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suppose our infantry and artillery to be as light and rapid as the 

 Mahrattas', will, whenever the contest happens, form an epoch of 

 the most critical interest to the welfare, if not to the existence of 

 the British empire in the East: and I confess, when I view the 

 different manners of the rivals, and the advantages which these 

 people possess in the most unexampled simplicity, absence of 

 wants in food and clothing, absolute submission to the will 

 of their superiors, and constant inurement to the most laborious 

 field service; when I observe these things, and contrast them 

 with the opposite traits in our manners and customs, and add 

 thereto the immeasurable difference and disproportion of our 

 numbers, I confess I cannot help feeling some anxiety for the 

 issue; but, without anticipating the event of so great a struggle, 

 let me revert to the order of battle observed by the Mahrattas 

 in their late action with the Nizam, when, with so little lost or 

 gained on either side, such immense advantages accrued to this 

 empire by the Nizam's pusillanimity. From concurring testi- 

 mony it appears, that on the news of that prince marching, the 

 Mahratta light army advanced in the order in which it was en- 

 camped, about six miles off, to hang on and embarrass his 

 line of march. The movement of such an immense line, so 

 great a distance, over broken and difficult ground, must necessa- 

 rily have been extremely irregular, in point of distance of the 

 different bodies from each other, and the time of their approach- 

 ing the Nizam's army: but this does not appear to have pre- 

 cluded an ultimate and effectual cooperation. For it seems that 

 Purseram Bhou being entirely unincumbered with infantry or 

 artillery, having advanced too near the enemy, was forced back 



