things with a high hand in dealing with the Ameers, and early in 1844 he was recalled by the unanimous vote of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, and Sir Henry Hardinge was appointed in his place. [Illustration: _Sir F. Grant, P.R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs. Graves, Pall Mall._ SIR HENRY, AFTERWARDS VISCOUNT, HARDINGE AND HIS STAFF AT FEROZESHAH.] Hardinge applied himself to the peaceful preparation of railroad schemes for the development of India, but at the close of 1845 events again forced the Government forward on the path of fresh conquest. At that time the Punjab, a kingdom consisting both of independent Sikh States and those under British protection, was under nominal rule of the boy-king, Dhuleep Singh, and his mother, the Ranee; but his government at Lahore was distracted by faction and lay at the mercy of his own powerful army. In December 1845, the Sikh forces, for some reason which has never been clearly explained, began massing on the British frontier, and crossed the Sutlej, 15,000 or 20,000 strong, on the 13th. Sir Hugh Gough advanced by forced marches to meet them, attacked them at Moodkee and defeated them, capturing seventeen guns. The Sikhs retired to a strongly-entrenched camp at Ferozeshah, whither Gough, reinforced by Sir John Littler's division from Ferozepore, followed them on the 21st. The Sikh army was now upwards of 50,000 strong, with 108 heavy guns in fixed batteries. The British force consisted of 16,700 men and sixty-nine guns, chiefly horse artillery. There ensued one of the severest conflicts in the history of our Indian Empire. Beginning on the 21st it lasted through part of the 22nd, and ended in the gallant Sikhs being driven across the Sutlej with the loss of many killed and wounded, and no less than seventy guns. The Governor-General, Sir Henry Hardinge, acted as a volunteer, second in command to Sir Hugh Gough, in this memorable action. [Illustration: _Sir F. Grant, P.R.A._} {_By permission of Messrs. Graves._ FIELD MARSHAL HUGH, VISCOUNT GOUGH, 1779-1869. Entered the Army in 1794 and served at the Cape of Good Hope and in the Peninsular War. He commanded at the Battles of Moodkee, Ferozeshah, and Sobraon, and was raised to the Peerage as a reward for these great victories. In the second Sikh War in 1848 he commanded in the actions at Chilianwalla and Goojerat.] [Sidenote: The Second Sikh War.]