The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-30 00:00:00

"5. Bad as this was, it was not the worst. When
these regiments chose to 4 charge,' the Commander-in-
Chief, to his astonishment, beheld the men discharging
their firelocks straight up in the air ; and he saw some
men of the rear rank actually firing off their muskets to
the rear, over their shoulders, as their bearers (he will
not call them soldiers) were running to the front ! He
feels assured that no such scene could have occurred in
any other regiment in the arm ; if ever such ain hap- pens, he will expose the commanding-officeragain
of any such
regiment that so disgraces itself, in public orders, to the
whole Indian army. In the course of his service he
never before witnessed such a scene. No commander
could go into action with a regiment capable of such
conduct, without feeling certain that it would behave ill.
The Commander-in-Chief will, therefore, hold command-
ing officers responsible (for they alone are to blame) that
any soldier who shouts, or charges, or fires, without
orders, be instantly seized, tried at once by a drum-
head court-martial, and the sentence executed ou the
spot. Courts-martial which try such dangerous of-
fenders will, the Commander-in-Chief has no doubt, up-
hold military discipline and military honour against
outrageous and criminal disorder. This order may
be deemed severe—the Commander-in-Chief means it to
be so, for he will not pass over without animadversioa
faults which, if tolerated, would, in the event of war,
produce certain defeat to this army. The reviews which
the Commander-in-Chief makes of the troops are not to
be taken as so many ' chips in porridge.' They are made
for the purpose of ascertaining what officers are fit to
command battalions ; and there being no want of such
in the Indian army, he will feel it to be his bounden
duty to remove those who are not ; and whenever he
finds a regiment ' fire," shout,' or 'charge,' without
orders from its commander, he will, after this warning,
remove the latter from his command.
" The Sepoy is both a brave and an obedient soldier ;
and whenever he behaves ill, it is in a great measure the
fault of his commanding officer.
" The drill and discipline of all armies rest mainly
with the commanders of regiments and of companies.
They are in immediate contact with the officers, non-
commissioned officers, and private soldiers • and to them
general officers must look for that !perfect obedience
without which any army is an armed mob, dangerous to
its friends, and contemptible to its enemies.
"The Commander-in-Chief does not hereby call on
commanding officers to torment those under their orders
by long and harassing drilling ; but he does call upon
them to instruct their officers and to instruct themselves,
and also their supernumerary ranks, that they are to
seize any man in their front who dares to shout, or talk,
or fire, or run, without orders. General officers com-
manding divisions and brigades in this army are called
upon to see that commanders of regiments da their duty
on those points.
" The Commander-in-Chief does not apply this order
to all commanders ; he well knows that there are abun-
dant first-rate soldiers and first-rate regiments in the In-
dian army, but he applies it to those whose regiments
are in bad order.
" C. J. NAPIER, General, Commander-in-Chief."
There can be no doubt that, if Sir Charles Na-
pier was the sternest reformer, he was also the best
friend whom the army—officers and privates—ever
had. During his last two years in India, the abuses
which he corrected, and the excesses which he re-
strained, were perfectly numberless. In this good
work Sir Charles was no respecter of persons, and
treated majors and colonels precisely as lie did cor-
porals and sergeants. The expensive habits of the
mess he resolutely put an end to in every regiment
under his control, and for a time, it is to be siip-
posed, lie suppressed gambling. Sir Charles's own
manner of living was simple to severity. He was
quite content to subsist upon the ordinary allow-
ance of a soldier, and, as lie actually practised what,
lie preached, his injunctions came with double
weight. Multiplicity of officers' baggage was his
abhorrence ; and our readers will remember the
indignant, and no less amusing than indignant,
diatribe which he fulminated against trunks, port-
manteaus, carpet bags, and all such abominations,
contending that no officer on service has need of
any luggage except a small knapsack, with a couple
of shirts, as many socks, a second pair of shoes,
some soap, and a tooth-brush. These reforms pro-
duced the best effect, and we only hope that they
may be still in force. After two years' residence
in India Sir Charles Napier bade a final adieu to
the East, and returned for the last time to Eng-
land, where lie continued to reside in quiet seclu-
sion, only now and then appearing in public. The
last time we saw him was in St. Paul's Cathedral,
as he followed to the grave his old and illustrious
commander. He then looked ill and wan, and
appeared to walk with pain and difficulty. Seventy-
vile years, and nearly a score of wounds, or acci-
dents which were equivalent to wounds—fifty-four
years of the long period in question having been
spent in almost unremitting labour, mental and
physical, in every climate—such a life might well
have exhausted nature, even before the period of
three score and ten. But Sir Charles Napier has
died full of years and of honours ; and it is none of
the least of the latter that he was the first general
-who ever recorded in his dispatches the names of
private soldiers who had distinguished themselves,
side by side with those of officers.

GOLD IN CUMBERLAND. On Thur stf
edt
reaßorynio
r tan place
oparty,onsdwashingaituhm e
d con-
sistingan of Mr. Clarke, Mr. Shepherd, and Mr. Dears.
of London, headed by Mr. Calbvrtt,hethee Australian o-
lpaolrgisoocsetn,sseoawbrtained gold readily,
itEhutthteenudieshre,. atAtthethheeyaf
ee,
goldan
was rather water-worn, and at thedorlmao
angular character, and was found in the ferruginous
earth lying on the surface of the clay and green stone
slates. The lump of gold mentioned in our last, found
by Mr. Calvert near Buttermere, presents a very bean-
, tiful and rich appearance, and seems to encircle small
particles of silicia, and generally to be imbedded in, or
tinged by, the earthy oxide of iron. The weight of the
entire piece was 57 ounces, and is valued by Mr. Cal-
vert at 2211. In the gossan, at a mine near High
Ireby, Mr. Calvert detected small particles of gold, but
the softer gossans appeared to contain none. Naar Bas-
senthwaite Lake, at a short distance from Peel Wyke,
Mr. Calvert obtained a very beautiful but small sample
of gold, in the reddish earth resting on the clay slates of
that locality. He is of opinion that gold is generally
diffused on the clay slates, and locally on the green stone
slates, throughout Cumberland ; but how far they will
pay, remains to be proved by deep workings in the beds
of rivers, where sufficient debris, or alluvial matter, has
accumulated. The result of a search through the Skid-
daw group was fruitless. Mr. Calvert is of opinion that
the mineral resources of Cumberland are not nearly fully
developed, as he has seen indications of rich copper and
lead lodes in maiden ground. We understand that he
intends to pursue his researches in Lanarkshire, where
he fully expects to find that the similarity of the geolo-
gical conditions with Australia will make the pursuit
of the precious metal equally profitable.—Carlisle
Patriot. .

FRENCH COFFEE.--.There is nothing which more
goo.d, pure, and unadulterated coffee.
strongly baffles tile skill of housewives in the metropolis
admitted want of such an article is now
met by the French Company, who had
about
than obtaining
ttgenerallyo b
fFir. supplying the refreshment rooms of the
on. They have opened an extensive
rsalittlibtitlin St. Martin's-lane, and the rapiditt.
which the shares have been taken up,
augurs well
success of the undertaking ; and lovers of the
bfisaeGoes'irratctaeonhtabni:lttlni its pure state, we have no doubt, will hail this
as another valuable gift for /a belle France.