to realize the extent of your power and recognized your generalship.  The victories gained by Sale, Nott, and Pollock in the plains of Afghanistan have been shadowed by those gained by Your Excellency.  The occupation of Kabul and the glorious battle of Kandahar are among the brightest jewels in the diadem of Your Lordship’s Baronage.  Your Excellency’s achievements checked the aggressive advance of the Great Northern Bear, whose ambitious progress received a check from the roar of a lion in the person of Your Lordship; and a zone of neutral ground has now been fixed, and a line of peace marked by the Boundary Commission.  The strong defences which Your Excellency has provided on the frontier add another bright stone to the building of your fame, and constitute in themselves a lasting memorial of Your Excellency’s martial skill.  Never had any British General to face more arduous tasks, and none has proved more completely successful in overcoming them than Your Lordship.  The result is that India has been rendered safe from the fear of invasion from without.  Your Excellency is not only adorned with heroic qualifications, but the love and affection with which the people of India regard Your Lordship show what admirable qualities are exhibited in the person of Your Excellency.  Terrible in war and merciful in peace, Your Excellency’s name has become a dread to the enemies of England and lovely to your friends.  The interest which Your Lordship has always taken in the welfare of those with whom you have worked in India is well known to everybody.  The Sikhs in particular are, more than any other community in India, indebted to Your Lordship.  We find in Your Excellency a true friend of the Sikh community—­a community which is always devoted heart and soul to the service of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Empress of India.  No one understands better than Your Excellency the value of a Sikh soldier, and we feel very grateful that the military authorities recognize the necessity of requiring every Sikh recruit to be baptized according to the Sikh religion before admission to the Army—­a practice which makes the Sikhs more true and faithful, and which preserves the existence of a very useful community.  The Sikhs are said to be born soldiers, but they undoubtedly make very good citizens in time of peace also.  Unfortunately, however, they have had no opportunity of fully developing their mental powers, so as to enable them to advance with the spirit of the age.  We thank God that Your Excellency was among those who most desired to see the Sikhs refined and educated by establishing a Central College in the Punjab for the use of the Sikh people, and we confidently hope that the Sikhs, of whom a large portion is under Your Excellency’s command, will give their mite in support of this national seminary.  The subscriptions given by Your Lordship, His Excellency the Viceroy, and His Honour the late Lieutenant-Governor, were very valuable to the Institution, and the Sikhs