hich make a time of peace fruitful and glorious.

By their skill in agriculture, they have converted their country into
a garden; by their genius as traders, they have attracted to it a
large share of the wealth of other lands.

Let us take advantage of this season of tranquillity to confer similar
benefits on the Punjab.

The waters which fall on your mountain heights and unite at their base
to form mighty rivers, are a treasure which, duly distributed, will
fertilise your plains and largely augment their productive powers.
With electric telegraphs to facilitate communication, and railways and
canals to render access to the seaports easy and expeditious, we shall
be able to convey the surplus produce of this great country to others
where it is required, and to receive from them their riches in return.

I rejoice to learn that some of the chiefs in this part of India are
taking an interest in these matters, which are of such vital
importance to the welfare of this country and the prosperity of the
people. It affords me, moreover, sincere gratification to find that,
under the able guidance of the Lieutenant-Governor, the Sikh Sirdars
in certain districts of the Punjab are giving proof of their
appreciation of the value of education by making provision for the
education of their sons and daughters.

Be assured that in so doing you are adopting a judicious policy. The
experience of all nations proves that where rulers are well informed
and sagacious, the people are contented and willingly submissive to
authority. Moreover, it is generally found that where mothers are
enlightened, sons are valiant and wise.

I earnestly exhort you, therefore, to persevere in the course on which
you have entered; and I promise you while you continue in it the
sympathy and support of the British Government.

At Umballa Lord Elgin left the camp with which he had been travelling, and
struck up, nearly due northwards, into the Hills. The 1st of April found
him at Kussowlie, from which point he visited two places which greatly
interested him--the 'Lawrence Asylum' and the Military Sanitarium at
Dugshai.

[Sidenote: Lawrence Asylum.]

The 'Lawrence Asylum' (he wrote) is an institution originally
established and endowed by the late Sir Henry Lawrence, but now
transferred to Government, and maintained on an enlarged sc