The Nineteenth and Their Times. J. Biddulph
siege continuing till February 1783, the only assistance that could be given being in the shape of stores and reinforcements at uncertain intervals. In America, things had gone from bad to worse. On 19th October 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. On the outbreak of war between England and France, the French settlements quickly fell into our hands. Hyder Ali was much under French influence, and the fall of the French Settlement at Mahé, which was detrimental to his interests, aroused his resentment. He was an able soldier and administrator, and his army was, at that time, the best organised among the native powers. Collecting his forces, he fell like an avalanche on the Carnatic which he desolated. Some troops sent against him, under Colonel Baillie, were literally annihilated; another force, under Sir Hector Munro, was obliged to retreat, so that at the end of 1780, the Company’s authority in the South of India extended little beyond the precincts of the town of Madras. Reinforcements were sent from Bengal under Sir Eyre Coote. The results of the campaign of 1781 were, however, indecisive, in spite of a victory gained by Sir Eyre Coote, at Porto Novo (1st July), and some minor successes. It was estimated that one-third of the British forces were lost in the campaign. In Western India, the Bombay Government had engaged in hostilities against the Mahrattas, and met with disaster. On the coast a powerful French fleet had appeared under Suffren, one of the ablest seamen France ever produced. The European forces of the East India Company were at that time in a miserable state. Public recruiting in England was forbidden, and the ranks were filled with the refuse of society. Felons with fetters on them were shipped as soldiers; foreigners and adventurers of all ranks were received; many of whom only wanted a passage to India, in order that they might desert, as soon as possible, after they landed in the country; invalids, vagrants, and men under the proper size for military service. The whole were “in a most wretched condition, almost indeed without subordination.” The only reliable European troops in the country were the King’s troops, and the Company’s Artillery into which the best of their recruits were drafted. Lord Cornwallis, writing six years later of some troops he had recently inspected, says:
“What shall I say of the Company’s Europeans? I did not think Britain could have furnished such a set of wretched objects—I would infinitely rather take the 73rd regiment upon service with me, than the whole six Company’s battalions—Indeed I have great doubts whether by drafting the whole six, I could complete one serviceable battalion to the present establishment.”
It is only by appreciating the condition and circumstances of our military services in India at this time, and the jealousy existing in the highest quarters in England of the exercise of the authority of a Government by the East India Company, that the almost independent position held by the King’s troops in India can be understood. The chief want was in Cavalry, and it is a proof of the ill-judged parsimony or poverty of the Company that, in a country so well adapted for that arm, where the cavalry of the enemy were counted by tens of thousands, they should have failed, till the time treated of, to produce an efficient mounted Corps. M. le Maitre de la Tour, a French officer in the service of Hyder Ali, writing about the events then occurring, says:
“… The English have never yet succeeded in the attempt to form a good troop of European horse in India. As they have sent a regiment of dragoons[3] from England, it is probable that their arrival may place the affair on another footing. Though it may not immediately be conceived, the reason of the want of success in forming their intended troop of horse, consisted in the good discipline to which they were desirous of subjecting them.
“The excellence of the English cavalry is sufficiently acknowledged in Europe: and its advantages consist less in the goodness of the horse, than in the choice of the horsemen. The pay of a horseman in England is such as renders his situation very eligible; so that the sons of rich farmers and tradesmen are very desirous of entering into the service. This being the case, it is in the power of the officers to select handsome well-formed men of good character, and to keep them in good discipline merely by the fear of being dismissed. The officers who were first entrusted with the formation of a body of cavalry in India, thought to establish and preserve the same discipline among them, without attending to the great difference of time, place, and persons. The recruits sent from England to India are in general libertines, and people of bad character: and, as the Company will not dismiss a soldier, all the punishment inflicted on a horseman is, to reduce him to serve in the infantry; so that a man is no sooner put among the cavalry, than he is sent back to his former station. The French have succeeded in forming very good cavalry in India, by attending more to their horsemanship, and less to their discipline and manners.”
Hyder Ali’s cavalry numbered at that time about twenty-five thousand horsemen, among which was a body of French dragoons and hussars. The Company maintained no Cavalry establishment, beyond a small European troop formed, as related by M. le Maitre de la Tour. When at war, they borrowed a few hundreds of horsemen from the Nawab of Arcot, unpaid, undrilled, and undisciplined.
Sir Eyre Coote, the Commander-in-chief in India, was loud in his demands for Cavalry. In his dispatch on his victory at Porto Novo he wrote:
“From the want of a corps of cavalry on our side equal in number to the service required, we were, with victory decidedly declared, obliged to halt just beyond the enemy’s grounds, not being able to take advantage of so distinguished a day; for with a corps of cavalry, the enemy’s guns, stores, &c., would, to a certainty have fallen into our hands.”
Again, after the battle of Arnee, (2nd June 1782) he wrote:
“There was nothing wanting to have enabled me on this occasion to ruin and disperse Hyder’s army, but a respectable body of cavalry. One thing is certain, that had I such a corps we should have captured the greatest part, if not the whole of his cannon.”
Under the urgent demands made on them, the Court of Directors applied to the Crown for the loan of a Cavalry Regiment, and, in accordance with the usual practice at that date, it was determined to raise a Regiment for service in India. On the 24th Sept. 1781, the following Warrant was issued to Colonel Sir John Burgoyne Bart., of the 14th Light Dragoons, a cousin of General Burgoyne who surrendered at Saratoga in 1777.
Warrant for forming a Regiment of (Light) Dragoons under the Command of Colonel Sir John Burgoyne Bart.
1781.
George R.
Whereas We have thought fit to Order a Regiment of Light Dragoons to be forthwith formed under your Command which is to consist of Six Troops with Four Serjeants, Four Corporals, One Trumpeter, One Hautboy, and Fifty four Private Men in each Troop, beside the usual Number of Commissioned Officers; These are to Authorize you by beat of Drum or otherwise to raise so many men in any County or part of Our Kingdom of Great Britain, as shall be wanted to complete the said Regiment, to the Numbers above mentioned. And all Magistrates, &c., Given &c. this 24th day of September 1781, in the Twenty first Year of Our Reign.
By His Majesty’s Command,
C. Jenkinson.
To Our Trusty and Well-beloved Sir John Burgoyne Bart. Colonel of Our 23rd Regiment of (Light) Dragoons, or to the Officer appointed by Him to raise Men, for Our said Regiment.
In the London Gazette, for the same date, the following appointments are made.
23rd Light Dragoons.
Colonel Sir John Burgoyne, Bart. of 14th Dragoons is appointed to be Colonel.
Major John Floyd of 21st Dragoons to be Lieutenant Colonel.
Captain Thomas Nash of 16th Dragoons to be Major.
To be Captains of Troops.
Captain Jonathan Thomas of 15th Dragoons.
Captain Lieutenant Lewis Majendie of 15th Dragoons.
Captain