The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—It is not without reason that commis-
sions have been occupied with the sanitary pros-
pects of our army in India. Our Eastern Empire
now makes demands upon us never known before.
In the suppression of the mutinies and the pacifica-
tion of the country after that terrible convulsion, a
great work was accomplished. We passed triume
phantly through a crisis which had been long im-
pending, and entered upon a new era. The organi-
sation of India under the immediate government of
the Crown has already been attended by the happiest
results. The finances of the country have been in-
credibly improved; employment at high wages is
abundant, and every class of the population has been
enriched. Never were the prospects of India so
bright, but all this has been done at a cost to
ourselves which must not be forgotten. The basis
of this surprising prosperity is a large British
army. We used to contribute to the military esta-
blishments of India a contingent of 20,000 troops.
In those days almost all the rest was done by regi-
ments of native soldiers in the service of the Com-
pany. It was only under the pressure of an emer-
gency that the royal contingent was increased, and
even in the heat of the Sikh war the Queen's army
in India never amounted to 30,000 men. Perhaps
24,000 would be a fair estimate of its average
strength in the years inina€ diately preceding
the revolt; whereas we now maintain an army in
India of thrice that strength. As many as 72,000
British soldiers are constantly employed on that
duty. Regiment after regiment takes its turn of
this distant service, and encounters for ten years
together the trials of an Indian climate. Our
readers will not forget the results which were re-
cently disclosed or the mortality which was found
to prevail, nor will the facts appear in the least de•
gree surprising when the old conditions of military
life in India are once understood. In that country
this year the thermometer ranged from 102 deg. to
107 deg. in a well-built and well.managed house,
furnished with all the necessary appliances for miti-
gating the heat. To the inevitable effects of a tem-
perature like this we have exposed large bodies of
uneducated men, destitute of self-resource, but not
unprovided with money. Too often these men were
lodged in ill ventilated and incommodious barracks,
without any appliances whatever for recreation,
diversion, or employment, and with nothing but the
canteen or the spirit shop to relieve the monotony of
existence. Their hours were divided between drill
and drink, and, with the habits thus generated, they
were exposed to the ordinary diseases of the
elimate and the visitations of periodical epide-
mics. No wonder the alarm has been taken at last.
The improvements suggested are partly moral and
partly mechanical. To some extent, indeed, we may
promote the desired object by a redistribution of the
troops and a better arrangement of stations. Rail-
roads will enable us to economise power, to effect
easy and frequent change of quarters, and thus to
give timely relief to a suffering garrison. But, un-
der the most favourable circumstances, the army in
India must be subjected to the trials of a climate re-
quiring all the mitigation which professional skill
can devise. We have to counteract lassitude of body
and listlessness of mind, to wean the soldier from
the seductive but noxious use of stimulants, and to
keep him by some better means from weariness and
langour, Probably the work is more than half
moral, though we know from the question of lab-
ourers' cottages in this country how impossible it is
to set moral agencies at work in the face of adverse
physical conditions. The engineer must be turned
into the barracks with full powers before any moral
treatment can have fair play. Still, a beginning has
been actually made, and what is more, a result has
been obtained. Sir Hugh Rose has interested him-
self very commendably in providing the soldier in
India an alternative from the canteen, and a Parlia-
mentary paper recently issued contains a remark-
able account of the success achieved. The moral
instruments of sanitary reform are manifold—work-
shops, gardens, schools, cricket-grounds, bowling-
alleys, reading-rooms, and gymnasia. As to work-
shops, we shall probably surprise the reader when
we state that the amount actually realised by work
performed in regimental shops during a period of
six months exceeded £50,000. In the 2d battalion
of the Rifle Brigade wages were paid to volunteer
workmen amounting in the aggregate to £8,300.
The men of the 42d Highlanders received between
£3,000 and .£4,000 ; those of the 70th £2,350. Nor
do these returns give an adequate representation of
the success of the practice, for in many instances the
need of mechanical improvements has stood in the
way, and "regiments have not been able to give a
full development to the system on account of a want
of barrack accommodation." Still, so great has
been the progress made in a space of less than three
years that the industrial system is now established
in five regiments of cavalry and 32 battalions of
infantry, and the gains which we have recorded
show how extensively useful employment must have
been substituted for demoralising indolence. But
workshops are not the only places of amusement.
Regimental gardens are commonly cultivated, and
the occupation of horticulture has been " very suc-
cessful in many regiments. It has been found that
the men will not take willingly to gardens laid out
upon a large scale at a distance from their quarters,
but that they are very glad to attend to small gar-
dens close to their barracks, and take much plea-
sure in looking after them. Prizes are given for
the best produce, as at horticultural meetings at
home, and certain regiments are favourably men-
tioned in General Orders as distinguished for the
superiority and neatness of their gardens. The third
battalion of the Rifle Brigade has succeeded in
bringing into profitable cultivation even the barren
soil of Meean Meer. How completely the general
necessity of diversion has been now recognised may
he learnt from the statement of the Commander-in-
Chief himself that " there is not a regiment that has
not its reading and recreation-room well furnished
and fitted up, and supplied with the means of light-
ing, &c. These are in the evenings crowded with
men who can there obtain wholesome refreshments,
tea, coffee, cold meat, &c. Spirits are not allowed."
Again, we are told that in many regiments each
company has its own cricket club, and that matches
between different companies and regiments are not
uncommon. Nor are these outdoor diversions at all
interfered with by the workshops ; on the contrary,
it has been found that generally " throughout the
Army of Bengal the system of manly exercises and
out-of-door recreations has kept pace with the
useful industrial occupation of the men." After
saying all this, we need scarcely be at the pains of
adding that the consumption of ardent spirits
in the Indian army has considerably decreased,
and, though we are not directly informed of
the fact, we may very confidently assume that
the sickness and mortality formerly prevailing will
be found to have diminished also. It is of great
importance that there should be no slackening or
turning in so good a work as this, and that the
material improvements required for the develop-
ment of the system should be executed without
delay. It is not satisfactory to hear that a " want
of barrack accommodation" deprives a regiment of
its chance of becoming industrious and healthy, or
to reflect that even the good influences of a well-
spent day may be counteracted by the conditions of
unwholesome lodging at night. Enough has now
been ascertained to prove that no difficulty is to be
anticipated in the disposition of the soldier himself.
Even in India, with its exhausting climate, the
troops betook themselves to the spirit shop more
from want of an alternative than from any irresis.
tibia predilection. They are ready to engage in
voluntary industry if it is rendered practicable and
remunerative, and to amuse themselves with
rational and salutary diversions when they have
the chance of doing so. Henceforth, then, it rests
with the authorities to see that this chance is not
withheld. We have arrived at a point of the ques-
tion where controversy ceases and responsibility
begins. Nobody can now say that these schemes of
improvement are hopeless, or that they are inap-
plicable to India or incompatible with military life.
The British soldier in India is a sensible and rea-
sonable being, who, if he has hitherto gone wrong,
has done so in a great degree because he had very
little chance of doing better. He began to do better
the instant this chance was given him, andit now
remains with us to extend hie opportunities to the
utmost. It is a subject of imperial magnitude. The
maintenance of an army of 70,000 men in a remote
land must at the best be a great drain upon our
military and national resources, but we may at
:east take care, in justice to this army as well as to
ourselves, that its waste shall be diminished and
its power economised by all the precautions which
care and science can devise.
POST.—When a few days since we directed atten-
tion to the serious le.ss sustained by Col. I%l'Murdo
in the destruction of h:s house and property by fire,
whilst absent on duty in Scotland, we expressed
ourselves confident that neither the public nor the
volunteers would leave the inspector-general to sup-
port unaided the whole brunt of his heavy misfor-
tune. In expressing this opinion, we are gratified,
but not surprised, to find that we were not mistaken.
Since we called attention to the subject we have re-
ceived communications from correspondents recipro.
eating our views, and subscriptions have been ten-
dered to us for tha memorial fund which it is sug-
gested shall be raised. This last circumstance,
however, renders it necessary that we should offer
a few remarks upon what would seem to be the best
way of carrying into effect the wishes of those who
are desirous of recognising in a substantial manner
the great services which Col. M'Murdo has rendered
to tie volunteer service and the country at large. In
matters of this kind it is indispensable that a com-
mittee should be appointed which would not merely
receive subscriptions, but would also organise the
easiest inethod by which those subscriptions should
be collected, Its the present infitauce it Would seem