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3m T:H:B XBAIXEtR* I^actkday, %xatsM> ¦ ...
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THE MORAL OF THE RECEPTION LAST WEEK. "I...
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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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Reconstruction Of The Indian Army. Man Y...
— = ¦ --in-Chiefs Staff , there is nothing to stimirfate the ambition of a Queen ' s officer , while the Company ' s , servants may aspire , not only to - military , hut to civil , appointments of -high , honour and emoluments . An officer of the Native Army who has attained a competent knowledge of two oriental languages may hope to become the Chief Commissioner of a district ar important as the Principality of "Wales , or to represent the Supreme Governr ment at the court of a native prince ruling over millions of subjects . . And even it he fail to cany off the highest prizes for merit , or interest , he may look with some confidence to an enviable post in the Commissariat , to the command of a Contingent or Irregular Corps , or to the lucrative office of Acting Engineer . In the beginning , this exclusive system was thoroughly consistent with that adopted by the Company in the general management of their affairs . A body of merchants , having formed a notable scheme tor enriching themselves by trading with the gorgeous East , " obtained from the sovereign of the day the privilege of debarring all others from the display of similar enterprise . It was in furtherance of this narrow-muided policy that the nucleus was formed of the present Bengal Army . When the first fac-¦ tory was established at Hooghly , in the year 1652 , the armed force stationed therein was limited to " Ensign a nd thirty men , to do honour to the principal Agents . " But only thirty-one years afterwards the Company increased this number to . 250 European soldiers , not as a defence against the native princes , but expressly to prevent all , competition on the part of other adventurous Englishmen—contemptuously designated as " interlopers" in all the public documents of the times . With the same view , a man-ofwar was sent out from England to cruise in the Bay of Bengal , with orders to " suppressa class of freebooters , acting equally against the exclusive privileges of the Company and the interests of the nation . " Subsequently , through an egregious misconception of the simplest principles of commerce , and by a series of fortunate blunders , the East India aompany , after " TSeifig" brought to the verge of ruin , stumbled upon an empire , and from being dealers in colonial produce b ecame the rulers of * many millions of copper-coloured men . Now , this marvellous result was not achieved without the aid of a large auxiliary force from the Crown , whose services demand a more adequate requital than they have yet received . For the spirit of monopoly that originated the Company's success has unhappily been perpetuated in their administration , until the British Parliament has been compelled to interfere and to suppress their most cherished and exclusive privileges . Not only has the eastern trade been thrown open , but the Civil Service of India has ceased to be the apanage of half a dozen Scotch families . It now only remains to complete the demolition of the absurd impcrium in imperio , a mercantile community possessing a standing army well nigh independent of their own Government , and ruling over a -people many times more numerous than the immediate subjects of their sovereign . And this desirable consummation may bo easily and equitably effected by reorganising the Indian Army , and by its conversion into a Colonial Abmt , on the same footing as the various corps known as the Canadian , Ceylon , and
West Indian regiments . It is commonly supposed , or at least stated , that India is the best military school for the English army , a fallacy , than which there can be none greater . For , in the first place , the discipline in that , torrid climate is necessarily leBB strict ; than in > Europe , and the meny baaing ; more' money and leisure ^ at commajidy
generally acquire habits not commendable in » aBritishVsollier . Besides , when a regiment , fs ofdered home , by far the greaterportion , volunteers to remain , - and few of those who originally left their native land ever set foot o 3 again . Of the officers , too , more than 1 one thSd are placed on half-pay , so that it , cannot- be truly said that the experience of , waXL obtained in India is essential to the Tmciency of our home army . ^ And it must i also be borne in mind that for every regi- Sent to be relieved there is one to be sent , Zt , and that it frequently happens that , while either corps is proceeding toitsdesti- , nation , the services of the two regiments are lost to the State for upwards of a year at the same time . Undoubtedly , the P ^ , < £ . few E uropean regiments is highly important and perhaps indispensable , to the security of our Eastern Empke ; but it is , by no means necessary that they should be detachedfrom the Queen ' s service in Europe . The European corps already in the pay of the Honourable Company have , on more than one occasion proved themselves equal to the regular line ' Und it would be far less expensive to augment this force by a given number of per-£% zr : f : ^ . y ^ £ would be the greater , because then- officers might be required to pass throug h the same tests as to lingual attainments to which the officers of the native army are now subiected B ut it is well known that the Queen s officers rarely make any progress m the ^ Oriental tongues , so that m the field they are quite unable of themselves to obtain any information as to the country , or the movements of the enemy . . This Colonial Abmt , T ; hen ,-would consist of European and of Native _ regiment ^ to be distributed over the entire Indian Empire including Ceylon , without reference to the artificial and troublesome distinctions of Presidencies , which only tend to foster a spirit of jealousy and illwill . Officers in any other branch of the British service might be permitted to exchange into this force , and to enioy every privilege air present the exclusive property oithe Company ' s troops , m proving , themselves capable of dkchargirig the peculiar duties of the post which they sought to _ obtain In the hour of need this army would be available for any quarter of the globe . It might be poured through Egypt into Europe , and landed at any point on the shores of the Mediterranean or the Euxme ; or it might be employed to occupy the coasts of Western Africa or of China , or the islands m the southern seas . There would thus exist but one British army , united by common interests and sympathies . At home we would have a well-organised militia , ever ready to repel all foreign aggression , and a standing armv , in a high state of discipline , capable oi being hurled at any moment on a given point . And abroad , a colonial army mured to diversity of climates and skilled in a diversity of tongues , and at all times prepared to maintain peace and tranquillity in our most distant possessions . These three services , though distinct , might differ from each other less than do the various arms of artillery , cavalry , and infantry . And having all a similar duty to perform , they should , in common justice , be encouraged by similar hopes , and recompensed by similar rewards .
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The Moral Of The Reception Last Week. "I...
THE MORAL OF THE RECEPTION LAST WEEK . "It is easy to bo wickedly virtuous , " says a prosperous " Whig , when you reprobate the extinction ,, by perjury anil massnore , of the liberties of a great nation . An unsuccessful libertieidfr and a weak criminal ia odious , but thia
¦ ^ man is successful and strong ; a natioa of freemen follow " the right instinct " in-giving him a popular ovation-Is this all the hope we base for the liberties of * mankind ? Is this the end of Revolutions ? Has a nation , so full of intellect arid generous aspirations struggled so terribly and so long , only that it may become a fit subjeet for a despotism which rises by the hand of a St . Abnaud , which rules through Mornys and Pkrsignys , which stands by Jesuitism and bayonets ? The base moral frivolity , the utter ingratitude towards all who have tried to advance humanity , the abject despair of political virtue and human progress which this prostration before a liberticide evinces , are sad omens for our race . It is a folly or an hypocrisy to say that France wants rest . This is not rest ; it is suppression , which will lead in the end to worse unrest . The only thing that can give rest to a nation worthy to be free is the manful effort which shall bring her storm-tost liberties to shore . " A rebellion—a civil war—a restoration—a reaction—furious factions—scaffolds running with blood—another rebellion ! This nation wants rest ! " So might WiM . iA . ivf op Orange have said in 1688 . And then , having fusilladed London into peace , he might have gone to Amsterdam and talked of his" convictions " to a land of liberty without danger . " If despotism be just in France , why do we make war against the despot of Russia ? Is it because the despot of Russia is really a social necessity , and because he has not extinguished in Blood the liberties of a free people ? You talk of this despotism as required by the interests of civilisation . Civilisation is ~ not material prosperity , such as sheep may enjoy under a shepherd . Civilisation is something : moral , and its source is freedom of thought . But the Jesuit , supported by the gendarme , stands triumphant over freedom of thought m France . " * _ , . Is any one so weak and so ignorant of history as to be misled by the popular beginnings of despotism ? Can any one be cheated of free institutions by seeing " Emperor by the will of the people" on a coin , or be br ibed to relinquish them by amagnificence in architecture , easy . to those ^ who can take any man ' s money at their will . ' Augustus was elaborately affable . Augustus was tr ibune of the people . Augustus found Rome brick , and left it marble . Augustus banished , confiscated , proscribed . After AUGUSTUS came Tiberius , Caligula , Claudius , Nero . . , ,, „ . We are told that God forgives , and tiiat man ought to forgive , the past . The suppression of French liberty is not past . Noyv , while we are feasting Louis Napoi ^ on , his noble victims , whom we once feasted , are living 10 exile , or bowing their heads in shame at home .. Now , amidst the crapulous transports ot civic adulation , hundreds are being tortured to deat » by the fevers , of Cayenne—condemned as turbers of society by the man w ho rawed toe standard of civil war in his own selfish interest at Boulogne and Strasburg . God and man may forgivf the robber , but not while his knee is on the breast , and his hand on the throat , oi ma ViC e * are told that France has condoned ^ the coup d ' etat . Who heard France pronounce this condonation ? Let the French ^ pressbe free for a day , and if the voice it utto » » « f of condonation , we shall regard the , lavery o France for the future without horror , though not without sorrow . , . tuey . Englishmen must not mistake what wiy have Ine in the eyes of Franco J ^ ^ X j fe-s ^ i t ^ SHsi
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 28, 1855, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28041855/page/14/
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