The growing power of the Mahrattas and the insolence of the Mahrajah Scindia rendered it necessary for us to strengthen and rectify our frontiers in the North-West of India. Delhi, which for centuries had been the capital of the Mogul Empire, had fallen into the hands of the Mahrattas, and the aged King had been treated with barbarous cruelty. Our own territory, as well as that of our allies, had been invaded. At last Lord Lake, the brilliant leader at Lincelles, who had become Commander-in-Chief in India, determined on action. Scindia was a formidable foe, and it was a matter of doubt as to which of the other Ruling Chiefs would follow him in the field; his troops had been organized and drilled by Frenchmen, many of whom he entrusted with high command, and it was computed that his army numbered 100,000 men, the greater part cavalry. India was a country in which we could take no risks; we were always fighting, as it were, with our backs to the wall, for there was no Suez Canal, nor were there fast steamships to pour reinforcements into the country when necessary. Lord Lake therefore assembled practically the whole of his available army, and advanced simultaneously from the north, south, east, and west. I. The main army, under his own command in the north, was the most powerful in point of numbers, but it contained only one regiment of British infantry (the 76th, long known as the Hindoostan Regiment). It was composed as under: CAVALRY DIVISION: COLONEL VANDELEUR, AND ALSO COMMANDING THE FIRST BRIGADE. First Brigade: 8th Light Dragoons, 1st and 3rd Bengal Cavalry. Second Brigade--Colonel St. Leger: 27th Light Dragoons, 2nd and 6th Bengal Cavalry. Third Brigade--Colonel Macan: 29th Light Dragoons, and the 4th Bengal Cavalry. FIRST INFANTRY DIVISION: MAJOR-GENERAL WARE. First Brigade--Colonel the Hon. G. Monson: 76th Foot, 4th (two battalions) and 17th Bengal Infantry. Third Brigade--Colonel Macdonald: 1st Batt. 12th and 15th Bengal Infantry. SECOND DIVISION: MAJOR-GENERAL ST. JOHN. Second Brigade--Colonel Clarke: 8th, 9th, 1st Batt. 12th, and 16th Bengal Infantry. Fourth Brigade--Colonel Powell: 2nd and 14th Bengal Infantry. Artillery--Colonel Horsford: One horse and three field batteries. It must be borne in mind that at this time each regiment of cavalry and battalion of infantry had two galloper guns. There was also a powerful siege-train attached to the army. This army was to advance westward on Agra and Delhi. II. The division under Sir A. Wellesley: Sir Arthur Wellesley was entrusted with the army of the south, and had under his orders, not only his own division, but also the one in Guzerat and the Hyderabad subsidiary force, commanded respectively by Colonels Stevenson and Murray. A fourth army was assembled in Cuttack, on the coast of Bengal, under Colonel Harcourt. These forces were composed as follows: