The Sun.
London, England, 1860-11-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 23, 1860.

I'UBLICATION S.

Now ready at all the Libraries, in 3 vols.,

rjrHE VALLEY OP A HUNDRED FIRES.
1 By the Author of "Margaret and her Bridesmaids."

If asked to classify this work, we should give it a place
between `John:Halifax' and 'The Caxtons.' "—Herald.
Hurst and Blackett, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

On Tuesday will be published, •
rrHE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF THE REV,
DR. ALEXANDER CARLYLE, Minister of InTeresk
Containing Memorials of the Men and Events of his Time.
In Octavo, with a Portrait, price 140.
William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.

THE CO RNHILL MAGAZINE.
No. 12 (for December),
Will be published on TUESDAY, the 27th inst.,
Price One Shilling, with Two Illustrations.
CONTENTS.
A Second Letter to the Editor of the "Cornhill Magazine"
from Paterfamilias. •
Framley Parsonage.
Chapter XXXIV.—Lady Luf ton is taken by Surprise.
„ XXXV.—The Story of Icing Cophetua.
XXX Vl.—Kidnapping at Hogglestock.
Ariadne at Naxos. (With an Illustration).
The History of a Fable. An Episode from the History of
Literature.
How I was Upset.
The Criminal Law and the Detection of Crime.
A Passage in a Life.
Our Natural Enemies.
A Human Skull.
The Pope's City and the Pope's Protectors.
,uccess.
Watching and Wishing. By Charlotte Bronte.
Behind the Curtain.
Roundabout Papers.—NO. 9. (With an Illustration). On
a Joke I once heard from the late Thomas Hood.
Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, CornhilL

Just published, price ls., new edition, by post 14 stamps,
_
rr HE SCIENCE- OF LIFt : or, How o Live,
1 and What to Live For ; Explanatory of the Mysteries
of Man's Existence, and the various Phenomena of Life.
With Instructions for Securing Health and Strength ; and
Remarks on the Treatment of Disorders incidental to Seden-
tary Life.
By a PHYSICIAN of 20 years' practice.

CONTENTS.—The Physical Education of Early Life—The
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London : Mann, 39, Cornhill, and all Booksellers.

T.• HE PRESENT DISTRESS IN TRADE
fully explained in J. GROSSMITH'S
I

" GOVERNMENT UPON FIRST PRINCIPLES."
The cause is there predicated of the monetary difficulties ex
perienced in 1860. The Crisis is at hand. Anxiety in busi-
ness has now become the grim torture. Purity of motive,
intelligently exercised, must animate all Governments, or all
is lost, All denominations of Constitutions are carefully
examined in J. Grossmith's "Government upon First Prin-
ciples."

Kent and Co., late Piper and Co., Paternoster-row,

Just published, Bvo, in cloth, price 55., by post free, ss. 6d.,
ON THE SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT of
STRICTURES of the URETHRA; showing why they
so often appear Incurable, when in reality they might be
removed by the most simple means.
By F. B. COURTENAY, M.R.C.S.E.,

And formerly Surgeon to the Metropolitan_ Infirmary for the

Cure'of Strictures of the Urethra.

" This work is the production of a surgeon whose special
attention has been directed, through a long professional life,
to the treatment of strictures of the urethra. The cases
which Mr. Courtenay has given supply ample evidence of his
great discriminative power in the diagnosis of the various
kinds of stricture, and of the scientific principles upon which
their management is founded. Byhis systematic management
an immense mitigation of pain to the unhappy sufferers is
attained, and future mischief prevented. The work we can
most unreservedly and confidently recommend as a valuable
contribution, both to the general and professional reader, and
ought to be found in the private study of all who are subject
to stricture."—Medical Circular, Dec. let, 1858.
London: H. Bailliere, 219, Regent-street.

Sixth Edition, just published, by post 26 stamps,
DEBILITY and IRRITABILITY; (MENTAL
and PHYSICAL), induced by SPERMATORRIREA :
the Symptoms, Effects, and Rational Treatment. ByT.,H.
YEOMAN, M.D., Physician to the General Post-Office Letter-
Carriers' Provident Institution, ft.
London : from the Author, 25, Lloyd-square, W.C.

Just published, cloth Bvo, lettered, price One Shilling, or
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DR. KAHN'S PHILOSOPHY OF
MARRIAGE.
Published and Sold by J. Allen, 20, Warwick-lane, Pater-
noster-row ; or from the Author's Address, 17, Harley-street,
Cavendish-square, W.

Just published, price is.'; by post, Is. id. ; sealed, ls. 6d.,.
DR. BRIGIIT'S MANUAL on SPERMA-
TORRHO2BA and other URINARY DEPOSITS.
With Cases and Drawings from Life, &c., &c. Licentiate or
the College of Physicians, Member of the Royal College of
Surgeons, &c., &c.

Contents :—Modern Treatment of Syphilis—Stricture—
Impotency—Unhealthy and Debilitated Offspring—Diseases
of the Urinary Organs—Non retention of Urine—Desire for
Solitude—Groundless Fears—lncapacity for Married Life,
&c. ; showing how these supposed incurable maladies may
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lished and sold by J. Allen, 20, Warwick-lane, Paternoster-
row, London.

"SANITAS AC FELICITAS."

Just published, 71st thousand, price Is., post free for 13
stamps, sold by Mann, 39, Cornhill, London ; or direct from
the Author.

DR. LA'MERT on the Treatment and cure of
NERVOUS and PHYSICAL DEBILITY, resulting
from pernicious habits contracted in Youth, excesses in Man-
hood, or residence in Tropical Climates. With Cases and En-
ravings from Life, representing the various Organs in
Health and Disease. _ _ .

...
The extensive circulation of this work may he attributed in
great measure to the fact that the Author is the only duly
qualified and legally registered Practitioner who for 20
years has made the Diseases arising usually from.
Imprudence the peculiar objects of his attention. The im-
pediments which so often either prohibit wedlock, or embitter
and render it a state of misery, by disappointing its fondest
hopes and marring its highest objects, are, though varied in
form, closely analogous in reality. The mischief may arise in-
nocently, from deleterious influences devolved from the
necessities of position—from circumstances which occurred
years before the sufferers were born, from accident or the in-
fluence of tropical climates, but chiefly from Self-incurred
Afflictions, dating back, in too numerous instances, to a period
long preceding that at which reason could be matured by ex-
perience.
A professional prejudice, which happily is now fast disap-
pearing, though it still lingers with no little obstinacy in
some of the more antiquated medical schools, for a long time
almost ignored the morbid affections comprised under the
..,,eneral designation "Nervous and Physical Debility," though
these affections are probably more destructive and widely pre-
valent than any others.
The consequence of so important a department of pathology
being neglected is, that sufferers from the infirmities in
question, virtually r: pelted from consultation with prac-
titioners of standing and character, are thus liable to fall into
the hands of unqualified Empirics, sometimes assuming titles
of Physicians and Surgeons, whose names are not to be found
in the Medical Register (whereby they incur serious legal
penalties), whose ignorant meddling with the treatment of
these cases render these disorders a standing reproach to the
medical profession. Those who may have a suspicion
that any of the observations here made have peculiar applica-
tion to themselves, may consider that cases are indeed rare
in which practised science cannot fully realise long-deferred
hopes, remove all causes of mutual reproach, and replace
chronic embitterment by permanent content.
Dr. La'Mert. M.D., Honorary Member of the London Hos-
pital Medical Society, &c., is the only legally qualified regis-
tered practitioner who, for 20 years, has devoted his attention
to the treatment of these disorders. At home for consulta-
tation daily, from 10 till 2, and from 6 till 8.
37, BEDFORD SQUAME, LONDON.

THE INDIGO PLANTERS AND THE

INDIAN GOVERNMENT.

Calcutta, Oct. 13.

The Committee of the Indigo Planters Association having
at last received from the Commissioner of Nuddea informa-
tion which they requested from him on the 7th ult., they
proceed to submit to his Excellency the Governor-General
of India in Council the following remarks on the minute of
the Lieut.-Governor of Bengal dated the 17th of August,
which was communicated to the association with your letter
of Aug. 31 :
Although his Excellency has expressed himself satisfied
with Mr. Grant's explanations except on one point, the
Committee respectfully beg to observe that Mr. Grant's
minute is not accompanied by any particulars of the cases to
which he refers, by which his Excellency's judgment might
be guided ; and they therefore beg to submit the fullest de-
tails which they have been able to obtain in explanation. In
commenting upon his Honour's minute, the Committee are
desirous of avoiding as much as possible anything like en.
tering into a controversy with the Lieut.-Governor; still
they cannot but express their regret, that the tone of his
Honour's minute is such as to show how deeply his feelings
are affected against the system of indigo planting generally,
and the presons who are engaged in that cultivation.
In support of this position the Committee content them-
selves by simply referring his Excellency to the style, as
well as the matter, of one paragraph only—namely, the sth,
which assumes as a granted fact that planters have been in
the habit of committing every description of crime and op-
pression.

The committee do not wish either to enter into an argu-
ment as to the correctness of the Lieutenant-Governor's
views of the position of the ryot as a capitalist, as they be-
lieve that such a theory is one wholly new, and one parti-
cularly opposed to the general idea of what constitutes a
ryot in Bengal; but they must not be considered as in any
way agmeing in the view his Honour takes of this subject,
or assen ting to his discovery, that the ryot is a capitalist as
distinguished from a labourer.

The Committee would, however, draw particular atten-
tion to one part of the minute, where the Lieutenant-Gover-
nor is obliged to confess that the gentlemen he employed in
the judicial offices in the disturbed districts were unfit for
the common duties of their stations, and the Committee think
that such a confession from such authority must necessarily
draw the attention of the Executive Government to the ne-
cessity of establishing such a system as will give the people
a more efficient class of judicial officers; and the Committee
would bog attention to this part of. his Honour's minute as
supporting the truth of what has long been put forward by
the planters as their most serious grievance—viz., the in-
efficient state of the Mofussil Courts. His Excellency will
have an opportunity in a later part of this letter of judging
of the fitness for the judicial bench of one of them (Mr. J.
S. Belt), who is considered by his honour as so much supe-

rior to the covenanted magistrates wLom he superseded in
their duties. _

The committee consider it as hardly worth while refer-
ring to the earnest manner in which tic Lieutenant-Gover-
nor argues as to there being no confusion' in the districts;
they can only say that a publication oF the Lieutenant-Go-
vernor's, dated Sept. 17, has led then to believe that the
word confusion' was not strong enough to express the
state of the district; and they believethat the mere fact of
a vast military force being employee' in that part of the
country, where troops have not been stationed since it came
under British rule, proves confusion; and they cannot but
express their surprise that, at a time when all residents of
these districts knew that affairs were daily becoming worse,
his Honour should, as he does in the last paragraph of his
minute, refer to the crisis has ing passed over so peacefully,
and with so little injury to tho great interest at stake. The
committee can only say that the great interest of the Euro-
pean settler is for the present entirely ruined, and they see
but little prospect of European capital being again embarked
in the districts of Lower Bengal,
But, leaving the general tenour of the minute, the com•
mittee would beg his Excellency's attention to the promi-
nent cases brought forward by the Lieutenant-Governor, on
which he lays much stress ; and when the Committee show
that his Honour has taken statements for granted without
fully investigating the cases on which he relies, to found
most severe remarks and attacks, not anly on the planters,
but on his own judicial officers, the Ccmmittee believe that
his Excellency will attach much less weight to the minute
in question than at first sight would appear to be due to it.
In the 28th paragraph of the miauto the Lieutenant-
Governor refers to the case of the Mooktar who was, as
stated in the planter's petition, sentenced by Mr. Betts to
imprisonment and a fine for instigating ryots not to sow.
It would naturally be supposed from the comments
"upon this case that the man in 'question, Teetarara Chuck-
erbutty, was a Mooktar acting as such on behalf of ryots,
and that he was sentenced for exercising his lawful avoca-
tions as a Mooktar ; and his Honour, on this assumption,
would make out that the sentence in question deprived the
ryots of legal assistance, and that it was intended to give
an advantage to the planters.
The Committee have, however, ascertained that the
man, though entitled, perhaps, to call himself a Mooktar,
was, in fact, but an omedwar (one seeking employment) ;
that he had never appeared before Mr. Betts as Mooktar ;
that he was not employed in any way by any ryot on that
occasicn ; that a few days previously he had waited on Mr.
Forlong, bogging for employment in any capacity ; and that
on the day in question he was hanging about Mr. Betts's
tent, looking out for the chance of anything that might
occur, holding no Mooktarnama ; and, in fact the ryots
whose cases were before Mr. Betts never consulted him, or
referred to him as their legal adviser.

Mr. Betts had for more than two hours been patiently
explaining to the ryots their position and liabilities, point-
ing out to them that the law distinctly laid it down that if
they did not complete their contracts they would be subject
to imprisonment, and perhaps be cast in damages, and he
begged them to retire and think over the matter.

To the former alternative the ryots were inclined to
agree, and they retired to some neighbouring spot to con-
sult. The man Teetaram Chuckerbutty went to them then
for the first time, and, joining in their conversation, advised
them to resist sowing, and not to mind the consequences.
Information of this was brought to Mr. Betts, who at once
had him brought into court, heard the evidence, and, find-
ing that he was not acting as ➢looktar for any of the parties,
convicted him of instigating with evil design the ryots not
to sow.

The committee admit that the sentence might not per-
haps have been strictly legal within tho words of the section
of the act as amended and passed, but the mere fact of an
error as to the interpretation of the wording of the act has
a very different effect from that which the Lieutenant -
Governor attributes to this decision, which he erroneously
regards as a gross interference with the liberty of the legal
agent of the. ryots.
His Honour is wholly misinformed as to the ryots in
that quarter not being able to obtain the services of legal
agents to defend their cases, and it is wholly incorrect to
state that the prosecutors for several days had it all their
own way;' so far from this being the case, on the very
same day, a complaint having been lodged against one really
acting as a Mooktar before Mr. Betts, it was at once dis-
missed by him, on the ground that he could not interfere
with the advice that any legal agent deemed it right to give
to his client, and Mr. Betts distinctly pointed out to the
complainants that the position of this man was wholly dif-
ferent from that of Teetaram Chuckerbutty.
The Committee unhesitatingly refer to the records of the
court in proof of their assertion that no Mooktar was de-
terred from representing ryots in consequence of Mr. Betts'
decision, and they are quite at a loss to understand upon
whose representation the Lieutenant-Governor has been led
into so grave an error; and his Excellency will see how
serious a matter this is when he observes the frequent and
bitter allusions to it in the Minute.
The other case on which his Honour comments, as
showing not only misconduct on the part of Mr. Betts, but
what is of far more importance to the committee, as sup-
porting the grave charges of forgery and perjury against a
planter, or, at any rate, against their subordinates, is that
mentioned in para. 32, which he says accidentally came to
his knowledge, as one in which Mr. Betts gave a planter a
decree against a ryot on a written agreement, purporting to
have been made in 1856, though executed on stamped paper
which on inspection proved to have been sold in 1859.
On investigation this charge proves to be utterly un-
true. •

The koboolyat or agreement in question, of which a

copy and translation is herewith sent, recites that the ryot
(Hishabdee Shaik Mundle) who was complained against,was
indebted to the factory at the close of the season 1859, to
the extent of 3r. 3s. and 6p. ; that he had received a further

advance of 12r. in cash, in consideration of his engaging to
cultivate 7 beegahs of indigo in 1860, and in the four fol-
lowing years terminating in 1864, the correctness of the

account showing the balance of •3r. 3s. and 6p., and the
payment of the advance of 12r. in cash, was sworn to by the
manager of the factory, Mr. Tayler, and proved by Mr.
Betts' inspection of the books, and on that evidence Mr.
Betts gave the decree against the ryot on the 18th of April,
1860, and the committee would draw particular attention
to the different years mentioned in that document as those
over which the contract was to extend.

On the 27th of July, 1860, Mr. Principal Sudder Ameen
Bell, who is above referred to as being considered superior
to the other magistrates, on hearing another case, delivered
the judgment, of which a copy is herewith sent, and to
which we beg his Excellency's particular attention, as his
Excellency will perceive in that judgment he did refer to
the koboolyat filed in the former case, which is above refer-
red to, and apparently without having made auy further in-
quiries, and certainly without having read the document
which, in fact, was not in evidence before him, he gratui-
tously pronounced the same to be a spurious exhibit, inas-
much as it is dated at the foot, in figures, December, 1856,
when the stamp was sold in November, 1859.
The Committee beg his Excellency's attention to the ko-
boolyat, which requires only the slightest glance to show
that the date of the English year 1856 is only a mistake and
clerical error of the Bengalee writer, and that it was a
koboolyat for seasons 1860 to 1864 inclusive, and that
the whole text and wording of the agreement unquestion-
ably prove this to be the case. when an error was made
in one of Mr. Herschel's Purwannahs, that of the 19th of
April, which caused the planters' losses, that can only be
estimated by tens of thousands of pounds, and Mr. Hersohel
put forward, as his defence, that it was a clerical mistake,
and that it was by accident that the obnoxious copy hap-
pened to go to the only place where it was likely to do harm,
the planter did not refuse to accept the explanations how-
ever opposed to probability.
It would seem, however, that no such feelings of fairness
are to be evinced by the authorities towards planters, and
thatno opportunity is to be omitted to misrepresent and
malign them, and this is particularly the case in the pre-
sent instance, where the record could have at once been
called for and inspected, and which in fairness ought to
have been done.
The Committee can only hope that neither Mr. Bell him-
self, whom the Lieutenant-Governor designates as the expe-
rienced Civil Judge; Mr. Herschel, the magistrate, who
eagerly seized on the case and sent it up ; Mr. Lushington,
the Commissioner who reported it to the Lieutenant-Gover-
nor; nor Mr. Grant himself, ever looked at the document
before basing on it the grave charges that aro contained in
the Minute. Five minutes' inspection would have prevented
a most unjust accusation being put forward in an official
document, and much of that official document would then
have been unwritten.
In para. 357 his Honour, on whom this case seems to have
made much impression, again introduces the Koboolyat as
the foundation of a sarcasm, and a slander on the whole
body of planters, in the following words :
It must doubtless have been agreeable to planters when
their suits were tried on such a fashion, that decrees were
obtainable on agreements purporting to be four years old,
though written on stamp's which wereinthe vendor's shops
one year ago."
The Committee respectfully, but most earnestly, beg to
submit to his Excellency that such language is as unworthy
of a man holding Mr. Grant's high official position as it has
now been proved to be unfounded and unjust; and should
his Excellency (as they cannot but believe he will), view
the matter in the same light as they do, they appeal to Hs
high sense of honour and fairness to point out to the Lieu-
tenant-Governor the propriety of withdrawing the charge
as publicly as it had been made.
In the 37th para. his Honour replies to the complaint
that was made, of his influencing the minds of judicial offi-
cers by circulating to all in the districts copy of a decision
of Mr. Herschel, and of a letter from Mr. Lushington on
the subject of a charge against the servants of a factory,

respecting which Mr. Herschel had at that time made a
preliminary inquiry.
The communications referred to are annexed, and the
committee appeal to his Lordship in Council to say if they
are not of a nature to prejudice all magistrates against
phtnters. _ _

The committee have carefully gone into the case referred
to, which was sent up for trial to the judge, whose decision
was adverse to the servants of the factory ; but the com•
mittee do not hesitate to declare their belief that the deci-
sion is incorrect; that it was biassed by the proceedings of
the Lieutenant-Governor; that it will•be reversed on ap-
peal; and if Government will publish Mr, Lushington's
communications, the proprietors of the concern are prepared
to prosecute fur a libel, with the object of proving that the
allegations are unfounded and untrue.

Beyond d efending the body they represent from the grave
and sweeping charges brought against them by the Lieute-
nant-Governor, the committee do not desire to contest, or
to enter into a controversy on individual cases, but they feel
it their duty to protest on constitutional grounds against
the interference of the Lieutenant-Governor, which has un-
questionably been exercised to such an extent as to impair,
if not to destroy, judicial independence within the districts
under his control. His Excellency will find on inquiry,lhat
upon the abolition of the office of Superintendent of Police,
an officer who, from his position, could not be classed with
ythat of the Lieutenant-Governor, or be considered as having •
any such, influence as that of the head of the Government,
'the suraing control over the proceedings of magistrates,
pending or disposed of, rests in the hands of the Lieutenant-
Governor of Bengil ;• and the Committee respectfully sub-
mit that such a power exercised as it is by Mr. Grant, who
is superior to the whole judicial bench of Bengal, and who
has complete power over the members of that body, is one
that is dangerous to the true interests of justice, and one
that ought not to exist; morn especially so when the un-
covenanted officers of that body are completely under the
control and hold their offices subject to the pleasure of the
Lieutenant-Governor alone.

In thus replying to his Honour's minute, the Committee
have avoided as much as possible acting otherwise than in
a calm spirit ; but although they feel that they are contend-
ing with one whose position makes it impolitic on their
part to enter into controversy with him, they cannot con-
sistently with their duty, or feeling as English gentlemen,
representing a large European Asssociation, composed of
many men who have not only invested their all in this
country, but have done so in the belief that they would be
protected by the leading principles of an European Govern-
ment, allow such serious charges as these brought by. his
Honour to pass unremarked upon, and without protesting
against the injustice and impropriety of them as they now
do'; and, believing that a different line of conduct on the
part of the Government of Bengal would have led to a very
different result to that which now exists, they submit these
remarks to his Excellency, trusting that this matter is one
of sufficient importance to attract to its careful considera-
tion his Excellency's earnest attention,

THE RECRUITING SERGEANT.

It would be fortunate for the good understanding
between France and England if all the descriptions
of English life and manners submitted to the
consideration of the French people were as faithful
as that given of the British soldier by M. Alphonse
Esquiros in the Revue. des Deux Mondes. The
essays which that gentleman has produced on this
subject are remarkable for their good sense and
truth, Of course, he looks at our institutions from
without, and draws involuntary comparisons be-
tween our country and his own, but we cannot
remember to have seen any pictures of Englishmen
by a foreign hand in which there was so little exag-
gerition, distortion, or error. In the last number
of the Revue NI. Esquiros presents his countrymen
with a general sketch of the British soldier and his
position, of the method of recruiting, and of the
state of things at the Camp of Aldershott. It will
give a good specimen of his views, and revive a
subject always interesting, if we examine his de-
scription of the system by which the numbers of
our army are maintained.
NI. Esquiros was on his way to the House of
Commons one morning when he suddenly stopped
at the corner of Charles-street, Westminster, and
wondered, as well he might, at the parade ex-
hibited in that not very brilliant thoroughfare.
The spectacle is well known to most frequenters
of the Parliamentary quarter of the metropolis.
Specimens of every corps in the British army ap-
peared in full dress about the pavement. Gigantic
sergeants of cavalry lounged at the angle of the
street with that peculiar air of indifference and
display which none but a recruiting sergeant can
assume. At the doors of the publichouses, which
struck M. Esquiros as being both numerous and
flourishing, stood smart representatives of the Line,
Riflemen, Highlanders, Light Infantry, and men
of all branches of the service. The pathway was
thronged with people in earnest conversation, who
occasionally disappeared with their military friends
under the arch of the nearest tavern, and emerged
again after an apparently pleasant interval of re-
creation. Overhead hung the colours of England,
sometimes suspended from a window, sometimes
flaunting from cords stretched right across the
street. M. Esquiros wondered what all this meant,
and inquired of a policeman on duty, who replied
with characteristic self-possession that it was
" nothink," but added, out of compassion probably
for a foreigner's ignorance, that they were " re-
eruiting for old England ; that's all.' That was
enough. M. Esquiros presently discovered that he
was at the head-quarters of the London recruiting
district, and upon this he proceeds, like Washington
Irving upon seeing Westminster Abbey, to descant
on the institutions suggested to his mind.
The description of our recruiting system which
M. Esquiros then gives is in all particulars sub-
stantially correct—so correct, indeed, that it would
be perfectly superfluous for us to transcribe his ac-
count. This, however, is not all, for his reflections
are generally well founded also, and he arrives at
an estimate of the result which, in the main, is sur-
prisingly accurate. With that organising turn of
mind for which his countrymen are distinguished,
he classifies the motives which induce our recruits
to enter the army, and concludes that one or more
of three influences must always be at work to pro-
duce voluntary enlistment. A recruit must be
actuated by patriotism, by inclination, or by neces-
sity. It is at this point, however, that M. Esquiros
has gone a little beside the mark. He has not taken
sufficient account of the first-named motives, and
has consequently ascribed too much preponderance
to the last. In point of fact, he considers that re-
cruits generally enlist under the pressure of actual
want, and for the immediate purpose of keeping
body and soul together by the subsistence which
the recruiting sergeant offers. This is not the case.
Not to mention that our Poor Law secures all per-
sons against absolute destitution, it is certain that
any man possessed of the muscular vigour required
for admission to the army could get his own liveli-
hood if he were willing to work. We have no
longer much surplus population, and there is a good
demand everywhere for any kind of skilled labour.
The case of the recruit, in most instances, is not that
he has learnt no trade or can get no work, but that
accident, circumstances, or natural restlessness of
spirit have given him a distaste for his ordinary
occupation, cost him his place, and reduced him to
momentary want. M. Esquiros, it is true, recog-
nmiaseusywvietuhtsgirueavtarrieuaudsincievsisl
pursuits
suniattsiothnaalt turn for
abdevennutugrree,
abtutretshiedsueeenaevraigileasblhee
ftohrintkhsemausitihnitefiidtea ofnso
the army. The remark, however, will not apply
certain classes from which the army is largely re-
cruited. Take a ploughboy or an artisan possessed
with a roving spirit or an irresistible craving for
adventure, and the chances are ten to one but the
army is the only career open to him. In many cases
he could not even get to sea, whereas there is no
parish or hamlet so secluded but what 4. .ceruumg
sergeant is somewhere at hand. Lads of this sort
are seldom forecasting or considerate. They want
to escape from their actual position, and to escape
at once. Their good friend the sergeant is exactly
the man for them. He offers them not only instan-
staneous settlement in a dazzling profession, but a
very handsome sum of money down, and all this
with a promise of an easy life- in spheres where
none of their present troubles will ever reach them
again. What wonder if they close with such a
bargain ?
We learn from M. Esquiros that his countrymen
do not by any means share the admiration with
which we are wont to regard our system of volun-
tary enlistment. He himself half doubts whethe?
the term is quite applicable to a system in wil,i_cma
necessit, as he thinks supplies that coercion' 0
conclusions are impartially drawn.
wh whichole thehis law
description abstains;
is but still,
faithful, ulipaoenndfaritira.hiiy:
admits that the recruiting sergeant, with allaargain ,
his rhodomontade, offers a really good bargain,
and that the ranks of the array furnish the agri-
cultural labourer with a pursuit more productive
and promising than that i n which he is engaged.
He is at a loss to understand how the lures of a
recruiting party should be .looked upon with such
apprehension by parents, am d is led to conclude that
the lavish assurances of the sergeant beget a kind
of distrust by their very e: Ktravaganee. Yet, in
comparison with the realitieq of rural destitution,