A history of the Sikhs, from the origin of the nation to the battles of the Sutlej.

298

HISTORY OF THE SIKHS

CItAP. IX

1845-6. territories graced the success; but the victors had lost
a seventh of their numbers, they were paralysed after their
prodigious exertions and intense excitement, and the Sikhs
were allowed to cross the Sutlej at their leisure to prepare
for fresh contests. The sepoy mercenaries had for the first
time met an equal antagonist with their own weaponseven ranks and the fire of artillery. They loudly complained
of the inferiority of their cannon; they magnified banks
two and three feet high into formidable ramparts, and
exploding tumbrils and stores of powder became, in their
imaginations, designed and deadly mines. Nor was this
feeling of respect and exaggeration confined to the Indians
alone; the European soldiers partook of it; and the British
public, as well as the dignitaries of the church and the heads
of the state, became impressed with the immensity of the
danger which had threatened the peace, and perhaps the
safety, of their exotic dominion.' Regiments of men, and
fame of the Sikhs would not have been so great as it is, and the British
chronicler would have been spared the ungracious task of declaring unpleasing truths. No one, however, can be insensible to the claims which
the veteran chief of the army has established to his country's gratitude,
by his cheering hardihood under ev cr i circumstance of danger, and by
his great successes over all opponents. The robust character of Lord
Gough has on many occasions stood England in good stead.
1 The alarm of the English about the occupation of Delhi and the
passage of the Jumna, may be likened to the nervous dread of Augustus, when he heard of the defeat of Varus and the destruction of his
legions; and that one so astute, and so familiar with the sources of
Roman power and the causes of Roman weakness, should have feared
the consequences of a German invasion of Italy, at once palliates
the apprehensions of the English in India and shows upon what
slight foundations and undreamt-of chances the mightiest fabrics of
dominion sometimes rest. Yet it is not clear that Augustus was not
alarmed rather for himself than for Rome. He may have thought
that a successful inroad of barbarians would encourage domestic
enemies, and so lead to his own downfall, without sensibly affecting
the real power of his country. Similarly, the apprehensions of the
English after P'heerooshuhur may be said to have had a personal as
much as a national reference, and there is no good reason for believing
that one or two or even three defeats on the Sutlej would have shaken
the stability of the British rule to the east and south of Delhi. All
the chiefs of India, indeed, are willing enough to be independent,
but no union for any such purpose yet exists among them, and only
one or two are at any moment ready to take up arms; whereas the