The cash flows in.
But now Lachlan's luck turned. Sort of. He managed to finagle himself into the position of being his regiment's paymaster. He didn't use his good fortune only for his sole benefit, he shared it with his clansmen, despite them letting him down previously. Sadly, the beneficiaries of Lachlan's frauds did not include the non-Macquaries among his troops, and as we shall see it seems possible rumours of his defrauding of his men probably leaked out. To his later detriment.
Right, so, first up, he arranged for his troops' pay to come to him before it went to them, and invested it to his own benefit. Of course, any losses were borne by the troops, and any profits went to Lachlan. That he was able to get away with this tells us much about the attitudes of his fellow officers towards the common soldiers of the day.
Then Lachlan started signing up Macquaries as members of his regiment. Of course, they had to change their names, otherwise, heaven forfend, someone might get suspicious. Some of these new troops, who of course sometimes never arrived in India, were as young as five. Their salaries, however, were undoubtedly very welcome back on Ulva and Mull.
Unfortunately, most of the young men who accepted Macquarie's largesse and actually travelled to India to join the army, were dead by 1801. Those who survived that period mostly only managed to resign from the army via a coffin over the next fifteen years. Apart from two, one of whom is unimportant to our story. The other was his younger brother Charles, who was perhaps wise to accept another officer's largesse after at first accepting Lachlan's. Mind you, Charlie boy suffered a pretty debilitating head injury in Egypt, which may partly explain some of his later travails.
Right, so, first up, he arranged for his troops' pay to come to him before it went to them, and invested it to his own benefit. Of course, any losses were borne by the troops, and any profits went to Lachlan. That he was able to get away with this tells us much about the attitudes of his fellow officers towards the common soldiers of the day.
Then Lachlan started signing up Macquaries as members of his regiment. Of course, they had to change their names, otherwise, heaven forfend, someone might get suspicious. Some of these new troops, who of course sometimes never arrived in India, were as young as five. Their salaries, however, were undoubtedly very welcome back on Ulva and Mull.
Unfortunately, most of the young men who accepted Macquarie's largesse and actually travelled to India to join the army, were dead by 1801. Those who survived that period mostly only managed to resign from the army via a coffin over the next fifteen years. Apart from two, one of whom is unimportant to our story. The other was his younger brother Charles, who was perhaps wise to accept another officer's largesse after at first accepting Lachlan's. Mind you, Charlie boy suffered a pretty debilitating head injury in Egypt, which may partly explain some of his later travails.