It is not too much to say that of all the fine races of the East there is no type of man superior to the Sikh. In innate breeding he can tread the razor-edge between independence and insolence, between firm resolution and unreasoning obstinacy, between the present value of tradition and the dead husk of the glorified past. In his respect of himself he commands respect from others, and, combining the essential instinct of the soldier with the acquired love of practical ideals he can see with a single eye what the doubleheaded vulture of Prussia cannot see with four.
Constant fighting and an iron discipline had kept the Sikhs in order during the lifetime of Ranjit Singh, but after his death the army became unmanageable.
The history of the Sikh War is too well known to need more than passing reference. The troops of the Khalsa were defeated after a series of hard-fought battles, in which they showed soldierly qualities of the highest order. In the decade which followed the conquest of the Punjab, the British Government, impressed with the fighting capacity of their former opponents, determined to employ them as soldiers in their own army.
On the outbreak of the Mutiny, which from the first was identified with the restoration of the Moghul power, there was an immense revival of Sikhism. Hundreds of Sikhs who had turned their swords into ploughshares flocked to Lahore, and eagerly took service in the regiments there being raised by Lord Lawrence. All were filled with an intense longing to range themselves on the side of justice and right. All were anxious to assist in the capture of Delhi—a city associated in their minds with the heroic struggles and reverses of their forefathers. The spirit of the Khalsa, which had suffered greatly by the defeats on the Sutlej, was aroused at the thought of a conflict between Sikhism and Islam—a conflict the memory of which is now not only nobly forgotten, but to be blotted out for ever by heroism and sacrifice; for both Sikh and Mahomedan of India have joined hands in common cause against the enemy of all human progress. Both have espoused our cause with a devotion and loyalty which is almost without parallel in history.
THE SIKH REGIMENTS, WITH THEIR BATTLE HONOURS
Cavalry
The following regiments contain squadrons of Sikhs:—
2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse).
3rd Skinner's Horse.
4th Cavalry.
6th King Edward's Own Cavalry.
7th Hariana Lancers.
9th Hodson's Horse.
10th Duke of Cambridge's Own Lancers (Hodson's Horse).
11th King Edward's Own Lancers (Probyn's Horse).
12th Cavalry.
13th Duke of Connaught's Lancers.
16th Cavalry.
18th King George's Own Lancers.
19th Lancers (Fane's Horse).
20th Deccan Horse.
21st Prince Albert Victor's Own Cavalry (Frontier Force) (Daly's Horse).
22nd Sam Browne's Cavalry (Frontier Force).
23rd Cavalry (Frontier Force).
25th Cavalry (Frontier Force).
29th Lancers (Deccan Horse).
30th Lancers (Gordon's Horse).
31st Duke of Connaught's Own Lancers.
32nd Lancers.
33rd Queen Victoria's Own Light Cavalry.
36th Jacob's Horse.
37th Lancers (Baluch Horse).
38th King George's Own Central India Horse.
39th King George's Own Central India Horse.
Infantry
The following regiments are composed exclusively of Sikhs:—