The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-06 00:00:00

THE REORGANISATION OF THE

INDIAN ARMY.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Times.)

SIMLA, AUG. 16.

Towards the close of last November the Court of
Directors forwarded from the military department
a despatch to the Governor-General, authorising
him to appoint a commission of military officers of
the three Presidencies, and of such Queen's officers
as had Indian experience, " as soon as circumstances
might permit, to assist in forming wise conclusions
on the most important subject which must soon
press for decision—the proper organisation of the
army in India," and, at the same time, suggesting
as heads of inquiry for the commission, first the
propriety of raising corps each in a prescribed dis-
trict, where alone they should be recruited. Next,
should corps be composed of troops or Companies of
separate castes, or should the castes be mixed up in
the regiment ? Should Europeans, i. e., English,
form a component part of native regiments ? Would
it be expedient. to enlist natives of other tropical
countries, and, if so, in what way should they be
distributed ? Whether the grades of native officers
should be abolished, and each company provided
with a British sergeant and corporal instead ? In
case the grades of native officers be retained, whe-
ther the system should not be assimilated to that
of Madras and Bombay ? The best organisation
for separate military police corps ; the powers of
commanding officers; the drilling and training of
cadets • the system of punishment ; staff employ-
ment of officers in its relation to regimental effici-
ency. were also indicated as heads of inquiry. These
inquiries were.to include infantry, regular and irre-
gular, cavalry ditto, artillery, sappers and miners,
and the propriety of composing the artillery and
engineers of mixed natives and . Europeans, or of
Europeans exclusively. The Commissioners were
also expected to give their opinion as to the pro-
portion of natives to Europeans, and the result of
their labours was to be laid before the Commander-
in-Chief, after which the Governor-General was to
furnish the Directors with his careful review of the
measures to be taken for the maintenance and orga-
nisation of the army. The date of this document
proves the completeness of the misapprehension and.
the greatness of the delusion under which the Hon.
Company were labour*: in reference to the nature
of the revolt in India. In November; 1857, before
Lucknow was relieved, or the Gwalior Contingent
defeated, or Oude or •Rohilcund wrested from the
rebels, the Directors are calmly considering the
question which they think " must soon press for
decision,"—the reconstruction of the Bengal army.
They saw nothing more in the raging rebellion
than "the mutiny of the native army of the "Pre-
sidency," and although they were wise enough to
defer the appointment of the . commission to
" when success shall by the blessing of Divine
Providence have attended your efforts," they
evidently thought the period very near at hand.
It may be readily imagined that the Governor-
General found it impossible to' form a commission
of the kind. Officers of experience and ability had
their hands full of their more particular duties, and
cannot even now be spared from their posts. After
some delay, which was most likely unavoidable,
and of deliberation, which was commendable, Lord
Canning, in April, 1858, resolved that the commis-
sion was an impossibility, and he therefore decided
to intrust Colonel Durand, who had been the Resi-
dent at Indore up to the outbreak, and is generally
considered to be an officer of ability and judgment,
with the task of obtaining in writing from eminent
and experienced public servants, civil and military,
their opinion on each head of the inquiry, a copy
of which was to be forwarded to each of them for
consideration. Colonel Durand, under instructions
from the Governor-General, issued a circular on the
21st April, 1858, in which Lord Canning says,—
" The main features of the result and the general
and financial considerations which the issue of this
,unparalleled mutiny entail aretof themselves suffi-
cient to prescribe the point to which practically the
attention of the home Government must first be
directed, that point being the strength and compo-
sition of the European army which must be perma-
nently maintained in India, as the broad and fixed
basis of our power and security." With this view
the fifth paragraph of the directors' despatch, which
refers to the proportion of Europeans to natives,
is recommended first, as being likely to simplify
the whole subject. Accompanying this despatch
each officer, addressed has received the renewing
circular, wriiCh is, , hoivever;" only 'the firseot a
series -

"Questions hiving refereiice -to 'Paragraph 5 of Despatch
No 235, of the 25th of November, 1857, Military Depart-
ment, from the Court of Directors.
" 1. What is the number of European troops of each arm
now serving in , and what is their distribution ?
"2. What is the number of European troops of each arm
you deem. necessary for , and what should be
their ordinary distribution ?
"3. What is the number of native troops of each arm
now serving in , and what is their distribution ?
" 4. What is the number of native troops you deem ne-
cessary for , and what should be their ordinary
distribution ?
"5. What proportion of native troops now serving in
are regulars, irregulars, and police corps ? Of
what races are they composed, and in what proportion do
the races occur ?
"6. What proportion of your proposed establishment of
native troops should be regulars, irregulars, and police ?
"7. What proportion should the European bear to the
native troops in ? and state the ratios both in-
clusive and exclusive of police corps.
"8, What proportion should the European bear to the
native troops in India generally ? and state the ratios as
affected by the inclusioii or exclusion of native police corps?
"9, Is there adequate barrack accommodation for the
European troops now serving in and state its
amount.
" 10. Would additional barrack accommodation have to
be provided in for the strength of European
troops you deem necessary, and to what extent ?
" 11. What proportion of the European force should be-
long to her Majesty'sregular army, and what portion should
be composed of troops raised for service in India?
" 12. Under the supposition that additional corps of Eu-
ropeans have to be raised for service in India, how would
you officer them ?
" 13. Under the supposition that a considerable increase
take place in the number of corps raised for service in India,
and that they are officered from the officers of the mutinied
battalions of the Bengal army, will this accession of senio-
rity promotion corps create any greater embarrassment in
juxtaposition with the purchase promotion system than
what now accrues from the existence of the Royal Artil-
lery, Royal Engineers, Royal Marines, and the three Indian
armies, in all which corps and armies seniority promotion
is the system.
" 14. The feasibility of raising corps of foreign merce-
naries, such as Tartars, Chinese, Malaya,- Dyaks,Africans,
Madagascarenes, &c., being assumed, would you consider
that the proportion of European to native and foreign mer-
cenary troops could, with safety to our power alai supre-
macy in India, be modified from the ratio stated in reply to
questions 7 and 8 ? If so, to what extent ?
There are separate series referring to the reor-
ganisation of the infantry, of the cavalry, of the
artillery, and of ;the engineers. When Colonel
Durand began his labours an order had just been
issued for the formation of four very large regi-
ments of European dragoons, and an intention ex-
isted of retaining the disarmed regiments of light
cavalry which had not mutinied. Sir John Law-
rence and Sir J. Cotton protested against such an
act, and declared that those regiments were, if
possible, worse than the corps which had openly
mutinied. Colonel Durand therefore recommended
that, instead of four large regiments with such
auxiliaries, there should be 10 new regiments of
450 sabres each, to• be raised at home of moderate
standard, and the plan is now under the considera-
tion of Government. India will thus be made
tolerably independent of her Majesty's cavalry in
case they should be wanted at home or elsewhere,
and I believe the Governor-General and the Com-
mander-in-Chief concur in the views of Colonel
Durand's memorandum.
- - -

The frontiers of the Punjab and, of Assam are so
very unhealthy that the Government of India can-
not afford to place Europeans in the stations which
guard them. It will be necessary, therefore, to
employ natives for the service of such field batteries
as may be required along those frontiers, or, in
other words, to have some few batteries of native
artillerymen..: But, with that exception, all our