253 



HARDINGE, HENRY, VISCOUNT. 



HARDINGE, HENRY, VISCOUNT. 



290 



rest content with a rapid sketch in wbioh the broad features of the 

 scene are caught at once, instead of dwelling upon the scene till the 

 inner sentiment the poetry hidden from the hasty glance reveals 

 itself. His extraordinary manipulative dexterity, as well as rapidity 

 of perception, there can be little doubt has stood in the way of the 

 development of this mental character the sentiment of the landscape 

 wanting which true grandeur, or poetic refinement, can never be 

 reached, whatever the character of the scene, or the power and 

 fidelity with which it is depicted. 



HARDINGE, HENRY, VISCOUNT, third son of the late Rev. 

 Henry Hardinge, rector of Stanhope, in the county of Durham, by 

 Frances, daughter of James Best, Esq., of Chatham, was born at 

 Wrotham, Kent, on the 30th of March 1785. He was member of a 

 family which has long been located at King's Newton Hall, Derbyshire, 

 and is said to have originally come from Denmark. 



Having spent a short time at Eton, Henry Hardinge was gazetted 

 ensign in a regiment of foot, October 8, 1798, obtained his lieutenancy 

 in 1802, and captaincy in 1804. It was his good fortune early to 

 attract the notice of the Duke of Wellington, then Sir Arthur Wel- 

 lesley, under whom he served throughout the whole of the Peninsular 

 War, and for a considerable time was upon the staff of the commander- 

 in-chief; he was also for nearly the entire period deputy-quarter- 

 master-general of the Portuguese army. He was present at the battles 

 of Roleia and Vimiera, where he was severely wounded ; at the battle 

 of Corunna lie was by the side of the gallant Sir John Moore when he 

 received his fatal wound. After having lost his friend at Corunna, he 

 was present at the passage of the Douro, the battle of Busaco, the 

 lines of Torres Vedras, and the battle of Albuera. In this engagement 

 be displayed the greatest skill, courage, and self-command; it was a 

 hard-fought field ; and to the change in the fortunes of that day, 

 effected as it wag by the persevering valour of the British infantry, 

 Lord Hardinge often pointed back in after life as having encouraged 

 him as a general to persevere through every obstacle, and to place 

 perfect confidence in the enduring valour of British troops. After 

 thU we find him side by side with Lord Wellington in almost every 

 engagement of the war. He took part in the first and second sieges 

 of Badajoz, at Salamanca, and at Yittoria, where he was again severely 

 wounded, and also at Patnpeluna, at the battles of the Pyrenees, and 

 at Nivelle, Nive, and Orthes. When he returned to England after the 

 close of the Peninsular war, he was justly regarded as one of the most 

 gallant officers in the service. Upon the renewal of hostilities he was 

 again in arms, and took an active part in the campaign of 1815 under 

 the Duke of Wellington, upon whose staff he then was serving. Two 

 days before the battle of Waterloo he was employed as brigadier- 

 general with the Prussian army at Ligny, where, in a skirmish with 

 the enemy, he was wounded in the left arm, which had to be imme- 

 diately amputated, and prevented him from taking a personal part in 

 that glorious victory. He was however rewarded with the dignity of 

 a K.C.B. on the enlargement of the order of the Bath in the same 

 year, and with a pension of 3001. a year for the loss of big band. 



When, upon the resignation of Lord Uoderioh, in 182S, the Duke 

 of Wellington undertook the construction of a ministry, he chose Sir 

 Henry Hardinge (who had been returned as member for Durham in 

 1820 and again in 1826), to succeed Lord Palmerston as secretary at 

 war. He was sworn a member of the privy council, and two years 

 later exchanged this position for that of the chief secretaryship for 

 Ireland, under the late Duke of Northumberland as lord lieutenant 

 Here however he did not remain long : the duke's ministry retired 

 from office in the autumn of the same year, and Sir Henry Hardinge 

 returned to England. He resumed his high post however under the 

 short-lived ministry of the late Sir Robert Peel, which lasted from 

 November 1834 to April 1833. From this time till the return of 

 Sir Robert Peel to power in September 1841, Sir Henry Hardinge 

 remained in opposition. At the latter date he returned to Ireland as 

 chief secretary under Earl de Grey, where he remained until 1844. 



Towards the close of the year 1843 events arose in India to which 

 we need not allude further than to say, that the directors of the East 

 India Company thought that the time bad come when it was necessary 

 for them to recall Lord Ellenborough from the high post of governor- 

 general of India, It was stated by Sir Robert Peel in bis place in the 

 House of Commons, that while the Kaat India House and the Home 

 Government were at issue as to the propriety of this step, they were 

 quite of one mind as to the selection of his successor ; and that when 

 the premier recommended Sir Henry for the vacaut post, on tho 

 ground of his great experience of civil matters, his high personal 

 character, and his military eminence, the chairman of the company 

 answered that his own choice had already fixed upon the same 

 individual. 



In April 1844 ho accordingly undertook the government of India, 

 and was sworn into office on landing at Calcutta in the July following. 

 On his arrival he found the vast territories under British rule enjoying 

 the most profound peace. The disasters of the Affgban campaign had 

 been avenged ; Sir Charles Napier bad reduced the ameera of Scinde 

 at Meeance and Hyderabad ; Scinde itself had been annexed to our 

 dominions; and the Mahratta war had been terminated by the submis- 

 sion of the Durbar at Gwalior. The governor-general had therefore 

 ample time to make himself master of very many details of govern- 

 ment, in which ho was not slow to perceive that considerable reforms 



BIOO. DIV. VOL. IIL 



were needed. Able and indefatigable in his efforts, he did_his best to 

 bring about a better feeling and a more friendly footing than had 

 hitherto prevailed between the services; he admitted the claims of 

 the natives to many privileges ; he promoted a stricter discipline among 

 the troops in general; he lent his powerful aid to the organisation of 

 those Indian railways which have since been carried out with such marked 

 success under his successor LordDalhouaie ; and in short, he did all that 

 was in his power to promote the welfare of the community at large. 



But the course of Indian events was not long destined to flow on iu 

 peace. A storm of war and bloodshed was gathering iu the north; 

 and Sir Henry Hardinge, with all his precaution, could not have fore- 

 seen or avoided the events which awaited him. The death of Runjeet 

 Sing, 'the Lion of Lahore,' had paved the way for an infinity of 

 plottings and intrigues in the capital of the Puujaub. With the 

 death of the Lion, it seemed that the controlling power bad left 

 Lahore ; the young mabarajah, Dhuleep Slug, a child of four years 

 old, was, together with his mother, in the hands of the Sikh soldiery, 

 who were wearied with domestic faction, and clamoured to be led out 

 against their English neighbours. Active preparations were made by 

 the Sikhs for crossing the Sutlej ; but long before the public bad any 

 idea of wbat was going on Sir Henry Hardinge was on the alert, aud 

 had quietly concentrated a force of 32,000 men and 68 guns round 

 Ferozepore, Loodiauah, and Umballa. Tho governor general reached 

 the latter place about the middle of December, anil, proceeding to 

 Loodianah, inspected the various cantonments, and mads himself 

 acquainted withtlie actual position of affairs. He at once moved up 

 the whole of his force from Umballa ; and on the 13th, learning that 

 a large Sikh force had crossed the Sutlej River, he issued a proclama- 

 tion against the hostile invasion. Ou the 17th the Sikhs advanced, 

 and partly entrenched themselves within strong earthworks at Feroze- 

 shah, while the other part encamped near Moodkee, opposite Feroze- 

 pore. The combined operations of the British cavalry under Brigadiers 

 Gough, White, and Mactier, and of the infantry under Sir Harry Smith, 

 Sir J. M'Caskill, and General Gilbert, drove back the Sikhs from their 

 well-contested position, and won the glorious victory of Moodkee 

 a victory too dearly purchased by the death of Sir Robert Sale. On 

 the 22nd the attack was renewed at Ferozeshah ; but night came on 

 before the victory could be completed, and some Sikh guns were being 

 brought to bear with deadly aim upon the British columns, when the 

 governor-general mounted his horse, and at the head of the 80th 

 regiment, and a portion of the Bengal 1st Europeans, carried the guns 

 at a charge and spiked them. The next day the Sikh entrenchments 

 were carried by the bayonet, the enemy's guns were captured, and the 

 invaders re-crossed the Sutlej. The want of cavalry alone prevented 

 Sir Hugh Gough from following the enemy into their country and 

 marching on Lahore. There is something truly touching iu the fact 

 that, in this important battle, Sir Henry Hardiuge, though he held 

 the supreme civil authority iu India, offered his services to Sir Hugh 

 Gough as second in command, and took an active part in the eventful 

 scenes of this and the following day, directing the left wing of tho 

 army throughout. The Sikhs, again defeated at Sobraon and Aliwal, 

 were forced to sue for terms ; and the treaty of Lahore, concluded 

 by Sir Henry Hardinge, exhibits him in the light of a moderate and 

 magnanimous conqueror. He exacted from the Sikhs the whole 

 expense of the war, and left a British garrison, under the late Sir 

 John Littler, in Lahore, the capital of tha Puujaub, for the protection 

 of the maharajah's authority. This country a healthy, well watered, 

 and fertile region was subsequently annexed to our dominions by the 

 Marquis of Dalhousie. On the ratification of this treaty, Sir Henry 

 Hardinge received the thanks of both Houses of Parliament, together 

 with a pension of 3000?. a year, and was also advanced to the peerage 

 as Viscount Hardinge of Lahore. The East India Company also con- 

 ferred on him a further pension of 5000Z. a year; and the city of 

 London voted him their freedom. In January 18-18 he was super- 

 seded in his Indian government by Lord Dalhousie. Thougb originally 

 of Tory principles, after his elevation to the peerage Lord Hardinge 

 rarely spoke or busied himself in tha House of Lords ou any 

 measures except those of military interest. On Lord Derby's advent 

 to power, in February 1852, Lord Hardinge again took office as 

 master-general of the ordnance, and succeeded to the post of 

 commandcr-in-chief, on the death of the Duke of Wellington, in the 

 September following. He was promoted to the dignity of a G.C.B. in 

 1844, and obtained the colonelcy of the 57th Foot in 1843. Among 

 foreign orders, he received those of ths Red Eagle of Prussia, Willulm 

 of the Netherlands, tile Tower and Sword of Portugal, and that of 

 San Fernando of Spain. He also received a cross and five clasps 

 for his Peninsular services, and was present in no less than sixteen 

 general actions for which medals were granted. He was promoted to 

 the rank of a Field-Marshal on the 2nd of October 1855. He resigned 

 the office of commander-in-chief, iu consequence of a paralytic seizure, 

 in July 1856. In the administration of the Horse Guards, as a veteran 

 disciple of tho Duke of Wellington, Lord Hardinge trod^ most care- 

 fully and religiously in liis Grace's steps. In 1821 be married the 

 Lady Emily Jane Stewart, daughter of Robert, first marquis of 

 Londonderry, and widow of John James, Esq., by whom lie had an 

 only daughter and two sous. Tha younger son, Arthur, now captaiu 

 and lieutenant in the Colditream Guards, was aide-de-camp to his 

 father in the battles on the Sutlej, and was also present ab the Alma. 



