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JMo. 50&. Dec. g4, 1859] THE LEADER. 136...
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INDIA, AND ' . INDIAN PROGRESS.
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¦ * ¦ THE FIDELITY OF THE MADRAS ARMY"; ...
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COTTON MANUFACTORIES
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An Imfbomi'W Bujx Pigiit.— Tho special c...
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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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The Wikter Fair A* Milan. —The Milan Cor...
appearance , and their peculiar yells , which are invocations to the Prophet . These priests take a particular care to finish the wounded Spaniards that lay on the ground , and they are seen to administer heavy blows with their muskets on the head and shoulders of those of their own men who show any signs of mercy . This sight enrages very much the Spanish soldiers , and the officers have no small trouble in preventing them from imitating the atrocities of the Moorish priests . One of the latter , re markable for his dirty tunic and his terrific screams , had killed with his ' gumia' a yourigensign and a soldier . He was preparing to stab a wounded
artilleryman , and was uttering then a perfectly diabolical yell , when a Spanish sergeant rushed upon him and plunged a bayonet into his opened mouth . The death 6 "f their * saints ' always causes great discouragement among the Moors . My friend adds that he is now obliged , as well as the other officers , to allow the soldiers to despatch with a bayonet thrust their wounded enemies , as these , when they can do no more , bite the legs of the Spaniards . The Emperor of Morocco has offered large prizes to those of his soldiers who should take guns . This explains their wild and obstinate attacks against the artillerymen . "
Jmo. 50&. Dec. G4, 1859] The Leader. 136...
JMo . 50 & . Dec . g 4 , 1859 ] THE LEADER . 1369
India, And ' . Indian Progress.
INDIA , AND ' . INDIAN PROGRESS .
¦ * ¦ The Fidelity Of The Madras Army"; ...
¦ * ¦ THE FIDELITY OF THE MADRAS ARMY "; Thk present number of the Calcutta Review contains an admirable article on the Madras Army . The writer , throwing aside for the moment all arguments on the constitution best adapted for an Indian Army , describes the internal working of a Madras Regiment . His sketch may be a little top favourable . The reviewer obviously sympathises strongly both with the men he commands , and the system they obey . But the sketch none the less proves its own truthfulness by its minuteness of detail , and its author has accomplished at least one feat—he has explained why the Madras Army—we speak of the infantry line—remained faithful , and is likely to remain so .
I will die . You have turned me . out among a strange people , and I have been so for months now . Let me coiuo back . I will swear below the colours of the regiment that no fault of this kind will occur again . If it dues , shoot me with musketry or blow me away from a gun . ' ? With the wife comes a troop of relatives , and the Madras soldier , wherever he may be when not on service , is at home in his lines . Another institution , not by any means so widely known , is that of recruit boys . The son of anynative soldier , within the limit of seventy per regiment , may be entertained as a recruit or pension boy . In practice they are entertsined as babies , and are taught to salute on parade as soon as they can walk . At fourteen they are regularly paid , and
at sixteen are drafted into the ranks , where they have some special privileges . So certain , indeed , is their promotion , owing to the education Government provides and enforces , that in one regiment , out of twenty native commissioned officers , ten were recruit boys , while of the havildars , they had four times their fair proportion . The benefit of this institution to the soldier is extreme . It enables him to keep his son under . his own eye , without burdening himself , a privilege the force of which only those who know Asiatics can understand . An English father prefers that his fledglings should quit the nest and build for themselves . A Hindoo father looks on any migration of the kind as the greatest of misfortunes , and will coolly encounter comparative poverty to avoid it .
With the old organization of the Bengal army the introduction of either of these systems was impossible . Hindostanee wives will not emigrate , and the sepoy served anywhere from Thyatmyoo to Saugor . The sons , therefore , stayed at home to be inoculated with village prejudices , left uneducated , and brought at last into the regiment as most loutish specimens of humanity . But should theplan advocated by the Lahore Committee . be adopted , and all native forces be employed within a short distance from their homes , the separation of families
would cease to be imperative . The Hindostanee wife who will not go to a " foreign" country , will and does travel over the division . Indeed , we are are not certain whether—sea service apart—the prejudice is wholly insuperable for longer distances . The Hyderabad Contingent , for example , all Hindostanees , are accompanied by their families . It seems certain that no arrangement could paralyse sepoys so completely for sudden and murderous emcutes ; and it is the rapidity and secrecy rather than the power of the native soldiery which make -them formidable mutineers .
It is worthy of notice that the combination of castes and races recommended by most of the officers who have written on reorganisation is partially secured in Madras . In the regiment described there are : —Native Christians , 69 ; Mussulmans , 305 ; Hindostanees , 3-1 ; Mahrattas , 15 ; Telmgas , 517- Tamul , 129 ; other low Castes , 80 ; Indo-Britons , 18 ; total , 1 , 1 . 67 . For ourselves , we have no belief in these divisions ; the bond of military Hindoo
brotherhood , and the subserviency of all castes to the Bramhun , soon destroy the contnfugal force of differences either of caste or creed . But the fact is still one to bo honestly recorded on the side of the officers who have defended that view . It is , however , in the powerlessness for sudden emcutes produced by the presence of their families , and the contentment caused by the presence of their children , that we look for the sources of the fidelity of the Madras sepoy . —Friend of India ,
An organization more opposed to European ideas of military discipline it is difficult to conceive . Every one knew as a fact , of course , that the Madras sepoy carried his household with him ; but the effect of tlSnt arrangement , the boundlese influence its exercises on the daily life of ths soldier , can only be realised by a description minute and accurate as a photograph . The Madras regiment is , in fact , a . clan engaged in British service , and encamped with all its women , children , baggage and property around it . The single fact that a Madras sepoy accumulates his property in his hut , spends his income in the lines , instead of remitting it to a fiu-- \ vay village in Oudeor Rohilcund , explains who xercise
much . It is tho wives , however , e a direct restraining influence . A native , with his imagination fired by the prospect of infinite gain to be secured as soon as society is overturned , may throw his property to tho winds . He will not throw his wife . A Madras regiment in mutiny must cither remain stationary , awaiting the hour of retribution , a course no regiment ever takes , or leave the women behind to be , as they fancy , the victims of the European soldiery , and without pay , or lumber along the road helplessly encumbered . The risk is coo great , arid the sepoys themselvos quote their wives , as a final argument against tho possibility of mutiny . Mutiny is an exceptional case , assortedxercise direct
but the wives , it i 9 , e a influence in favour of daily discipline . They are often daughters of tl > o regiment , always thoroughly acquainted with the regulations , hours of drill , and calls of duty . Thoy cannot abide that their husbands should expose thomselvos to punishment , and as t ) ieir tongues aro as long as those of all Asiatic women , or , for that matter , of all womoii , unrestrainod by civilisation , tho unlucky flepoy fears tho curtain lecture at least as much as the reprimand of the ordorly room . A ponaioner ' s wife expressed her notion on the point in the following very intolligiblo terms . Her husband , wo must premise , was a pensioner just turned out of the linos for misconduct : —
"I , too , nra a servant of tho Government , my lather was a soldier . My husband sorvod thirtytwo years , and I linvo given my two sons to the annie flag . Do you suppose If I had been here , tins old fool ( pointing to her husband ) could have misbehaved , himself in this M-ay ? Do you think I do not know the regulations of tho service ? I , too , am a child of tho regiment } I was born , brought up , and married under your flagj and under your flag
Cotton Manufactories
the reasons that have prevented the employment of Europeau enterprise in the field offered by this country . There are hopeful signs , however , for the future . Two cotton mills have been in operation here for some'time , and a third has been in contemplation since 1857 . It was said six months ago that the last , which belongs to the East India Company , had ordered machinery from England , the selection of which was left to the managing director ; but owing , we fancy , to sonic disagreement as to the terms proposed by him for undertaking the work , no steps have yet been taken to effect this object . The company , we believe , are besides deficient in funds , and thus the completion of the works , which have been commenced , has bjeri put off for the
present . It is to be hoped , however , that there is no cessation of interest on the subject ; for if the Company will carry out their scheme they will find it has advantages in its favour which fully guarantee its success . The Cowasj . ee Nanabhoy Company is earning at the rate of 30 or 40 per cent ., the mills turning out 2 , 500 lbs . of cotton twist daily , and this is but an index of what miiy be expected from a mill more advantageously situated . Lund is cheap at Callian , labour essily procured , good water found in abundance , and thestation is at the junction of the Berar and Jubbulpore lines of rril way , by means of Which the transport of cotton from the Deccan and the North-West Provinces will be cheaply and conveniently effected , aaJ the twist from the manufactory expeditiously sent to the interior .
European manufacturers in this country have a vast field of usefulness before them . Their establishment , in the different districts interested in the improvement of the cotton of India is sill that is required greatly to extend and improve the culture and commerce ol all kinds in the country . Then we may expect that the condition of the people will also be materially improved . There will be a fall in the cost of all the articles of comfort an-1 clothing required by the working classes ; an : l this alone will be in its effects equivalent to a . social change of the most important kind . In England the manufacturing interest has lately ma ; le great progress . Our hardware is the very beau-ideal of what iron should ' , and our Manchester goods : ire the best that can be had for the money all 1 I 12 world over . The great improvement in these arts has not besn without its influence on the condition of the people , inasmuch as tho real or commodity price of their labour is a great deal better thun it was a few years ago . The marvels and triumphs of the last fifty years would have been impossible but for the steam engine , the loom , and the spinning jenny . Sidney Smith had a semi-serious glimpse of this truth when he averred that the modern destiny of the British people was , mainly , ' the weaving of calico . In plain earnest , from this vulgar-looking process came the power that humbled Napoleon . Since his fall it has founded colonies , changed the face of politics , and given new laws to commerce . The loom and its appliances will be found at the root of most of the reforms that have been pressed on the Government of England—and few reforms , we know , have ever been obtained except by some outward pressure . In India we want professional . men of experience and ability to superintend manufactories ; every other circumstance is favourable to their success . Cowasjee Nanabhoy , in establishing the first cotton manufactory in Tardeo , and by his persovoranae ensuring success to the experiment , has shown a degree of energy and enterprise wInch 18 rare among his own countrymen . His shares are now at obout fifty per cout . premium . Ho gave twelve per cent , last year , when his mill was only working partiajly . Thi / year a much higher dividend will be expected — " ay twenty-five or thirty per cent .-JSombajf Gazotlo . ,
COTTON MANUFACTORIES . Fiaw men aro bettor able to deal with tho question of cotton culture in India than Dr .. Koylo , tho wellknown Indian botanist . Long resident in this country , officially connected with the cotton experiments lately instituted , and evidently qualified by educational pursuits , bent of mind , and education , to investigate such a subject , Dr . Roylo ' s opinions are of sufficient importance to demand attention , lie expresses , we see , his firm bolief that no real progress will bo made in the culture of cotton in India until the manufacturers and merchants of England shall eend out European agents to reside permanently in the tracts in which the plant may be rawed with success . The settlement of Europeans or then ngonta in tho cotton districts , with tho exprpsa purpose of encouraging tho natives to improve tho cultivation of their own , or to grow the Amorlenn cotton , is tho measure which has been recommended asit he one tiling essential for tho oxtenslon and improvomont of this groat staple , As the trade has boon dosorlbod to be proatable , it , Indeed , appears remarkable that no planters should have oatak j M thorn * eelvos for an object which Is oonaldurod ot such imnortancoby tho manufacturers oi Lancashire . P fact that very llitla interest . lin » liitliorto boon token in tho manufacture of cotton Is one of
An Imfbomi'w Bujx Pigiit.— Tho Special C...
An Imfbomi'W Bujx Pigiit . — Tho special correspondent of ? he Times , describing , tho lubberly way ffShteli the landing ' of Spanish troops and stores at Ceuta was effected says :- "An incident oharactoristio of Spain diversified , and for a time e » hy < med , { he woaS » ome toils of tho night . Two bulls got loose when landed , took up their station in a dry part of ? S creek , and would not bo captured or listen oanytenns of capitulation . For tie bolter part of an hour they were completely masters ot tho situation The horses could not be brought up becauseoro , with lowered horns and >» l < nftul » B *? " *• ?{ ro wild nnfmala dashed at tliolr »»«•«»» % ™* « lmnnibri thom to a speedy retreat . At last tno S 5 S
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 24, 1859, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24121859/page/9/
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