1 XXIV INTRODUCTION.
2 world, and after 0 ! " However, I don't stand forward myself an
3 one of the " prophets of the past " and say, " I told you so j"
4 hut on the contrary, am willing* to confess I never thought for
5 a moment the Seiks would have crossed the River, though
6 Captain Gardner always informed me that they would ; hut
7 when I mentioned this to one who it was said knew them well,
8 he wrote me word, they were not quite such fools as to think
9 of that. However, few people appear to have known them j
10 they were generally described as boasters and cowards j but we
11 at last discovered (what I never suspected) that they were brave
12 men and good Soldiers,* though like many other fine troops,
13 they were sadly in want of good Generals ; and never before did
14 two armies so singularly prove the truth of Sir Charles Napier's
15 assertion that " War is a series of blunders ! "
16 The first gTeat fault the Seiks committed was in not at-
17 tacking Ferozepore and destroying that place; and when
18 Runjoor Sing found he was allowed quietly to cross the
19 Sutlej near Loodiana — turn our right flank — and get
20 in our rear,f he ought certainly to have marched direct upon
21 Delhi instead of entrenching himself, first at Buddawal, and
22 * A great deal has been said of the gallant bearing of Moreau (the "Arch Traitor,"
23 as Hazlitt called him) when he lost both his legs at the Battle of Dresden, where he
24 was engaged with the allied powers against France ; but I doubt much if the
25 General bore his misfortune with the stoic courage of a Seik Sergeant, who had both
26 his legs taken off by a round shot at the Battle of Aliwal ! I conversed with him
27 for about ten minutes, during which period not a muscle of his countenance indi-
28 cated that he was in pain ; and he spoke out boldly, like a Spartan, smiling at the
29 idea when I told him one of our Surgeons would save his life, and remarking, he had
30 no wish to live without his legs : he then asked for water, and, after washing his face,
31 gave a silver ring with a ruby in it to the water carrier, and requested some
32 of the men of H. M.'s 31st, who were standing by, to put an end to him with their
33 bayonets. He was a fine, handsome looking man, between 50 and 60 years of age,
34 with a grey beard covering his chest.
35 t Had General Grey been permitted to march when he wasjirst ordered, he might
36 have been present at Ferozshah or at Moodkee, and would have superceded the
37 necessity of bringing Brigadier Wheeler's force away from Loodiana ; or, had Gene-
38 ral Grey been ordered to Loodiana when he did march, he would have prevented
39 llanjoor Sing from crossing the River.