Tempo:
16. Europeanization of the Army
I
n the spring of1822 two officers ofNapoleon Bonaparte's disbanded anny,Jean Baptiste Ventura andJean Fran~is Allard, arrived at Lahore and sought employment with the Durbar. They were offered generous terms and given new recruits to train in the methods of warfare practised by the Grande Armee. This accelerated the Europeanization of the Punjab army, which, under the instruction of the European officers like the two named and many others who followed them, became one of Che most formidable in Asia. 1 Within a few years there were dozens of Europeans of differem nationalities: French, English, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Greek, and Eurasian in the employ of the Durbar. Although they were given higher wages than Indians of similar rank, special conditions were imposed on them. They were expected to 1 Vemura and Allard were not the first European officers in lhe Punjab army; the first was an English deserter named Price, who joilled service in 1809. Price was followed by some others. mostly half-castes, who were the illegitimate offspring of Englishmen through native women. Some were sons of famous men, for example, Col. Van Cortlandt, General Sir Robert Dick, and Jacob Thomas. Ranjit Singh was anxious to keep the number'<>f English and Eurasians in his service as low as possible, because he was uncenain of their loyalties in the event of a conflict with the East India Company. He also had reason to suspect that some of these men had been planted so that the English might be kept informed of military movements and the state of preparedness. The only foreigners he could rely on wel'e the French, or those who at one Lime or another had fought the English.
I
n the spring of1822 two officers ofNapoleon Bonaparte's disbanded anny,Jean Baptiste Ventura andJean Fran~is Allard, arrived at Lahore and sought employment with the Durbar. They were offered generous terms and given new recruits to train in the methods of warfare practised by the Grande Armee. This accelerated the Europeanization of the Punjab army, which, under the instruction of the European officers like the two named and many others who followed them, became one of Che most formidable in Asia. 1 Within a few years there were dozens of Europeans of differem nationalities: French, English, Italian, Spanish, Hungarian, Greek, and Eurasian in the employ of the Durbar. Although they were given higher wages than Indians of similar rank, special conditions were imposed on them. They were expected to 1 Vemura and Allard were not the first European officers in lhe Punjab army; the first was an English deserter named Price, who joilled service in 1809. Price was followed by some others. mostly half-castes, who were the illegitimate offspring of Englishmen through native women. Some were sons of famous men, for example, Col. Van Cortlandt, General Sir Robert Dick, and Jacob Thomas. Ranjit Singh was anxious to keep the number'<>f English and Eurasians in his service as low as possible, because he was uncenain of their loyalties in the event of a conflict with the East India Company. He also had reason to suspect that some of these men had been planted so that the English might be kept informed of military movements and the state of preparedness. The only foreigners he could rely on wel'e the French, or those who at one Lime or another had fought the English.
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