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CHAPTER X.
THE FIRST SIKH WAR WITH THE BRITISH, 1845-46.
On the 11th December 1845 the Khalsa, confident of victory in all its pride of strength, crossed the Sutlej with 60,000 men and over 100 guns, and proceeded to invest the British garrison in Ferozepore, cutting off its line of communication before reliable information had reached British headquarters of the movement. While the Sikhs were concentrating on their side of the river, the Government of India, cautious to a fault, loth from political reasons to precipitate a collision, took no steps to strengthen their frontier posts of Ferozepore and Ludhiana beyond being ready to move up troops in case of actual aggression. These two posts, eighty miles apart, were each held by a
