1 XXVI INTRODUCTION.
2 the Seiks were but a contemptible enemy, as all troop*
3 must be who are without discipline and without leaders :
4 and therefore had we only conducted things properly, and
5 received proper information, we should, as Count Edward de
6 Warren expected, have terminated their existence in a single
7 action.
8 Their Artillery certainly did great execution, and from
9 their strength in this arm, and from the way the Khalsa
10 troops fought, and even their Hindostanee sepoys, of whom
11 only six came over to our camp, notwithstanding every attempt
12 we made to induce them to desert.* It must be seen that our
13 under an arrest, as soon as he became aware of his "culpable conduct:" but
14 whether he acted right, in a military point of view, or wanted the moral courage, is
15 another question.
16 * Hindostanee Proclamation— " Whereas the English Government is anxious to
17 reward the bravery and fidelity of the Poorbeas, by raising a Regiment of them—
18 it is hereby proclaimed, that any non-commissioned officer or soldier of the
19 Lahore Government who shall present himself before His Excellency the
20 Governor General, shall be immediately rewarded with the accustomed liberality,
21 and shall have the benefit of invalid pension ; and, if engaged in a law suit in a
22 British court of justice, his case shall be immediately decided before any other.
23 In fact, every opportunity of favour and cherishment shall at all times be
24 kept in sight by the Government. However, it is reported that Tej Sing has
25 given out, that if any sepoys of the Lahore army go over for service to the English
26 Government, the officers of this Government will cut off their noses and ears and
27 kill them. This is altogether an infamous falsehood— for the customs of this
28 Government were never of such a description, and never will be— therefore let
29 such a falsehood not enter their head ; but let them feel assured that if they come
30 here they will be well rewarded."
31 (A true Translation.) H. MARSH, Bt. Captain,
32 Interpreter and Quarter Master, 3d Cavalry.
33 After this proclamation, however, a Serjeant of the Seik Artillery, who was I
34 believe the first to come over, and who was taken to Colonel Havelock, Persian
35 Interpreter to the Commander-in-Chief, and sent also to the Under Secretary
36 to Government— got nothing ! ! ! and I had to feed him and clothe him at my own
37 expense ; and it was merely owing to the kindness of Major Lawrence, who at
38 the time had other business to attend to, that the man at last got into one of
39 the new Regiments as a corporal : his name is Mahomet Alii, he is or was in
40 Mr. Edwards' Ferozepore Regiment, and, being a smart fellow, can tell hia own
41 story.