The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-11 00:00:00

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TU_ Tintr.
THE GRE4 ST f AGUE OF LIFE't or the
,Adventures of Lady; in Search RI a 000e1 se)-vant.
By one who has been " Alinosrworrio to Deoth."
Illustrated by Geoige_Cruictlihitntro\llt I
This is the first par.t,iif.*ilUirlt to be (completed in air
numbers) which promtset well. The idea is aeexcelreat
one, and as far as the work. has gone, it is excellendy
worked out. The description-of the marriage of the*
lady is somewhat tedious,-but when sfle gets to the
"greatest plague in life," servatitti,wahe',is
The adventures with the drunken setYantP are capitally
told, and the illustrations by George.thatickshank, are
full of fun and character.

THE YEAR BOOK OF FACTS ii' SCIENCE
AND ART, for 1847. By John Timbs.
This is the ninth annual volume of this useful record
of discoveries in science and art. It is twenty years
since Mr. Timbs began his useful record of science and
art by way of abstract. His first annual work of this
nature was The " &curia of Science," of which 11 volumes
were published and at the conclusion of the'series he
commenced the publication of the "Year Book of Facts,"
being a scientific record in a much more extended scale
than the " Arcana of Science." That this extension of
the original design has met with the public approbation
may be judged of, from the fact, that the sale of each
" Year Book" has been nearly treble that of the " Arcana
of Scie-ice." The volume for the present year is illus-
trated by a portrait of Le Verrier, the French mathe-
matician, and the discoverer of the new planet.

The
85.4771151 PH a.;
Rd
mthye
AB
SA/ I
ITtAretbßyoaoAilia.4 osr,tattorke.
Sergeant of the 13th Light Infantry.
The author of this work is by birth and 'education
a gentleman. It appears that he was engaged in
mercantile pursuits in Dublin, but, that in conse-
quence of severe losses sustained by a mercantile
friend, it became necessary for him to seek other
means of support besides those arising from his
position as a junior partner. Under these circum-
stances being compelled to " seek service," end be-
lieving the service of her Majesty to be less degrading
than that of any private individual, he enlisted in the
13th Light Infantry, was sent out to India to join
his regiment, proceeded to Calcutta, from thence to
Bombay, and from there to Sinde, where he remained
ssme-time in garrison at lurrachee and Sukkur,
and on arriving home with his regiment, after an absence
of two years, purchased his discharge. Considered
merely as a book of travels, this is one ofthe most amusing
ever published. The author possesses the art of nar-
ration in the highest perfection. His descriptions of
scenery are dashed off with the touch of an artist,
and his reflections on the manners and customs of the
natives of India are sound and philosophical. The
chief value, however, of this book consists in the fact
that it shows us the British army as it is—that it
rends in twain the veil which has hitherto screened
the doings at the Horse Guards and in the army for
the public. The great cause of all the evils
in the army may be traced to ignorance—the
gross and crass ignorance of the officers who,
without being subjected to any examination, are per-
mitted to purchase their commissions, utterly ignorant
of military duties, without even the rudiments of an
ordinary education unable in many instances even to
spell, they are obliged to delegate their powers to
non-commissioned officers, at whose tyranny, bru-
tality, and dishonesty, they connive, because they are
entirely dependent upon them. From the moment a
recruit enlists, he is subject to the peculations ofnon-
commissioned officers at the depot where he may be
stationed, who practice all sorts of tricks to deprive
him of his pay.
" One mode of depriving the recruit of his pay, is to
give him an old shattered musket, easily injured ; thus
there are ten chances to one, that some part of it gets
broken, while it is in his possession ; and he has in
consequence a round sum to pay on delivering it into
the store, when leaving
.the garrison. I have known
this to be the case with many persons, some of whom
had to pay ten shillings for stocking an old musket in
use for the past forty years, and the intrinsic value of
which might be ascertained by weighing the barrel,
and calculating its worth at twopence per pound.
Whether such were ever stocked, is a question the ar-
mourer alone can decide ; but in any case, he and the
pay sergeants quietly arranged it all their own way."
The commissioned officer is generally severe, in pro-
portion to his ignorance. One of these martinets is
thus described by our author :
" He used frequently to visit the barracks ; and woe
then to the unlucky wight who had a fold wrong in his
bedding, a knapsack-strap nut of its place, or his chin-
strap fastened above the number on his forage-cap ;
three days taps being his ordinary punishment for
offences of this character. Yet I have seen this offi-
cer, who was so strict a disciplinarian as regarded tri-
vial matters, at a subsequent period, when he had be-
come first major of his corps, unable to put the regi-
ment through the manual and platoon exercise : while
on another occasion, when an inspecting-general was on
the ground, he could not find where the points were,'
when directed to dress them by his colonel.
" There are many such in the service; men who strain
at a gnat and swallow a camel; and consequently, our
armies will never be destitute of a Braddock or an
Elphinstone; in spite of our having a Marlborough in
one age, and a Wellington in another, to remodel and
mould them anew. England wants a polytechnique'
school. She requires that merit, not money, should
elevate men in her military service; and were this desi-
deratum achieved, her troops would be indeed invincible.
In the existing state of things, many creep in time of
peace to the command of corps, by purchase or seniority,
who are about as fit to lead a regiment as a peasant
from the plough-tail is to turn courtier; their inability
being never ascertained until some capital faux pas is
committed in front of an enemy, which sullies our na-
tional honour."
These last observations are worthy of most serious
,consideration. It is absurd to expect that a better
class of men will be induced to enter the army, so
long as they are liable to be tyrannised over by
officers who are in every respect their inferiors. The
true way to elevate the character of the men is to
elevate the character of the officers, by doing, away
altogether with the system of purchase, and by sub-
jecting every candidate for a commission to a rigid
examination, so as to ascertain that be possesses a
certain amount of professional and of general
knowledge, to insist upon a certain period of
actual service in an inferior grade before pro-
motion to a superior one, and to precede each step
by another examination. As to the necessity of some
such reform taking place, if it is considered desirable,
to attempt to elevate the character of the soldier, let
the reader judge, after the perusal of the following
advice given by the author to any young man who is
thinking about entering the army :
" And now, reader, if you are a young man dissatis-
fied with your condition in life \because you consider
yourself superior to it, and have been induced to sup-
on you will get into your proper sphere by entering
the army, I would offer you, in conclusion, a word of
advice.

"If dissatisfied with your condition, reflect well
before you take a step which will have the mostimpor-
tant influence on all your after life; a man who binds
himself for an unlimited period, must be guilty of the
c
greatestratel
y. You a
fol lyr,e a
ishouldready
:wha he adr
co,
that soesucceed
rashlyt or. n
o sid e
improv-
ing your condition in the army, you must be patient, in-
dustrious, methodical, humble, and, as the truth had better
be told, servile. Do not suppose for a single moment
you can do much good there, without at the least a
major part of these qualifications; I thought I could be
a soldier without being servile; I was simple enough to
imagine that unblemished reputation, zeal for the ser-
vice, and an earnest desire to be useful, would be my
stepping-stones to preferment:—l need scercely say that
I was deceived.

"In the army, you will have to be your own servant:
to perferm all the menial offices so disagreeable to those
who have had persons hitherto to wait on them. Yon
must not resent insult, if the person offering it be only
a lance-corporal; and you will have to listen patiently
and in silence to the contemptuous remarks of a man
who, very probably, is your superior only because his
father was fortunate in trade, and therefore able to pay
4501. for a commission for his son; who has in his turn
learned (to him, perchance, an unmeaning phrase) to
say, ''Pon his honour,' and to look down on you with
all the quaint consequence of little-mindedness, as $
being of an ihferior sprci. s.
" If you are a person of intelligence, therefore, and
d
capable of earning a subsistence in any respectable
I would advise you to eschew the army
t'
exist-
ing state of things there continues;
least, the officer is taught to act agreeablytnder him; and
to the laws of
the service, in his dealings with those
when he cannot, at any rate, compel them to be servile
the
or mean, if not themselves so disposed. As matters
7lh,ile at the very
stand at present,
the
man who
may have learned at a
hedge school unhalf read a page or two, and
to scrawl 'hisol to
copy half spell,dated,
' will be almost certain to get
the whip hand of you in the race for promotion; for he
is a useful person, and will assist the lieutenant's servant
o
occasionally, or help to clean the captain's boots. Rest
assured, the army, as now administered, is the last
place you should go to for the purpose of improving
your condition. Resolve rather to be a citizen of the
world, and to take the energy and intelligence you may
possess to %%here they will have a reasonable chance of
being fairly appreci.,ted."
A

- -
.nTrur, ROBBERY. A story - was current on
tiSaturday, for the. accuracy of which we will not vouch, as
police authorities have not yet received any report of the
transaction. It is said that a lady of this town stepped from
her
carriage, opposite the Royal Bank-buildings, passed
through the area, .and, entering the bank, presented a cheque
for a considerable stun, which she received in bank Rotes.
It is believed that she was minutely watched. She re-
turned to her carriage, and was just about to step in, when
a gentleman in spectacles without his hat, and with a pen
in his hand, hastily but politely accosted her, saying, "I beg
your pardon, madam, we have forgotten to make a memoran-
dum ofyour notes. Will you kindly return them to me for a few
minutes, and I will restore them to you directly." The lady
believing the person who addressed her to be one of the
eleilt% of the bank, surrendered the notes at once, and the
gentleman hastily retreated up the steps, through the gates,
into the area, and ran in the direction of the bank. The
lady waited some time, and at length went to the bank to
inquire why the notes were not sent back to her. She was
assured that no per,son had been sent after her from the
hank, and that her business, with the teller had been com-
pleted when the notes were countedf out to her. She per-
ceived at once that; She-'h'ad beeti ingeniously robbed, and
that thc rPspectable-looking geoticman iii spectacles, after
he had obtained the notes, must have made his exit from the
buildings through the gates opening into Elbow-lane..-.
Liverpool

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