Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/171

Rh such a reduction could be effected without any diminution in the general efficiency of the army. As an old Secretary at War, Lord Hardinge was peculiarly qualified to appreciate and to reconcile all the various considerations which entered into the problem he had to solve. The first principle that he always kept before him was to maintain unimpaired the strength of the European troops in India; the second was to redistribute the entire army, so that the North-West Frontier and the Punjab might be secured against any contingency.

Subject to these two dominant principles, Lord Hardinge now felt himself justified in disbanding no fewer than 50,000 Sepoys, and reducing the strength of the Native regiments from 1000 to 800 men. Even thus, the army was more numerous than it had been in 1837, the last year of peace in India. It is true that, after the annexation of the Punjab, the former establishments were restored; but, as stated by Sir William Hunter, Lord Dalhousie afterwards became convinced of the impolicy of this increase, and himself proposed a reduction. In Madras, the Native army was reduced under Lord Hardinge by 10,000 men; and in Bombay by 7000 men. But at the same time the Native Cavalry was augmented by eight regiments; and Sindh and Sikh levies were enrolled for the frontier police, which thus assumed a semi-military