. As the British cavalry came near the
enemy, they deployed, and advanced boldly, presenting an imposing array,
especially the European lancers. The ground was favourable for cavalry;
it was like a fine English sward. The troopers then took ground to the
right and left by brigades, the infantry advancing in column. From the
Sikh camp the scene was more brilliant; as the cavalry broke away the
columns of the advancing infantry appeared full in view, the sheen of
their bayonets brightly gleaming in the eastern morning sun. Still more
brilliant was the scene as the advancing columns deployed into line, for
what sight so impressive, where masses of men constitute the objects of
interest, as lines of British infantry drawn up in the array of battle
'? The cavalry now assumed direct echelon to the rear of both flanks
of the infantry. The artillery were placed on either flank and in the
centre. A review day in Hyde Park, Aldershot, or in the undulated and
picturesque Phoenix Park, at Dublin, could not present a more orderly
and trim appearance than this magnificent line of British soldiers,
drawn up before the acclivities of Aliwal. There was no wind, no dust.
The sun was bright, but not so hot as might be expected in that climate,
and the troops moved with noiseless foot, hoof, and wheel over the hard
grass, as if it were a fairy scene, and the baton of the British chief
were the wand of an enchanter, every movement of which called into
gay and brilliant reality some new feature of the "glorious pomp and
circumstance of war." Viewed from the British lines, the Khalsa host
was also imposing, as its dark masses of infantry were ranged along the
position, from whence they looked sullenly down upon their skilful
and gallant foe. The Sikh cavalry, in constant and unnecessary motion,
gave some life to the stillness which brooded over the long lines of the
compact and motionless infantry of the Khalsa army. It was a moment of
extreme suspense, for upon the fortune of this battle much depended.
If the sirdar repulsed the British, he would undoubtedly cutoff their
communications, oblige them to fall back upon Loodiana, and paralyse the
advance of Lord Gough upon Sobraon. If the British conquered the enemy's
lines, the sirdar's army had no retreat; the river was in his rear, and
it was in no place easily fordable, nor had he other means of crossing,
adequate to the safe retreat of such an army--defeat and destruction
were to him the same