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goes through his exercise in brigade ; but how many of our home-keeping regiment ? have been practised in more than , the routine evolutions pi a review ? Tew save those that haye been in India have had any sustained practice in real rough field movements . To some , the idea of forming up promptly and at once , without waiting to " dress , " must be a heartrending violation ot etiquette and symmetry ; but when they find the one commander disposing of large bodies of men with decision and order , even on broken ground , they will learn to appreciate the essentials ; anQ will relish the skill which , however practised in franinff its military copies on the ruled
paper of the parade , can in a time of real business dash off the living characters of war with a free hand on the roughest field . To go through drill with a theoretical eye to the brigade on tfte left or the right ,- to tell off the orthodox four paces ; to dress up with an anxious eye to tjae cheek of your second man , are excellent niceties of practice ; but when the boat has to scramble over the broken wave for life and death it is not time for " ¦ holiday feathering , " and when a Napoleon or Suwarrow is near , or in presence , the vigorous movement of the masses is rather more important than the smooth dressing of the ranks . _ _ . .
We know that recruits sent raw to India pave soon worked into harness , and helped to win a word of honour on the regimental colours j that rpgimentshave gone from barrack to victory ; but the greatest of generals—from a Pompeius to a "Washington , a Napoleon or a Wellington—have known what is the terrible strain upon the faculties and anxieties of the commander who works with raw materials . If mistakes are inevitable on the-first acquaintance with rough and ready service , it is quite as well to make them in
presence of " the enemy" represented by farriers and the cockney spectators , rather than by an imperial Eussian Guard , or a sweeping squadron of Von Cossacks . The most perfect drill and barrack discipline can never supply opportunities for thesp exerpises ; but campaigns like the one at Chobham supply these deficiencies of the ordinary military curriculum in times of peace . Not much has yet been effected ; but no doubt an experienced old campaigner like Lord Seaton will supply all deficiencies beiore the camp breaks up .
Some practical inconvenience haa been felt by the troops in the crowding of spectators who take up positions which interfere with the evolutions . The officers are disposed , we learn from tlie general orders , to discourage the attendance of civilians . No doubt they may be impediments . But surely it would be shortsighted policy on JJio part of the War Office to disgust the people by making their visits unpleasant . Great benefits must follow from familiarizing the public with
military sights ; and the proper course for the camp authorities to adopt would be to point out spots whence lay spectators might observe the evolutions of the troops without practical obstruction . Surely a few simple regulations , a few patrols , a moderate supply of good temper and forbearance would easily obviate the difficulty . By a little judicious forethought Lord Soaton . may satisfy all parties , and secure from tho campaign all its advantages , not only military but political .
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THE TESTAMENT OP THE CZARS . In another part of our paper wo havo translated from our able and energoticFrench contemporary , La Presse , tho text of a document purporting to bo tho Testament of tho Hussian Emperors ; or , in other words , a scheme for tho subjugation of Europe , drawn up by Peter tho Great for tho guidance of his nugnsfc fluoccHfiors to tho throne of tho Czars . Wo do not pretend to deoido in any degroo upon tho claims to authenticity which , this singular quasi Stato-papor may bo held to pO BHGSS . That-a document of this nature , if not in this
precise form , does exist in tho state archives oi tho EusHian Empire we havo great reason to believe ; it in quito possible that many apocryphal And hypothetical texts more or Iohh approximative to tho proBuinod original , may be in existence , without invalidating tho fact that mich an original doen oxint ; . No doubt it has often happened with reenect to profane , wo do not Hay to sacred history , that ex post facto prophecies havo boon conveniently iiiBortod among posthumous MSS . documents , and endorsed by Borne ourious and
inventive collector with the prophetic character not strictly belonging to them . In the present case , however , even were the explanation of its origin , which we find in La Presse , less definite than it w , the text of this Testament would , we think , justify us in soliciting a mpre serious attention tQ its contents than that ^ teterrimus " ambassador , the Chevalier d'JSon , appears tp have been able to obtain from the debonair Ministers of Louis . XV . There are three date ? to be taken in connexion with , this Testament , and wln ' ch appear tp us to stamp it with whatever significance
it may be permitted to claim , fcjp long agp as in 1779 , the ' ' Political Life of the Chevalier d'Eon" was published , from which , the Chevalier ' s memorable complaint of thp indifference with whiph his youthful revelations of Eussian policy were received by the Ministers of Louis XV . is extracted . In 1836 the Life of the Chevalier d'Eon , founded on indisputable family documents and state-papers , appeared . In 1853 , the latest Turkish question—m other Russia
words , the latest systematic aggression of [ upon Turkey , brings the neglected revelations of the favourite of Elizabeth of Russia into startling apropos . The Chevalier lived himself to see a part of his Cassandra-like predictions of Russian policy fulfilled . Prom 1779 to 1836 , we need not point out how relentlessly and inflexibly the policy of alternate fraud and force sketched in this document has been pursued by the successors of Peter the Great .
What is this menacing mission of Prince Menschikoff , in the spring of 1853 , with all its still undeveloped consequences , but the realization of certain doctrines , of the Imperial Testament ? So that , leaving to Notes and Queries the dry statistical question of the genuineness and authenticity , we are , at least , entitled to conclude that if this Testament be not a reality , it deserves to be . If it be a fabrication , it " lies like truth ! " Bead by the light of Count ISTesselrpde's self-accusing excuses , we may say , that if it be " too good to be true , " it is also too true to be altogether worthless .
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THE GOVERNMENT BILL FOR INDIA . ( front a Correspondent . ) IT way fairly be presumed that no plan for the future government of India , whether that of Sir Charl e s Wood or any other , haa a chance of being discussed purely on its merits . Thp ground is not clear for abstract views or optimist devices . Party strife has possessed itself of Indian politics , as of all others ; and not what is best , but what can be obtained , will bo here , as elsewhere , tho consideration to govern the result . . More than the ordinary looseness and inaccuracy of political discussion , manifest themselves in Indian debates , and a $ much so on tho official side , as on the other . The President of tho Hoard of Control made a
speech , of the length now established for great ministerial expositions , —namely , five hours ; but its material was singularly inappropriate to its object . His business was to show that tho form of government now established for India is the best for the purpose , some matters requiring amendment alone excepted . To do this , ho detailed the progress India has made jn tho twenty years' term of tho present charter now just expiring , without , however , attempting to show that that progress i 3 in any way a consequenco of that form of government , and could have been , in any equal degree , a consequence of no other . Tho Bombay potitjonerH ascribe tho advantages India has derived from its
connexion with us , to " tho British character , " while thoy strongly object to tho particular form and construction of tho government ; and , in tho main , wo think thoy aro in tho right , Whothor , however , they aro so or not , it is quito clear that Sir Charles Wood fell into tho sumo mistake as his predecessor , Mr . Herrics , when ho adduced the advance of India to prove tho excellence of tho system , which chance , party compromises , and tho occasional pressure of public opinion , havo established for tho government of India . Our Eastern Empire might havo prospered much more , under any other Hystom , or jt « prosperity may be in no way connected with the existing one , for anything he showed to the contrary .
IIin opponents , however , aro not lean inexact- r J'ho f : ict « thoy allege are , in many cases , cither iiwbcuriitoly adduced , or , for want of fuller information , aro made to support false inferences . Moreover , a stale of things which had existed for agoH , and which can bo hut nlowly changed , in niado to supply tho materials pf accusation » gainnt a government of yesterday , which conl < l only take matters m they found them , and mo » d them as they might . We say a government of yesterday , for it may bo doubted whether u cafculution , founded on areas , population * , and < latp # of fljcqujisitjpn ,
would givQ sp much as ftfty years fprthe average duration of our rule . , An independent reader , comparing , or , rather , contrasting the statement of the two parties , migh . * well imagine tjiat there # as » P truth in either . -Rasing allowance , however , for the manner in winch _ party deals with , * Hpts , we arp reatfy tp adnyt , that there is mow of red . truth pf allegation on tytfb si ^ es , than would , at first sight , appear ; but there is ? an enprrap ^ s amount of misapplication affects , and from this , cluettj have t
arises the appearance of contradiction , ^ e nq space fa follow out this remark . Our object is limited ,, at present , tp showing that there is obscurity epongb in Indian subjects , to prevent any such decisive acjapn on the part qf . the independent portion pf the political public , as shall greatly modify the resolves of the bureaupratic body . Sir Chi les Wppd and hjs colleagues will probably have matter ? pretty much their own way , through the timidity of igpprance which possesses most beside those jn office , unless , indeed , party considerations , extrinsic to ' the bill itself , shpuld prepare , another fate for India .
If so , what is the bill , what arc its probable rpsqlts , and what are the improvements pf which it is susceptible ? To open the civil and stientific branches pi the Indian services to educational competition , while other parts qf the same service are still left tp be filled by simple nomination , is to deprive tlie whole system of an advantageous homogeniety . A small ruling caste amongst millions , we cannot afford to risk the establishment of moreschism 3 where we have too many already . We are confined to the necessity of "unity ; , by our b living no general British public in In ^ ia , as a fund from which to draw for the several ranks and
qualifications of the service . We have now two services—r the covenanted and the uncovenanted ; in future we are to have three—the competitive , or talented ; the nominated , or common ; and the uncovenanted , or friendless . Competitive examinations afford little real proof of fitness for any office , least of all for Indian . It is true that from the dullard little can be hop p ed for ; but it is just as true that the mere bookworm is the very man to fail in the varied exigencies of Indian official life .
Clive never spoke to the natives in their . own language . Sir William Jones , profound linguist as he was , could never dispense with an interpreter in court . Some of the men who have done most fpr India inust have failed under a scholastic examination . India , like every other field of active enterprize , wants Brindleys , Smeatons , and George Stephensons , quite as much as Willises , Moseleys , and De Morgans ; and a test which emphatically excludes the former class will by no means afford compensation in the places it gives tho latter .
Tho same breaking-up of the existing similarity of origin and unity of composition , is to take place in tho nomination of the Court of Directors . It is hardly possible that tho six directors to bo nominated by the Crown ehould not affect a different standing from thoso who attain their seats through a canvass now largely stigmatized as degrading . Nor can it happen otherwise than that , in any difference which may arise , tho Crown will support its own nominees . Wo may , henceforth , expect discussions sufficiently open , and perhaps acrimonious , whero disagreements havo been too well concealed under an outward official conformity , and where healthful publicity has been far too much feared and shunned . If Ministers , in making appointments to tho Direction look too exclusively to Indian qualifications , wp may anticipate failures in that great liberalizing process which it is our function to conduct in Jndia . An " Old Indian , " who wont out at eighteen and roturns at sixty , is far more fully furnished with Indian than with English postulata for all his opinions ; and it is very difficult to convince him that , exceptions execpted , India , and especially his own part of it , is not now what it ought ever to be . And yet , it is in tho gradual progress from tho Oriental and despotic , towards tho English and constitutional , that tho value and stability of our rule in India rcsido . A ci-devant , ruler of HuhmisHivo inyriudn , freHh to tho air and mien of England , may oftqn be tho man , not so much to hoo or take part in such a progress , as to dread arid ' obstruct It . Indian great men , except of the rarer Hort , need to have colleagues of a different kind , to draw their truo practical value from them . Wo poBH over for tho prenpnt Homo matters regarding India itself , to make- somo ijeedful rejnarku pn t ) jp twp provisions in the new arrangement which vooin tp contain tho gcrmH of whatever organic gpofl it may yield . Tho fust of thcMo is that which , aa to timo , avowedly leaves tho Indian question open indefinitely . No period of twenty years iH assigned to future sleep ; and it will bo tho fault of U » o educated natives of India , and of their frienda here , if tfl rea » pjj&ble and nwdflil reforms
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fil 4 THE IEAPEI . [ SAgglPA *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 25, 1853, page 614, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1992/page/14/
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