Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/134

130 been worthy of him. For the Rání's favourite was every inch a Sikh, as remarkable for his personal appearance as he was infamous for his cruelty and excesses.

Before leaving Lahore, the Governor-General, accompanied by Sir Hugh Gough and Sir Charles Napier, reviewed the army of the Sutlej. On that occasion were drawn up the regiments which had fought many years before in the Peninsula, in company with the three distinguished soldiers who now went down the line. Crippled by the losses they had sustained in four general actions, they were still a proud remnant of that force which in the previous year had been massed on the frontier. The 31st, which before the campaign had mustered 850 bayonets, marched past with less than half its original strength. The 9th, with a strength of 874 before Múdkí, could only bring up 450. The gallant 50th, the 'dirty half-hundred,' had lost 300 men killed and wounded; and other regiments had suffered in proportion. It was an imposing sight, but not devoid of sad recollections. As the Governor-General passed along, there was a word for each regiment. When he halted before Sir C. Napier's old corps he told them how that distinguished general had fought with them in the Peninsula, and how proud he was of their behaviour in the late battles. It was too much for the gallant Napier. In vain he tried to speak. He could only wave his hand as an acknowledgment.

Sir Charles's dress was not strictly according to