1 The First Sikh War. 175
2 full retreat towards the Sutlej. Even then, had he
3 only known it, he had his enemy at his mercy.
4 Completely worn out by many hours' continuous
5 fighting, their ammunition all but exhausted, the
6 British could never have survived the onset of the
7 thirty thousand fresh troops which Tej Singh had
8 at his back. But the Sikh commander hesitated.
9 At eleven o'clock he opened fire on the left of his
10 enemy's position, and again hesitated. Four hours
11 later he threatened an attack on their right, and
12 then, to the utter astonishment and intense satisfaction
13 of the weary defenders, his whole force was seen
14 to turn suddenly northwards and move off rapidly in
15 the direction taken by the vanquished battalions
16 of Lai Singh.
17 At the battle of Firozshahr the British casualties
18 amounted to 2,400, the killed representing consider-
19 ably more than half this number. The Sikhs lost
20 between four and five thousand men, and left seventy-
21 four guns in the hands of the victors. The precipitate
22 retirement of the Sikhs on December 22 has been
23 attributed to treachery on the part of their leader,
24 and there was much in the conduct of Tej Singh, both
25 prior to and after the commencement of hostilities,
26 which would seem to justify such a view. But it
27 must be borne in mind that though Tej Singh and
28 Lai Singh were, nominally, the leaders of the Khalsa
29 army, their authority was very far from being
30 absolute. The army, as a whole, distrusted them,
31 and regarded the Panches and principal military
32 officers as the real directors of the campaign. It
33 must, therefore, have been with the full approval of