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No. 442, Septembeb U, 1858.] THE ,,Ii E ...
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LONDON SCHOOLS. The public schools of Lo...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Future Military Policy In India. A Commi...
because they are faithful , active , and exceedingly able public servants . . ¦ This avoidance of party considerations in the present Ministry has not entirely spared it some kind of pressure from the opposite side , and the commission on the reorganisation of the military force in India is one of the special objects of this pressure . The representative of the Whig party in the press , although writing with great courtesy and some real forbearance , undoubtedly allows us to perceive that efforts will be made to prevent any considerable reduction of the large European force in India : —
We have at present , or shall have before the end of the year , a European force of about 80 , 000 men , arid a native army numbering , 150 , 000 , the latter consisting of about 60 , 000 belonging to the Madras , and 55 , 000 to the Bombay Presidencies , while nearly the whole of the remaining 35 , 000 consist of the Sikh regiments raised by Sir John Lawrence . We presume that the number of Europeans cannot be very greatly reduced without running another risk which-it would be little short of insanity to encounter . Nor is there any real reason for apprehending that in ordinary times we shall be able to keep up the supply . Considerably less than half the number of recruits raised since the 1 st of September ,
1857 , will suffice annually . As regards the native force , it will probably be found sufficient to maintain a force something like that now existing in Bengal for the ordinary duties which must be discharged t > 3 ' natives , while the Bombay and Madras native armies may be substantially reduced in . consideration of the increased number of Europeans available . One arm of the service , the Artillery , we confidently expect will solely consist of Europeans , and the Kc ^ al Artillery can be
increased for the purpose , in a manner to give an additional feeling of ' . security in an imperial sense . The expense of European troops is of course much greater than that of natives ; but with an army composed of , say 70 , 000 of the former , and twice that number of the latter , the entire cost would not be greater than before . ; while , especially with the development of railways , the work would be done as efficiently as wheu the Btngal Army were faithful . _ ¦
Now , the grand question before the commission is this— : Shall the army , ' the military force by which , order is to be maintained in . Iudia , consist of Europeans or of natives ? It is scarcely necessary to repeat , however rapidly , tlic reasons why a large European force should not be admitted as a . permanent institution in India . The expense alone would bo enough to tell us that it cannot . be so , and that if we adopt any policy cm such assumption , that policy must necessarily be abandoned , if not reversed , at no distant day . The English tax-payer will iusist upon India ' s being self-guarding as well as self-supporting—indeed , the one is involved in the other . There are other reasons of a still higher and not less practical kind . A European garrison of immense proportions can only be maintained in
India at the expense of India , an object of dislike on account of its cost as well as of its alien character , and it would be a confession that the Government cannot hold the empire through the willing submission of the inhabitants . Such a policy , in fact , would be to prolong the present contest ; and since the alien force must be withdjjawn , or at least reduced , sonic day , the reduction would be then , apparently present an opportunity for native ambition to revive and to attempt the recovery of the country . On the higlie & t policy , therefore , we must seriously condemn any attempt to retain India by a gigautic European garrison . The converse of these reasons is equally powerful : there is no . necessity for ., such a course .. The most consistent observers of India have remarked a
striking peculiarity in the intrigues winch preceded the mutiny , in the mutiny itself , and even in the subsequent disorders , widely extended as they have become Those who agitated against us were—the high castes , those races which like ourselves arc intruders in India , the Brahmins , and the Maho medans . The Mahomcdans arc the adherents of many of those princes , who liavo been deposed in the process of annexation . Tho Brahmins are not only augry at tho removal of past privilogosbut in tho extension of Christianit
, , y they jOMm UUlJ ^^ ana possibly an abolition of thoir very rank in sooioty . There wore more prooiso and practical reasons why both parties wore lately called into activity . On Uio annexation of Oucfo and other states tho displacod princes luivo been added to tho number of intriguers . Meanwhilo , by tho bungling of officials in that central province the nativo nobios , who might have been so easily conciliated after tho oppressive rulo of tho king , wore taught to doubt whether tho English would bo more considera te ,
Future Military Policy In India. A Commi...
while the peasantry did not feel that their new rulers had brought blessings into the land ;— -. hence there was discontent . Mean while , too , the army of Bengal , officered by Europeans -who did not associate with the men , and often , did not know their language , was composed of Brahmins and other high castes , who were organised together , and taught European discipline , and yet allowed to retain their exclusive sense of their own importance . The whole army of Oude , just new from contestation with the British Government , and known to be very questionable in spirit , very mutinous in temper , was added in the lump to the Bengal army . Thus bur officials in India supplied weapons for the very numerous classes of high caste and Mussulman nobles whose interests were opposed to our own . But throughout there was no appearance of a
general sympathy among the peasantry with the classes above them . During the war the Europeans have found no difficulty in obtaining provisions or carriage , while in some places , as in Oude , the peasantry have looked on , evincing little interest for either side , in some cases almost positively inclining to ¦ the side of the British as the more powerful and better paymasters . These considerations are quite enough to show that there are abundant materials for a native force in India which would not be subjeet to the influences that led off the late Bengal army . It is , therefore , as we have already said , unnecessary to maintain a . great European garrison , as it , is most impolitic on political grounds , and simply impossible on the ground of finance ^
There must be some reasons why a course supported on such very imperfect grounds , and condemned by such very powerful considerations , should nevertheless receive active and eager support ; why it should be favoured b y adherents of the late Government , and no doubt by some of the permanent staff under the present Government . Nor need we dive into the depths of the ocean or the centre of the earth to find the motives which dictate this counsel . Speaking generally , it may be said that the average mind at ; the Horse Guards is chiefly impressed with the wisdom of keeping up a large force and of placing it under such
circumstances as secure the greatest probability of active service with the east chance of reductions . The permanent departments , therefore , would naturally be inclined to r . dvisc the maintenance of a large force in India ; but the military departments . arc not isolated from the rest of " society . On the contrary , they are connected , and extensively connected , by the closest ties , with some of the most influential classes , — the better born , the landed gentry , and the wealthier portion of the trading community . Now these are the classes which powerfully contribute to get up parliamentary support , and the late Government
unquestionably received no small portion of its political influence from the co-operation of similar classos . It is easy , therefore , to perceive the reasons why attempts should be made in some liberal quarters to promote sectional interests and to obstruct the present Ministry in its disregard of party or personal considerations , and in its exclusive attention to the public service . It is not likely , however , that there will be any great contest upon the subject . If the commissioners do their dutyat all events if Lord Stanley and his colleagues do theirs—laying the true facts of tho case before the public , the proper . course , w \\\ present , itself in . a form so 'direct " and * simple ' that it must equally command the asscut of the executive and of the nation .
No. 442, Septembeb U, 1858.] The ,,Ii E ...
No . 442 , Septembeb U , 1858 . ] THE ,, Ii E A P E R . 937
London Schools. The Public Schools Of Lo...
LONDON SCHOOLS . The public schools of London arc attracting attention , and tho sanitary question is being battled vigorously . Christ Church , St . Paul ' s , and Chartcr-houso have thoir opponents and defenders , and tho victory yet remains doubtful . But Merolmnt Taylors ' , winch combines all the ovils of the othor J-I'JH . J ''^ . BOing .. ^ f . M ? , "'" — has . Jmrdl . v . obtainQd niaT ' sTiaro of notioc which tho importance of tho
subject demands . Wo assume that everybody has heard of Merchant Taylors' School , but wo dare vonturo to say , > if tho two and a half millions of this metropolis wore fairly polled , that not rtbavo one iu a hundred would bp ' able to point out tho exact locality . Well , then , wo will endeavour to enlighten tho darkness of tho public . Merchant Taylors' is in ft kind of blind streot , culled Suffolk * lane , onoend running into Thames-street , the other into a sort of by-passage , which abuts upon Can-
London Schools. The Public Schools Of Lo...
non-street . The school is literally buried among warehouses and buildings , and its location is about the most unsuitable and unwholesome for boys thai could possibly be devised . No doubt when the school was first built the situation was more open . It is the exigencies of commerce that have gradually blocked out light and air from the puny and palefaced students of Merchant Taylors ' . But there are other special objections to Suffolk-lane . Recently a tradesman has erected a building half a dozen , stories in height in Suffolk-lane , which completely overshadows the school , and adds materially to the
unhealthiness of the spot . Then there is an . enormous depot of combustibles in close proximity to the school , which may , at any given moment , blow the whole of the neighbourhood into the air ; but the civic authorities , although apprised of the danger , have failed to exercise their power properly , or if they have exercised it , have stopped short of doing effectual good . But our objections to Merchant Taylors' are of a graver kind than that of improper locality . We consider that the boys who are sent to Merchant Taylors' receive at best a very imperfect education , and that their studies are directed mainly into channels which are wholly unsuited to commercial or industrial life . We apprehend that the name of the school sufficiently indicates its purpose , and also
the class of youth which the founder proposed should be specially benefited . The routine of education was intended to , ¦ ¦» be principally commercial , not classical , and the boys to be educated sons of tradesmen of moderate means . We do not desire to take exception to the class of pupils generally who obtain presentations , but even in this direction some alteration is needed and some rule required to be laid down which shall obviate favor itism and serve to assist the application of qualified boys , but boys who have no City or Committee influence . We have said we object to the system of education—we go further , we say that
the number and qualifications ° f masters and assistants are inadequate to carry out perfectly the edueatioual routine which is professed to be imparted at Merchant Taylors' School . Little or no instruction is given in writing , insufficient instruction is given in common arithmetic , and with reference to that kind of information which , is useful and indispensable in the common walks of life—such as grammar , history , geography , & c—the scholars may p ick it up as best they can . Then we come to classics and mathematics . With respect to the first , the principal efforts of the higher masters appear to
be directed towards turning out classical scholars . This we thiuk a very great error ; without undervaluing classical knowledge , we may ask of what real use can be the crude stock of Latin , Greek , and Hebrew which tradesmen ' s sons , when they are supposed to have finished their education at Merchant Taylors' at eighteen or nineteen , assuming that they do not go to college , bring away with then ) , in enabling them to earn their own substance , or to give assistance to their parents in their various business callings ? We very much doubt whether a single youth who finds his way to
college from Merchant Taylors' does so entirely on the merits of the education he derives from the school teaching . We think we shall not bo very far out if we assort that nineteen-twentieths of the successful competitors for a Merchant Taylors' scholarship have been " coached" " crammed" out of school ., . from , our own personal knowledge we are enabled to assert that several boys , whose parents entertain tho idea of sending their sons to college , should a Merohant . Taylors' scholarship be attainable , have at present the benefit of classical and mathematical preceptors out of school and out of school hours—it being found that the amount of knowledge acquired in the ordinary way in theso indispensable branches of university
training without this extraneous aid would be quite insufficient to enablo them to acquire such a standing as would givo them a chance of being sent to college Now this " coaching and onuu-¦ ming ^ whether-the ^ vorlc'orHhcniwsi ^ rs ^ vlro ^ Ico 1 boarders , or of private professors engaged specially for the service , is in tho nature of an imposition ; and wo arc of opinion that it is tho duty ol the committee to look into tho mattor without doj ny , Perhaps one main cause of the dofcotivo toaohing is referable to tho mode of electing the masters . We believe tho majority of tho masters of Moroliant Taylors' School Imvo boon Morchant layloi's boys . It may bo very well to give . encouragement to oxoolionoo in soholiu-s reared on the foundation j but then thoro is this inevitable disadvantage—tho
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 11, 1858, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11091858/page/17/
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