defensive within their earthworks, which they were actively engaged in strengthening. The British leaders knew the danger of even one night's delay, which might bring fatal consequences; a battle at once was absolutely necessary. They were obliged to be the assailants, and thus to incur heavy loss at the commencement; but they relied on the bravery and discipline of their men to make amends for disadvantages, and well were they justified. They had confidence in themselves and in one another; their disparity in numbers only made them act as if every man felt that the result depended on his own single conduct. They were conscious of their instinctive soldiership at close quarters and inspired with unbounded audacity. The attacking brigades were formed of an English regiment in the centre with a native one on each flank: the white-capped English corps formed the steel head of the lances which penetrated the Sikh works, marking out the path for their native comrades, hence their greater loss
