J. Biddulph

“ Almost at the same moment, a body of Scindia’s cavalry charged the British left, and were repulsed with loss, while the 19th and the five native regiments on the right charged the cavalry in front of them. The Mahrattas did not stand the shock, but broke and fled, and at once the whole of the enemy’s force was dissolved in flight. The cavalry pursued for many miles, killing great numbers, and capturing many elephants and camels, and much baggage. Thirty-eight guns and many standards fell into the hands of the victors. ”

“ Outside British territory was universal confusion and anarchy, in which any man possessed of a bold heart and a discerning brain might hope to carve out a Kingdom for himself, whatever his faith or nationality. Any Chief whose service promised plenty of plunder could command a following, which in a few months of successful enterprize might swell to the dimensions of an army. But Dhoondia had neither the talents nor the opportunity to become more than a brigand on an unusually large scale. ”

“ As the Kingsfisher came opposite the fort, a shot was fired at her. The signal was made to engage, and as each ship reached its station it came to an anchor, the inner line being within musket-shot of the fort. Across the mouth of the river, Toolajee's grabs were drawn up, among them being the Restoration, the capture of which, six years before, had caused so much heart-burning in Bombay. As the heavy shot and shell came pouring in from over one hundred and fifty guns at close range, the Gheriah defenders manfully strove to repay the same with interest. ”

“ The campaign that ensued was remarkable, not only for its complete success, but for the extended nature of the operations carried on simultaneously by a number of bodies of troops, acting to a great extent in complete independence of each other, after the signal for hostilities had been given. No better lesson in the art of war could be studied than in the dispositions made by the Marquis of Wellesley to bring matters to a successful issue, when the maintenance of peace was no longer possible. ”

“ At the time of its arrival, the very existence of the British settlements in Southern India hung by a thread. England had then been at war with France, and the two countries were still at war. But the conditions were changed. Now the French flag had disappeared from India, and not a single native power dared meet a British army in the field, without risking its own existence. From a trading corporation the East India Company had grown into a great and powerful government, whose supremacy in India was unchallenged. In achieving this result, the 19th Light Dragoons had played no small part. ”

“ One great Misfortune that attends us European Travellers in India is, the Want of Knowledge of their Languages, and they being so numerous, that one intire Century would be too short a Time to learn them all: I could not find one in Ten thousand that could speak intelligible English, tho' along the Sea coast the Portuguese have left a Vestige of their Language, tho' much corrupted, yet it is the Language that most Europeans learn first, to qualify them for a general Converse with one another, as well as with the different Inhabitants of India. ”

“ All soldiers know how an able commander can impress his character on a regiment, to endure long after his connexion with it has ceased. Such was the case with the regiment that gathered laurels as the 19th Light Dragoons, and no small part of its glory was due to its first Lieutenant Colonel, John Floyd. The correctness of his views as to the great part cavalry might play, and the excellence of his system, were demonstrated on many a field in which the regiment fought during its career in India. ”

“ Gunner Ince exerted himself like a man, animating everybody by his example. By his exertions, seven hundred bags of rice, with salt fish for a month, and the Company's treasure were got in from the warehouse, and an urgent appeal was sent to Calicut. The surgeon had been killed with Gyfford; they had no smith or carpenter or tools, except a few hatchets, and the Attinga people swarming into Anjengo burned and plundered the settlement, forcing a crowd of women and children to take refuge in the small fort. ”

“ In the many wars in which the British army has fought, it would be hard to find a parallel instance in which British troops have been so mishandled. The co-operation of the fleet was unnecessary, as the enemy’s squadron could not have maintained its position with the whole of Plattsburgh in British hands. Nine thousand of Wellington’s veterans, who had defeated Napoleon’s choicest troops again and again, were made to retreat from an inferior force that could not have withstood them for an hour, with a loss of less than 40 killed since they had crossed the frontier. ”

“ In order to strengthen themselves against the Dutch, the Portuguese had ceded Bombay to the English, and then, by their bad faith in retaining Salsette and Thana, they had opened a sore that never was healed. By espousing the quarrel of Mannajee they had earned the enmity of Sumbhajee; and by joining in Sumbhajee's quarrel against Mannajee they had brought down on themselves the formidable power of the Peishwa. Before long, Sumbhajee turned against them again, and they were left without a single ally to struggle as they could. ”

“ From the period of the arrival of his majesty’s 19th dragoons in India, in the year 1782, until the present time, that regiment has shared in almost every action of difficulty and of glory, in which the British arms have been engaged during that long and eventful interval, and has deservedly established a degree of reputation seldom equalled, never surpassed. ”

“ If at the end of twenty-five years or so a Company's servant could return to England with a few thousands made by private trade, he was a fortunate man. Private traders and a few of the governors were alone able to make fortunes. The shaking of the pagoda tree did not begin till after Plassey. The result was that the men who went to India were of a totally different class from those who went to America and the West Indies; they were young men from small trading families in London, Greenwich, and Deptford, or from seaport towns like Bristol and Plymouth. ”

“ The news of Every's great booty had spread from port to port, and every restless spirit was intent on seeking his fortune in this new Eldorado, as men nowadays flock to a new goldfield. The Company's sailors were not proof against the temptation. While on the way from Bombay to China the crew of the Mocha frigate mutinied, off the coast of Acheen, killed their captain, Edgecombe, and set afloat in the pinnace twenty-seven officers and men who refused to join them. The Mocha was then renamed the Defence, and for the next three years did an infinity of damage in the Indian Ocean. ”

“ Their presence in India was an important factor in the politics of the day. Every Chief, however unimportant he might be, had Europeans to lead his troops. The first Chief in India to thoroughly recognize the importance of European organization and discipline had been Hyder Ali of Mysore. But his efforts had been directed rather to forming complete Corps of European Artillery, Cavalry, and Infantry, which never exceeded a few hundreds in number. He also had many Europeans as leaders of his native troops, but little was done by him to discipline native troops on the European model. ”

“ It is difficult to realize, in these days, what a terrible scourge piracy was to the Indian trade, two hundred years ago. From the moment of losing sight of the Lizard till the day of casting anchor in the port of destination an East India ship was never safe from attack, with the chance of slavery or a cruel death to crew and passengers, in case of capture. From Finisterre to Cape Verd the Moorish pirates made the seas unsafe, sometimes venturing into the mouth of the Channel to make a capture. ”

“ The war was one to be fought out by small bodies of men far from their supports, wielding the axe and the oar as much as the rifle: forage was hard to get, and there was little place for mounted men. Under these conditions, the 19th Light Dragoons were only engaged in small detachments, never more than a squadron, seldom more than a troop. Their duties were of a most harassing kind, on outpost and reconnoissance duty. Never once did they have an opportunity of crossing swords with the enemy’s cavalry. ”

“ Of the European pirates Kidd, the most ignoble of them all, is alone remembered, while the name of Angria is only recalled in connection with the destruction of Gheriah by Watson and Clive. The long half-century of amateur warfare waged by Bombay against the Angrian power is dismissed in a few words by our Indian historians, and the expeditions sent forth by Boone against Angrian strongholds are passed over in silence. ”

“ No wonder that the enemy first took the retreat for a ruse de guerre, and that a British General broke his sword, vowing he would never serve again. In the whole of the operations against Plattsburgh, the land forces under Prevost’s immediate command suffered a total loss of 37 killed, 150 wounded and 55 missing. In their anger at the fiasco, an immense number of men deserted during the retreat, causing a greater loss than a successful prosecution of the enterprise could possibly have entailed. The 19th Light Dragoons while covering the retirement, lost five men and horses taken prisoners. ”

“ In America, things had gone from bad to worse. On 19th October [20] 1781, Cornwallis was forced to capitulate at Yorktown with the whole of his army, a disaster which practically brought the war in America to a close, though it lingered on for nearly a year and a half longer. In India, affairs were nearly as bad. The three most important of the native powers at that time were Hyder Ali of Mysore, the Mahrattas, and the Nizam of Hyderabad, and matters had so turned out that we were at war with them all three. ”

“ It was expedient to take themselves elsewhere: so sail was made for Mauritius. Against Macrae their curses were loud and deep. A villain they had treated so well as to give him a ship and other presents, and now to be in arms against them! No fate was bad enough for such a man. They had been cruelly deceived. To appease their wrath they turned upon England. But for his foolish championship of Macrae, this would not have happened. Taylor had been right all along. They would only follow him in future. ”

“ The same evening, Colonel Stevenson came up with the remains of the retreating enemy near Deodroog, and entirely dispersed them, capturing their remaining guns, baggage and cattle.
The episode of Dhoondia Wao is an instance of the danger likely to arise out of the overthrow of a military government, when a large number of disbanded men are suddenly thrown out of employ without means of subsistence. It was the overthrow of Tippoo’s kingdom and the dispersal of his large army that enabled Dhoondia to gather together so formidable a force. ”

“ The strangeness of the merchants' hostility is hardly apparent, but it is not too much to say that Itimad Khan's friendly behaviour alone saved English trade from extinction. The Dutch, always hostile in the East, whatever might be the relations between Holland and England in Europe, strove to improve the occasion by fomenting popular excitement, and tried to get the English permanently excluded from the Indian trade. ”