We are at war once more—in India. The overland mail
left Sir Henry Hardinge at the head of a great army, still fighting the Sikhs, in an engagement that had already lasted for three days, with by no means uncheckered success to the British. De- moralized as they are, the Khalsa troops fight bravely, and may yet prove troublesome. The final issue, however, is scarcely the less certain. The absorption of the Ptinjanb into British tern- has been long foredoomed : the region penetrates into the midst of our domain, cestitituting an alien tenemeeet whose ist.. habitants had established a nuisance; and they have made the nuisance felt more and more every year. The question Was narrowed to this—shall there be a depository or disturbance within the outline of our frontier, keeping the British Govern- ment always on the watch and often at war with its own subjeota, rendered contumacious by example ; or shall British authority be extended in full over the ill-governed territory? The actual in- vasion of the British territory by the Sikhs brought the question to a practical issue; and Sir Henry Hardinge makes the practical
reply.
