diate frontier;—common prudence demands that we should look carefully to our means for meeting the threatened storm and adopt every necessary precaution to encounter all probable contingencies.

The condition of our Military establishment is the chief and most immediate point that calls for minute and careful investigation. This should be conducted in a spirit of firmness and prudence, equally removed from the reckless extravagance of a newly-created alarm, or the more objectionable parsimony of an over-weening security.

A general consideration of the various details connected with this most important subject, would far exceed the limits of a Review article or the scope of a single pen. We therefore purpose confining ourselves, for the present, to an investigation of the actual condition and requirements of one single arm, that of the Artillery; an arm which the rapid progress of mechanical science, and the modern improvements in the art of war are daily bringing into a position of greater prominence all over the civilized world. Of the importance attached to the efficient condition of this arm in our own country, we have recently seen a remarkable instance, in the fact, that while the general question of National defence was left open to public discussion, Government promptly adopted the first precaution of making a large increase to the establishment of the Royal Regiment of Artillery.

We are not sufficiently acquainted with the subordinate details of the Ordnance Corps at Madras and Bombay, to admit of our taking up the subject of the whole Indian Artillery, and are consequently compelled to limit our remarks to the condition of that arm in Bengal alone; but as the general system and organization of the three Corps are very similar, as their proportionate strength and composition closely correspond, as their acknowledged merits and defects are nearly alike, and their relative positions with regard to the other branches of the service, are influenced by the same regulations and circumstances, the arguments and obscrvations that bear upon the one, will be found generally applicable to the other two.

In entering upon this undertaking, to the difficulties of which we are fully alive, we have but one object in view,—the consciencious desire to represent the true condition of the service in its various bearings, to excite the attention of all concerned towards evident defects, and by temperate and unbiassed investigation to trace the root of such evils, and suggest the most advantageous means of remedy. We have no desire to magnify merits or to carp at deficiencies; we would, nothing extenuate nor set down aught in malice." We have no interests of our own to

further and none of others to subserve, neither have we any pet theories to foster and support. Thus free from the trammels of partizan influence or prejudice, we enter upon the task we have placed before us, if not with confidence, at least with some hope that our intentions may be appreciated and our labour not altogether unproductive of good results.

A history of the rise and progress of the several Ordnance Corps in India, is a great desideratum, but one which, as regards Bengal at least, we hope ere long to see supplied. The advantages possessed by Europeans over the natives of India in practical science and the mechanical arts, even in the earliest days of their mutual connection, naturally led to the employment of Artillery by the Portuguese, the first European conquerors and settlers in Hindustan; and from that date down to the present time, a white face and foreign tongue have passed in Native Armies as valid diplomas of efficiency in all the mysteries of “the great arte of Artillerie," and "the shooting of great Ordinance," as the early writers quaintly expressed themselves. The English, when at length admitted to a participation in the benefits of Indian commerce and adventure, did not neglect the advantages to be obtained by the possession of cannon, and of a few Gunners to serve them; though the former were probably confined to heavy ship and garrison pieces, and intended merely for defence, and the Gunners either formed a portion of the ordinary guards or were taken on emergency from the shipping, which, even for many years subsequent, was the source whence the personnel of the Indian Artillery was mainly obtained. In Bengal, although the first settlements of the English East India Company professed to be purely mercantile, we find that almost from their commencement, a few Artillerymen formed a portion of the guard maintained for the protection of the Factories. As early as 1664 it is recorded. that Shaistah Khan, the Subadar of Bengal, applied to the British Factory at Hugly for the aid of a party of European Gunners, in a war he was then waging against the King of Arracan; and though at first denied, he appears to have gained his object, by the effectual threat of putting a stop to the English traffic in saltpetre. About twenty years after this, when the Company, galled by the avarice and oppression of the various Native rulers and functionaries in Bengal, had determined on the adoption of a bolder policy and the establishment of a strong military position at Chittagong, no less than 200 pieces of Ordnance were sent out in the fleet commanded by Admiral Nicholson, for the defence of the military works; and as six Companies of Infantry were sent out at the same time, there

can be little doubt that some provision was also made for the service of such a considerable amount of Artillery. Whatever addition, if any, was made to that branch, it subsequently shared in the general reduction of the military establishment that was enforced on the re-admission of the English into Bengal, and the settlement of Job Charnock at Calcutta in 1690.

From this period, it appears, from the occasional mention made of them in still-existing records, that "the Gunner and his Crew," or "the Gun-room Crew," as the Artillery detail was designated, continued gradually to increase, though still on a very limited scale, until the year 1748, (exactly a century ago,) when consequent on orders from the Court of Directors, the designation of "Gun-room Crew" was abolished and a regular Company of Artillery was organized at each of the three Presidencies. These Companies consisted each of one Second Captain in actual command, one Captain Lieutenant and Director of the Laboratory, (the Ordnance Commissary of that day,) one First Lieutenant Fireworker, one Second Lieutenant Fireworker, one Ensign Fireworker, four Sergeant Bombardiers, four Corporal Bombardiers, two Drummers, and 100 Gunners. That able Artillerist, Mr. Benjamin Robins, was nominated Captain of each Company, with the rank of Engineer General and Commander-in-Chief of Artillery

in India.

The bigoted jealousy of the time and the absurd mystery observed in the Laboratory, afford a marked contrast to the more wise and liberal spirit that now prevails. Not only were Roman Catholics excluded from the Company, but also Protestants married to Catholics; it was moreover, ordered that any Officer or Soldier in the Company who should marry a Catholic, or whose wife should become a convert to that religion, should be transferred to the Infantry. The Court further directed that " no foreigner whether in our service or not, (except such as hath been admitted into it by the Court of Directors) nor no Indian black, or persons of a mixed breed, nor any Roman Catholic of what nation soever, shall on any pretence be admitted to set foot in our Laboratories or any of the Military Magazines, either out of curiosity or to be employed in them, or to come near them, so as to see what is doing or contained therein; nor shall any such persons have a copy or sight of any accounts or papers relating to any Military stores whatever."

.

6

Such regulations would be somewhat inconvenient in the present day, when so large a proportion of the men are Irish Roman Catholics, and the chief Laboratory duties are performed by Indian blacks." It should be noticed that five years

previous to this order, the introduction of Lascars as assistants to the Artillery, had taken place and received the sanction of the Court of Directors.

was

Notwithstanding these arrangements for placing this branch of the force upon a proper and efficient footing, we find that partly from an unwise feeling of security and partly from a spirit of false economy, (the two great and constant obstacles to all military efficiency,) the authorised establishment gradually diminished and the Ordnance material so much neglected, as to call forth a strong remonstrance from Captain Jasper Leigh Jones, commanding the Company in 1755. But it was in the following year that the full evil of this neglect and inefficiency was made practically and painfully manifest, on the commencement of hostilitics by the Nawab Súraj-úDowlah. On the investment of Calcutta by that Chief, the strength of the Artillery Company, exclusive of the details detached at the outposts, was only forty-five of all ranks. The defences were in bad condition, the ammunition and stores insufficient and of inferior quality, Ordnance that had been sent out from England, was lying useless and dismounted outside the Fort, other guns were mounted where they could not be fired, and above all, the powder was damaged. The Company was commanded by Captain Lieutenant Witherington, whose conduct appears to justify the description given of him by Mr. Holwell," a laborious active officer, but confused, who would have few objections to his character, diligence, or conduct, had he been fortunate in having any Commander-in-Chief to have had a proper eye over him and to take care that he 'did his duty.'

k

Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the Artillery performed their part manfully during the siege, but their exertions were unavailing, and the greater portion either fell during the operations, or perished with their Officers in the Black Hole.ˆ A small remnant escaped to Fultah, with the other Europeans, where they were reinforced by the details from the outposts, by volunteers from the shipping and fugitive inhabitants, as also by a few Gunners that had arrived from Madras with Major Kirkpatrick; some of the Civilians volunteered their services as Officers, amongst whom was Mr. John Johnstone, who afterwards rendered himself remarkable by his opposition in Council to Vansittart and Clive.

In December following, Colonel Clive arrived with a force from Madras, including eighty Artillery under the command of Lieutenant Jennings, who immediately assumed charge of the whole of that arm, which was actively engaged in the subse

quent operations for the recapture of Calcutta and the defeat of the Nawab on the 4th February 1757.

In March a detachment of Royal Artillery arrived from Bombay under the command of Captain Robert Barker, on whom as the senior Officer, the command of the whole Artillery then devolved; which command he exercised at the capture of Chandernagore. Shortly afterwards, he was ordered to Madras to assume the command of the Artillery at that Presidency, when Lieutenant Jennings with the rank of Captain Lieutenant, reassumed the charge of the details in Bengal. He commanded this arm at the battle of Plassey, the brunt of which action fell upon the Artillery, who had ten field pieces to a force of about 3,000 men, or one gun to every 300 firelocks. After the action, a couple of field pieces accompanied the detachment under Major Eyre Coote, which proceeded as far as Chupprah, in pursuit of the French force under Monsieur Law. The greater portion of the Artillery accompanied Colonel Clive in the beginning of 1758 to Patna, where a small party, with two guns, appears to have been left when the force returned to the Presidency. In June the various details were all incorporated by Lord Clive into one Company and permanently attached to the Bengal Presidency, when Jennings was promoted to the rank of Captain. In September of that year they were subdivided into two Companies; the command of the first, with the general controul of the whole Artillery, appears to have been vested in Captain Jennings, and the command of the other Company was conferred on Captain John Broadbridge, who was promoted on the occasion, and who appears to have belonged to the Royal Artillery detail which came round from Bombay. This Officer with his command, accompanied Colonel Ford's expedition to the Northern Circars, where the Company greatly distinguished itself, especially in the battle of Condore and the siege of Masulipatam. A Battery or Field train, as it was then termed, of six 6-pounders and one field Howitzer, was attached, together with eleven siege pieces of sorts.

The Company left at the Presidency, had an opportunity of performing equally good service during the Dutch invasion in 1759, and mainly contributed to the brilliant and important victory at Bedarrah on the 25th November of that year.

In the beginning of the year 1760, the detail left at Patna was nearly annihilated in an action with the forces of the Emperor Shah Allum, which took place close to that city. The Second Company having returned, nearly the whole of this arm was actively employed in the subsequent operations under Major Calliand, Captain Knox and Major Carnac.

On the breaking out of hostilities with Mír Kassim Khan in