There the old patriarch sat listening with
intense delight to the remarks of the host of his descendants around
him, as the Governor-General's magnificent fleet passed along,[6]
every one fancying that he had caught a glimpse of the great man, and
trying to describe him to the old gentleman, who in return told them
(no doubt for the thousandth time) what sort of a person the great
Lord Clive was. His son, the old Subadar, now and then, with modest
deference, venturing to imagine a resemblance between one or the
other, and his _beau ideal_ of a great man, Lord Lake. Few things in
India have interested me more than scenes like these.
I have no means of ascertaining the number of military pensioners in
England or in any other European nation, and cannot, therefore, state
the proportion which they bear to the actual number of forces kept
up. The military pensioners in our Bengal establishment on the 1st of
May, 1841, were 22,381; and the family pensioners, or heirs of
soldiers killed in action, 1,730; total 24,111, out of an army of
82,027 men. I question whether the number of retired soldiers
maintained at the expense of government bears so large a proportion
to the number actually serving in any other nation on earth.
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