moment India was governed by a nobleman who never, in the midst of the greatest peril, allowed his judgment to be swayed by passion, or his fine sense of honour and justice to be tarnished by even a passing feeling of revenge. For perhaps the first time in any Asiatic war, Lord Canning adopted, throughout the whole of this campaign, the most scrupulous principle of integrity. Whatever service was performed, whatever provisions were supplied, were strictly paid for, and when, under the vigorous administration of the Punjab, contributions were exacted, the obligations have all been acknowledged and faithfully repaid. However much such a mode of conducting a campaign may add to its present expense, the statesman who pursues it is far more than repaid in the permanent stability which he thus gives to an Empire. I cannot but believe that we are already reaping the benefits of it in the great repose which has spread itself over India, and which, I am convinced, will enable us to deal the more effectually with our present financial difficulties.'
When, in the spring of the following year, another Finance Minister, Mr. Laing, introduced his Budget, his account of the situation was scarcely less gloomy than that given by his predecessor. The deficit of 1860 had been more than six millions, five of which had been met only by the dangerous expedient of reducing the cash-balance. The profit to the State from the newly-proposed taxes had, there was reason to fear, been over-estimated. The difficulty of facing
