Chapter II (3)

Hobbyhorses will be dispersed throughout the various parts of this building, suitable to the several tastes and equestrian habits of individual Fogies. Fogies in a more advanced stage of development, will find provided for them the playthings, pinafores, and other paraphernalia of their first childhood. In a special apartment, to be called the "Nursery," the cradle (or crib) of reposing age will be rocked successfully by skilful nurses or experienced Fogies, instructed on the Mainzerian system in the most soporific lullabies.

On a future occasion, a list of the Provisional Committee will be published. It may be mentioned, that the offices of Preses and Vice-Preses are not at present to be filled up, as it is expected that they will eventually be conferred on His Grace the Duke of Wellington and Christopher North, Esq., though we regret to say that our latest accounts give us no assurance that these distinguished persons are likely very soon to join us.

Further particulars may be learned by application to Messrs Grandam and Garrulous, Cripplegate, or any other sharebrokers in London or the provinces; to whom also communications (prepaid) may be sent of the names and private history of illustrious Fogies, with likenesses of their persons, or any other information calculated to promote the interests of the Club.

TRUTH AND BEAUTY.

Beauty and Truth, in Heaven's congenial clime,
Inseparate seen beside the Almighty throne,
Together sprung, before the birth of time,
From God's own glory, while he dwelt alone;--
These, when creation made its wonders known,
Were sent to mortals, that their mingling powers
Might lead and lure us to ethereal bowers.

But our perverse condition here below
Oft sees them severed, or in conflict met:
Oh, sad divorce! the well-spring of our woe,
When Truth and Beauty thus their bond forget,
And Heaven's high law is at defiance set!
'Tis this that Good of half its force disarms,
And gives to Evil all its direst charms.

See Truth with harsh Austerity allied,
Or clad in cynic garb of sordid hue:
See him with Tyranny's fell tools supplied,
The rack, the fagot, or the torturing screw,
Or girt with Bigotry's besotted crew:
What wonder, thus beheld, his looks should move
Our scorn or hatred, rather than our love?

See Beauty, too, in league with Vice and Shame,
And lending all her light to gild a lie;
Crowning with laureate-wreaths an impious name,
Or lulling us with Siren minstrelsy
To false repose when peril most is nigh;
Decking things vile or vain with colours rare,
Till what is false and foul seems good and fair.

Hence are our hearts bewilder'd in their choice,
And hence our feet from Virtue led astray:
Truth calls imperious with repulsive voice
To follow on a steep and rugged way;
While Beauty beckons us along a gay
And flowery path, that leads, with treacherous slope,
To gulfs remote from happiness or hope.

Who will bring back the world's unblemish'd youth
When these two wander'd ever hand in hand;
When Truth was Beauty, Beauty too was Truth,
So link'd together with unbroken band,
That they were one; and Man, at their command,
Tasted of sweets that never knew alloy,
And trod the path of Duty and of Joy?

Chiefly the Poet's power may work the change:
His heavenly gift, impell'd by holy zeal,
O'er Truth's exhaustless stores may brightly range,
And all their native loveliness reveal;
Nor e'er, except where Truth has set his seal,
Suffer one gleam of Beauty's grace to shine,
But in resistless force their lights combine.

THE CAMPAIGN OF THE SUTLEJ.

Of the whole wonderful annals of our Indian Empire, the campaign of the Sutlej will form the most extraordinary, the most brilliant, the most complete, and yet the briefest chapter. It is an imperishable trophy, not less to the magnanimity of British policy, than to the resistlessness of British valour. The matchless gallantry, felicity, and rapidity of the military operations against a formidable foe of desperate bravery and overpowering numbers, through a tremendous struggle and terrific carnage--the blaze of four mighty and decisive victories won in six weeks--proudly seal our prowess in arms. The spotless justice of the cause; the admirable temper of its management; the almost fastidious forbearance which unsheathed the sword only under the stern compulsion of most wanton aggression; and the generous moderation which has swayed the flush of triumph--nobly attest our wisdom in government. The character of a glorious warrior may fitly express the character of a glorious war, which has been _sans peur et sans reproche_. To record in our pages memorable deeds which have added lustre even to the dazzling renown of Britain, would be at any time, but at present, we conceive, is peculiarly, a duty. The cordiality of the public interest in these important events dwindles and shrinks, like paper in the fire, before the intensity of that more domestic sympathy which has been every where awakened by individual calamities. The frightful cost at which we have purchased success, may be heard and seen in the wail and the gloom round a multitude of hearths. No dauntless courage was more conspicuous,--alas! no gallant life-blood was poured out more copiously,--than that of the sons of Scotland. The eternal sunshine of glory which irradiates the memory of the fallen brave, may be yet too fierce a light for the aching eye of grief to read by; but we thought that a simple consecutive recital of the recent exploits of our army in India would be unwelcome to none. Designedly we mean to write nothing more than a narrative; and, in doing so, to use, as far as it is possible, the very words of the official reports of those distinguished men, who leave us sometimes in doubt whether the pen or the sword is the more potent weapon in their hands. A few reflections and remarks will probably inweave themselves with the tissue of the story, just because such things cannot be told or heard without a quickening of the pulse, a glow upon the cheek, a beating in the heart. Otherwise we shall attempt to be "such an honest chronicler as Griffith." It is indispensable, however, not only to preface the details of the campaign with a concise description of the condition of the disordered and degraded people whom our enmity and vengeance smote so heavily; but likewise to explain, with some degree of minuteness, the views and purposes which, from first to last, influenced our Indian government in its conduct of these delicate, and ultimately momentous transactions, in order fully to appreciate the union of moderation and energy which, under the auspices of Sir Henry Hardinge as governor-general of India, and Sir Hugh Gough as commander o the army of the Sutlej, has satisfied the world that right and might were equally on the side of Britain.

Since the death, in 1839, of the famous Runjeet Singh, when the sacred waters of the Ganges received the ashes of the greatest of the Sikhs, it is impossible for language to exaggerate the anarchy, the depravity, the misery of the Punjaub. Tigers, and wolves, and apes, have been the successors of the "Old Lion." The predominant spirit of that energetic and sagacious ruler bridled the licentious turbulence which for the last seven years has rioted in the unrestrained indulgence of all abominable vices, and in the daily perpetration of the most atrocious crimes. Five Maharajahs in this brief period, "all murdered," have been sacrificed to the ambition of profligate courtiers, or the rapacity of a debauched soldiery. Kurruck Singh, the son of Runjeet Singh, and the inheritor of an overflowing treasury and a disciplined and numerous army, was an uneducated idiot, and easily induced to frown upon his father's able favourite, the Rajah Dhyan Singh, and to invest his own confidential adviser, the Sirdar Cheyk Singh, with the authority, if not the title, of his prime-minister. But the humiliated Rajah found the ready means of revenge in the family of his incapable sovereign. The Prince Noo Nehal Singh lent a willing ear to the tempting suggestions of a counsellor who only echoed the inordinate desires of his own ambition. At midnight, in the private apartment and at the feet of the Maharajah, the Sirdar Cheyk Singh was assassinated by his rival. The murder of the favourite was rapidly followed by the deposition of Kurruck Singh, and the elevation to the throne of the prince, his son. The court of Lahore was now convulsed by dark intrigues, and debased by brutal sensuality. The ineradicable spirit of hatred against every thing British, vented itself harmlessly in the bravadoes of the tyrant; but was more dangerously inflamed among many of the native powers of India, by the secret diffusion of a project for a general and simultaneous insurrection. A double mystery of villany saved us, probably, at that time from the shocks and horrors of war in which we have been recently involved. The deposed Kurruck Singh suddenly expired--a victim, it was whispered, to the insidious efficacy of slow and deadly poison, intermingled, as his son knew, in small quantities every day with his food. The lightning-flash of retribution descended. On the return from the funeral of Kurruck, the elephant which bore the parricidal majesty of Noo Nehal Singh pushed against the brick-work of the palace-gates, when the whole fabric fell with a crash, and so dreadfully fractured the skull of the Maharajah that he never spoke afterwards, and died in a few hours.

The power or the policy of Dhyan Singh then bestowed the perilous gift of this bloody sceptre upon Prince Shere, a reputed son of Runjeet, Singh. His legitimacy was immediately denounced, and his government opposed by the mother of his predecessor, who actively assumed, and for three or four months conducted, the regency of the state. The capricious attachment of the army, however, to the cause of Shere Singh turned the current of fortune; and the Queen-Mother might seem to have laid aside the incumbrance of her royal apparel, to be more easily strangled by her own slave girls. The accession of Shere Singh opened the floodgates of irretrievable disorder; for the troops, to whom he owed his success, and on whose venal steadiness the stability of his sway depended, conscious from their position, that, however insolently exorbitant in their demands, they were able to throw the weight of their swords into the scale, clamoured for an increase of their pay, and the dismissal of all the officers who were obnoxious to them. The refusal of their imperious request had a result we are fortunately not obliged to depict; nor, without a shudder, can we barely allude to it. The ruffian and remorseless violence of lawless banditti occupied and ravaged the city and the plain. The story of their plunder of Lahore is rendered hideous by every outrage that humanity can suffer, and by a promiscuous carnage, for which the ferocity of unreasoning animals might pant, but which the untiring fury of the wildest of brutes, the human savage, alone could protract beyond satiety. The finger of their murderous rage pointed to every assailable European officer, of whom some were assassinated, some very narrowly escaped. Months rolled on under the terrible dominion of these uncontrollable miscreants, while the length and the breadth of the land were scourged by their cruelty, polluted by their lust, and desolated by their rapine. The pestilence was partially arrested by a glut of gold. A treasure of many lacs of rupees being intercepted on its way to Lahore, enriched and mollified its captors. But at last, gorged with slaughter, and surfeited with excess, they modified their claims within limits to which the government intimated its willingness to accede. The incurable evil was consummated. Henceforward the army has been its own master, and the master of the government and the country. A transitory _mirage_ of internal tranquillity and subordination refreshed the Punjaub; the fiery elements of discord and ruin smouldered unextinguishably behind it, awaiting the necessity or the opportunity of a fresh eruption. The volcano was not permitted to slumber. Shere Singh, liberated from the imminent oppression of the soldiery, plunged headlong into a slough of detestable debauchery. But in our annals his memory must survive,

"Link'd with one virtue and a thousand crimes."

Influenced by what good genius, or by what prescient timidity, it may be difficult to discover, he was true to the British interest, and remained obstinately deaf to the seductive animosity of the Sikh council, which was prone to take advantage of the disasters in Caubul, and to attack the avenging army of Sir George Pollock in its passage to Peshawer. Loyalty to England was little less than an act of treason to the Sikh chieftains and the Sikh soldiery, which, added to the Maharajah's total neglect of public business, accelerated a fatal conspiracy by his brother-in-law Ajeet Singh, and Dhyan Singh, "the close contriver of all harms." Shere Singh, being invited to inspect his brother-in-law's cavalry at a short distance from Lahore, was there shot by Ajeet. The assassin, riding quietly back to the city, met on the way the carriage of Dhyan Singh, dismounted, and, seating himself beside his accomplice in guilt, stabbed him to the heart. Now came confusion worse confounded. The nobles were divided; while the troops, as their inclinations or their hopes of pillage prompted them, flocked to the conflicting standards. Ajeet, after murdering the whole of the late Maharajah's family, including an infant one day old, fortified himself in the citadel of Lahore, from which he was dislodged to be immediately beheaded by Heera Singh, the son of the Rajah Dhyan Singh.

Then it was, that, under the auspices of Heera Singh, the present Maharajah, Dhuleep Singh, a mere boy, and the alleged offspring of old Runjeet Singh, was raised to the throne of the Sikhs. The army again renewed the formidable pretensions which had formerly distracted and wasted the Punjaub, and with which Heera Singh was now forced to comply. But the powers of the throne were prostrate. The infant Maharajah, a puppet in the hands of intriguing kinsmen, or of the ungovernable army, passively witnessed the slaughter of a succession of his principal rajahs who aspired to be his ministers, and each of whom raised himself a step nearer the summit of his desire upon the butchered body of his predecessor. A glow, perhaps, of undefinable pleasure may have warmed the heart of the child, who wore

"upon his baby brow the round
And top of sovereignty,"

when he saw the horrible drama apparently closed by his mother taking upon herself the responsibility and duties of the administration of affairs. She was a more helpless slave than himself. There was but one man in the Punjaub who could have aided her in her extremity. Neither of them could trust the other. Goolab Singh, a brother of Dhyan Singh, had been playing a safe game throughout the complicated troubles in which so many were overwhelmed. Bad as the worst, unscrupulously villanous, profoundly treacherous, detestably profligate and exciting behind the scenes discontent, mutiny, tumult, and massacre, he appeared occasionally on the stage to check or perplex the plot, as it suited his purposes. His arm never visibly reached to any point from which it could not be safely drawn back; but his hand was stirring every mischief. He was well aware of the insane and unappeasable passion for a war with the British which had long infected the whole Sikh army. He saw, we believe, the inevitable collision and the inevitable issue. With an infant on the throne, and a woman as prime-minister, the barrier to the torrent was a shadow. And so it happened. The voice of authority was drowned by the thundering tread of thousands and tens of thousands on their march to the Sutlej. Goolab Singh, folding himself in the cloak of neutrality, crouched, cat-like, to watch the vicissitudes of the contest.

The condition of the Punjaub necessarily attracted the anxious attention of our Indian government. The horizon grew blacker every hour, as the total inability of the authorities at Lahore to subdue or restrain the refractory and warlike spirit of the Sikh army, was made more and more manifest in unmistakable characters of blood and violence. Upon the 22d of last November, the Governor-General of India, while moving from Delhi to join the Commander-in-Chief in his camp at Umballah, received from the political agent, Major Broadfoot, an official despatch, dated the 20th November, detailing the sudden intention of the Sikh army to advance in force to the frontier, for the avowed purpose of invading the British territories. This despatch was succeeded by a private communication of the following day, stating the same facts, and inclosing news, letters, and papers of intelligence received from Lahore, which professed to give an account of the circumstances which had led to the movement, which would appear (if these papers are to be depended upon) to have originated with the Ranee and certain of the sirdars, who felt the pressure of the demands of the army to be so urgent, and its present attitude and temper so perilous to their existence, that they desired to turn the thoughts of the troops to objects which might divert their attention from making extortionate demands for higher pay, by employing their energies in hostile operations against the British government.[13]

We shall quote the substance of Major Broadfoot's letters, presenting, as they do, a curious picture of the chaos of matters on the other side of the Sutlej, and forming, likewise, important links in the narrative. The following extracts are taken from his communications on the 20th and 21st of November to the Governor-General and the Commander-in-Chief:--

"I have received Lahore letters of the 18th instant (morning).

"During the night of the 17th the chiefs had agreed on, and the
Durbar had ordered in writing, the following plan of operations:--

"The army was to be divided into seven divisions, one to remain at
Lahore, and the rest to proceed against Roopar and our hills,
Loodianah, Hurreekee, Ferozepore, and Seinde, while one was to
proceed to Peshawer; and a force under Rajah Goolab Singh was to be
sent to Attock.

"Each division was to be of 8,000 to 12,000 men against Ferozepore,
under Sham Singh Attareewallah, whose estates adjoin the place
against which it was to act. Against Hurreekee is to go Rajah Lal
Singh; against Loodianah, Sirdar Tej Singh, the new
commander-in-chief; and against Roopar, a brother of Sena Singh
Mujeeteea.

"The force under Sham Singh is to be 4,000 horse, and two brigades
of infantry, with guns; under Raja Lal Singh, 4,500 horse, and two
infantry brigades; under Sirdar Tej Singh, four brigades of
infantry (one of them irregulars, and one new levies) and 1,000
horse, &c; but till the plans of the Durbar are in actual
execution, they cannot be considered fixed, and therefore I do not
trouble our Excellency with further details.

"With respect to the probability of their actually moving, I must
say that my correspondents in Lahore seem to doubt it, though they
are perplexed."

* * * * *

"The Durbar of the forenoon of the 18th was protracted till 2
o'clock, but I have not the details of the afternoon Durbar.

"11 A.M. was the hour found by the astrologers as auspicious for
the march of the troops; not a chief stirred from his house. The
officers and punchayets of the troops, regular and irregular, to
the number of a couple of thousand, crowded to the Durbar and
demanded the reason; the Ranee tried to soothe them, saying, that
the fortunate hour being passed, the march could not be undertaken
till the astrologers found another. The crowd demanded that this
should be instantly done, and the court astrologer was ordered into
their presence to find the proper time. He pored through his tables
for two or three hours, while the Ranee sought to divert the
attention of the military mob; at length he announced that the
most favourable day was not till the 15th Mujsur (28th November).
The military were furious, and declared that he was an impostor,
and that they had to get from him two crores of rupees which he had
made from the public money; the pundit implored mercy, and said the
7th Mujsur (20th) was also a good day; the military were still
angry, and the poor pundit left amidst their menaces.

"They proposed that the Ranee and her son should march, and
intimated that till they made an example of some chief no march
would take place.

"The Ranee complained that whilst the troops were urging the march,
they were still going home to their villages as fast as they got
their pay; and Sirdar Sham Singh Attareewallah declared his belief,
that unless something was done to stop this, he would find himself
on his way to Ferozepore with empty tents. The bait of money to be
paid, and to accompany them, was also offered, and at length the
Durbar broke up at 2 P.M. Great consultations took place in the
afternoon, but I know only one result, that the Ranee had to give
to her lover his formal dismissal, and that he (Rajah Lal Singh)
actually went into the camp of the Sawars he is to command, and
pitched his tent.

"What the Ranee says is quite true of the sepoys dispersing to
their houses; the whole affair has so suddenly reached its present
height, that many of the men themselves think it will come to
nothing, and still more who had taken their departure do not
believe it serious enough to go back. On the day after this scene
took place, _i. e._, the 19th, the usual stream of sepoys, natives
of the protected states, who had got their pay, poured across the
Sutlej, at Hurreekee, on their way to their homes. Every
preparation, however, for war is making with probably more energy
than if it had been a long-planned scheme; for every person of
whatever party must show his sincerity by activity and virulent
professions of hatred to the English."

It is proper to add, that Major Broadfoot also announces, that when the Sikh intrigues and commotions assumed a serious form, he had addressed an official letter of remonstrance through the proper channel to Lahore. Five days after these letters were written, on the 26th of November, the Commander-in-Chief and Major Broadfoot joined, at Kurnaul, the Governor-General, who shall be the exponent of his own impressions, intentions, and plans:--

"I had the satisfaction of concurring in all the orders which his
Excellency had given, to hold the troops in readiness to move at
the shortest notice, and in the instructions which he had sent to
the officers in command of the stations at Ferozepore and
Loodianah. The force at the former post consists of one European
regiment, seven regiments of native infantry, two regiments of
native cavalry, and twenty-four field-guns, exclusive of heavy
ordnance. The force at Loodianah consists of one regiment of
Europeans, five regiments of native infantry, one regiment of
native cavalry, and two troops of horse artillery.

"After a full and satisfactory consultation with his Excellency,
and taking into consideration the improbability of the Sikh army
crossing the Sutlej, I determined that no movement should be made
towards the river by the forces from Umballah and Meerut, and I
postponed for further consideration with his Excellency any change
in the present distribution of the troops; eventually some
alterations will be made, which, when they have been finally
determined upon between me and the Commander-in-Chief, will be
reported to you. At the present moment, his Excellency coincides
with me, that no forward movement is required.

"In the midst of much hesitation and irresolution, the enterprise
ordered by the Sikh government does not appear to have been
formally abandoned; the intelligence received by Major Broadfoot on
the day of his joining my camp, showed that the three brigades of
the Sikh force had actually left Lahore a few miles in advance, to
be followed the next morning by three other brigades including one
of artillery. This was on the 24th ultimo. The intelligence
received from that date has been communicated to me by Major
Broadfoot each day, as it arrives.

"It is said they intend, in reply to Major Broadfoot's
remonstrance, to allege that the fact of our having collected so
large a force, with all the munitions of war, on the frontier, is
the cause of the concentration of their forces on the Sutlej; that
they intend to demand the reasons of our preparations; to insist on
the surrender to the Lahore government of the treasure which
belonged to the late Rajah Soocheyt Singh; the restoration by the
Rajah of Nabba of the village of Mowran, escheated by the Rajah,
and the escheat confirmed by us; and henceforth the free passage of
their troops into the Lahore possessions on this side the Sutlej.

"I need only remark, on the first and most essential point, that
the Sikh army did in the beginning of last January prepare to move
to the Sutlej. The political agent remonstrated, and the troops
were withdrawn; the reason then assigned for the movement being the
same as that now intended to be brought forward, namely, the state
of our military preparations on the frontier. The Governor-General
in Council, in a despatch to Major Broadfoot of the 25th January
1845, entered into very full explanations, which were conveyed to
the Lahore Vakeel.

"As regards the past, it is clear that no cause of complaint has
been given by the government of India. If it should be asserted
that our military preparations this autumn have given offence, the
assertion is equally unfounded, and is a mere pretext for hostile
proceedings, which have originated in the political weakness and
the internal dissensions of the Lahore government; and, above all,
in their desire to be released, on any terms, from the terror which
the ferocity of their own troops has inspired. The proof is to be
found in the fact, that at the time these disorderly movements
commenced, no additional British troops had reached our frontier
stations. The additional regiment of native infantry, destined for
the reinforcement of Ferozepore, had not arrived. At Loodianah one
of the two regiments of native cavalry had actually marched for
Scinde before it was relieved, leaving that post, as it is at
present, with one regiment, instead of the usual complement of two
regiments of cavalry. At the other stations no alterations had been
made, and the troops which had marched were peaceably engaged in
completing the annual reliefs according to custom at this season.

"Such is the state of affairs at the present moment, and although
my conviction is strong that the Sikh army will be deterred from
acts of aggression, on account of the state of our military
preparation, yet it is by no means impossible that we may be forced
at any moment into war, and that operations, on a very extended
scale, may be immediately necessary.

"My views and measures will be anxiously directed to avoid a
recourse to arms, as long as it may be possible. On this point my
determination is fixed. At the same time it is very apparent, from
the general aspect of affairs, that the period is fast approaching
when further changes will take place at Lahore, and that the weak
government of the regent will be subverted by the violence of the
troops, instigated by the intrigues of the party favourable to the
Rajah Goolab Singh.

"I shall not consider the march of the Sikh troops in hostile array
towards the banks of the Sutlej as a cause justifying hostilities,
if no actual violation of our frontier should occur. The same
privilege which we take to adopt precautionary measures on our side
must be conceded to them. Every forbearance shall be shown to a
weak government, struggling for assistance against its own soldiers
in a state of successful mutiny."[14]

A week later, no act of open hostility having yet been committed, the Governor-General, then in the camp at Umballah, was informed that the authorized agent of the court of Lahore had joined the camp. Major Broadfoot was immediately directed to see the Vakeel, and to require from him a reply to the remonstrance, which, as we have said, had been previously made against the proceedings that had taken place at the time it was written. At this conference the Vakeel asserted that he had received no reply from the Durbar at Lahore. The Governor-General acted with the utmost temperance:--

"When Major Broadfoot reported to me, in the evening, the result of
this interview, I immediately directed him to address to the Vakeel
the written communication, a copy of which is inclosed.

"I considered that it was absolutely necessary, on my arrival at
Umballah, to take decided notice of the extraordinary proceedings
that had taken place, and were stated to be still in progress. It
was evident I could not permit the political agent's
communications, in the face of what was going on at Lahore, to be
treated with disregard. I took the mildest course in my power,
consistently with the dignity, position, and interests of the
British government. I purposely left an opening to the Lahore
government to remedy, through its Vakeel, the discourtesy it had
shown, by affording to that government the facility of making any
explanation it might desire. The plain construction to be put on
the silence of the Lahore government, in reply to the demand for
explanation, evidently was, that the intentions of that government
were hostile, in which case I did not deem it to be expedient to
give to that government the leisure to complete their hostile
preparations; whilst, on my part, I had abstained from making any
movement, expressly for the purpose of avoiding any cause of
jealousy or alarm; thus according to the Maharajah's government the
strongest proof of the good faith and forbearance of the British
government.

"I am satisfied that the course I have adopted was imperatively
required; and before I authorize any precautionary movements to be
made, I shall give full time for a reply to be received from
Lahore."

The letter which narrates these proceedings concludes thus:--

"This morning, news up to the 1st inst. has been received. The
Ranee and sirdars are becoming more and more urgent that the army
should advance to the frontier, believing that, in the present
posture of affairs, the only hope of saving their lives and
prolonging their power is to be found in bringing about a collision
with the British forces. The Sikh army moves with evident
reluctance, and is calling for Goolab Singh, who is collecting
forces at Jumboo, and is watching the progress of events.

"My own impression remains unaltered. I do not expect that the
troops will come as far as the banks of the Sutlej, or that any
positive act of aggression will be committed; but it is evident
that the Ranee and chiefs are, for their own preservation,
endeavouring to raise a storm, which, when raised, they will be
powerless either to direct or allay.

"I shall, as I have before said, await the reply from Lahore to
Major Broadfoot's last communication to the Vakeel.

"If the reply from the ostensible government, acting under the
control and at the discretion of the army, is hostile, I shall at
once order up troops from Meerut, and other stations, to the
support of our advanced positions, persevering up to the last
moment in the sincere desire to avoid hostilities."[15]

We cannot, with any honesty, suppress our conviction that forbearance was here pushed to the very verge of safety. The sullen silence of the Lahore government, as its only answer to our most legitimate demand for an explanation of its menacing attitude, it seems to us, would have been a complete justification of such a movement of our forces as might have concentrated them, by a march of one day, instead of six days, on the banks of the Sutlej, and in the face of the enemy. Had such a step hastened the rupture, who could righteously blame us for the result? But, as it happened, the trumpet of the Sikhs which summoned us to the dreadful appeal of battle could not have sounded sooner than it did, and we should have entered the mortal lists every way at less disadvantage, without the odds against us, which the disparity of numbers rendered formidable enough, being multiplied an hundred-fold by the physical exhaustion of each individual soldier in our ranks.

The disbelief in the probability of any serious hostility still filled the mind of the Governor-General, when, upon the 6th of December, he moved from Umballah towards Loodianah, peaceably prosecuting his visitation of the Sikh protected states, according to the usual custom of his predecessors. "In common with the most experienced officers of the Indian government," he writes,

"I was not of opinion that the Sikh army would cross the Sutlej
with its infantry and artillery.

"I considered it probable that some act of aggression would be
committed by parties of plunderers, for the purpose of compelling
the British government to interfere, to which course the Sikh
chiefs knew I was most averse; but I concurred with the
Commander-in-Chief, and the chief Secretary to the Government, as
well as with my political agent, Major Broadfoot, that offensive
operations, on a large scale, would not be resorted to.

"Exclusive of the political reasons which induced me to carry my
forbearance as far as it was possible, I was confident, from the
opinions given by the Commander-in-Chief and Major-general Sir John
Littler, in command of the forces at Ferozepore, that that post
would resist any attack from the Sikh army as long as its
provisions lasted; and that I could at any time relieve it, under
the ordinary circumstances of an Asiatic army making an irruption
into our territories, provided it had not the means of laying siege
to the fort and the intrenched camp.

"Up to this period no act of aggression had been committed by the
Sikh army. The Lahore government had as good a right to reinforce
their bank of the river Sutlej, as we had to reinforce our posts on
that river.

"The Sikh army had, in 1843 and 1844, moved down upon the river
from Lahore, and, after remaining there encamped a few weeks, had
returned to the capital. These reasons, and above all my extreme
anxiety to avoid hostilities, induced me not to make any hasty
movement with our army, which, when the two armies came into each
other's presence, might bring about a collision.

"The army had, however, been ordered to be in readiness to move at
the shortest notice; and, on the 7th and 8th December, when I heard
from Lahore that preparations were making on a large scale for
artillery, stores, and all the munitions of war, I wrote to the
Commander-in-Chief, directing his Excellency, on the 11th, to move
up the force from Umballah, from Meerut, and some other stations in
the rear.

"Up to this time no infantry or artillery had been reported to have
left Lahore, nor had a single Sikh soldier crossed the Sutlej.
Nevertheless, I considered it prudent no longer to delay the
forward movement of our troops, having given to the Lahore
government the most ample time for a reply to our remonstrance."

During the four days following the 8th of December, the fluctuating intelligence from Lahore, although, on the whole, more cloudy than formerly, was not of a character to shake the prevalent opinion that no Sikh movement, on a large scale, was intended, and that the Sikh army would not cross the Sutlej. On the 13th, the Governor-General first received precise information that the Sikh army had crossed the Sutlej, and was forming in great force on the left bank of the river, in order to attack Ferozepore, which was occupied by a British force of little more than five thousand men. He immediately issued a proclamation, on the part of the British government, which set forth, that--

"In the year 1809 a treaty of amity and concord was concluded
between the British government and the late Maharajah Runjeet
Singh, the conditions of which have always been faithfully observed
by the British government, and were scrupulously fulfilled by the
late Maharajah.

"The same friendly relations have been maintained with the
successors of Maharajah Runjeet Singh by the British government up
to the present time.

"Since the death of the late Maharajah Shere Singh, the
disorganized state of the Lahore government has made it incumbent
on the Governor-General in council to adopt precautionary measures
for the protection of the British frontier; the nature of these
measures, and the cause of their adoption, were at that time fully
explained to the Lahore Durbar.

"Notwithstanding the disorganized state of the Lahore government
during the last two years, and many most unfriendly proceedings on
the part of the Durbar, the Governor-General in council has
continued to evince his desire to maintain the relations of amity
and concord which had so long existed between the two states, for
the mutual interests and happiness of both. He has shown on every
occasion the utmost forbearance, from consideration to the helpless
state of the infant Maharajah Dhuleep Singh, whom the British
government had recognised as the successor to the late Maharajah
Shere Singh.

"The Governor-General in council sincerely desired to see a strong
Sikh government re-established in the Punjaub, able to control its
army and to protect its subjects. He had not, up to the present
moment, abandoned the hope of seeing that important object effected
by the patriotic efforts of the Sikhs and people of that country.

"The Sikh army recently marched from Lahore towards the British
frontier, as it was alleged by the orders of the Durbar, for the
purpose of invading the British territory.

"The Governor-General's agent, by direction of the
Governor-General, demanded an explanation of this movement, and no
reply being returned within a reasonable time, the demand was
repeated. The Governor-General, unwilling to believe in the hostile
intentions of the Sikh government, to which no provocation had been
given, refrained from taking any measures which might have a
tendency to embarrass the government of the Maharajah, or to induce
collision between the two states.

"When no reply was given to the repeated demand for explanation,
and while active military preparations were continued at Lahore,
the Governor-General considered it necessary to order the advance
of troops towards the frontier to reinforce the frontier posts.

"The Sikh army has now, without a shadow of provocation, invaded
the British territories.

"The Governor-General must, therefore, take measures for
effectually protecting the British provinces, for vindicating the
authority of the British government, and for punishing the
violators of treaties, and the disturbers of public peace.

"The Governor-General hereby declares the possessions of Maharajah
Dhuleep Singh on the left or British banks of the Sutlej
confiscated, and annexed to the British territories."

In the mean time the Umballah division of our troops had been in movement towards the Sutlej for three days; but as this force, if intercepted by a large Sikh army, was not considered sufficiently strong to force its way to the relief of Ferozepore, the Governor-General directed the whole garrison, amounting to five thousand men and twenty-one guns, of Loodianah, even at the risk of leaving that town and its cantonments exposed to capture and plunder, to effect a junction with the Umballah division. By a rapid march the Loodianah troops formed the advanced column of the army, and secured the supplies which had been laid in at Busseean, an important point, where the roads from Umballah and Kurnaul meet. On the 18th of December the British forces, having moved up by double marches on alternate days, reached, and, with the exception of two European and two native regiments, were concentrated at MOODKEE, twenty miles from Ferozepore. How easy it is for us to describe, in a single sentence, the results of the irrepressible spirit and indefatigable exertions of those gallant men! In seven days they had traversed, over roads of heavy sand, a distance of upwards of one hundred and fifty miles, while their perpetual toil allowed them scarcely leisure to cook what scanty food they could procure, and hardly an hour for sleep. Four-and-twenty hours had elapsed since their parched lips were moistened by a single drop of water, when these exhausted but indomitable troops, a little after mid-day, took up their encamping ground in front of Moodkee. But their toil had not begun. Never, surely, were the harassing fatigues of so laborious a march alleviated by a more terrible refreshment. The way-worn warriors had not halted two hours, and were engaged in cooking their meals, when they were startled by a sudden order to get under arms, and move to their positions. The Sikh army was at hand in battle array. Instantly our horse artillery and cavalry pushed forward, while the infantry, accompanied by the field-batteries, advanced to their support, and, scarcely two miles off, confronted the enemy, nearly forty thousand strong, with forty guns, preparing for action. To resist the attack, and to cover the formation of the infantry, the cavalry, dashing rapidly to the front in columns of squadrons, occupied the plain, and were speedily followed by the troops of horse artillery, who took up their position with the cavalry on their flanks.

"The country," writes the Commander-in-Chief, "is a dead flat,
covered at short intervals with a low, but in some places thick
jhow jungle, and dotted with sandy hillocks. The enemy screened
their infantry and cavalry behind this jungle, and such undulations
as the ground afforded; and, whilst our twelve battalions formed
from echelon of brigade into line, opened a very severe cannonade
upon our advancing troops, which was vigorously replied to by the
battery of horse artillery under Brigadier Brooke, which was soon
joined by the two light field-batteries. The rapid and
well-directed fire of our artillery appeared soon to paralyse that
of the enemy; and as it was necessary to complete our infantry
dispositions without advancing the artillery too near to the
jungle, I directed the cavalry under Brigadiers White and Gough to
make a flank movement on the enemy's left, with a view of
threatening and turning that flank, if possible. With praiseworthy
gallantry, the 3d light dragoons, with the 2d brigade of cavalry,
consisting of the body-guard and 5th light cavalry, with a portion
of the 4th lancers, turned the left of the Sikh army, and, sweeping
along the whole rear of its infantry and guns, silenced for a time
the latter, and put their numerous cavalry to flight. Whilst this
movement was taking place on the enemy's left, I directed the
remainder of the 4th lancers, the 9th irregular cavalry under
Brigadier Mactier, with a light field-battery, to threaten their
right. This manoeuvre was also successful. Had not the infantry
and guns of the enemy been screened by the jungle, these brilliant
charges of the cavalry would have been productive of greater
effect.

"When the infantry advanced to the attack, Brigadier Brooke rapidly
pushed on his horse artillery close to the jungle, and the
cannonade was resumed on both sides. The infantry, under Major
Generals Sir Harry Smith, Gilbert, and Sir John M'Caskill, attacked
in echelon of lines the enemy's infantry, almost invisible amongst
wood and the approaching darkness of night. The opposition of the
enemy was such as might have been expected from troops who had
every thing at stake, and who had long vaunted of being
irresistible. Their ample and extended line, from their great
superiority of numbers, far outflanked ours; but this was
counteracted by the flank movements of our cavalry. The attack of
the infantry now commenced; and the roll of fire from this powerful
arm soon convinced the Sikh army that they had met with a foe they
little expected; and their whole force was driven from position
after position with great slaughter, and the loss of seventeen
pieces of artillery, some of them of heavy calibre; our infantry
using that never-failing weapon the bayonet, whenever the enemy
stood. Night only saved them from worse disaster; for this stout
conflict was maintained during an hour and a half of dim starlight,
amidst a cloud of dust from the sandy plain, which yet more
obscured every object."

The more awful combats of Ferozeshah and Sobraon must not eclipse the brightness of Moodkee, which revealed so vividly, even under that "dim starlight," the elastic vigour of the British spirit.

Hunger, and thirst, and weariness vanished at once, as, with the alacrity and precision of a peaceful parade, our enthusiastic regiments moved into their positions, and impetuously advanced to encounter an enemy who mustered his host in myriads. On they swept like a hurricane. "The only fault found," are the words of an officer present in the engagement, "was, that the men were too fresh, and could not be kept from running at the enemy." Outflanking us by masses of infantry and swarms of cavalry--tearing us to tatters by the swift destruction from their immense and beautiful artillery--it fared with the Sikhs, before the stemless tide of British ardour, as with the Philistines before Samson--

"When unsupportably his foot advanced,"
--"In scorn of their proud arms and warlike tools,"
"Spurn'd them to death by troops."--

The moral effect upon our soldiers of this battle, we may believe to have been decisive of the campaign. The prodigious preponderance of the Sikhs in numerical strength; the weight, and celerity, and accuracy of their batteries; their stanch and obstinate courage, which often went down only before the intolerable contact of the bayonet, had been made undeniably manifest. What had they availed against our imperturbable intrepidity, under circumstances and at a moment in which we might have thrown, almost without dishonour, the blame of discomfiture upon physical infirmities, that overmaster the brave and the strong as relentlessly as the timid and feeble? What would they avail, when the chances were fairer for us--the collision more even? When the fight at Moodkee was done, there was not, of the surviving victors, a Queen's soldier or a sepoy who had not already settled to his own satisfaction the whole campaign of the Sutlej, in the pithy but comprehensive conviction, that he should drub the Sikhs whenever he met them. The logician smiles at the vulnerable reasoning; the soldier smiles, too, and feels himself clad in better armour than steel or brass. There had been a reciprocal amicable emulation every where prevalent throughout the battle, between the officers and the men, between our Indian and our European troops. The Governor-General shared all the perils of the field; Sale and M'Caskill "foremost fighting fell;" while our native regiments vied with, and were not excelled by, their British comrades in active daring or unswerving steadiness. One temper, one will, and a universal mutual confidence, thrilled through, cemented, and fired the whole mass.

On the day after the battle, the Sikhs having retired upon their intrenchments at Ferozeshah, orders were sent to direct Sir John Littler, with the Ferozepore force, to join as soon as possible the main army. The relief of Ferozepore--threatened, according to the first reports received by the Governor-General, by the Sikh army _en masse_--had been his primary object in those rapid marches which brought him to Moodkee. It now appears that, on the 13th of December, Sir John Littler had moved out of Ferozepore into camp, and on the 15th took up a strong position at a village about two miles to the southeast of his encampment, in order to intercept the anticipated attack on the city. The Sikh camp was distinctly visible, and supposed to contain 60,000 men, with 120 guns. Three days passed without even a demonstration of active hostility; and on the night of the 17th, the Sikhs were moving away to meet the Governor-General. On the evening of the 20th, therefore, Sir John Littler had no difficulty in instantly obeying the orders from Moodkee, and in arriving next morning at headquarters in time to share the peril and the glory of one of the most dreadful contests in which we were ever engaged in Europe or in Asia. The inaction of the Sikhs at Ferozepore is, in the present state of our information, unintelligible; but it would be an idle waste of time and space to speculate upon the consequences of a peril which did not assail us, or harrow our minds with the probability of disasters and difficulties from which we never suffered.

At Moodkee, our army, for most needful repose, and fully to prepare for a more gigantic effort, rested two days. In this interval the Governor-General took a step which has not escaped comment, in offering to the Commander-in-Chief his services as second in command of the army. He did right. Battalions and brigades could hardly have strengthened the hands of the general, and invigorated the spirits of the troops, so much as the active accession of Hardinge. Prim etiquette may pucker its thin lips, and solemn discretion knit its ponderous brows; but neither discipline nor prudence ran any risk of being injured or affronted by the veteran of the Peninsula. What the exigency required, he knew; what the exigency exacted, he performed. That those who censure would not have imitated his conduct, in defiance of the admonitions of the hundred-throated Sikh ordnance, we may allowably imagine. Such critics, being themselves governors-general, would probably have received beneath the cool verandas of Calcutta the news of the tempestuous bivouacs of Ferozeshah. For ourselves, we learn with pride and satisfaction, that when offensive operations were resumed on the morning of the 21st of December, the charge and direction of the left wing of the army was committed to Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Hardinge.

"Breaking up on that morning from Moodkee, our columns of all arms"
(so writes the Commander-in-Chief) "debouched four miles on the
road to Ferozeshah, where it was known that the enemy, posted in
great force and with a most formidable artillery, had remained
since the action of the 18th, incessantly employed in intrenching
his position. Instead of advancing to the direct attack of their
formidable works, our force manoeuvred to their right; the second
and fourth divisions of infantry in front, supported by the first
division and cavalry in second line, continued to defile for some
time out of cannon-shot between the Sikhs and Ferozepore. The
desired effect was not long delayed: a cloud of dust was seen on
our left, and, according to the instructions sent him on the
preceding evening, Major-General Sir John Littler, with his
division, availing himself of the offered opportunity, was
discovered in full march to unite his force with mine. The junction
was soon effected, and thus was accomplished one of the great
objects of all our harassing marches and privations, in the relief
of this division of our army from the blockade of the numerous
forces by which it was surrounded.

"Dispositions were now made for a united attack on the enemy's
intrenched camp. We found it to be a parallelogram, of about a mile
in length, and half a mile in breadth, including within its area
the strong village of Ferozeshah; the shorter sides looking towards
the Sutlej and Moodkee, and the longer towards Ferozepore and the
open country. We moved against the last-named face, the ground in
front of which was, like the Sikh position in Moodkee, covered with
low jungle.

"A very heavy cannonade was opened by the enemy, who had dispersed
over their position upwards of one hundred guns, more than forty of
which were of battering calibre: these kept up a heavy and
well-directed fire, which the practice of our far less numerous
artillery, of much lighter metal, checked in some degree, but could
not silence; finally, in the face of a storm of shot and shell, our
infantry advanced and carried these formidable intrenchments; they
threw themselves upon their guns, and with matchless gallantry
wrested them from the enemy; but when the batteries were partially
within our grasp, our soldiery had to face such a fire of musketry
from the Sikh infantry, arrayed behind their guns, that, in spite
of the most heroic efforts, a portion only of the intrenchment
could be carried. Night fell while the conflict was every where
raging.

"Although I now brought up Major-General Sir Harry Smith's
division, and he captured and long maintained another point of the
position, and her Majesty's 3d light dragoons charged and took some
of the most formidable batteries, yet the enemy remained in
possession of a considerable portion of the great quadrangle;
whilst our troops, intermingled with theirs, kept possession of the
remainder, and firmly bivouacked upon it, exhausted by their
gallant efforts, greatly reduced in numbers, and suffering
extremely from thirst, yet animated by an indomitable spirit. In
this state of things the long night wore away.

"Near the middle of it, one of their heavy guns was advanced, and
played with deadly effect upon our troops. Lieutenant-General Sir
Henry Hardinge immediately formed her Majesty's 80th foot and the
1st European light infantry. They were led to the attack by their
commanding-officers, and animated in their exertions by
Lieutenant-Colonel Wood, (aide-de-camp to the Lieutenant-General,)
who was wounded in the outset. The 80th captured the gun, and the
enemy, dismayed by this counter-check, did not venture to press on
further. During the whole night, however, they continued to harass
our troops by a fire of artillery, wherever moonlight discovered
our position."[16]