In consequence of the particularly gallant conduct of Serjeant Bernard M‘Cabe, Major-General Sir Henry Smith, in a letter dated 17th February, was pleased to recommend him for a commission, in the following terms:—“This intrepid non-commissioned officer, in the midst of a hand-to-hand conflict with the enemy, planted the colour of Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST regiment upon one of the towers of the enemy’s intrenchments,—one of the most bold and daring acts of a gallant soldier I ever witnessed, and which, I now deliberately consider, tended much to shorten the struggle alluded to. This serjeant is a young man of excellent character, and, if I may be permitted to remind His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief of the promise made me almost in the heat of battle, it is,—‘This Serjeant shall be recommended for a commission.’ I can only add (which is unnecessary to the soldiers’ friend, Sir Hugh Gough) that, if he receives a commission, it will be as gratifying to me as was the gallant conduct I witnessed at the moment the colour-head was shot off, and the flag perforated with balls, as he triumphantly waved it in the air in the very midst of the enemy.”
This highly honorable testimony of the bravery of Serjeant M‘Cabe at the battle of Sobraon, was supported by the strong recommendation of General Lord Gough to His Grace the Commander-in-Chief, and Serjeant Bernard M‘Cabe was appointed by Her Majesty to an ensigncy in the Eighteenth, Royal Irish, regiment of foot, on the 8th of May, 1846.
The details of the campaign on the Sutlej afford abundant proofs of the skill and bravery of the troops: the highest praise is due, and has been rendered by their admiring and grateful countrymen, to the officers and soldiers by whose gallantry four battles were fought, and victories obtained, in sixty days, over an enemy who had most ample means of equipping and supplying his corps with all the matériel of war, and of choosing his own time and opportunity of commencing his perfidious attack.
The army of the Sikhs, at the commencement of this unprovoked aggression, is ascertained to have amounted to 60,000 men, and their artillery to 108 pieces of cannon, some of them being of large calibre.
The Anglo-Indian forces, which had been hastily collected to contend against this immense army, amounted only to about 20,000 men, a great proportion of which had marched one hundred and sixty miles, in order to arrive at the seat of war.
Under the most serious disadvantages, fatigues, and privations, the British troops, with the aid of their faithful allies, the Native corps, nobly contended with their Sikh adversaries, “who, in spite of their exceeding numbers and advantageous positions, were vanquished in every battle.”
In expressing admiration of the heroic conduct of the British troops in this short but decisive war, it is the duty of the nation to acknowledge, with gratitude, the wonderful interference of a Supreme Power, by whose all-wise decree the army of the Sikhs was destroyed and dispersed; and, notwithstanding its numbers, received a complete and signal overthrow, as a just but severe punishment for its faithless conduct and daring violation of every honorable and religious feeling.
When it is considered that with a disparity of force of three to one, independent of artillery, the Sikh army was discomfited, and the enemy was driven back to his capital to seek for safety and peace, the British Nation must be sensible that an over-ruling Power aided their cause, and gave strength where numbers were deficient; and that another signal instance of Divine favour and protection has been added to the numerous claims which demand the nation’s humble acknowledgment and gratitude.
The campaign on the Sutlej having terminated by the destruction of the Sikh army and the capture of the city of Lahore, a treaty of peace was entered into. The Sikh government requested that a force of 10,000 British troops might be left at their capital for the protection of the city and the maintenance of good order: this being complied with, arrangements were made for the return of the British army to the territories of the East India Company.
The glorious news of the Battle of Sobraon was received in London on the 1st of April, and was announced to the British public by a royal salute from the guns of the Tower and in St. James’s Park; and the royal standard was displayed at Buckingham Palace and at the Tower of London. The greatest sensation pervaded all ranks of society: no military event, with the exception of the Battle of Waterloo, excited such wonder and surprise, mingled with joy, that the cloud, which had hung over the fate of the British Empire in India, was completely dissipated by this last splendid and decisive victory, which effected the final overthrow of the power of the Sikhs, the destruction of their army, and the capture of their artillery, on the sanguinary field of Sobraon.