zier soon found that he could, no more than his predecessor,
content the army. His only chance was to give it employment, or rather
induce it to engage in a contest with the British, which he hoped might
terminate in its dispersion. Probably, like other rulers nearer
England, he was prepared for either contingency. Should the army be
successful, he would take advantage of their success; if destroyed, he
would not be ill pleased. The Sikhs, indulging themselves with the idea
of the conquest of British India, virtually declared war against the
English on the 17th of November. They commenced crossing the Sutlej on
the 11th of December; and on the 14th of that month a portion of the
army took up a position a few miles from Ferozepore. The Sikhs, it
should be understood, had some territory on the eastern side of the
Sutlej, and it is supposed that they had from time to time sent across
guns, and buried them there, to be ready for their contemplated invasion
of British India. At length, on the 13th of December, the Sikh army
crossed the Sutlej, and threatened Ferozepore, but were held in check by
the bold front shown by the garrison of that place under Major-General
Sir John Littler.

Meantime, the army of the Sutlej, under Sir Hugh Gough, was advancing on
them. After a trying march of 150 miles, with little rest, and a
scarcity of water, on the afternoon of the 18th of December the
information was received by the British army that the Sikhs were
advancing on Moodkee, which they had just reached. The troops
immediately got under arms, the horse artillery and cavalry were pushed
forward; the infantry, accompanied by field batteries, moving on in
support. Before long the enemy, it was found, were approaching in order
of battle, with 20,000 infantry, the same number of cavalry, and 40
guns. The country over which the two armies were advancing to the
conflict is a dead flat, covered at short intervals with a low but thick
jungle, and dotted with sandy hillocks. The enemy screened their
infantry and artillery behind this jungle and such undulation as the
ground afforded.

The British cavalry, under Brigadiers White, Gough, and Mactier,
advanced rapidly to the front in columns of squadrons, and occupied the
plain, followed by five troops of horse artillery, under Brigadier
Brooke, who took up a forward position, having the cavalry on his left
flank. The British infantry now forming from echelon of brigade into
line,