A history of the Sikhs, from the origin of the nation to the battles of the Sutlej.

172

HISTORY OF THE SIKHS

CHAP. VI

1822. their artillery, than to that dauntless courage and firm
The array which have enabled the humble footmen to win most
importance of those distant victories which add glory to the English
given to name. Nevertheless it has always been the object of rival
artillery by
theIndians, powers to obtain a numerous artillery; the battalions of
a con- De Boigne would never separate themselves from their
sequence of
the victo- cannon, and the presence of that formidable arm is yet,
riesofthe perhaps, essential to the full confidence of the British
English. Sepoy.
Sepoy.X
Ranjit
Singh Ranjit Singh said that, in 1805, he went to see the order
labours to of Lord Lake's army,2 and it is known that in 1809 he
introduce
discipline; admired and praised the discipline of Mr. Metcalfe's small
escort, which repulsed the sudden onset of a body of enraged Akalis.3 He began, after that period, to give his
attention to the formation of regular infantry, and in 1812
Sir David Ochterlony saw two regiments of Sikhs, besides
several of Hindustanis, drilled by men who had resigned or
1 This feeling is well known to all who have had any experience of
Indian troops. A gunner is a prouder man than a musketeer: when
battalions are mutinous, they will not allow strangers to approach
their guns, and the best-dispositioned regiments will scarcely leave
them in the rear to go into action unencumbered, an instance of which
happened in Perron's warfare with George Thomas. (Major Smith,
Regular Corps in Indian Employ, p. 24.)
The ranks of the British Army are indeed filled with Rajputs and
Pathans so called, and also with Brahmans; but nearly all are from
the provinces of the Upper Ganges, the inhabitants of which have
become greatly modified in character by complete conquest and
mixture with strangers; and, while they retain some of the distinguishing marks of their races, they are, as soldiers, the merest mercenaries, and do not possess the ardent and restless feeling, or that
spirit of clanship, which characterize the more genuine descendants
of Kshattriyas and Afghans. The remarks in the text thus refer
especially to the Pathans of Rohilkhand and Hariana and similar
scattered colonies, and to the yeomanry and little proprietors of
Rajputana. [Much of this is of course incorrect and refers to the
pre-Mutiny conditions of the Army. With the exception of a few
mountain batteries the artillery is now entirely in the hands of
British troops. The Brahman element in the Army has also been
greatly reduced. At the present time 63 per cent. of the efficient
fighting forces of the Indian Army came from the Punjab.-ED.]
2 Moorcroft, Travels, i. 102. [The fact of this visit having been
made is also borne out by a passage in the Diary of L. Sohan Lal.
The latter was Court Vakil to Ranjit Singh.-ED.]
3 Murray, Ranjtt Singh, p. 68.