Decisive battles since Waterloo : the most important military events from 1815 to 1887 . fantry. Their coun-try is known as the Punjaub (Land of the Five Rivers),and it has been celebrated through many centuries for itsrichness and fertility. The rivers from which it takes itsname are the Indus, Jhelum, Ravee, Chenab, and rivers with their tributaries are available for pur-poses of irrigation over a wide extent of country, whosecapital is Lahore, and chief city Umritzur. In the time ofRunjeet Singh, the province of Lahore contained fourmillion inhabitants, Mooltan one million fou
Decisive battles since Waterloo : the most important military events from 1815 to 1887 . fantry. Their coun-try is known as the Punjaub (Land of the Five Rivers),and it has been celebrated through many centuries for itsrichness and fertility. The rivers from which it takes itsname are the Indus, Jhelum, Ravee, Chenab, and rivers with their tributaries are available for pur-poses of irrigation over a wide extent of country, whosecapital is Lahore, and chief city Umritzur. In the time ofRunjeet Singh, the province of Lahore contained fourmillion inhabitants, Mooltan one million four hundredthousand ; Cashmere, six hundred thousand ; and por-tions of Afghanistan which that fierce warrior had sub-dued had a population of at least one million. The British government in India, realized that it hada dangerous neighbor on the north, but during the life-time of Runjeet Singh there was no disturbance, and theBritish were on the most friendly terms with The Lion ofthe Punjaub. His army clamored to be led against theEnglish, but the clamor was totally disregarded by the. ii9 BATTLE OF GUJERAT. 121 ruler who dreaded the power of the British arms, and knewthat his best way to conquest was one that would not in-terfere with the Europeans. In 1838 he began negotia-tions for a closer alliance with the British, but died beforethey were concluded. His death was followed by a weakand distracted rule which bordered upon anarchy; thedemand of the Sikhs to be led against the English becamesteadily more and more fierce, and at length led to openwarfare. The Sikhs in 1845 invaded British territory, and thusbrought on what is known in history as the first Sikhwar. They crossed the Sutlej, which had been estab-lished by treaty as the boundary, and on the 14th ofDecember attacked the British at Ferozepore. The placecontained seven thousand five hundred men, and theSikh army numbered nearly sixty thousand. Had theSikhs made an immediate attack, Ferozepore must havefallen, but they
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