CHAP. XXVI.] CAVALRY FROM 1815 TO 1854. 



421 



crossed one grcjit rivor and six small ones, and moved 

 with such rapidity, and deceived his pursuers with such 

 skill, that he led his corps intacit to Warsaw — a distance 

 of 130 Polish miles, in twenty-five days. He seized 

 large quantities of supplies, and considerable sums of 

 money, and while on the march organised two of his 

 guns as artillery-h,-cheval. His forcM'd marclies were 

 accomplished by an ingenious plan whicli he adopted of 

 seizing a number of liorses, and supplying each infantry 

 liattalion with fifty horses to carry the men who were 

 most fatigued. He says he owed his safety princijjally 

 to this system of resting his wearied foot-soldiers.' He 

 also organised a force of mounted infantry by placing a 

 number of them on horseback. This force was most 

 useful to him, and saved delay in attacking small posts 

 tliat lay in his way.' 



In India, during the last hundred years, the English 

 have carried on a great number of wars, in most of which 

 cavaliy have been much used on both sides. The native 

 forces in many of the states contained large masses of 

 horsemen, the most noted probably being the Mahratta 

 cavalry, whicli comprised a large force of the type 

 common in the East. When Hyder Ali attacked the 

 English in the Carnatic in 1780, his army consisted of 

 28,000 cavalry, 15,000 regular infantry, besides a number 

 of labourers, pioneers, &c. These horsemen charged in 

 irregular bodies, but were unable to break the firm array 

 of the British troops. ** 



The speed of the native armies always gave a great 

 advantage over the English, who, after defeating them, 

 could never pursue them with vigour on account of their 

 great mobility. The operations of Lord Lake, in 1803 

 to 1806, are the first campaigns of inten^st to us, inas- 

 much as that officer fully appreciated the value of the 

 horse, and utilised it very skilfully. 



Lord Lake had been trained in his early boyhood in 

 the wars of the Great Frederick, and had seen the value 

 of horsemen as trained and organised by that celebrated 



^ Dembinski's M(<moires, 3.34. ^ Dr_ e. H. Nolan, Histoiy of 



British India, ii. 378, 



