of them; and it was not till they had been dispossessed of all their guns that they relinquished the contest. Even then some of the best qualities in the character of a soldier were displayed, in an attempt made by their left wing to effect an orderly retreat. In this, however, as in every other point, they were defeated; a regiment of British Dragoons, and another of native cavalry, breaking in upon them, cutting many to pieces, and making prisoners of the rest, with the whole of their baggage.
The loss of the English, in killed and wounded, amounted to more than eight hundred; but this, though heavy, was not to be compared with that of the enemy. About two thousand of the latter were taken prisoners; and with the exception of these, and of a few whom the possession of good horses and local knowledge might enable to escape to a distance, the whole of the seventeen battalions were destroyed. It has been conjectured that the number of slain could hardly be less than seven thousand. The battalions which fell at Laswarree constituted the flower of Scindia's army, and had been distinguished by the imposing name of the "Deccan Invincibles." The charm was now broken; not only had the invincible battalions been vanquished, but so entire had been their defeat that they had ceased to exist. Whatever opinion may be formed of the battle of Laswarree, says the historian from whom we have principally taken our description,[1] it is impossible to trace its progress and results without a deep impression of reverence for that indomitable courage and perseverance by which victory was secured to the English. The sanguine and imaginative will, from a perusal of its history, catch some portion of the spirit which burned in the breasts of those by whom it was won; and if a casual recollection of it should ever flit over the mind of one engaged amid equal dangers in maintaining the cause of England in distant lands, the lapse of years will detract nothing from the force of the example: the dauntless heroism of those who
- ↑ Thornton. "History of India."
