Page:The Marquess of Hastings, K.G..djvu/78

70 step, it cannot detract from the credit due to the many important services achieved by his heroic valour. His zeal, his energy, and his resources rendered him infinitely material for the conduct of operations in a country the features of which are so novel to officers accustomed to the plains of Hindustan. Genius like his would soon have fashioned others to a just conception of the system to be pursued in mountain warfare; and, deprived of him, I fear they will have to poke their way amid many errors and oversights before they attain such experience as may give them due confidence in themselves .'

Animated by such generous sentiments towards a commander, whose indiscretion had led to serious disaster, the Governor-General was not long in reviving the morale of his army, where the generals did their duty, and there the troops were not disheartened. Reverses only stimulated them to greater exertions, taught them how to operate in the mountains and to avoid the dangers they presented, and made them imitate the tactics of the enemy, by establishing defensive posts for their better security. Fortune moreover favoured Lord Hastings. Bitter dissensions raged among the Pindárís and prevented them from acting together; Ranjít Singh was threatened by an invasion by the Amír of Kábul and was forced to look after his own affairs, and Sindhia's commanders came to an open rupture and fought among themselves. The danger of an anti-British combination began to disperse, and a decided advantage was soon obtained by