The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-06-15 00:00:00

WANDERING NEEDLES.

THE INDIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE.

The following is an extract from the letter of the Corres•
poudent of the Erening Standard, who, writing from
Valetta, under date June 6, says that the entire Expeditionary
Force may now be considered to have safely disembarked,
and adds :

-- •
I know of my own knowledge that the Sepoys will
be terribly disappointed if they do not see England and
the august and mysterious potentate who sways them,
the Maharanee, who, to their minds, is above all other
Maharanees as the sun is above the stars that pale and
fade out in its light. This is almost a literal transcript
of a dialogue between Captain Becher, of the 2nd
Goorkhas, and one of his men, a grizzled veteran, which
occurred the evening before we got into Valetta, and
at which I happened to be present :—Goorkha: "They
say we shall be in England to-morrow, sahib. Is
it true ? "—Captain: "No ; what made you think
that ?"—Goorkha "We were told we should meet
Colonel Macintyre and Major Nash, and I knew that
they were in England on leave."— Captain : " Yes ;
but they have come from England to meet us. Malta
is but one of the forts we throw out in skirmishing order
all over the globe." A pause, and the Goorkha re-
sumed: "Sahib, how far is Malta from England ?"
Captain: "Ten days." Goorkha: "Shall we go
there? "—Captain: "I know not; indeed, I fear not."
The Goorkha is gloomy and meditates, but suddenly
brightening up, as if a happy thought had broken
in upon him, he asks: "Does not our colonel (the
Prince of Wales) live in London? " —Captain :
"Yes."—" Then," continued Goorkha, cheerfully,
"we shall go. Surely when he hears that we are but
ten days from him he will want to inspect us again. it
is his duty. Besides, we wish to look upon the Prin-
cess of Wales. That will be fine ! When we return
to our villages in the hills we can say we have been
farther than ever black man was before." General
Macpherson holds that there is not a grumble in a
Goorkha, and he knows them frem marrow to cuticle;
but with all due respect for General Macpherson, there
will be deep and dire grumblings if they do not go to
England—or to battle. Like the Irish tailor, they
are "spoiling for a fight." If they do go to England
and if the Princess ot Wales were to ride in front of
their lines, the event would be one not merely for the
Court chronicler to pen, but a gain not to be counted
by money in the affectionate enthusiasm it would
arouse. Already the Prince of Wales is immensely
liked by the regiment; the men claim him as one of
them, and sent him a gift of an ivory-handled kookri
of steel of the finest temper, artistically mounted iu
silver. Nor is the Prince of Wales a nominal
colonel. At a Levee over which his Royal Highness
presided, Captain Hill, of the 2nd Goorkhas, made his
obeisance.. He had hardly pas4ed when the Prince
with admirable tact sent an aide-de-camp to recall
him, and asked after his regiment, entering into a
homely chat, in which he showed a remarkable
memory of what he had seen at the great Delhi review
and a genuine interest in the welfare of the corps.
Little attentions of this nature go far to endear the
ruler to the subject, and it is this trait in the character
of the Prince which makes him so popular with all
branches of the service. . . .