'Remarks on the Bashi-Bazouks and other irregulars; including brief reflections on the present war. With a sketch of General William Ferguson Beatson, organiser of the Bashi-Bazouks during the Crimean campaign' by Colonel William Ferguson Beatson Laurie [‎9v] (18/24)

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it cost him ^3,000. The case was fully noticed in the London and
provincial journals of January, i860.
We have before us a “ Supplement ” of Beatson’s services under four
successive Governors-General, Lords Auckland, Ellenborough, Hardinge,
and Dalhousie. Lord Canning made the fifth; and, though engaged
under the lamented Viceroy in a peaceful but brilliant service, Lord
Mayo, the sixth. Under Lord Canning’s successor, Sir John (now
Lord) Lawrence, whose reign appears to have been one of consolidating
the Empire after the mutiny, Beatson’s name does not come much before
the public. Shortly after his return to India, or about the years
1864-65, there was almost nothing for him to do; so he could only
wait patiently for what he was generally confessed to have very strong
claims—the command of a division. This he at length obtained from
the Commander-in-Chief, Sir William Mansfield (the late Lord
Sandhurst); but he and his friends felt that the high and lucrative
appointment, worth over ^4,000 a year, came rather too late
in life. 1 Still the old soldier was very thankful for the great honour
paid him, through which the wonted energy might again burst forth ;
and he had hope of retrieving his pecuniary losses.
In the Allahabad Division, “ up in the morning early ” (as was ever
his custom), and action everywhere among the troops, soon became the
order of the day. A sham fight was taking place at Allahabad, while
the troops in some other cantonments were only just arriving on the
ground ! Lord Chatham’s famous maxim, “ If you do not rise early,
you can make progress in nothing ” (advice doubly valuable in India,
where the sun, if you would be cool, compels you to rise early), was
never absent from Beatson’s mind ; and we cannot help thinking it not
improbable that, had he been in command at Meerut during the 10th
and nth May, 1857, at the first outbreak of the mutiny, he would have
headed a party of horse, galloped off, and not left the saddle till he had
done his utmost to secure the mutineers on their way to Delhi, and
bring them back, under a strong guard, to their proper station !
Early in 1869, we find him in command of the Sirhind (Umballah)
Division, where the grand Durbar A public or private audience held by a high-ranking British colonial representative (e.g. Viceroy, Governor-General, or member of the British royal family). , in honour of Shere Ali, the Ameer
of Afghanistan, was held, under Lord Mayo, with unusual splendour.
1 Beatson was a full Colonel in the Army, November, 1854 ; a Regimental Colonel
in May, 1864 ; Major-General, 8th January, 1865 ; and was appointed to command
the Allahabad Division, 3rd October, 1S66.