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

290

HISTORY OF THE SIKHS

CHAP. IX

1845-6. but which would still enable them to do so at their own convenience. Thus boats for bridges, and regiments and guns,
the natural and undesigned provocatives to a war, were
sufficiently numerous; but food and ammunition, and
carriage and hospital stores, such as were necessary for a
campaign, were all behind at Delhi or Agra, or still remained to be collected; for the desire of the English was,
it is said, peace, and they had hoped that an assemblage of
troops would prevent predatory aggression, or deter the
Sikhs from engaging in suicidal hostilities.'
The The Governor-General 2 joined the Commander-in-Chief
hEnglis at Ambala early in December 1845, and as soon as it seemed
hasten to
oppose certain that the Sikhs were marching in force towards the
theSikhs. Sutlej, the English troops in the upper provinces were all
put in motion. The nearest divisions were those of Ambala,
Ludhiana, and Ferozepore, which numbered in all about
17,000 available men, with 69 field guns; and as the lastmentioned force was the most exposed, the Ambala troops
were moved straight to its support, and Lord Hardinge
further prudently resolved to leave Ludhiana with a mere
garrison for its petty fort, and to give Lord Gough as large
a force as possible, with which to meet the Sikhs, should
they cross the Sutlej as they threatened.3
1 It was a common and a just remark at the time, that although
the Indian Government was fortunate in having a practical and approved soldier like Lord Hardinge at its head, under the circumstances
of a war in progress, yet that had Lord Ellenborough remained
Governor-General, the army would have taken the field better
equipped than it did.
[2 Sir Henry Hardinge had succeeded Lord Ellenborough as
Governor-General in July 1844. The Commander-in-Chief was
Sir Hugh Gough.-ED.]
3 The effective force at Ferozeshah was 17,727 men, according to
the Calcutta Review (No. XVI, p. 472), and 16,700 according to Lord
Hardinge's dispatch of the 31st Dec. 1845. This was the available
force, out of 32,479 men in all, posted from Ambala to the Sutlej.
The author has learnt that Lord Gough is satisfied the number of
the enemy at Ferozeshah and the other battles of the campaign have
been underestimated in this narrative. There cannot, indeed, be any
statements of decisive authority referred to, but the settled conviction
of the Commander-in-Chief is of primary consideration, and requires
to be recorded in this new edition; especially as, with a characteristic
singleness of heart, his lordship, in noticing the probable error, had