On the 14th of January, scouts brought word of the approach of the English.  The Emperor consulted Law, who advised a retreat, but he was not deficient in courage, and determined to fight.  The next day was fought the battle of Suan.[115]

“At the dawn of day we heard that the enemy were on the march, and that they would quickly appear.  No disposition of our army had yet been made by Kamgar Khan, who, in fact, troubled himself very little about the matter.  It was at first decided to re-enter the camp, so I put my men as much as possible under shelter behind a bank, along which I placed my guns in what I thought the most useful positions.  About 6 or 7 o’clock the enemy were seen advancing in good order, crossing a canal[116] full of mud and water, the passage of which might have been easily contested had we been ready soon enough; but everything was neglected.  For some time we thought the enemy were going to encamp by the canal, but, seeing that they were still advancing, the order was given to go and meet them.  The whole army was quickly out of the camp, divided into several bodies of cavalry, at the head of which were, on their elephants, the Emperor, the Generalissimo Kamgar Khan, and other principal chiefs.  Scarcely were we out of the camp when we were halted to await the enemy, everything in the greatest confusion; one could see no distinction between right, left, and centre, nothing that had the appearance of an army intending to attack or even to defend itself.

“An aide-de-camp brought me an order to march ahead with all my troop, and to place myself in a position which he pointed out, a good cannon-shot away.  Abandoned to ourselves we should have been exposed to all the fire of the English, artillery and even to be outflanked by the enemy and captured at the first attack.  We advanced a few paces in obedience to the order, but, seeing no one move to support us, I suspected they wanted to get rid of us.  I therefore brought back my men to where I had first placed them, on a line about 200 paces in front of the army.

“The enemy advanced steadily.  The English at their head with all their artillery were already within range of our guns.  They quickly placed their pieces in two batteries to the right and left, and kept up a very lively cross fire.  In a very short time, having killed many men, elephants, and horses—­amongst others one of mine—­they caused the whole of the Prince’s army to turn tail.  Kamgar Khan, at their head, fled as fast as he could, without leaving a single person to support us.  The enemy’s fire, opposed to which ours was but feeble, continued steadily.  We were forced to retire, and did so in good order, having had some soldiers and sepoys killed and one gun dismounted, which we left on the field of battle.  We regained the village, which sheltered us for a time.  The enemy started in pursuit.  Unluckily, as we issued from the village, our guns traversing a hollow