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1829 the 31st Regiment had an effective strength of 1086 all ranks
but in that year the India establishment was reduced to 736 and
consequently no reinforcement drafts arrived from England for
a considerable time. The only notable event during the regiment’s
stay in Meerut was the arrival of new colours to replace those
which had been lost in the Kent. It was, however, involved in
a major state occasion in 1831 after it moved to the Punjab frontier
at Kurnal. It was part of the escort of Lord William Bentinck,
the British Governor-General, who was about to meet the renowned
Sikh ruler, the Maharajah Ranjit Singh.
The Maharajah was at that time at the height of his power. By
birth no more than chief of one of the smaller confederacies of
the Sikhs, he had, during the first twenty years of the century,
formed that turbulent and divided people into a loyal and united
nation under his absolute rule, and he had divorced the Punjab
from its dependency on the Afghan state. He had also, by judicious
employment of European officers, created a formidable army. His
empire lay between the East India Company’s territories
and an Afghanistan which it was thought was becoming increasingly
susceptible to Russian influence. He might be a dangerous enemy
or a valuable ally; and it was to establish friendly relations
with him that the Governor-General had taken the unusual step
of travelling to the frontier to meet him.
The meeting took place at Rupar on the British side of the River
Sutlej. The Maharajah’s escort consisted of 10,000 of his
best cavalry and 6,000 regular infantry who had been trained by
European officers. It greatly outnumbered the British force which
consisted of two squadrons of the 16th Lancers and two of irregular
cavalry, eight guns of horse artillery, the 31st Regiment and
two battalions of Bengal infantry. A bridge of boats had been
placed across the river. The Maharajah crossed the river on the
26th October and the meeting began with great pomp and ceremony.
The occasion was later described by Captain White of the 31st
Regiment. He wrote that “Ranjit Singh himself, in the midst
of his glittering array, seemed impressed with the appearance
made by the British allies. The number of Europeans present, two
King’s corps, the 16th Lancers and the 31st Regiment, being
in the governor’s train appeared to give him both surprise
and pleasure. He regarded the men with evident astonishment, and
remarked to those persons about him, that they were all so fair
and young, they looked like gentlemen, comparing them to the sahibs
of his acquaintance. He expressed himself also highly delighted
with the whole of the troops, and with their movements as they
went through several evolutions after the most approved system
of military tactics; and the review being ended, he ordered a
largesse, consisting of several mule-loads of rupees, to be distributed
among the soldiers. However rapacious the Maharajah may be in
his character of sovereign, upon this occasion he displayed a
truly prince-like liberality, presenting shawls and silk to everybody
who paid their respects to him. He also occasioned several of
the soldiers and camp followers, who had been induced by curiosity
to reconnoitre the precincts of his tented fields, to be called
before him, and dismissed them with handsome presents. He was
much pleased with the equipments of the British soldiers, especially
the lancers; and though it is impossible to say whether ears so
well accustomed to the din and dissonance of native music could
relish the more subdued harmony of our instrumental performers,
he gave a thousand rupees to each of the bands accompanying Lord
William’s escort”.
Captain White then went on to discuss the state of the Sikh army
and the extent of the French influence. He concluded that the
British victory at Bhurtpore (when an immensely strong fortress
occupied by a recalcitrant despot was finally taken by Company
troops on 18th January 1826) had convinced other Indian rulers
that British power was absolute, and was the reason why the outcome
of the Rupar meeting was that Lord Bentinck gained the assurances
of friendship which he had been seeking. He wrote: “The
army of Ranjit Singh has been disciplined under the command of
two French officers of very distinguished merit, who have introduced
the tactics and system of their own nation, and, in consequence,
the legion of cavalry, and the regular infantry, are said to be
in a high state of efficiency. Besides these troops, the Ghora
Churrahs of the bodyguard are, perhaps, the most effective regulars
in India; their men are all Sikhs of good family, and receive
liberal pay; they are splendidly equipped, their arms, consisting
of swords and matchlocks, being mounted in silver. There is also
a ghoorka battalion, and about four thousand irregular cavalry
attached to the army. The artillery consists of sixty pieces of
horse and a hundred and twenty heavy guns... The troopers of his
elite bodyguard are all tried shots, and at eighty yards very
seldom fail to hit a small brass pot with a matchlock. Ranjit
Singh does not place implicit confidence in his European officers,
keeping a watchful eye over them, and not infrequently displaying
marks of distrust. The ukhbars, or native newspapers of the Upper
Provinces, are continually reporting misunderstandings said to
have occurred between him and these gentlemen, and some authorities
state that French influence is on the decline at Lahore, though
others, again, lamenting over the prevalence of European opinions,
say that Ranjit Singh, instead of being independent, is controlled
by his own general, M.Allard. In fact, the fall of Bhurtpore has
impressed the native mind with a belief that nothing can now withstand
the British power - a conviction much strengthened by the courtesies
shewn at Rupar by Ranjit Singh to the Company’s Governor-General,
which seemed to give an assurance that, notwithstanding the strength
of his position, and the state of his army, he would do nothing
to oppose the universal rule”.
Among the European officers was an Italian, Paola de Avitabile.
The 31st were to meet him again many years later when he had become
governor of the city of Peshawar. The Maharajah was familiar enough
with European officers, but it was probably the first occasion
that he had met British soldiers. His interest in them is therefore
understandable. One wonders what they made of him for that almost
legendary figure was a man of small stature; through smallpox
as a child he had lost one eye; he had a broad and massive forehead
and wore a long grey beard. He would have watched the display
by British troops with a knowledgeable and critical eye for there
was no great difference in the methods of European warfare taught
by the French and the British.
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