Appendix. 157 



under these circumstances, be useless. Volunteers are much more 

 useful for defence than for any other purpose, and therefore His Ex- 

 cellency the Governor-General in Council, with every desire to meet 

 their wishes, thinks it best that the Behar Mounted Volunteers should 

 retain their present weapons. 



2. I am further directed to inform you that the rank of Major 

 attaches to the post of Commandant, as notified in the letter from 

 this Department, No. 777, dated I5th March 1865, and the necessary 

 corrections will be made in the Army List, and the rank duly inserted 

 in the commission to be sent to Major Collingridge." 



We shall not enter into any inquiry as to the relative fairness from 

 a military standpoint, of the wishes of the " Rifles " and the fiat of 

 the Governor-General in Council ; it is enough to say that the corps 

 had, at that time, acquired sufficient weight to induce Government to 

 confer upon its Commanding Officer the rank of Major. Eight years 

 had gone by since its formation, during which short time the strides 

 made were truly wonderful. Evidently the Planters of Behar were 

 growing in numbers, and, as they grew, so would their ardour to 

 make their body of Volunteers the finest Corps in India intensify. 

 Under the soldier-like command of Major Collingridge, the Behar 

 Mounted" Rifles went on improving and increasing, and, when tha* 

 fine old gentleman laid down his charge on his retirement Home, 

 Major Hudson might well feel proud of the Corps which he had the 

 honour to be elected to command. Nor was the new Commandant 

 an officer at all likely to let the grass grow under his feet. He 

 threw his whole soul into the work of organizing his Corps now a 

 regiment as efficient in drill, arms, and practice, as it is possible for 

 Volunteers to become. Ably assisted by Major Vousden, v.c., as 

 his Adjutant, Major (now Lieutenant-Colonel) Hudson brought his 

 regiment to a rare pitch of excellency, and its number rose from 

 120 to 320 sabres. The admirable work done by Major Vousden, who 

 loved the Regiment as if they were his own Regulars, cannot be over- 

 estimated. 



Great changes have taken place since 1862. In the comparatively 

 short space of 24 years, the arms, accoutrements, and uniform of this 

 splendid body of horse, have undergone a complete revolution. The 

 reader has already seen the regulation uniform, &c., which was worn 

 by the Corps commanded by Captain Forlong in 1862. Through many 

 different and indifferent variations, adaptations, and re-adaptations, 



