Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/120

116 to the Governor-General that the engineer and artillery officers had concurred in its practicability; that his suggestions were excellent and should be carried out. It was agreed that the right flank should be cannonaded, and the Sikh camp swept from right to left.

The above account is condensed from a private letter of the Governor-General to Lord Ripon, dated Lahore, 16th February. It will be seen that the two Chiefs were perfectly agreed. The result will show how difficult it is in war to carry out with certainty any scheme, however well considered beforehand.

The Commander-in-Chief, in his despatch reporting the details of the battle, states that there had devolved upon him the arduous task of attacking a position covered with formidable entrenchments, and occupied by not fewer than 30,000 men with seventy pieces of artillery, united by a good bridge to a reserve on the opposite bank of the river.

It was intended that the siege batteries and disposable field artillery should be put in position on an extended semicircle, embracing within its fire the works of the Sikhs. This was carried out. A heavy mist hung over the plain as the day began to dawn. When it broke, the Governor-General mounted his horse, although still suffering from his fall, and then for two hours the plain reverberated with the incessant roar of heavy guns. The Commander-in-Chief came to the Governor-General and stated his fears that the artillery had produced very little effect.