The reductions which took place in 1828 by this time began to tell, as the supernumeraries were absorbed; and to provide even a small number of officers for the foot artillery, the subalterns of the horse artillery were reduced to two per troop; a very inadequate number when the Indian contingencies are borne in mind.
For many years the officers of the Bengal army had been accustomed to procure the retirement of their seniors by the donation of a sum of money, varying in amount according to the value of the step and the abilities of the donors. The custom, it is true, was contrary to the orders of the Court of Directors, but they were aware of and permitted it. In the artillery the same custom prevailed; and this year it was systematized by the establishment of a fund by monthly contributions from all captains and subalterns to provide for two retirements annually. Its advantages have been most apparent in its working, and the principle of a mutual insurance tontine, on which it was formed, has rendered it more effective even than was expected. The other branches of the army were not successful in establishing funds of the sort; but the question being much agitated, led to a memorial, from Lieutenant-Colonel Powel, of the Bombay army, to the Court of Directors, praying that the system might be put a stop to, on the plea of its interfering with the seniority system of the Company’s army. It was met by several counter-memorials, and, on replying to the whole together, the Court gave the proceedings their sanction, by declaring that, although they would not cancel the orders forbidding purchase, they would hold them in abeyance, unless there appeared such a probability of the pension-list being overloaded, that their interference would be necessary, and that of this, due warning should be given.
These years passed off without any portion of the army being called on to take the field, if we except a slight émeute among the Bheels in the neighbourhood of Mhow, in 1837, to check which, a small body of troops with two horse artillery guns, from the 2nd troop 3rd brigade, under Lieutenant Kinleside, were detached; but towards the end of the next, a storm appeared to be gathering in the north-west. The Persians besieged Heerat, and were only foiled in their attempt by the steady persevering gallantry and resources of Lieutenant Eldred Pottinger, of the Bombay Artillery, who, throwing himself into the fortress, inspired its defenders with a portion of his own dauntless spirit. Persia was supposed to be egged on by Russian intrigue, and India to be its ultimate object. Self-defence called upon the Indian Government to check these designs, and having vainly endeavoured by negotiation to render Affghanistan under Dost Mahomed a barrier, the Government resolved to espouse the cause of its exiled sovereign, Shah Soojah-ool-Moolk, with the hopes that, when replaced on the throne of his forefathers, he would prove a stanch friend. To carry this plan out, an army was assembled after the rains, at Ferozepore; but information arriving of the Persians, baffled by Pottinger’s cool resolution, having decamped from before Heerat, the plan of the campaign was altered. In fact, our end was gained; and had it not been for the very unnecessary connection with Shah Soojah as a reason for our interference, and which would have stood better on the simple plea of self-preservation, not a soldier need have moved from Ferozepore. But before entering on the eventful campaigns which followed this step, let us glance at events in other parts of India which necessitated the assembly of a force in Bundlecund, though the campaign was a bloodless one.
The Jhansee raj having lapsed through the failure of direct heirs, the widow of a former Raja endeavoured to place, as the adopted son of the previous ruler, a boy on the throne. A disturbance arose, which ended in the murder of the minister supported by the British authority. This act of the Bhaiee was called in question by the Governor-General’s agent; his authority was treated with disrespect, and he found it necessary to call in the aid of a regiment and a couple of guns. At these, the insurgents, who had seized the fort, laughed, and on his attempting a parley with them, attacked and wounded his elephant and chuprassees, and forced him precipitately to retreat. Reinforcements and a battering train were sent for from Sagur; but the country had been so denuded of troops to form the army of the Indus, that, had it not been for the Mhow troops just being relieved from Bombay, a very insufficient force could have been collected. A train of four 18–pounders and four 8–inch mortars, with as much ammunition as carriage could be obtained for, was got ready, and, in the absence of available artillery officers, the commissary of ordnance at Sagur, Lieutenant Buckle, who had offered his services, started in charge of it early in December, and after a march of twelve days, rendered difficult and fatiguing by the badness of the roads, the steep banks and rocky beds of the rivers and nullahs which abounded, and the broken rocky ghats leading from table-land into Bundlecund, reached Jhansee on the 18th December.
The troops collected by degrees, and the artillery, when reinforced from Cawnpoor, amounted to that detailed in the margin.[[86]] The engineer park was placed in the charge of the commissary of ordnance, the field engineer, Major Smith, having joined dak, and the preparation of matériel instantly commenced.
Continual communications passed between the Bhaiee and the agent, which were warlike to the last, and, as she had collected bands of Nagas, resistance was expected; but on the preparations being completed, the force moving down to invest the fort, carrying their train and the stock of gabions and fascines which had been prepared, she fled during the night, and the fort was taken possession of without firing a shot.
The labour of conveying the heavy ordnance over a broken country was the chief difficulty, but this was not much felt, owing to the season of the year.
The army of the Indus assembled at Ferozepore, and a meeting took place between the Governor-General and Runjeet Sing. The news of the Persians breaking up from before Heerat determined Government on sending only one division of the army, accompanied by the troops which were being raised for Shah Soojah, under British officers, into Affghanistan. The artillery for the Shah’s service consisted originally of two troops of horse artillery, to which were afterwards added a mountain train and some body-guard guns. Captain W. Anderson was intrusted with the formation of the horse artillery, and though but little time was allowed him, and many difficulties arose from the demand for men and horses for the other branches, his exertions succeeded in overcoming them, and he marched in good time from Dehli, with his two troops fully equipped, but, of course, untrained. His endeavours were well seconded by his two subalterns, Lieutenants Cooper and Turner. The Shah’s guns were in Lieutenant Warburton’s charge, and the mountain train was organized by Captain Backhouse, but not until 1840.
The regular artillery, with this division from Bengal, consisted of
| Major Pew, commanding; Captain Day, commissary of ordnance; Lieutenant Backhouse, M.B. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Company. | Brigade. | Battalion. | Captains. | Lieutenants. |
| 2 | 2 | Grant | Duncan, J. Anderson. | |
| 4 | 3 | Timmings | Mackenzie, Hawkins, E. Kaye. | |
| 2 | 6[[87]] | A. Abbott | Dawes, R. Shakespear, Warburton. | |
| 4 | 2 | Garbett | J. Abbott, Walker, Green. | |