The Sun.
London, England, 1856-06-14 00:00:00

POLLOCK MEDAL.

The CHAIRMA c agrtir;ose, and presenting the Pollock
medal to Mr. M`Neill, said Mr. I...areill, your profes-
sional acquirement" and general good conduct have gained
for you the Pollock Medal—a medal struck at the request
of the inhabitants of Calcutta, to p •rpetu tte the memory
of one of the most distinguished officers of the Indian
army. May it be your fortune, sir, at the close of your
career, to be worthy of that public admiration and private
esteem which are associated with my valued friend, Lieut.-
General Sir George Pollock.
The examinations being c10,e3,
The CHAIRMAN said—l have very great pleasure, on the
part of the Court of Directors, in begging the public-
examiner, the Lieutenant-Governor and his staff, and the
professors, to accept the assurance of the high sense the
Court enterta'ai of the zeal and ability with which those
gentlemen continue to devote themselves to the public in-
terests, to the fruitful result of which the examinations of
this day bear full testimony. It has been usual with my
predecessors to address to the gentlemen cadets on the
close of the half-yearly term at this college, a few words on
the part of the Court of Directors, rarely words of admo-
nition, and most commonly words of praise and satisfac-
tion. These addresses were never intended to be formal or
conventional; but as originating in a warm interest in the
future success of the young soldier, and with an earnest
desire to make the experience of those who addressed the
..1 etas useful to their future career. It is in this sens 3 I beg
of you to consider the few words I shall say, assuring your-
selves that, as I have passed through all the grades of the
service which you are about to enter, I can and do fully
sympathise in your hopes and fears for the future. 0-en-
tleme cadets, the Lieutenant-Governor is-enabled to report
that the public conduct of the whole body of cadets has
been gentlemanlike; that the general tone has improved ;
that there has been great diligence in the senior portions of
the four terms, and that the degrading system of fagging is
unknown. Gentlemen cadets, my colleagues and myself
congratulate you on these assnrances, particularly upon '
the improvement in that tone, I trust intellectual, moral,
and religious, which is essentially necessary to constitute
the professional soldier, the gentleman, and the Christian.
The result of the examination this lay places the students
of the college in three categories • tilos.) who proceed to
Chatham to complete. a practical knowledge of their pro-
fession, those who proceed direct to India, and those who
return to the college. I will beg the attention of these
classes to a few words of earnest advice. Y,.0 gentlemen
who go to Chatham will find yourselves in a state of com-
parative freedom as respects the position you were in here
—you will be exposed to temptations, and with moans and
opportunities for indulgence; and we might fear for the
issue, but for the guarantee that the pride of knowledge,
the unremitting industry, and the self-respect which have
secured to you the envi Able distinction of " engineer" will
keep you in the same secure path that you have hitherto
trodden, and fled you at the expiration of your term pass-
ing into the service with an unsullied name, and the re-
quisite scientific acquirements. And here I would take
the opportunity of expressing the thanks of the Court of
Directors to the Director of the Engineer Establishment
at Chatham, Colonel Statham, for his valuable services in
training the engineer offieers. You, gentlemen, whether
of the artillery or infantry, who proceed direct to India,
have a noble field opened to you at once, and you may
well be proud to belong to a service which,l its its military
annals, enrols the great names of Clive, Came, Munro,
sfalcoirn, Carnac, Pottinger, Ouchterlouy, Nott, Pollock,
Patrick Grant, and many others. All passed through the
several grades of the services as you will have to do—one
rose to be Governor• General and the peerage ; four to be
governors of presidencies, one to be commander-in-chief at
Madras, and others to the command of armies anti the
highest honours of the " Bath." But the examples of
Edwardes, Nicholson, Herbert, Lake, Nasmyth, Ballard,
and many more, prove to you that neither elevated rank,
nor what is called " interest," are necessary to insure dis-
tinction. Devotion to duty, professional requirements,
and above all a good knowledge of two or three
of the languages of the people, not only enable the
native sol tier to appreciate and love you, but with these
qualifications the Governments are necessitated to select
you for detached employment. You will have heard in
Europe, and you will hear in India, the native character
depreciated ; but this is by persons ignorant of Oriental
languages, and forming their estimate from native money-
lenders, servants, and others, by whom the European gen-
tleman is usually surrounded in camp, cantonment, or city.
Be assured the native soldier is capable of strong attach-
ment and devotion. After General Matthews' disaster,
and himself and officers were imprisoned in Bednore and
left to starve, and the Senoys were left free by Tippoo to
induce them to take service with him, the men frequently
s roam across a tank at the risk of their lives with r ice on
their heads to give their officers food. At the first siege of
Bhurtpore the 12th Bengal Infantry followed their officers
out of the trenches to the storm when a European regiment
did not move. On the Dth Feb., 1850, some non-commis-
sioned officers and Sepoys sacrificed their lives, near Ko-
hat, to bring off the body of their officer, Ensign Sitwell,
wh . died gloriously charging the enemy. Snth instances
of devotion are numerous, and I could detail to you several
from personal knowledge. Cultivate, therefore, the affec-
tion of your men ; it rests with yon to command it, and
vou will find it lot less gratifying than advantageous.
'Gentlemen, I am sure I need not say anything to you of
the misery inflicted by debt; your comfort, your peace of
wind, and your health are sac, ificed when debts pre ;a u ou
you. With common care your pay will be .utficient for
your support. I tell you so from experieucs ; but for luxu-
ries, superfluities, and induleet,c s you will not have the
means, but you must pay the melancholy penalties of
having recourse to them. One of the difficulties you will
experience as regimental officers is to get rid of your
time between morning parade and evening mess. It is
but too often, I feat, with the thoughtless, passed
in wandering from tent to tent and house to
house drinking pale ale and brandy and water—
destructive alike to mind and health—and yet there is
nothing more e ,sy than to provide against this dan-
gerous habit; a simple resolution to devote daily a por-
tion of time to systematic re Ming gradually gives an or-
ganisation to the mind, which renders mere animal enjoy-
ment of idleness equally distasteful. In aid of this plea, I
commend to you the natural or physical sciences, which
afford to you every hour, and at every step, objects for
contemplation and inquiry, and lessons in genuine heart-
felt piety, which strengthen the effects of early religious
instruction; and if you add a brief diary of your constaut
acquisitions in information you would find your time pass
only too rapidly. Upon you, gentlemen, who are to re
turn to this seat of professional instruction, I must im-
press the important fact, that without profiting by th.
facilities afforded to you—facilities never to re ur—you
endanger your future personal interests, and you c: n never
attain to distinction. I fear it has been the practice with
some thoughtless young men, when they have honourabls
run an emulative career for a term or two, on finding that
(heir prospects of attsining to the Engineers or Artillery
A ere faint or hopeless, at once to relax their efforts, :ant
~r) be contented barely to shuffle through the examinations
necessary to pass into the infantry. This is a fat dorms. ;
or although the wants of the service permit only halite.
•rumbers to go into the scientific branches, yet there i
Armour in standing high in the inf ,ntryscale.. Moreover,

there are so many demands in the public works, revente
urvey, and Quartermaster-Generans departments, fo
()leers acquainted with drawing, trigonometry, and nati‘e
languages, that gentlemen cadets who place themselves it
'he position to which I have alluded, raise up for them
selves barriers to their- own advancement, and instead of
being the architects become the destroyers of their own
fortunes ; and I trust if it be permitted to me to make
another official visit to this college, I shall not again find
that it has been necessary to except an cadets of the last