the imperial resources, and these were consequently placed at the disposal of the Board to an extent which has never been seen in any other Indian province. Again, there was something in the strategic position, the historic repute, and in the internal circumstances of the Punjab, to attract the idiosyncrasy of the Anglo-Indian Services; therefore able and aspiring men were willing to volunteer for service there, even with all its risks and hardships. Among the internal circumstances was the national character of the inhabitants, who were known to be sturdier and straighter than those of other provinces, and were expected to present more fully a _tabula rasa_, for the proceedings of British rule. The Board had an insight into character, and a faculty for choosing men for the administration. Believing its own reputation, as well as the public good, to depend on this choice, it pursued the object with circumspection and single-mindedness. Though India is essentially the land of administrators, yet no governing body in any