1 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS. 265
2 of a country boasting a numerous population of
3 warlike and unruly men like the Sikhs! They can-
4 not be driven out of the country, for where could
5 they go, unless they crossed the Ravee, Chenab,
6 Jelum, and Indus, pursued by the British? And
7 this leads us to advert to the measures to be adopted,
8 in case it becomes necessary for the British to sub-
9 jugate the whole of the Punjab.
10 The campaign which has just been terminated,
11 proved incontestibly, that the only efficient arm
12 that could maintain an equal contest with the
13 Sikhs, was the European infantry and cavalry. If me impor-
14 ever the Khalsa troops therefore re-assemble and European”
15 wage war on the British, the army of the latter’
16 must be composed of a much larger force in Euro-
17 peans, than it can at present boast of. The pre-
18 sent Anglo-Indian army is required for the protec-
19 tion of the territory which we already possess ;
20 and though the great moral effect of our late vic-
21 tories over the Sikhs, may render it a safe measure
22 to leave 20,000 troops beyond the Sutlej, yet this
23 impression, like every other, will daily become
24 fainter. If, then, the present strength of this army
25 is needed for the security of the British territory in
26 India, the acquisition of the four remaining Doabs
27 lying between the rivers Beas, Ravee, Chenab, Je-
28 lum, and Indus, will necessarily require a great ad-
29 dition, not perhaps for the acquisition of these exten-
30 sive tracts of country, but for retaining them. Itisn0 the accession
31 doubt true, that the British government do not want °f me tert-
32 tory unavoid-
33 more territory, but it will not do for us to take merely *"