Page:Viscount Hardinge and the Advance of the British Dominions into the Punjab.djvu/172

168 character. The number of European regiments in Bombay remained the same, but some of those in Madras were transferred to the Bengal establishment. In the general result, the total European force in India was stronger by 10,000 men when Lord Hardinge resigned office than it had been in 1837; while the Bengal army alone, European and Native, was stronger by 30,000 men.

The condition of the ordnance naturally attracted a special share of Lord Hardinge's attention. The strength of the artillery, as regards both men and guns, was fully maintained. The nine-pounders (sixty in number), which had previously been drawn by bullocks, were now horsed. Measures were also adopted to place both field and siege artillery in a more satisfactory position with reference to reserves of ammunition. At Firozsháh, and again at Alíwál, the ammunition had run short. In the former battle some excuse may be made, for out of seventeen artillery waggons that went into action seven were blown up by the enemy's fire.

The result of these reductions was to effect a saving of no less than £1,160,000 in the military budget. When to this was added the Lahore subsidy of £220,000, and the revenue from the Jálandhar Doáb and Cis-Sutlej districts of about £500,000, the entire improvement in the finances amounted to £1,880,000 — a relief from financial strain such as the Indian exchequer had not enjoyed since 1838.

These reductions were more or less unpopular in