1 HISTORY OF THE SIKIS. 375
2 e
3 10th Weion could not have been braver men than
4 the Queen’s own, yet, neither the one nor the other ;
5 “could be expected to withstand round-shot and
6 grape, when unsupported. In pursuit of a fifing
7 enemy, the advance of Sir Harry Smith might have
8 been attended with the happiest effect, but though
9 deprived of many guns and obliged to retire, the
10 spirit of the Sikhs was unbroken, and they. kept
11 possession of a part of their camp during the night,
12 and but for the obstinate stand of the 2nd division
13 would, in all probability, have regained the whole of
14 their entrenchment.
15 If the battle of the 21st December resembled one
16 of the ancient conflicts, that of the 22nd was in-
17 complete accordance with it, where British bayonets
18 were alone the weapons used by our troops, no
19 artillery being available! The British formed their
20 infantry in a body and attacked the whole Sikh
21 army, though 30,000 Ghoorchurras appeared in
22 support of the latter. The reason why the Sikh
23 cavalry did not charge our “infantry, can only be
24 accounted for from witnessing, the determined
25 bravery of the latter in capturitg guns at the
26 point of the bayonet, and advancing against them
27 unsupported by artillery. The result of Feeroz-
28 shuhur on the 22nd, proves that it is not altogether
29 to the weapons employed that victory must be
30 looked for, but to the indomitable courage of -
31 troops; for we here see a the Sikhs, though,
32 possessing all the implements of modern warfare,
33 guns, cavalry, and infantry,\opposed to British