aign, involving long marches and distant
operations, he thus wrote:--"Suppose the army in march, and to consist
of ten thousand fighting men, and that an enemy attacks the fighting
men and camp followers, amounting in the mass to forty thousand or
sixty thousand men, of which thirty thousand or fifty thousand are
unorganised, unmanageable camp-followers; suppose them to be attacked
suddenly, and that when so attacked, they all rush back upon the column
of fighting men, as they always do, and always will do, until well
organised. When you have painted this pretty picture in your mind--this
picture of noise, confusion, danger, and slaughter--I will ask you how
the column of ten thousand fighting men are to fight? borne down by
multitudes--confused by noise--how are they to form in order of battle?
If once, by the exertion of their officers, they do form, how are they
to fire?--on their own followers! their own animals! What may happen no
one can tell; but human foresight says that the whole will stand a fair
chance of being utterly defeated. It is said that this took place, and
caused, in a great measure, the Cabul massacre. I can easily believe
it."

The following warnings were prophetic:--"Let the army be in every way
worthy of the empire that it won and holds--holds by _discipline!_ Let
not the word become an empty boast. Let it not lose its reality. Let not
victory lull our soldiers to sleep. Let every British officer recollect
that powerful nations surround our Indian empire; that they are rapidly
acquiring our military system, our tactics, our arms. Let him compare
our earlier battles with our last--Plassey with Ferozashooshah and
Sobraon--setting our losses in killed and wounded at each battle in
juxta-position. Let us look to these matters, that we may not have to
exclaim with Pyrrhus at Asculum, 'Another such victory will undo us!'"

But notwithstanding the dangers which were thus the subject of the
military seer's discourse, he had a high opinion of the Indian army as
a whole, as the following quotation proves:--"The Indian army, when well
commanded is indomitable: it is capable of subjugating all the countries
between the Black and Yellow Seas. The population from which it is drawn
is so numerous and warlike--the land so wealthy--that the noble
Indian army may vie with any force existing, in numbers, courage,
and equipment. Its discipline and intelligence are in proportion. The
European officers are all Englis