The Life and Times of Queen Victoria (Illustrated Edition). Robert Thomas Wilson

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ the river at Ferozepore with 4,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, and 22 guns. At Moodkee they were driven from their position after a hard struggle, in which Gough had 215 killed and 657 wounded. The battle may be said to have gone on till the 22nd, when our troops stormed and took the entrenched camp of the enemy at Ferozeshah, twelve miles from the left bank of the Sutlej. The Sikhs attributed their defeat at that place not so much to the skill of our generals, as to the treachery of their own leader. They lost 2,000 men, and the British 694 killed and 1,721 wounded ere the earthworks were carried. Sir Robert Sale and General McCaskell were killed. Many of our losses were due to the blowing-up of the enemy’s camp after we had entered it; many of our men were killed whilst burying the dead, a misfortune attributed to our lack of a strong enough force of cavalry to clear the ground. Sir Henry Hardinge, the Governor-General, was present at both engagements. He had generously offered to serve in a military capacity under Gough, who put him in command of a Division. It was for this reason that Sir Henry wrote to Gough a despatch describing the battle, which had afterwards to be sent by Gough to Sir Henry himself in his capacity as Viceroy. It is interesting to note that our troops, for six days previous to the battle of Moodkee, had marched a distance of 150 miles, and that on the very day on which they fought that battle, they had made a forced march of thirty miles. Yet, though faint with fatigue, hunger, and thirst, when ordered to attack fresh troops, they went into action without a murmur and with the desperate valour that repulsed the enemy. During the night they bivouacked on the stricken field, and next day entrenched themselves, waiting for the onset of the Sikhs. But unexpectedly they were reinforced by two regiments, and then they pressed on to help Sir J. Littler, who was manœuvring at Ferozeshah. It was after joining him that they made the night attack on the enemy’s camp, which crowned their standards with victory. On the 26th of March, London was greatly excited by the tidings of another great victory, which had been won on the 28th of January. This is known as the victory of Aliwal, the battle having been fought at a village of that name about nine miles west of Loodiana, on the left bank of the Sutlej. It had been held by Ranjur Sing, who had crossed the river in force and menaced Loodiana. On the 28th, Sir Harry Smith—determined to clear the left bank of the stream, i.e., the British bank—attacked the Sikhs in great force, and, after a desperate effort, put them to flight. It was, however, a troopers’ battle, being gained by the stubborn valour of the British cavalry, which was hurled in masses, three times, against the Sikhs, each time piercing their lines. The last charge decided the day. The enemy were pushed into the river, where large numbers were drowned, and 67 guns were ultimately taken by the victors. The effect of this battle was immediate. The Khalsa banner vanished, as if by magic, from all the forts on our side of the Sutlej, and the territory east of the river submitted to the Indian Government.

      All doubt as to the fortune of war ended on the 10th of February, 1846, when Gough fought the terrible battle of Sobraon. The Sikhs had chosen a strong position on the east side of the Sutlej, protecting the Hariki ford, and their rear rested on the village of Sobraon. It was on the Ferozepore side that the fight took place, the Sikhs holding their earthworks defiantly, till cut down almost to the last man. They lost 5,000 men, and but few lived to recross the Sutlej. This crowning victory, in which our losses were 320 killed and 2,083 wounded, cleared the left bank of the river. After news of the victory of Sobraon came to Lahore, the Ranee and her Durbar sent a chief—the Rajah Golab Sing, who had always been on good terms with the British Government—as an envoy, to sue for peace. The Rajah agreed to concede our demands, which were the surrender in full sovereignty of the territory between the Sutlej and Beas rivers; an indemnity of one and a half crore of rupees; the disbandment of the Sikh army, and its reorganisation on the system adopted by the celebrated Maharajah Ranjit Sing, the limitations on its employment to be determined in communication with the Indian Government; the surrender of all guns which had been pointed against us; and the control of both banks of the Sutlej. It was further agreed that Golab Sing and the young Maharajah Duleep Sing should repair to the camp of the Governor-General of India, which they did on the 18th of February, when his Highness the Maharajah formally made his submission. After this, it was arranged he should return to Lahore with the Governor-General and the conquering army, who occupied the city on the 22nd. In the actual Treaty it was further stipulated that no European or American was to be employed by the Maharajah Duleep Sing without the consent of the British Government, and that Golab Sing was to be made Maharajah of the territory lying between the Ravee and the Indus, including the valley of Kashmir, paying every year to our Government, in acknowledgment of British supremacy, a horse, twelve shawl goats, and three pairs of shawls. Subsequently, the conquering army marched in triumph to Delhi, escorting

      SIR HENRY HARDINGE.

      the trophies and spoils of the sixty days’ war, and displaying them proudly in every city and military station en route, as symbols of British prowess and prestige.

      Sir H. Hardinge and Sir H. Gough were thanked in Parliament for their services, and raised to the peerage with munificent pensions. There were some who thought that the State was too lavish in its rewards on this occasion, and the country was reminded that it had done no more for Rodney than it was doing for Gough. Nor was this view altogether indefensible. Good luck rather than good guidance rescued us from a perilous situation in the Punjab, for it is certain that the Indian Government sent our troops to the field in a condition that would have rendered failure certain, had we been contending with European armies. The Sikhs, it is true, were a small nation, but they were a nation of warriors, and therefore formidable. They put into the field a splendidly

      THE RIVAL PAGES. (Reduced Fac-simile after Punch.)

      “I’m afraid you’re not strong enough for the place, John.”

      THE RIVAL PAGES. (Reduced Fac-simile after Punch.)

      “I’m afraid you’re not strong enough for the place, John.”

      equipped and disciplined army of 100,000 men, who, as soldiers, were “bravest of the brave.” This was surely a powerful instrument of warfare, strong enough, in able hands, to change the destinies of an empire, and yet we were quite unprepared to meet such a dangerous enemy. Nothing, in fact, but the personal pluck of our troops at this great crisis saved our Indian dominion on our frontier. The Sikhs, however, it must be also stated, failed where they should have succeeded, because they had no general who was a master of strategy. They divided their army into two large corps. Each moved against our chief forts, Ferozepore and Loodiana, without intending to attack them, and it happened that the distance between these two forts was greater round by the Sikh side of the Sutlej than by ours. The Sikhs, therefore, had to manœuvre in the circumference of a circle, whilst we at the centre could move along its arc. The two Sikh armies were not mutually supporting. Had they both crossed the Sutlej in such fashion that they could have supported each other, we could hardly have attacked them at Ferozeshah, or fought for twenty-four hours against an army 70,000 strong, in an entrenched position, when another Sikh force, 40,000 strong, was within sound of our guns.

      Hardly had the Queen and the country ceased to rejoice over political, diplomatic, and military triumphs, than another painful Ministerial crisis had to be faced. Sovereign and subject were alike touched by the strange and dramatic coincidence of their trusted Minister, at the supreme moment of victory, falling, like Tarpeia, crushed, as if in requital for a great service to the people. On the 26th of June there was a Cabinet meeting to consider the hostile vote on the Irish Coercion Bill, and the Prime Minister went down to Osborne to confer with the Queen. He returned to inform Parliament, on the 29th, that Ministers had tendered their resignations, and only held office till their successors could relieve them of their posts. He also said that he would support Lord John Russell in all his Free Trade measures, and paid an eloquent tribute to Mr. Cobden, to whom he generously gave credit for organising the victory of the Free Traders. When he left the House he was followed home by a cheering crowd.

      The resignation СКАЧАТЬ