]
The present Nazim has with him two Nujeeb Regiments, one of nine
hundred and fifty-five, and the other of eight hundred and thirty
men; a squadron of horse and fourteen guns. The two corps are
virtually commanded by fiddlers and eunuchs at Court. Of the men
borne on the muster rolls and paid, not one-half are present; of the
number present, not one-half are fit for the duties of soldiers; and
of those fit for such duties, not one-half would perform them. They
get nominally four rupees a-month, liable to numerous deductions, and
they are obliged to provide their own clothing, arms, accoutrements,
and ammunition, except on occasions of actual fighting, when they are
entitled to powder and ball from the Government officer under whom
they are employed. He purchases powder in the bazaars, or has it sent
to him from Lucknow; and, in either case, it is not more than one-
third of the strength used by our troops. It is made in villages and
supplied to contractors, whose only object is to get the article at
the cheapest possible rate; and that supplied to the most petted
corps is altogether unfit for service.
The arms with which they are expected to provide themselves are a
matchlock and sword. They are often ten or twelve months in arrears,
and obliged to borrow money for their own subsistence and that of
their families, at twenty-four per cent. interest. If they are
disabled, they have little chance of ever recovering the arrears of
pay due to them; and if they are killed, their families have still
less.
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