Eleven guns. But, being
unable to get any duty from the three regiments first named, he
offered to dispense with the two first, on condition that the command
of the third should be placed at his disposal for his son or nephew.
This request was complied with; and, on paying a fee of five thousand
rupees, he got the dress of investiture, and offered it to Lieutenant
Orr, a very gallant officer, the second in command of Captain
Barlow's corps, as the only way to render the corps so efficient as
he required it to be. The Durbar took away the two regiments; but, as
soon as they heard that Lieutenant Orr was to command the third, they
appointed Fidda Hoseyn, brother of the ruffian Mahommed Hoseyn, who
had held the district of Mahomdee, and done so much mischief to it.
Fidda Hoseyn, of course, paid a high sum for the command to be
exacted from his subordinates, or the people of the district in which
it might be employed; and the regiment has remained worse than
useless. Of the eleven guns, five are useless on the ground, and
without bullocks. The bullocks for the other six are present, but too
weak to draw anything. They had had no grain for many years; but
within the last month they have had one-half seer each per day out of
the one seer and half paid for by Government. There is no ammunition,
stores, or anything else for the guns, and the best of the carriages
are liable to fall to pieces with the first discharge.
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