1 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS. 149
2 Sikhs thus rendered incapable of entrenching
3 themselves on the left bank of the river; we should
4 then have been obliged to construct our own bridge
5 under a terrific fire.
6 After the defeat of the Sikhs at Feerozshuhur, they
7 urgently appealed to Goolab Singh for assistance, Appeals made
8 and requested his presence ; but the Rajah, as Singh.
9 already hinted, had a deep game to play, and
10 though he obeyed the summons of the Ranee, or, He: ed
11 in reality, the order of the Khalsa troops, and
12 reached Lahore, he was determined not to mix
13 himself up with either in the ill-judged opposition
14 offered to the British.
15 The emissaries from Lahore reached the British No reply
16 camp early in February, but the siege train had aaa
17 now arrived, and Sir Harry Smith’s division rejoined el
18 the main army, so that no reply was given to the
19 Lahore Government though one was promised,
20 The Sikhs had met the British twice in the fields
21 of Moodkee and Alleewal, and once in their ene The Sikhs
22 resolved to
23 trenched camp at Feefozshuhur; they had been coprech:
24 beaten on every occasion, yet, observing the effect more strongly
25 of their artillery, they conceived that if they could Powcuslulae:
26 only again entrench themselves more strongly, and
27 be thereby enabled to direct their musketry from
28 behind their walls against the European soldiers,
29 they might still effectually oppose their enemy.
30 Against the British in the field they felt they had
31 no chance, seeing that their guns were invariably
32 captured at the point of the bayonet.
33 Accordingly, when their bridge had been com-