Tempo:
252
Punjab Monarchy and Imperialism
Beg of Ranjit Singh,' wrote the French traveller, Jacquemont). Allard brought gifts and a letter of greetings to the Maharajah from Louis Philippe of France. He lived in great style at Lahore3 and died a few months before Ranjit Singh. The Italian, Paolo de Avitabile, and the Frenchman, Court, joined service in 1826. Avitabile was appointed governor of Wazirabad and then of Peshawar. His stern rule at Peshawar (for the first few days he hanged fifty brigands every morning before breakfast) taught the tribesmen respect for the law. Court, who trained the artillery and cast guns at the Lahore foundry, was a scholar and a gentleman. He worked in collaboration \\-;th thf> J)urbar's best scientific brain, Lehna Singh Majithia. Another favourite of the Maharajah was a Spaniard, Senor Oms (Musa Sahib), who would undoubtedly have risen high if his career had not been cut short by his premature death in a cholera epidemic in 1828. An American quack, Josiah Harlan, was made governor of Nurpur and Jasrota and then of Gujarat. He was ignominiously dismissed for demanding one lac of rupees for medicine from the ailing Maharajah. Harlan was succeeded by the Eurasian, Holmes. Besides these were others like the Hungarian doctor Honigberger, who mixed gunpowder for the artillery and distilled brandy for the Maharajah. The most important result of the employment of Europeans was a rapid increase in the size of the army, particularly the infantry and the artillery. In one year the infantry was increased from 8,000 to 11,681. (At the time of the death of the Maharajah the infantry numbered over 27,000 men.) In sixteen years the artillery was increased from 22 guns and 190 swivels to 188 guns and 280 swivels; the number of artillerymen in the same period increased sixfold (from 800 to more than 4,500 men). The cavalry was also increased, though not so much, in all its three constituents-the regulars trained in modem style by Allard, the traditional gh<Yrcarah (horsemen) composed of the disbanded 3 Allard's house still stands like a miniature Versailles in the midst of an Oriental bazaar. On ooe mound is the dilapidated grave of his daughter, Charlotte. The house is still known as Ktqi Bagh (the daughter·s garden). Allard himself lies buried in a cemetery outside the city wall.
Punjab Monarchy and Imperialism
Beg of Ranjit Singh,' wrote the French traveller, Jacquemont). Allard brought gifts and a letter of greetings to the Maharajah from Louis Philippe of France. He lived in great style at Lahore3 and died a few months before Ranjit Singh. The Italian, Paolo de Avitabile, and the Frenchman, Court, joined service in 1826. Avitabile was appointed governor of Wazirabad and then of Peshawar. His stern rule at Peshawar (for the first few days he hanged fifty brigands every morning before breakfast) taught the tribesmen respect for the law. Court, who trained the artillery and cast guns at the Lahore foundry, was a scholar and a gentleman. He worked in collaboration \\-;th thf> J)urbar's best scientific brain, Lehna Singh Majithia. Another favourite of the Maharajah was a Spaniard, Senor Oms (Musa Sahib), who would undoubtedly have risen high if his career had not been cut short by his premature death in a cholera epidemic in 1828. An American quack, Josiah Harlan, was made governor of Nurpur and Jasrota and then of Gujarat. He was ignominiously dismissed for demanding one lac of rupees for medicine from the ailing Maharajah. Harlan was succeeded by the Eurasian, Holmes. Besides these were others like the Hungarian doctor Honigberger, who mixed gunpowder for the artillery and distilled brandy for the Maharajah. The most important result of the employment of Europeans was a rapid increase in the size of the army, particularly the infantry and the artillery. In one year the infantry was increased from 8,000 to 11,681. (At the time of the death of the Maharajah the infantry numbered over 27,000 men.) In sixteen years the artillery was increased from 22 guns and 190 swivels to 188 guns and 280 swivels; the number of artillerymen in the same period increased sixfold (from 800 to more than 4,500 men). The cavalry was also increased, though not so much, in all its three constituents-the regulars trained in modem style by Allard, the traditional gh<Yrcarah (horsemen) composed of the disbanded 3 Allard's house still stands like a miniature Versailles in the midst of an Oriental bazaar. On ooe mound is the dilapidated grave of his daughter, Charlotte. The house is still known as Ktqi Bagh (the daughter·s garden). Allard himself lies buried in a cemetery outside the city wall.
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