[PART III]
THE TWENTY-THIRD, AFTERWARDS THE NINETEENTH LIGHT DRAGOONS
(1781–1822)
CHAPTER I.—1781–1782.
THE TWENTY-THIRD LIGHT DRAGOONS.
Alarming state of Public Affairs—Want of Cavalry in India—Orders for raising the 23rd Light Dragoons—Colonel Sir John Burgoyne—Regiment embark for India—Arrive in Madras—Desperate State of Affairs—Madras Misgovernment—Horses for the Regiment.
Alarming as was the state of our affairs in 1779, it was much worse in 1781. In January, a rupture occurred with Holland, so that Great Britain found herself simultaneously at war with France, Spain and Holland, while engaged at the same time with her revolted Colonies in America. The navy was overtaxed and inadequate to the demands made on it, and the command of the sea had passed into the hands of our enemies. Gibraltar had been besieged since July 1779, the 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.