and to order two companies of the 8th Foot, from Jálandhar, to secure Philáur on the Satlaj. Bethinking then of the other means available to him, he ordered a Gurkhá regiment, known as the Nasírí battalion, stationed close to Simla, to march, with a detachment of the 9th Irregular Cavalry, to that important point (Philáur), in order to escort thence the siege-train which, he recognised at a glance, would be necessary for the operations he contemplated against Dehlí. On the afternoon of the 14th he started for Ambálah himself, and reached it early the following morning. He, at least, had lost no time.
But it was there that his difficulties commenced. He found the sipáhís of the native regiments there ready to break out in revolt. With the English force at his disposal he could easily have disarmed them, and that course was pressed upon him by Sir John Lawrence. It seemed so natural that he should do so. He could not take mutinous regiments with him. Still less could he leave them at Ambálah, unwatched, to perpetrate untold mischief in his rear. But General Anson was conscious that his own local experience was limited whilst he was surrounded by men who professed to understand the natives amongst whom their lives had been spent. These men protested that the disbanding of the sipáhís would be regarded as a breach of faith. The argument was absurd, but it was accepted.
Another misfortune came at this moment to render the situation more involved. The Gurkhás of the Nasírí battalion, when ordered to march to Philáur, refused point-blank, and made as though they would plunder Simla. The residents there were terribly frightened, and some of those who should have given an example of courage and daring betrayed a strong capacity for leading the way in pusillanimous flight. The fears, fortunately,
