The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-25 00:00:00

S7RENGTH OF THE EUROPEAN

ARMY IN INDIA.

Now, it must be remembered that after so ter-
rible a struggle as that of the last two years in
India, the minds of those who have been engaged
in the contest, however sound their understandings,
will naturally be induced to exaggerate to some
extent the means required to subdue a similar
revolt ; otherwise we could hardly believethat men
like Sir J. Lawrence and Sir H. Frere would re-
commend a European army to be kept up
of three times the strength it was during
a straggle which can never again be
exactly paralleled. If subsequent to the outbreak
there were in the Punjaub but 5,620 Europeans, to
watch a force of 32,240 native soldiers, of whom
18,920 were enemies on the look out for an oppor-
tunity to attack us, how can it be necessary to keep
up for all future occasions a European army four
times as numerous ? Turning now to the Bombay
Presidency, we find that the ordinary establish-
ment of European soldiers has been seven re-
giments of infantry, one of cavalry, and 1,603
artillerymen. Why then, we ask, in the face of
the financial difficulties under which the Indian
Government is now labouring, should it be pro-
posed to raise that force of less than 8,000 men (for
the regiments had never 800 present for duty) to
12,500 ? On the most general view of the subject,
we must conclude that the European force proposed
to be retained in India is unnecessarily large, and,
with reference to our means of supporting it, altoge-
ther impossible. To take a more sober view of
matters, we may say that the number of Euro-
pean soldiers which our revenues would really
allow us to support is about 45,000, of whom
25,000 would be infantry, 15,000 artillery, and
5,000 cavalry. The expense of this army would be
about L 4,000,000. To this it would be necessary to add
90,000 native regular troops, all infantry. The ex-
pense of these would be about £1,800,000. In ad-
dition, 30,000 irregular horse would be required, at
an expense of about £900,000. The total expense,
then, of our Indian army would be £3,700,000,
which, it is evident, our revenue, now amounting
to £33,806,294, would fairly enable us to support.
Now compare this outlay with the estimate of our
military expenses in India for the year 1858-59.
This amounts to £19,561,970 a sum which the
keenest advocate for the retention of our empire
purely by the sword, must admit to be far beyond
the means of Government to maintain.—Home-
ward Mail.

A MAGNIFICENT BEQUEST.—After the funeral of
Lord Henry Seymour, which took place early in the morn-
ing of last Saturday, at Pere la Chaise, in his mother's
vault, only attended by Lord Hertford, Vicomte Dar; and
five members of the Jockey Club, his will was opened, and
the hospitals of Paris,were found to have inherited a rent-
roll equal to £36,000 sterling per annum. As all this pro-
perty came through his mother, the late Marchioness,
England had no claim on it ; indeed, the testator, born in
Paris, never set foot on British soil in his- life. Four
favourite horses enjoy an annuity and exemption from
saddle-work. Other annuities are named unnecessary to
notice.

A WOMAN SEIZED WITUCRAMP WHILE BATHING.
—On Tuesday morning about 20 minutes to seven, a woman,
while bathing from one of Wisden's machines, was seized
with the cramp and fell. Some men who were bathing near
observed her fall, and ran to her: assistance. When she was
got into the machine Mr. Blaker, surgeon, was sent for. On
his arrival he ordered some brandy, and under this treat-
ment the woman soon recovered. She was taken home in a
cab in the care of a police constable. The extraordinary
part of the case is that the woman was drunk when she
entered the machine. It seems to us that there must have
been some strange neglect on the part of the attendants, or
she never would have been allowed to bathe in such a con-
dition.—Brighton Guardian.
THE HARVEST IN THE NORTH.—Another splen-
did week of harvest weather has prevailed, and great pro-
ess has been made in cutting and securing the crops.
Now that the crops, especially the wheat crops, are being
more seen into, they are reported to be very fine and likely
to yield abundantly.—Hull _racquet.