LORD GOUGH'S VALEDICTORY ADDRESS TO THE ARMY OF THE PUNJAUB. {From the Bombay Telegraph, August 18) Head Quarters, Camp, Shahdera, near Lahore 31st March, 1849.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 436, 6 October 1849, Page 3

LORD GOUGHS VALEDICTORY ADDRESS TO THE ARMY OF THE PUNJAUB. {From the Bombay Telegraph, August 18) Head Quarters, Camp, Shahdera, near Lahore 31st March, 1849.

The Commander-in-chief in India announces bis farewell and adieu to the Army of the Punjaub. . The troops which, since October, have been in arms under his command, are dispersed to their respective cantonments, and on this, the last occasion of addressing them, Lord Gougb desires to place on record his sense of the great services and exertions through which the sway of British India has been now extended over the broad plains and classic rivers and cities of this kingdom. The tide of conquest which heretofore rolled on the Punjaub from the west, has at length reached and overcome it from the east ; and that which Alexander attempted, the British India army has accomplished. It is with no common pride that the Commander-in-chief applauds the conduct and the valour which have led to so glorious a result. The favour and approbation, of the country and Government will, without doubt, mark enduringly the estimate entertained of its desert ; and no time will efface from the memory of this army, and every true soldier in the field, the high sense of triumph and of the glory with which this campaign has terminated. Undismayed by stern opposition, untired by the procrastinations and delays which circumstances forcibly imposed, or by the great labours and exposure which have been borneso manfully, the army has emerged with a fame and brightness, only the more marked by tie trying nature of its previous toils and endurances. ,_jf - - v * The mere battle day, when every glowing feeling of the soldier and thegeptleman is called into action, will ever be encountered nobly where British Armies are engaged ; but it is in the privatieus, the difficulties, and endless toils of war, that the trial of an army consists.; and it is these which denote its metal, and show of what material it is formed. Since the day when at Raronuggur the too hasty ardour and enthusiasm of the troops first gave signal of the determined character of the war, and of the fierceness with which a mistaken but brave enemy wert bent to oppose the progress of' our arms, till now, that a crushing and overwhelming victory has prostrated at the feet of our Ruler and hit

Government, an independent, a proud, 'and a warlike people ; Lord Gough, relying upon British courage and endurance, has never for one moment entertained a doubt of the result ; cor yielded even to adverse chances and circumstances a lurking fear of the successful issue, which true constancy and firmness never fail to attain. The rule which, despite the signal clemency and considerate mercy of the Government, it has nevertheless been found at length necessary to impose upon the Seikhs and their country, has not been thrust upon a defenceless or unresisting people; their valour, their numbers, their means and preparation, and the desperate energy with which, in error and deceived, the Khalsa snd Seikh nation mustered and rallied for the struggle, have been conspicuously apparent ; and the army which in virtue of a most persistive constancy, has reduced such a race and such troops to submission and obedience, merits well the highest eulogium which Lord Gough can bestow. The Comuiander-in- Chief lingers upon the severance of those ties which have bound him to that army, the last which in the field it was bis duty and his pride to command. Long practice and experience of war and its trying vicissitudes, have enabled him to form a just estimate of the conduct and merit of the troops now being dispersed ; and the ardour, the vigilance, the endurance, the closing and triumphant bravery and discipline which have marked their path in the Punjaub, will often recur to him in the retirement he is about to seek ; and in which the cares, the earnest exertions, and grave anxieties inseparable from the duties of high military command, will be richly recompensed and rewarded by the sense of duty performed, and the consciousness of unwearied and uncompromising devotion to the sovereign and country, which in common with the British Indian army, it will ever be his boast and bis pride to have so successfully served. To every General, to every individual officer, and soldier, European and Native, of the army of the Punjaub, Lord Gough finally repeats his cordial and affectionate farewell. Their persons and services are engraved in his heart and affections, and to those among them who may hereafter, within the brief span of life yet before him, revisit their native country, he tenders the unaffected renewal of that intercourse and friendship which mutual esteem and legard, and mutual dangers and exertion, have produced and established. — Bombay Telegraph, 11th April.