The Press.
London, England, 1858-02-06 00:00:00

THE PRESS, FEBRUARY 6, 1858.

I should certainly order a court-martial to assemble
immediately for the trial of Lieutenant Ritso upon the
charge which you have given against him, only that I am
in hopes that he will become sensible of his error, and
that he will make a proper ap dog', to yon, as his com•
manding officer, for his disrespectful behaviour to you, and
o the head surgeon of the army for the insinuation con-
veyed against him in the papers which you have sent me.
I beg that you will communicate this letter to him ; and
whin I hear from you that he has made apologies such as
I have above described, I shall request of you to release
him from his arrest.

Military discipline in India ho considered
likely to be relaxed by the centralisation in the
Governor-General of all power of promotion.
The petty interference of Lord Clive
with General Harris drew from him
an expression of opinion strongly against the
absorption by the civil power of military
patronage :

The rules of patronage ought to be the same at Madras
as they are in Bengal, where the Governor-General,
although probably the most powerful subject in the world,
cannot in the ordinary course of business make a corporal.
Here the commander-in chief, by the encroachments of
Lord Hobart, first upon General Brathwaite, and lastly
upon Sir A. Clarke (and by the operation of throwing all
the business of the army into the Military Board, where he
debates with the officers who ought to execute his orders),
has no more power over the army than if he were a common
soldier. The whole establishment look to the Governor
for favour and promotion instead of to their legal head ;
and thus it is that the commander-in-chief becomes
contemptible to the army which he is to lead. I told Lord
Clive all this long ago, and particularly stated to him the
necessity of giving the general credit at least for the ap-
pointments of the diNerent commissaries, if he did not
allow him to make them. It was impossible to make him
too respectable, or to hold him too high, if he was to be
placed at the head of the army in the field.

Next to want of men, the greatest impedi-
ment thrown in the way of Sir Cohn Campbell
has been want of transport. In a memoran-
dum respecting the necessity of preparation
for the war with Tippno in 1799, Colonel Wel-
lesley lays down the following rules regarding
transport :
It is impossible to oarry on a war in India without bul-
locks, and yet the expense of an establishment at all ade-

quate to the purposes fur which it is intended is so great
that [ cannot recommend one. You wish, however, to be
in such a state as to be able to strike a blow at all times,
and I know no means of making you so, excepting you
order that the collectors of the different districts under
the Company's Government should endeavour to ascertain
the number of bullocks they have in their districts, and
what number they could collect without doing much
injury to the cultivation of the country. They ought to
make a report to Government upon this subject occa-
sionally.
In the districts belonging to the Nabob and to the
Rajah, the commanding officers of the troops to make the
inquiries, and reports above recommended to be required
from the collectors.

Thns Government will at all times know where to look
for bullocks, and what number can be taken with ease from
every part of the country. To collect them afterwards will
not be very difficult.
Draught•bullo'ka for the artillery are the most essential,
and it takes a great length of time to train them. It
might be a question whether you ought not to keep up an
establishment of them.

The peculiar value he attributed to ample ar-
tillery transport in the conduct of campaigns
is also shown in the first letter published in
this volume, replying to a memorial from
Major-General St. Leger respecting light ar-
tillery. Colonel Wellesley writes :
Without being regularly bred to artillery, it is not diffi-
cult to perceive the advantages which would attend such
an establishment as it proposes in this country. There
are certain principles in artillery, the truth of which is
undeliable in all countries, and which the light artillery
would bring into effect in this. One of these is, that the
more speedily and the greater ease with which the gun is
transported the better, provided there is equal weight of
metal and equal strength of carriage.
The want of speed in the artillery of this country has
been the cause that ninny advantages have been missed,
many opportunities of bringing the enemy to action have
not been taken because the artillery could not be brought
tip in time; and, for some unaccountable reason, the native
armies, having had better draught-bullocks and larger
establishments, have been able to draw off their artillery
when that of the British army could nut be moved. The
only objection to light artillery is the scarcity of horses in
India I pat the expense out of the question, as, if the
establishment is necessary, the expense of it is not to be
considered. lam afraid that scarcity will be fatal to what
is proposed in the memorial, although I think that an
establishment adopting some of its great principles may be
had without difficulty and at a trifling expense, and that
it will render as effectual service in this country as that
proposed, which, I think, must be rejected un account of
the want of the necessary supply of horses.
"However," he adds in conclusion,—

to have some artillery which can be moved with
celerity will be attended with such advantages, that I
cannot readily give up tho idea merely because there is a
difficulty attending the original purchase of horses, and
beeetpie their future supply would be impractical°. I

137

should therefore propose that there should be an establish•
ment of horses for eight guns and four howitz• ill, with
harness. kc., at all times ready at the Park, in adiliiion to
their usual establishment of bullocks, &c. &C. It is un-
necessary at present to enter into a detail of all that would
be nenessary for such an establishment; but my idea is
that the horses should never be used excepting when it is
desirable, on account of being near an enemy, to move the
artillery at a quick rate ; and that all the ordinary duties
of transport should. be done as usual by the bullocks.

When Zemaun Shah threatened to invade
Hindostan, and advanced to the Indus,
Colonel Wellesley writes unon the defence of
our north-west frontier, and his observations,
alluding to places whose names are familiar
to us now, are especially interesting :
So little is known of the north-west frontier, notwith-
standing that it has been so long in our bands' that it is
impossible to give even a general opinion of what line it
would be best to pursue; whether to ccnfine ourselves to
the defence of Lucknow and Allahabad, or to prevent the
enemy from crossing the Jumna. I should prefer the
latter as tne most certain method of defence ; and it must
be recollected that Abdallah beat the Mahrattas by driving
them from the Doab over the Jumna. It is a most fertile
spot, and ought not to be given up in a hurry.
Whatever plan is followed, Allahabad must be secured,
and quanities of stores and grain must be thrown into it.
If the passage of the Jumna be prevented, as long as the
Ganges is navigable the army in the Drab can be sup-
plied with ease from thence by means of boats.

The value he placed upon the fortress of
Allahabad is illustrated on several occasions.
It is curious to observe that the plan of de-
fence he approved of for Oude against any
invasion from the northward is exactly that
since adopted by the natives :

I send a memorial, which I have received from Colonel
Kydd, upon the defences of Oude, which. I believe, is the
only paper which exists upon that subject. The plan
appears to be well calculated to answer the purposes for
which it is intended, and the principal part of it has been
already put in execution : I mean that we have obtained
possession of Allahabad and the fort at Futtyghur, and that
a plan has been formed for strengthening both these posts.
It requires a local knowledge of the country lying between
the Jumna and the Ganges, and of the positions at Calpee,
Etawa, and Anopaheer, to be able to decide whether the
part of the memorial which relates to them be as well
grounded as the first part. As, however, the attack which
is to be apprehended is from cavalry, generally speaking,
there is no method of annoying them and of preventing
them from doing mischief so effectual as the establish.
ment of the small fortified posts which Kydd recommends.
I don't mean that they should be made so strong as to
stand a siege, or in case of our omitting to occupy them, or
if we should lose any of them, that we should find any
difficulty in retaking them; but that they should be of the
nature of the mud forts in the Carnatic, which afford pro•
tection to a small body of infantry against a large one of
cavalry, and enable officers proceeding with convoys to put
them in security almost every night.
• • • • • • •

In the meantime Allahabad should be filled with stores
and grain. Some of both should be thrown into the fort
at Futtyghur. Kydd says that Allahahad can now defend
itself, and the proposed alterations will make it very strong
indeed.

Upon the oft•debated question of European
settlers in India, Colonel Wellesley held ad-
verse opinions. Regarding India as the appa-
nage of a company, he was opposed to the en •
couragenient of European colonisation, both
on physical and political grounds. " There
are," he writes, " objections to the measlre
" which arise partly from the (diameter of the
" natives, and partly from the effect which the
" climate has upon European constitutions" :
The natives hold every European in the greatest awe,
and therefore it is imagined that, if these were allowed to
settle in such parts of the country as they might think fit,
they might be induced to tyrannise over the former, who
would fear to complain, and thus the British name and
character would become an object of detestation to the
Hindoes

But the climate he held to be the principal
objection to an unconstrained resort of British
subjects to India:—

Those who have not been in Bengal are not aware of the
effects which its climate has upon the European constitu-
tion ; but they are so great, and those who have been there
for any length of time become so enervated, that it is
doubted whether those benefits which are expected would
result from their residence. A European cannot with
safety expose himself to the sun : how then can he hope
to superintend 012 various operations of husbandry with
success ? His generation, even supposing him to be
married to a European woman, dwindles and falls off to
such a degree that the third generation from the original
settler is but little removed, in manners and disposition,
from the old inhabitants of the country ; and therefore,
excepting by a constant drain from the mother country,
the full benefits of this colonisation cannot be expected.

His political objections resolve themselves
into grave doubts whether, in times of public
excitement, the allegiance to the Company's
Government of any largo British population
of landed proprietors could be depended upon.

%Wish- f
mends.
g as to
tem, or
Id any
of the
•rd pro•
one of
to pub .
•
stores
he ft ort
defend
strong
,pears
1 ad-
ippa-
ke en •
both
There
as ire
pt' the
h the
s' :
st awe,
Awed to -
link fit,
r, who
me and
to the
neipal
ritish
? of the
institu-
• there
st it is
would
)t, with
e hope
ry with
to be
off to
original 4
ovition, F'
erefore,
:ountry,
!.ted.
selves
nubile
)any'd
lation
upon.
1