structure at the bridge-head[1]. From this point the Governor-General himself led the column through a double line of elephants, which knelt down at the given signal, but forgot to trumpet forth those notes of welcome which they had been learning for some days past. The guns, however, did their duty; the bands struck up 'The Conquering Hero'; and regiment after regiment of Nicolls's 20,000 troops, drawn up in a line nearly three miles long, presented arms in turn to Sale's brigade. Two days later Pollock crossed the Sutlej, and on the 23rd Nott himself arrived, bringing with him the legendary Gates, escorted by several British officers and a strong guard of Sepoys. Both generals were duly welcomed by Ellenborough at the bridge-head; but the special honours lavished on Sale's brigade were withheld, in spite of Nicolls's pleadings, from the victors of Tazín and the yet more deserving garrison of Kandahár. There was much feasting and rejoicing that Christmas throughout all the camps. The Sepoys were regaled with heaps of 'their favourite mehtoys,' or sweetmeats, by the Governor-General's express command. As a fitting close to a great triumphal pageant, the assembled armies — about 40,000 strong with a hundred guns — were manœuvred by Sir Jasper Nicolls on the wide Firozpur plain, in the presence of Lord Ellenborough and a notable group of visitors from Europe as well as the East.
Our countrymen in India could now, as some of
- ↑ Low.
