left in a foreign country alone a few months after your marriage?  If Roberts had not been a newly-married man, I would have sent him.’  This was too much for my wife, who sympathized greatly with my disappointment, and she could not help retorting:  ’I am afraid I cannot be very grateful to you for making my husband feel I am ruining his career by standing in the way of his being sent on service.  You have done your best to make him regret his marriage.’  The poor old Chief was greatly astonished, and burst out in his not too refined way:  ’Well, I’ll be hanged if I can understand you women!  I have done the very thing I thought you would like, and have only succeeded in making you angry.  I will never try to help a woman again.’  My wife saw that he had meant to be kind, and that it was, as he said, only because he did not ‘understand women’ that he had made the mistake.  She was soon appeased, and in the end she and Lord Clyde became great friends.

The middle of January found us at Umballa, where Lord Canning met in state all the Cis-Sutlej Sikh Chiefs.  Fine, handsome men they most of them were, and magnificently attired.  The beautifully delicate tints which the Sikhs are so fond of, the warlike costumes of some of the Sirdars, the quiet dignity of these high-born men who had rendered us such signal service in our hour of need, made the scene most picturesque and impressive.  The place of honour was given to the Maharaja of Patiala (the grandfather of the present Maharaja), as the most powerful of the Phulkian Princes; and he was followed by his neighbours of Nabha and Jhind, all three splendid specimens of well-bred Sikhs, of stately presence and courtly manners.  They were much gratified at having the right of adoption granted to their families, and at being given substantial rewards in the shape of extension of territory.

The Sikh Chiefs were followed by Rajas of minor importance, chiefly from the neighbouring hills, whom the Viceroy had summoned in order to thank them for assistance rendered during the Mutiny.  Many of them had grievances to be redressed; others had favours to ask; and the Viceroy was able to more or less satisfy them by judiciously yielding to reasonable demands, and by bestowing minor powers on those who were likely to use them well.  The wisdom of this policy of concession on Lord Canning’s part was proved in after years by its successful results.

On the 29th January the Raja of Kapurthala came out to meet the Viceroy one march from Jullundur.  He had supplemented the valuable assistance rendered to Colonel Lake in the early days of the Mutiny by equipping and taking into Oudh a force of 2,000 men, which he personally commanded in six different actions.  The Viceroy cordially thanked him for this timely service, and in recognition of it, and his continued and conspicuous loyalty, bestowed upon him large estates in Oudh, where he eventually became one of the chief Talukdars.  This Raja was the grandfather of the enlightened nobleman who came to England three years ago.