Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
274 1S4S-6.
chap, ix
Ludhiana was covered with skill and steadiness by the The Sikhs did not pursue, for they were without a leader, or without one who wished to see the English beaten. Ranjor Singh let his soldiers engage in battle, but that he accompanied them into the fight is more than doubtful, and it is certain that he did not essay the easy task of improving the success of his own men into the complete reverse of his enemy. The mass of the British baggage was at hand, and the temptation to plunder could not be resisted by men who were without orders to conquer. Every beast of burden which had not got within sight of Ludhiana, or which had not, timorously but prudently, been taken back
•cavalry.!
to Jugraon, when the firing was heard, fell into the hands of the Sikhs, and they were enabled boastfully to exhibit artillery store carts as if they had captured
British cannon.^
The Sikhs encouraged,
and Gulab Singh induced to repair to
Lahore.
Ludhiana was relieved, but an unsuccessful skirmish added to the belief so pleasing to the prostrate princes of India, that the dreaded army of their foreign masters had at last been foiled by the skill and valour of the disciples of Gobind, the kindred children of their
own soil. The British sepoys glanced furtively at one another, or looked towards the east, their home; and the brows of Engiishm.en themselves grew darker as they thought of struggles rather than triumphs. The
Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief trembled for the safety of that siege train and convoy of ammunition, so necessary to the efficiency of an army which they had launched in haste against aggressors and received back shattered by the shock of opposing arms. The leader of the beaten brigades saw before him a tarnished name after the labours of a life, nor was he met by many encouraging hopes of rapid retribution. The Sikhs on their side were correspondingly elated; the presence of European prisoners added to their triumph; Lai Singh and Tej Singh shrank within themselves with fear, an,d Gulab Singh, who had been spontaneously hailed as minister and leader, began to think that the Khalsa was really formidable to one [1
Under Col. Cureton.— Ed.]
the Governor-General to the Secret Committee, 19th Jan. and 3rd Feb., and L-)rd Gough's dispatch of the 1st Feb. 1845. After the skirmish of the 21st January there were found to be sixty-nine killed, sixty-eight wounded, and seventy-seven missing; o-f which last,, several were taken iorisoners, while others rejoined their corps in a day or two. Of the prisoners, Mr. Barron, an assistant-surgeon, and some European soldiers 2 Cf.
were taken to Lahore.
274 1S4S-6.
chap, ix
Ludhiana was covered with skill and steadiness by the The Sikhs did not pursue, for they were without a leader, or without one who wished to see the English beaten. Ranjor Singh let his soldiers engage in battle, but that he accompanied them into the fight is more than doubtful, and it is certain that he did not essay the easy task of improving the success of his own men into the complete reverse of his enemy. The mass of the British baggage was at hand, and the temptation to plunder could not be resisted by men who were without orders to conquer. Every beast of burden which had not got within sight of Ludhiana, or which had not, timorously but prudently, been taken back
•cavalry.!
to Jugraon, when the firing was heard, fell into the hands of the Sikhs, and they were enabled boastfully to exhibit artillery store carts as if they had captured
British cannon.^
The Sikhs encouraged,
and Gulab Singh induced to repair to
Lahore.
Ludhiana was relieved, but an unsuccessful skirmish added to the belief so pleasing to the prostrate princes of India, that the dreaded army of their foreign masters had at last been foiled by the skill and valour of the disciples of Gobind, the kindred children of their
own soil. The British sepoys glanced furtively at one another, or looked towards the east, their home; and the brows of Engiishm.en themselves grew darker as they thought of struggles rather than triumphs. The
Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief trembled for the safety of that siege train and convoy of ammunition, so necessary to the efficiency of an army which they had launched in haste against aggressors and received back shattered by the shock of opposing arms. The leader of the beaten brigades saw before him a tarnished name after the labours of a life, nor was he met by many encouraging hopes of rapid retribution. The Sikhs on their side were correspondingly elated; the presence of European prisoners added to their triumph; Lai Singh and Tej Singh shrank within themselves with fear, an,d Gulab Singh, who had been spontaneously hailed as minister and leader, began to think that the Khalsa was really formidable to one [1
Under Col. Cureton.— Ed.]
the Governor-General to the Secret Committee, 19th Jan. and 3rd Feb., and L-)rd Gough's dispatch of the 1st Feb. 1845. After the skirmish of the 21st January there were found to be sixty-nine killed, sixty-eight wounded, and seventy-seven missing; o-f which last,, several were taken iorisoners, while others rejoined their corps in a day or two. Of the prisoners, Mr. Barron, an assistant-surgeon, and some European soldiers 2 Cf.
were taken to Lahore.
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