George Thomas had latterly twelve
small disciplined battalions officered by Europeans. He had good
artillery, cast his own guns, and was the first person that applied
iron calibres to brass cannon. He was unquestionably a man of very
extraordinary military genius, and his ferocity and recklessness as
to the means he used were quite in keeping with the times. His
revenues were derived from the Sikh states which he had rendered
tributary; and he would probably have been sovereign of them all in
the room of Ranjit Singh, had not the jealousy of Perron and other
French officers in the Maratha army interposed.[23]
The Begam tried in vain to persuade her husband to receive all the
European officers of the corps at his table as gentlemen, urging that
not only their domestic peace, but their safety among such a
turbulent set, required that the character of these officers should
be raised if possible, and their feelings conciliated. Nothing, he
declared, should ever induce him to sit at table with men of such
habits; and they at last determined that no man should command them
who would not condescend to do so.
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