The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-27 00:00:00

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LoND()N, THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1818

An interesting but erroneous dissertation on our
Indian policy and on the relative excellence of Sepoys
commanded by English officers and those subjected to
French discipline, and tutored by the old soldiers of
NAPOLEON, is published by ourselves in another
column. It is a communication signed " Civis," and
was originally addressed to one of our Morning Con-
temporaries. The writer is manifestly familiar with
the past vicissitudes of the population of Hindostan,
and the progressive advancement of our authority in
that splendid and gigantic peninsula. In comment-
ing upon our recent triumphs in the neighbourhood
of Affghanistan, he is however speaking from the
dictates of a predilection, and dilating with an almost
garrulous zest upon the characteristics of a hobby.
The French military system appears to his judgment
as little short of perfection, either in regard to aggres-
sive or defensive warfare. A Paris captain drilling
the Seikh population under the banners of RUNJEET
SINGH seems to him a more formidable spectacle than
the armaments of a Tirroo or the craftiness of the
most sanguinary Durbar. The memory of Busar is
cherished by him with as much tenderness as by the
mendicants of Hyderabad, and were he to follow the
inspirations of his own enthusiasm we doubt not that
we should find him annually kindling his rushlight
on the cenotaph of RAYMOND. it is by no means
our intention, however, in so speaking, to depreciate
the abilities which have unquestionably been applied
by the disbanded veterans of NAPOLEON to the re-
organization and the systematic instruction of the
Seikhs ever since the final pacification of Europe in
1815. The extraordinary perils which our brave forces
in India had to encounter in the memorable
winter of 1845.6, and the stupendous difficulties
they were compelled to surmount, testified in a bril-
liant manner the application of those tactics which
in the artillery had evoked a DRUOT, in the cavalry
a MettaT, and in the conduct and distribution of the
infantry a MASSENA.
in the bloody Not
tracks a l o
nnfe
Lwa t a
sws
ar
rh
tdemon-
stratedwas
attested everywhere by a combination, a prowess,
and a capacity for manoeuvring, such as the armies
of the Punjaub had never displayed when RUNIEET
SINGII was living, and in the fullness of his
puissance.
gratified to observe, that in considering
are
ilre
the fallacies of" Civis," our Contemporary, the Times,
has renounced its original opinions, and is now afford-
ing its powerful advocacy to those ideas the veracity of
which we have ourselves so long and so very fre•
quently maintained. To a dispassionate mind the
truth of these impressions cannot be otherwise than
vividly perceptible. One fact is,
theoriesacco ; andrding the
superior homely saying, worth a thousand
superior advantage is of course proportionately in-
creased when we can reverse the numerals, with a
direct application, as in the present instance, in
remarking that a thousand facts are most assuredly
preferable to a single theory. The arguments of

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