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Munro ' s Wall , mount the steps at the back of the gunshed , and fire - down on the mutineers , who , being unable to touch , them , would soon be cut up ; but it could not be done for want of cartridges , and he also remarked , that had a few blue lights been thrown in , the men -would have been shot 4 own in a quarter of an hour , for they could not have lived under such a fire , and thus the risk been spared ! We owe out lives to their firing half an inch too much elevation to their guns , or every of had been
man us shot . "Well , dear S ., what do you think ? Millar ' s name was not even at first mentioned ¦ with the others , though Colonel Macdougall , Murray , Lloyd , and others , have complimented him on his bravery , and he has quite won a name amongst the men . It is not cheering to the soldier who lives and dies for laurels , is- it ? Millar , being a surgeon , might have gone to the rear without dishonour ; but he nobly risked his life and purse for success . This is the stuff to make a Havelock ! and rnethinks the Victoria Cross
might be worse placed than on his breast . We have talked about it amongst ourselves , I assure you , and as you knew and liked him so much , I thought it would give you pleasure to hear of his gallant conduct in this affair . Fred . Legrave behaved gallantly , and was the first to step to the front to charge the guns . We have four or five to blow away from guns presently . After two or three battles , we shall do , and never trust blacks again . Millar has started , a sleeping party at the top of his house . They have a battery of rifles , guns , muskets , revolvers , and dogs , that will astonish the natives , if the 16 th Scinde Horse and Bengal Cavalry join the hill tribes . A battery of European artillery comes to-morrow , and a -company of the Queen ' s 4 th . I shall volunteer for the ' Avenging Angel '—the army that will assemble here , and sweep Bengal .
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SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE FROM INDIA . We are at length enabled to present a series of special letters from the leart of India written by a British officer on the field of contest , which reflect the real opinion of the highest civil and military classes . Our correspondent is an old and valued collaborateur , and the letters we shall continue to publish will show that he commands the best information , and is capable of appreciating , with rapidity and precision , every event as it arises . Niagpore , November 10 , 1857 .
The map of India will show you what a central position this large city occupies in the peninsula ; and the course of events within the last six months has proved it to be as critical and influential a position politically as it is locally central . Here the two great languages of Central and Western India , the Mahratta and the Oordoo meet and partially coalesce , and nearly all the races of Hindostan , the Deccan , and the Carnatic are to be found either settled in trade or in the public service , or following in the train of the large brigade of Madras troops . For with the exception of two or three small detachments of one or two companies on the banks of the Nerbudda , this has been for years
the advanced post of the Madras army . Here then , if anywhere , the contagion of the mutiny would first have affected that large body of native troops who have hitherto proved themselves so worthy of reliance . The Madras army has always been kept in a state of stricter discipline than the Bengal army , and its ranks are in a great measure recruited from humbler and more tractable ranks of tfie population . But more than one-third of its numbers is composed of Mussulmans , and a good proportion of these are what is called ' ashraff , ' or nobly born , men of respectable families , who formerly , according to their traditions , could aspire to posts of the greatest distinction in the service of the Nabobs and Rajahs of the
Deccan , Mysore , and the Carnatic ; and -we must never forget the mutiny at Vellore . Our great mistake in almost every department of the Government and administration of India has always been the notion that the natives were a cold , spiritless race , who cared for nothing but the satisfaction of their daily wants , and who weTe almost entirely devoid of ambition , national feeling , and attachment to their ancient princes and nobles . From sheer want of sympathy our Government has been purely doctrinaire , unable to believe that a well-arranged and well-intended system could ever fail to produce the desired result , and forgetting that no machine can ever be stronger than its weakest point . Our weakest point has been caused by tho deluge of
young ignorant Englishmen , whom the lust of patronage has sent forth in a stream , increasing steadily during the last quarter of a century . This had led to the establishment of the 'damned nigger' system in every department , civil and military . Boys just emancipated from Bchool , who care for nothing but beer , billiards , and 'baccy , whose very ignorance of their language and customs makes them dislike and despise their native subordinates , are placed in charge of companies of Sepoys ; and the Sepoys are told , and the world is told , that the native troops can do nothing without their European . officers . The fact is that tho Sepoys , like all troops , will . not fight without leaders , and the European officers are the . only leaders they have ; the so-called native officers , the Subahdara and Jemadars , are for tho
most part old-worn-out men , and even in the Bombay army , where promotion by seniority is not the rule as it was in the late Bengal army , and as it is in a slightly modified form in the Madras army , the native officers are not men calculated by any superiority of social rank , erudition , or distinction , to command the respect or obedience of their men . They have all sprung from the ranks , and they have at once too little and too much influence with the common Sepoys—too little from their possessing no personal claims to respectful consideration , too much from their prejudices and predilections being
identical with those of the common Sepoys , in whose ranks their own brothers and sons are serving ; so that in a time of temptation and excitement they can do nothing but follow the multitude , with whose objects they cannot but sympathize , or , should the feeling of duty be paramount , devote themselves and die with the European officers . Resist the tide they cannot , and but seldom , it is said , have the native officers of the mutinous regiments been able to preserve their rank in the rebels' camp ; they have had to give way to leaders chosen for their prowess or intelligence .
Ihe ' damned nigger' delusion and the lust of patronage , in defiance of facts and experience , have persuaded our rulers that there is no such thing as a native gentleman in existence—no possibility of our inducing any native to qiialify himself for the position of a really trustworthy officer of rank over the native soldiery . There are several stereotyped objections , besides , to any admission of natives to such posts ; but they are really unworthy of notice in . the presence of the total and final smash of the Bengal army on the ' damned-nigger ' -andbeer-and-billiard-Ensign system . The break-down , after all , has been in the European officers . They have proved themselves , throughout the late mutinies , to be utterly useless as a part of the regimental establishment .
They showed themselves to have no commanding or restraining power over their men , and they were invariably up to the last moment utterly ignorant of their men ' s intentions or views . They had , in fact , nothing in common with them , no influence over them . The native officers , for the reasons already detailed , -were equally useless , and as unwilling to give information as the European officers were unable to obtain it . The fact is , that the European officersT—with the exception of about two or three in each regiment , of whom the commanding officer is occasionally one- —are in the Madras and Bombay armies now as they were in the late Bengal army , perfect nonentities , with hardly any duties or responsibilities , and no inclination to discharge even those . In . the field of battle , in active service , they feel themselves called upon for exertion ; thev have a motive and an
object , and they behave as English gentlemen always do . The duty , however arduous , is usually for the regimental officers simple and straightforward . The Sepoy understands them , and they understand the Sepoys under such circumstances , and they learn to appreciate their respective good qualities . There are good men among the officers of the Indian army , as all may see in those who are brought forward and placed in positions of activity and responsibility ; but ordinary regimental duty , without authority or the possibility of useful action , which oppresses all alike , from the colonel bound by the fetters of routine and centralization , down to the ensign -whose ignorance and instinctive dislike of' blacks ' hand him over to beer and billiards , must be demoralizing and depressing beyond all other spheres of existence . And it is so . Hundreds of promising boys are ruined by it in body and soul .
And , after all , even setting aside for the moment the grand explosion and collapse of the Bengal army , what earthly excuse has there ever been for this deluge of young European officers , who have destroyed the selfrespect , alienated the affections , and washed the spirit out of our Sepoys ? Our local and , as they are called , irregular regiments , both cavalry and infantry , are quite equal in appearance and steadiness on parade to the average of regiments of the line with the full complement of European officers , and have always proved themselves quite equal in their conduct under fire . The irregular cavalry regiments of the Hyderabad contingent , whoare better paid than the majority of such corps , are far superior in appearance and for all practical purposes to
any of our regular native cavalry corps , and costs , man for man , less than a third of the expense of tho regular regiments . Does any one suppose that twenty European officers add to the physical strength of a native corps ? We see from the fate of the Bengal army how much they add to the influence and authority of Government over the men , and the same faults , in a not much mitigatod form , may bo seen by any observant and independent looker-on * in the Madras and Bombay armies also . Let me in a few words sum up my recommendations . Only two or three selected and well-qualified
officers should bo placed in each native battalion , and the commandant should bo supreme . General Jacob , whose pamphleta I am glad to aee have not escaped notice at homo , long ago enforced , with considerable clearness an < l point , that with a system of publicity , open durbar , or ordorly room , and reports to superior uuthority , a commandant cannot be trusted with too much or too summary authority . If his report * and returns prove his incorrigible incapacity or injustice , soiid him back to ordinary regimental duty . In the Queen's regiments serving in In < lia , and in tho Company's artillery and European infantry , thero i « quite a
wide enough field for selection ; and officers -will soon commence to qualify themselves , if prospects of command , emolument , and promotion are held out to them For Heaven s sake don ' t let the twenty-five new Sikh regiments raised by Sir John Lawrence in the Punjab be spoiled by deluging them with the broken-down officers of the Bengal infantry . I am sorry for them ; I don ' t blame them so much as the system which liad been established by four generations of Bengal officers and Bengal Sepoys ; but they have broken down ivith the
system , and with the system they ought to disappear With the regimental system they ought to disappear as regimental officers . A vast number of them are doing good service on the staff , in civil employ , with the irregylar regiments before mentioned , and ' in European regiments ; but as to the remainder , let them be pensioned or made bishops , or anything else that is ornamental and harmless ; but let them never again be placed in charge of men wliom they never understood , never liked and never commanded . E B '
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ACCIDENTS AND SUDDEN DEATHS . A THiRr > -cL . ASS train from Liverpool ran , a few days ago , into another train in one of the tunnels on the Stour Valley line . Both trains were moving in the same direction at the time , or the consequences might have been worse ; but , as it was , the collision was sharp . Sixteen or eighteen persons were hurt—some very considerably . The line is generally so admirably managed that this is the first accident -which has taken place in the tunnels since the opening of the rail five years ago . Trains are not allowed to enter the tunnels unless it has been ascertained by telegraph that the line is clear through ; but on the present occasion there is some disagreement of statement between the officers at the two ends of the tunnel as to whether a message had been sent , authorizing the third-class train to proceed .
For some time past , ' certain alterations have been going on in the East Bute Dock , Cardiff / The water was accordingly turned out of the dock , and the inner gates of the lock were taken away , as it was considered that they were not strong enough for the pressure of the water . Another pair was ready to be placed there ; but , a few days ago , a large portion of tbe eastern , wall gave way , carrying -with it the foundation , the tramway , and a quantity of iron , ore which was alongside . No one appears to have been hurt . The ground , until recently , was a marsh ; and this , combined with the withdrawal of the support given by the water , seems to have led to the accident .
A singular death , though not unlike one which we recorded a few weeks ago , has taken place at Carlisle . John Pattinson , a brazier and tinsmith , became very much embarrassed , and last Saturday he was arrested in the market-place by a County Court officer . He appeared greatly agitated , and , after a vain endeavour to arrange matters , was taken off to gaol . In accordance with his request , he was conveyed through a very private part of the town . Suddenly he dashed away , ran down a street with a field at the end , leaped a gate , and made for the river Eden , which flows at the further extremity of the field . The officer followed , and saw the fugitive jump into the stream . A man on the opposite bank shouted out some directions to Pattinson how to proceed ; but in another moment lie was carried away by the current , and drowned .
A large chimney , one hundred and twenty feet high , in connexion with the Ouse Chemical Works at Howden-dyke , near Howden , fell into tlie vitriol chamber of the establishment last Saturday evening , causing a great destruction of property , the loss of seven lives , and 8 overe injury to four persons .
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IRELAND . This Mayo Ejection . — Mr . Ouselcy Higgins , who contested Mayo at the last general election , and was beaten by the exertions of Fathers Conway and Ryanfor which services to the Church they are about to be prosecuted , as tho reader already knows—has issued an address intimating that he will not again stand for the borough . " If the battle could be fought constitutionally , " he writes , " thero would bo no doubt as to the result ; " but he has received so many proofs that the same illegal acts would be again resorted to in ordor to defeat him , that he does not feel warranted in subjecting tho electors and himself ? to the dangerous and wearisome ordeal . ' It is thought that Lord John Brown will be the man favoured by the electors .
Tiual fok Slander . — -Mr . George Strevcns , nephew of tho Mrs . Kelly who was mysteriously murdered last April twolvcmonth , has brought an action in the Dublin Court of Exchequer against Mr . Christopher Campion , an attorney who for many years acted a . s the legal adviser of tho murdered woman , and who was residing ift her house when tho crirno was committed . Tho oilunce imputed to Mr . Campion is that ho has publicly use * words implying that Mr . Strevcns Ava . s concerned in the murder . Both tho plaintiff and the defendant were arre 3 tetl at the time under suspicion ; tut they were discharged , and tho murderers luivo never boon found out . The action is not yet completed .
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1204 THE IiEADE _ g ^__ [ No . 404 , December 19 , 1857 .
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 19, 1857, page 1204, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2222/page/4/
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