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tfo. Ml, September 4, 1858.] ___ __ TjjL...
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i n r> i a.
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GEXEEAIi TREMENHEEEE'S PLAN. Gexeral TuE...
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Transcript
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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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Tfo. Ml, September 4, 1858.] ___ __ Tjjl...
tfo . Ml , September 4 , 1858 . ] ___ __ TjjLjB _ J ? . jj ^ Jgjjj ^_ 911
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Gexeeaii Tremenheeee's Plan. Gexeral Tue...
GEXEEAIi TREMENHEEEE'S PLAN . Gexeral TuEMENirEERE , one of the most distinguished officers of the Bengal Engineers , lias propounded a . plair for saving the lives of soldiers / children in India , which is justly receiving great attention . General : Trcmenheere , after thirty years ' service in the Bengal Presidency from east to west , lias , on his return to England , continued his exertions for the benefit of the country , with which he was so long actively connected , and he has naturally taken a deep interest , and an active part in Indian
railways . He is one of the distinguished men who , haying engaged in the Northern Bengal Railway as a great measure for the welfare of the Presidency , have applied themselves to the extension of the System in its application to the interests of India at large , and whose efforts will perhaps- produce a greater influen ce on India than any of the remarkable events of the year . This he more particularly availed himself of the opportunity of doing in a paper , which he read before the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Public " Works of the Bengal Prcbidency , and before Sir . Ewart ' s Committee on English Settlement in India . This paper has been
published and likewise the report of the committee containing his evidence , so that his views are before the public . . General Trcmenheere points out , in corroboration of Mr . Itainald Martin , tl . iat in the thirteen years from 1 S 39 to 1 S 51 no less than 24 , 7 S 1 " English soldiers have died in India and have leftTno trace . The cluldren of those few who may
have been married men have died in the ratio of four out of every live . In the plains the children of the soldiery assuredly die , and yet there are accessible regions where they be maintained in hcalthfulness , and brought up to be most valuable members of the community . That great man , Sir Henry Lawrence , provided an asylum for soldiers' children at Kussowlce on the sub-Himalayas , and another asylum to the south at Mount Aboo , and he proposed to ' c . ndow a third on the Ncilgherries , but religious bigotry impeded the realisation of this latter undcrtakiue * .
In the Lawrence asylums , which now receive aid from the State and ' from public subscription , a number of childreu—too few in number for the proportion who require such provision—arc brought up to become hardy and healthyyouths j they receive a good education , and they will in the course of time become overseers , subordinate officers for the service of the State , assistants in factories , skilled agriculturists and teachers , who , when spread throughout the country , will produce the best ciVeets in diffusing the higher civilisation in
India , tho progress ot which is materially impeded by the deficiency of European teachers . The boys and girls of tho Lawrence asylums have the advantago that many pf them are conversant with the languages and customs of the natives , and therefore suited for employments of ^ supervision , for which newly arrived cminigrants from England arc unprepared . In December of last vcar Dr . Mocnamam , Spcrclai'y to tho Bengal Patriotic Fund , whoii advocating tho claims of the Lawrence Asylum to publio support , pointod out that there were then no less than
nine hundred boys and girls , children of soldiers , in tho dcp 6 t at Dam Duni , near Calcutta . The total is not now less ; but it is painful to contemplate how many of tho nine hundred enumerated by Dr . Mncntvmara have already sunk into thoir untimely graves , He then proposed that a home similar to the Luvvronoo Asylum should bo established for tho children at tho dcpGt at Dum Dum , and the other flop 5 ts in that part of Bengal , and ho proposed this
_^ O' ^ 8 UQU l 4 , ^ -b ^<^ M ^ -aqp ^^ E ^^«^ ' ^^^ "a-Q , t tlio " iYorthem Bengal Railway . That station , lie stales , is oasily reaohed from Calcutta ; its climate is known to bo peculiarly well adapted for ohildron , probably nioro so than any part of India , and where n i ^ i ° 'milS 9 comes ovor the pale , omaoiated cluld latoly brought up from tho plains . In tho ooureo of a few months ho beoomos sturdy , aud blooming , tho mind as well as the body bopomos mvigoratod ; and instoad of his growing up a tall ,
unhealthy , useless , illiterate scamp , as he would probably do if left in the barracks , the child becomes a strong , healthy , active , and useful member of society . To accomplish such an object appeared to Dr . Macnamara a true act of charity , not dnly to the orphan , but to tlie widow and to society iu general , but we regret to say his appeal has not been answered . True it is , Government could give a site for the asylum or home free , and there is no reason for their . not beginning the building , for though they have considerable works going on at Darjeeling to convert it into a large European garrison , there is sufficient labour available for . the assylum or any required structures . Private enterprise is not impeded by such want , and several
buildings have been lately added to the settlement . It is very true that the measure , though neglected , is still sure of practical though partial accomplishment , for the new cantonments at Darjeeling will receive a thousand English soldiers , aud thereby a considerable body of women and children , and they will all be safe while stationed at Darjeeling . There can , however , be little doubt that when once there a large number will remain when the regiment * is moved to other quarters , the widows and orphans will be there provided for , and many of the wives and elder children will obtain a maintenance in the town and neighbouring villages in various employments for which such services are now greatly
needed . General Tremenheere , adopting these facts , not only proposes to establish the new school for the Bengal Government at Darjeeling , but to make this , the Lawrence Asylum , and the . other hill military schools / which may be established , centres for increasing the English population and developing civilisation . He lays it down as a principle that the European element requires , beyond any thing else , to be fostered and increased in India , and he states that there are boundless regions in the range of the Great Himalavas , where nature itself , by a
shape , General Trenienheere ^ s proposition does _ not come under the authority of another military system , which is equally well recognised—that of military colonists . Whether under the Romans or under the Russians , or as applied by our own statesmen in Canada , New Zealand , and the Cape , military colonies are denned objects of military administration . General Tremenheere ' s proposition does nominally increase the number of women with , a marching army ; in . reality , instead of impeding the efficiency of the army , it augments it , by encouraging recruiting , and . it places the married , men in a condition approacliing to , ' and preparatory for , that of military colonists . There can be no doubt that the encouragement to marriage would be
a . most effective bounty on recruiting , because it will extend the area of recruiting . Now , recruiting must take place from the unmarried males , and further , from such who may be called unmarrying males , as they will remain for years under restrictions before they can obtain formal authorisation for marriage . In India , too , they cannot get English wives . General Tremenheere offers an encouragement , while Indian recruiting lies under great discouragement ^ as there are prejudices against the climate , and even at this time the reparation of the losses in the army , of the military wear and tear ,
is slowly repaired by recruiting . General Tremenheere ' s plan provides for obtaining -a large class of recruits from labouring men , newly married , or with small families , from young men who have made improvident marriages , and from many who would , if unmarried fall into the category of recruits . If a ¦ labouring man , and his wife , who were in narrow circumstances , saw that he could obtain the steady pay and employment of an Indian soldier , with the customary allowances for his wife , and further free passages to each , for what , with all its risks , they would consider a land of emigration ,- he would be tempted , the more parwould
ticularly Avhen they knew that the children be sent to a healthy school in the hills , that there his wife might find employment , there he would be partly stationed , and could spend his furlough , and that he could obtain in the Neilgherries ( Kangra , Darjeelinar , or a like district , a small plot . of land and a trifling quit rent , where he and his wife could keep a tea-garden or coffee plantation , and whither , after his tenn of service , he could retire to enjoy a limited portion of independence , at least , 1 % not of opulence , —the Indian service , under such circumstances , would become a favourite one , we slimikt liavp . better means for carrying out the great
vegetation of unmixed European type , points out that the Anglo-Saxon family will equally flourish to any extent . For inaking-these advantages available the railway system of the plains must bq connected with the hills , and now that the Government has adopted as a principle and a practice the establishment of large European garrisons in the hills of India , General Tremenheere proposes to make the military force cputributary to the increase of the European population . He proposes , first , that the removal of all children of soldiers to the hills should be encouraged , and next , that the marriages of soldiers should also be encouraged by allowing a greater number of marriages per company than the regulation now admits . lie considers that there is no sufficient reason
measures for holding India by an English army , and the hill stations and arsenals , and we should experience no inconvenience from the number of women nominally attached to the army . We say nominally attached to the army , for in the practical results the Indian army would become like the Royal Artillery or the divisions of Marines . At Woolwich , Chatham , Portsmouth and Plymouth arc large settlements of tho wives and children of soldiers and marines , and so there would be at Darjee-Ootaka
why , in time of peace , the marriage of soldiers about to embark for India should not be encouraged , and even the enlistment of married men , provided they' would allow their children at from four to five years of age to be sent to a training establishment in the hills . It is truly said that it is an unnatural condition of things that the waste of that very clement which India so much requires should any longer continue . It is maintained that , on the contrary , whether on the score of state policy or morality , that element should be freely encouraged to take root , until , in time , small townshi lish citizens should
ling , Simla , Murree , Mount Aboo , Malheran , - miind , and the other great hill settlements . These would be the depots of women and children , and as they could stay there , and the women obtain emplovmcnt , and with the portions of their husbands pay make out a livelihood , they would have small temptation to undergo the perils and inconveniences of marches and campaigns in the plains or of residence in tho low garrisons . Ihe lew women who would march with the troops would be consutuxo
ps of pure Eng spring up , whenco soldiers for the army might be drawn , aud wcll-trainod subordinates for other departments of the public service , as well as for privato employ , migiit . be obtained . , Sir John . Login ' "has made a very important proposition having likewise tho tendency to increase , by means of military arrangements , tho European element , by the organisation of a corps of workmen soldiers , to whom a free passage to India would be the bounty for a few years' service , aft or which they would remain in tho hills as civil settlors , but formintr an eiVoolivo military reserve . This
jirowothp women without , cluldren , who . woujo , less encumbrance than thoso now to be found with regiments on service , for we should no longer have nine hundred children in dep & t at Dum Dum , as tho women would bo inarching women , rendering some services to tho army ; and in all European campaigns , with tho greatest restrictions , women do march with tho armies , and staff officers must expect to find them and to bear with them , and if the soldiers do not Imvo women of their own nation with them as cantiniercs of sutlers , whether in the held or in garrison , they form suoli connexions with the women of the country as is dangerous to the opGi'ftUona « oiUthe-roneni-y-by-tUo--faoilitio 8 > . gi . vcn , « to ,
sition is being matured , and has been under the consideration of several leading statesmen . There can bo little doubt that in one shape or another Sir John Login will carry it into ciVoct . «^ JJivoj ? ca ^ ft . g « catUuUisposiUoiv , oiutUo-. pav . t . o £ rWauy military men to consider , much loss accopt , a proposition like that of General Tromcnhcere , which is supposed to invade a military canon . Ho proposes to incroaso the number and proportion of married soldiers in ft rotf imout : now , according to all military traditions it , will be held that tho fewer married soldiers there arc tho bettor , and tho fewer women with an army , in peaoe or war , and yet it may bo questionable whether , considered iu auothoy
spios . .. . Whatever advantage may ariso , according , to some , from intercourse bolwocntho English solcueis and native women , would still exist , but the much greater advantage would bo obtained of « - W Body of tho married men nndot many moil intending to marry , being- weaned from «*^ £ ™* g native women . Tncre would be likewise the groat advantage that the soldiery , who load a most oom-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 4, 1858, page 23, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04091858/page/23/
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