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THE FIRST SIKH WAR.
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learned a good deal and unlearned much regarding the British; but, as was shown later on, they were not yet subdued, although they had found out that it was not bravery, of which they had plenty, nor numbers and good arms alone, that made a successful army, but also good generals and good leaders. An old Sikh soldier remarked to an English officer after the battle, "If we only had had your sahibs [officers] to lead and direct us in the way they did your soldiers, there would have been another story to tell."

The Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, in the House of Commons, when proposing the thanks of Parliament to the Indian Army of the Sutlej, spoke enthusiastically of their victories, interrupted by no single failure,—unsullied by any imputations on our arms or character,—and quoted from a letter to him the generous tribute of their brave veteran chief to the gallant foe: "Policy precluded me from publicly recording my sentiments on the splendid gallantry of our