Reorganization in 1796 of the army—Successive additions to artillery companies—Ceylon—Seringapatam—Introduction of horse artillery—Egypt—Deficiency of artillery—Organization of 1801–2—Composition of the regiment—Foreign service—Sieges of Sarsnee, Bidgygurh, and Cutchwarah.

The supercession which the officers of the Indian army suffered by those of H.M.’s service; the slowness of promotion; the absence of any furlough regulations enabling them from time to time to visit their native country without giving up their profession; the want of a provision on which to retire, together with other disabilities, had engendered much discontent^[36] in the army, and rendered it absolutely necessary that the defects in its constitution should be remedied, lest the whole machine should be rendered unfit for the duties required from it; and with this view, Lord Cornwallis prepared a plan on his voyage to England, and submitted it to the Home Government; previously, however, many representations had been made by the armies of the three presidencies, and they selected from their own officers in England agents to superintend their interests, and urge on H. M.’s ministers and the Court of Directors their claims to be placed on a liberal footing.

Captain Burnett on this occasion represented the Bengal Artillery, and in the Committee combated the views of Lord Cornwallis and Mr. Dundas, of uniting the artillery of the three presidencies into one corps, and then incorporating it with the Royal Artillery.

In the remarks on Lord Cornwallis’s propositions by Sir Henry Crosby (president of the Home Committee), we find that the Bengal Artillery officers declared that “an union of the army of the three presidencies promises no advantage to the service in general, nor any fair one to the respective officers of each presidency in particular: it would but render the officers less acquainted with the language, manners, religion, and customs of the natives of their respective corps (lascars), who, in Bengal and on the coasts of Coromandel and Malabar, are scarce less different from each other than all are from Europeans, and in the adjustment of individual rank would create, perhaps, insurmountable difficulties.

“Every officer now in the Company’s service commenced his career at a particular presidency, and took, as was reasonable and inevitable, his chance of quick or slow promotion, according to the casualties of his own establishment. These casualties of natural death, of actual service, and of increased or diminished establishments, have made such an alteration in the general proportion of promotion, that he who went with General Goddard an old lieutenant to Bombay, would, in the event of an union of the three presidencies, find himself superseded by one whom he left a cadet on that establishment: the Bengal officers therefore could never agree, nor would the liberality of the officers of the other presidencies wish that all should be melted into one mass mutually interchangeable, without first equalizing the rank of the officers of each establishment by a reference to their original appointments as cadets; and the difficulties of such a reference, with its consequent effects, need not be pointed out.

“They have likewise declared that an incorporation with the King’s artillery will be a sacrifice of their dearest interests.” But that in “the event of a general transfer of the Bengal army to the King’s service, the three battalions of artillery on that establishment should be completed, agreeably to seniority, to a full complement of officers of all ranks above that of lieutenant-fireworker, and established to the same number of battalions of artillery, supposing each battalion in the two services to contain the same number of companies, if not in proportion to the number of companies in the King’s service in the time of war; and, being thus completed, that they may be then transferred, and always remain independent; that the officers in the battalions do afterwards rise by regular gradation, as vacancies occur in either battalion, agreeably to the present practice, without being, in either case, subject to removal to other corps, or to exchange with, or supercession from, officers in any other corps whatsoever; and that these three battalions, so transferred, be not relieved from Europe or any other quarter, at this present, or any future time, or in any manner whatsoever, but be stationed in Bengal as heretofore.”

It was also urged that an incorporation of the artillery would tend to augment the mutual discontents, which had so long subsisted between the King’s and Company’s troops in India, in this branch, in proportion as the evil was removed from the other branches of the service; for as the incorporation would certainly be directly contrary to the wishes of all the Company’s artillery officers, so it was believed that those of H.M.’s service would not be less averse to it, seeing that they were to admit strangers to a participation of their rights in return for a very distant and precarious advantage. Each would therefore consider the other as an intruder, jealousies and animosities would be the inevitable consequence of such a contest of opposite interests and inclinations, while the public service could not fail of being deeply injured by the constant operation of such destructive passions.

The contemplated transfer of the artillery (and European infantry) to the King’s army was looked upon as highly prejudicial, not only to the interests of that branch, but to the Company’s army at large, as tending to lower the respectability of the portion left, and on this account was strongly opposed by the whole of the agents from the armies of the three presidencies, and eventually their exertions were successful; the whole army was left with the Directors (perhaps more from the Ministry not being strong enough to carry the point, or sufficiently at leisure to organize the details immediately necessary), its organization was however considerably altered, and the service of the East-India Company materially improved; furlough and retiring rules were introduced, a larger proportion of field-officers given, and a general code of regulations made.

It is only necessary here to notice these as they affected the artillery. The organization detailed at the conclusion of the last chapter took place, and many officers^[37] obtained brevet rank to equalize their ranks with the rest of the army, and a very fair proportion of officers was given to each company; viz. a captain, captain-lieutenant, two lieutenants, and a lieutenant-fireworker. Seventy-four non-commissioned officers and gunners are not sufficient when they are liable to be much detached, and when vacancies cannot be filled by ready-trained men.

The artillery being found numerically insufficient for the duties required from it, in October, 1798, it was increased by an addition of two non-com. officers, two gunners, and^[38] four matrosses per company, and a detail of golundaz of one jemadar, three havildars, three naiks, and forty privates to each of the eleven companies in Bengal (the other four companies were at Ceylon and Madras, and they were added to these early next year); thus adding upwards of nine hundred men. These were raised by selecting the best-qualified men from age, size, and good conduct, from the lascars, and enlisting in general Mahommedans, “under an express stipulation, on oath, previous to their being enrolled,” of “their engaging to embark on board of ship whenever the service shall require their proceeding by sea;” their age was limited from twenty to twenty-eight years, and their height from five feet seven inches to five feet ten inches. The required number was soon raised, and were so well drilled and disciplined by the following February, that the Commander-in-Chief on inspecting them “expressed his pleasure and surprise at the creditable state into which they had been so rapidly brought.”

This admixture of natives with Europeans was injudicious, for although at first sight it might be supposed that the effect would have been the same on the native artilleryman as on the lascar, and that he would have acquired, from constant contact with Europeans, a portion of their hardness of character, and lost his own prejudices, yet it must be remembered that the lascar was looked upon as an inferior grade, and never took an equal part in the duties of the gun as was intended with the native artillerymen, and therefore the European never felt his own credit or safety entrusted to the former, while with the latter both were intimately connected; distrust and jealousy were the result, and the admixture was found to work so ill, that it was soon discarded; it being found that, valuable as native artillerymen are alone, they became worse than useless when mixed with Europeans.

As the opinion of so practical and experienced a man as the late Sir John Horsford on this point will bear considerable weight, we quote it. “The European saw a native made a constituent part of that detail of the posts of the gun, of which he was one; he viewed this native with jealousy, and diffident of his ability (perhaps without reason) to serve the vent, or manage the portfire, he positively refused to stand between the wheels, as either sponge-man or loader, urging, in spite of reasoning on the matter, that ‘it was hard to be blown away by a black fellow.’ The native, on the other hand, perceiving the European hostile to him, and suspicious of mischief, refused in his turn to take the sponge-staff or be server; declaring that he might be ‘blown away by the design or carelessness of the European.’ Discord, recrimination, and hatred were the consequences.

“But this was not all, the ‘component part’ looked around and saw itself a miserable handful of men isolated, and put down in a company composed of men of different language and country, and dissimilar habits and religion, unsupported by number and marked as an inferior body, by having no rank amongst them higher than that of a jemadar. They saw themselves considered as so many shreds and patches on the coat of a European company, and pointed at by the sipahis as a laughing-stock: lastly, that in the eyes of their own officers they were viewed as unprofitable interlopers, who brought no promotion in return for the trouble of disciplining them.”

The regiment at this time (1799) therefore was constituted as below:—

1,380 Europeans, 705 golundaz, and 2,250 lascars, or a total of 4,335.^[39] The infantry of the army at this period amounted to 40,000,^[40] so that the artillery was in the proportion of one to every nine infantry soldiers, a proportion less than that usually considered sufficient in European armies, but considerably greater than has been preserved in the successive changes which have taken place in this regiment, and which we shall remark on as these changes come to be detailed.

In January, 1797, Major-General Duff being expected from England, whose arrival would supersede Colonel Deare in command of the artillery, it was declared this latter officer’s tour for command in the field as colonel of the artillery, and in March (29) General Duff assumed the command of the regiment.

General Duff joined the regiment in September, 1762, and was present at the battle of Buxar, where his conduct elicited the laudatory mention of his name in the Government reply to Major Munro. He does not appear to have been again employed on active service for some years; as a major he was selected to command the battalion of artillery raised for the Nawab of Oude in 1776, and on its reduction he commanded the artillery at Futteygurh. In 1780 he attained his lieutenant-colonelcy, and commanded the regiment during Colonel Pearse’s absence on service in the Carnatic. In 1788, he went to England, and returning in 1791–2, was appointed to command the Bengal Artillery of the army under Lord Cornwallis, in which capacity he was present during the last campaign, and prepared the battering-train against Seringapatam. At the conclusion of the war, he again returned to England, in consequence of the Court of Directors (to whom a reference had been made) refusing to allow him to command a battalion and the brigade of artillery. The refusal may have originated in his rank of colonel, as the promotion, in the place of Lieutenant-Colonel C. R. Deare (killed at Sattimungulum), was delayed until the reply came from home; or from his junior officer Colonel G. Deare having been intermediately appointed. Whatever the cause was, it had ceased to operate in 1797, as he was then appointed to the command. He did not, however, hold it long, for the following month he was appointed to command at the Presidency, and Colonel Hussey succeeded to the regiment.

Major-General Duff was a man of a powerful frame of body; anecdotes of his strength are told to the present day; on one occasion, a leopard sprung suddenly upon him, but seizing the animal by the throat, they rolled over and over, the general never relinquishing his grasp until the animal was fairly powerless, when he was easily put an end to. On another occasion, finding a sentry asleep over the park, he took a 6–pounder^[41] off its carriage and carried it under his arm (doorbien ke mooafik, as an old native officer, at that time his orderly, described it) “like a telescope.”

Major-General Duff returned to Europe in December, 1797—Major-General G. Deare succeeding him in the command at the Presidency, and as the vice-president of the Military Board, in the absence of the Commander-in-Chief; Colonel Hussey, the commandant of artillery, acting in the latter capacity till his arrival.

Colonel Hussey had but a short tenure of the command, for his promotion to major-general being known in India in September, 1798, it was declared in orders, “that Colonel Hussey having attained the rank of major-general, came under the influence of the Minutes of Council, 5 June, 1797,” and “Lieutenant-Colonel C. Green, the senior officer of artillery, under the rank of a general officer,” was ordered to “conduct the regimental duties and details, until further orders.”

The unsettled state of the great Mahratta powers, and the threatening aspect of Zeman Shah, with whom the deposed Nawab of Oude, Vizier Ali, had been corresponding, rendered the assembly of an army of observation necessary to the defence of British India; a considerable force was assembled under Sir James Craig at Anopsheher, with which were five companies of artillery under Lieutenant-Colonel Woodburn; but this force appears to have been very ill equipped with ammunition, a circumstance noticed by Sir J. Craig to Lord Mornington:—“Our proportion of musket ammunition is 120 rounds per man, and that for the small-arms of the cavalry is 40; with this, I certainly would not venture to stir a step from the Ganges, and how we are to gut up more, in the time in which I think it is probable that it may be requisite for us to do so, I know not: I have written in strong terms to the Commander-in-Chief on the subject. For our artillery, we have 300 rounds; but that is, if possible, still less equal to what we ought to have, at least, in a depÔt to which we could have a much more ready access than we have to Chunar or Allahabad. The latter should be our grand depÔt, in which should be lodged a quantity of stores of every species, equal to every possible emergency; while a field-depÔt, fed continually from it, should move successively from post to post as we advance, and be always at hand to renew our deficiencies.”

The unprovided state in which the army in advance had been left, is an instance how ill the machinery of the Military Board had worked. A divided responsibility produced its never-failing result. No one member feeling it his particular duty to provide for the contingencies which might occur, the whole was left to chance, and the nearest magazine, on which the brigades at Cawnpoor and Futteygurh were dependent, was Chunar. Had there been one head to the Ordnance department, this would not have happened. In this instance, from Zeman Shah retiring, no harm occurred, but far from taking warning and being better provided for the future, we shall find that when, in 1805, Lord Lake sat down before Bhurtpoor, there was the same want of equipment, and that time it resulted in our lamentable failure.

While one portion of the regiment was in the field on the northern frontier, another was called on to form part of the army against Tippoo Sultan, whose proceedings had latterly been of so hostile a nature, that self-defence forced the British Government to curb his ambitious and dangerous designs.

The army was collected from all the presidencies. Bengal furnished three battalions of native volunteers and four companies of European artillery, with their lascars (eight companies) attached.^[42] One of these companies (5th company 2nd battalion) was taken from Ceylon; another (3rd company 1st battalion) had been despatched with Lieutenant-Colonel Errskine’s force to Ganjam the preceding year, and thence to Hyderabad; and the two remaining ones, the 1st and 2nd of the 3rd battalion, sailed under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Montague towards the end of the year, and reached Madras in January, 1799.

The army under Lieutenant-General Harris was put in motion on the 3rd February, and entered Mysore on the 5th March. The artillery of the right wing, with which was the battering-train, consisting of four 24–pounders, thirty 18–pounders, eight 12–pounders, two brass 8–inch and eight 5½ mortars, was under Lieutenant-Colonel Montague’s command.

On the 6th March the right brigade, under Colonel Montresor, was attacked at Seedaseer, but Tippoo’s troops were driven off. On the 27th the grand army was attacked at Malavelly, but the loss was trifling, and on the 5th April the army encamped before Seringapatam, on which night and the following day the outposts of the army were engaged, in which action Lieutenant Brooke, of the artillery, was wounded.

Tippoo made no further attempts, but retired within the fort, against which approaches and batteries were commenced and carried on, the S.W. angle being the point selected for attack. Batteries were thrown up on both sides the river; and on the 4th May, the breach being practicable, the place was stormed.

But little personal record is to be found of the part the artillery took in this exploit; that their fire was well directed and kept up, the general orders of the day testify. “The merit of the artillery corps is so strongly expressed by the effects of their fire, that the Commander-in-Chief can only desire Colonel Smith^[43] to assure the officers and men of the excellent corps under his command, that he feels most fully their claim to approbation” are the words; but in the routine of a siege on a large scale, their unremitting duty in the batteries leaves less to record than on many other occasions far less harassing and dangerous. Although their casualties were few, one took place which was deeply regretted: “Lieutenant-Colonel Montague’s arm was shattered near the shoulder on the 2nd May while in the battery, and required immediate amputation; for some days he appeared to be going on in a fair way; a contusion, however, on his chest, occasioned by the same shot, produced mortification, which caused his death on the 10th May. In him the regiment lost an officer of whom they may be deservedly proud. His talents, improved by a regular military education, and his long experience in active service, rendered him invaluable. In the early part of his career, his skill in his profession, his zeal and indefatigable activity, having been displayed on various occasions, he was afterwards selected for every important service. With General Goddard, with Sir Eyre Coote, and at the siege of Cuddalore, he was particularly distinguished, and in the campaigns of Lord Cornwallis he not only confirmed but increased his established reputation. He was called forth on the projected expedition against the Isle of France and Manilla, and finally was chosen to command the Bengal Artillery destined for the glorious enterprise against Seringapatam.”^[44]

Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Montague “was the fourth son of Admiral J. Montague, and brother of the late Captain James Montague, who commanded the ship Montague on the glorious 1st June, in which action he was killed by a cannon-shot while closely engaged with two of the enemy’s ships, the ImpÉtueux of 74, and Le RÉpublicain of 110 guns.

“Being originally designed for the army, he was placed in the academy at Woolwich, from whence he was sent out as a cadet to Bengal in the year 1770. On his arrival in Calcutta, there being a superabundance of officers, he was placed in a separate corps formed for the cadets of that year, and called the Select Picquet. In this situation he attended chiefly to his improvement in military knowledge and discipline, and from the gracefulness of his person, as well as an uncommon activity, he was soon distinguished by a superior skill and address in the performance of all military duties.

“After serving twelve months in this corps, he attached himself to the artillery. While he was a lieutenant-fireworker, by the strict attention he paid to his duty, the interest he took in his profession, and the ardour with which he pursued every branch of it, he greatly improved himself in the knowledge of tactics, and his practice was proportionably advanced by being on several occasions employed on actual service.

“About the year 1781 he was promoted to the command of a company. He was sent to join General Goddard, who was employed to demolish various forts in the Rohilla country, several of which were defended with the most obstinate bravery. In attacking one of them he was wounded by an arrow while attempting to force the gates, which, entering just below the eye, penetrated obliquely through part of the jaw, and almost reached the opposite cheek. Without a moment’s hesitation, he broke the arrow off close to the iron barb, and continued at the head of his corps till the object of the attack was accomplished. The barb remained in his face several days, and was at length extracted with great skill by Dr. Brinch Harwood,^[45] now professor of anatomy in the University of Cambridge. In these active scenes Captain Montague completely established his military character, gained the confidence and recorded approbation of his commanding officer, and greatly advanced the good opinion and regard which General Goddard had already entertained for him.^[46]

“In the year 1782, Captain Montague was called forth to join Sir Eyre Coote on the coast of Coromandel. Captain Montague was in every engagement, and in services where so much real military merit was displayed, it is no common praise to say he was always peculiarly distinguished. He obtained the rank of major, and at Cuddalore, in 1784, he was appointed to command the artillery of one of the wings of the army, and there manifested his superior judgment by taking post on an eminence which produced the greatest advantages, and it was honourably acknowledged by a French officer of rank who was stationed to oppose him. On his return to Bengal, he was employed in Oude until the memorable expedition of the Marquis Cornwallis to Seringapatam. On this important service Major Montague was selected to attack the stupendous fortresses of Nunder-droog and Ramali-droog.

“The chief engineer having reported Nunderdroog to be a fortress of uncommon strength, his lordship ordered Major Montague to proceed with his best train of artillery from Bangalore to join the army encamped about half-way to the place of attack. The expedition with which he performed that duty excited the astonishment, as it called forth the applause, of Lord Cornwallis; and though he was the youngest artillery officer with the army, he was entrusted with the conduct of the artillery employed in the reduction of that important fortress. His skill, courage, and talents were crowned with complete success, and the thanks of the Commander-in-Chief expressed in the strongest terms the sense he entertained of his eminent services. The manner, also, in which he was entrusted with the command of the artillery employed against Severn-droog, manifested the great confidence which the Marquis Cornwallis possessed in his military enthusiasm and professional abilities.^[47]

“In the year 1794, Major Montague was advanced to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was third on the list of the artillery officers when he was chosen to direct the artillery attached to the Bengal army, and which was destined to join General Harris, commander-in-chief, in the late glorious enterprise against Seringapatam, where this gallant and most distinguished officer found his most honourable grave.

“If it is true, as has been asserted, that the commander of the artillery, Colonel Smith, a brave and deserving officer, had, from a long succession of illness, become too infirm to be continually in the trenches, the executive duty must have necessarily devolved upon Lieut.-Colonel Montague, who was next in command. But be that as it may, it is certain that three days previous to the capture of Seringapatam, a cannon-ball shattered his arm, while he was in the trenches, in such a manner as to require immediate amputation, and it was taken off within an inch of the shoulder. In this state, however, such was his zealous, active, and unconquerable spirit, he insisted on being carried into the trenches, where he continued to the last to encourage by his presence the troops, who adored him. During three or four days, it was hoped and believed that he was in a fair way of recovery; but having by the same shot received a contusion in his chest, it turned to a mortification, and carried him off on the eighth day after he had received his wound.

“Thus fell Lieut.-Colonel Edward Montague, in the forty-fifth year of his age, lamented as he was beloved by the whole army; leaving a widow^[48] and three orphans, the youngest of whom was born a fortnight before his glorious but lamentable death. He served the Honourable East-India Company with zeal, fidelity, and superior military talents, during an honourable course of twenty-nine years; had been in more engagements than usually happens even to an active soldier, and had been noticed with the most flattering distinction by every commanding officer under whom he had served. On this last occasion his being only mentioned in the general list of killed and wounded, without a single word of regret or eulogium, causes the mingled emotions of grief and astonishment^[49] in the minds of his afflicted family and friends.

“In private life he was not less distinguished than in his public services. He was benevolent and generous, possessing at the same time the most frank and candid disposition. He was an affectionate husband, a tender father, and a dutiful son. He loved his country with a patriotic ardour, and he died in the contest to extend its dominion and its glory.

“He will live long in the remembrance of all who knew him; and it remains for the nation whom he served so well, and for whom he died too soon, to transmit his name to the times that are to come.” (Asiatic Annual Register, 1800.)