The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-24 00:00:00

SIR C. NAPIER AND THE INDIAN

A RMY,

(From the Times.)
It has long been sA down among the singu-
larities of our race that an Englishman is more
than half satisfied when he knows the cause; of
a disaster. No doul.t he is a very reasonable
being, .and often finds in a sufficient theory a com-
pensation for actual failure. If it be so, our
readers will find an immense store of comfort in
the slripe of Sir Cha,les Napier's published
opinions on the condition of the Indian Army, and
-some extracts from the more recent offis'ial des-
patches of the Governor-General. Any one who
reads the former, unless he resides under the shade
of some Director or retired Commander-in-Chief,
will only wonder how we have held the empire so
long by such a rope of sand as our military sptelll
turns out to be. That, no doubt, bas been the v. 19
reflection that has a thmpaind times instilled a false
security, and stifled Vie thought of reform. It has
gone on in this way for generations ; it answers;
no other way would answer, for what we can tell.
True, there are misgivings, not to say ac tual dangers.
So there were thirty y. ars ago ; ay, sixty years.
Indeed, there never was a time when there were
not people to t-11 us our empire hung on a thr ad.
Bishop Heber says that had Lord Comhermere
been forced to raise the siege of Bhurfpore, as Like
had done 20 years before, everyman from the Sut-
lej to the Nerbudda who had a sword, or who could
either buy or steal a horse, would have risen ag %lust
us.

It so happens that, chiefly owing to the intenso
jealousy of the Indian Government, and the incu-
has which sits on the pen and the tongue of every
Indian fiinetionierv, we I,ave not had m,ny means
of knowi, g how the system worked. We have had
no men of quick observation, sound judgment, free
from prefessionel bias, and able to defy all
authorities who passed through India, took notes
of all they saw, and gave us the re- ults of the tour.
When a man did tins, or when opinions did actu-
aily transpire, these were set down to disappoint-
ment, eccentricity, or malice ; and few indeed are
the men who are not o; en to such iinpu•ations. In
fact the prophet always was an eccentric, passion-
we, and rather ill-'empered being. For years it
has been known that Sir C. Napier felt the most
grievous dins itisfaetion wi.h the state of things 11
India ; and that he had incurred the wrath of it!,
rulers by the freedom of his tongue. But, what did
this matter ? His authcri y was as dust in the scale
compared with the Last reality of an empire which
had survived so many hostile predictions, and which
it was often said required rather a certain assimila-
ion to the Oriental character than FO striking 3
contrast as the energetic Englishman is apt to be'
come. India is a eul ject, indeed, on which mere
Englishmee—and every oneof us who has not seen
[gotta is a mere Engli-hman in the eyes o' the wore
I qtunate—have hardly courage to speak. The
whole t,ing is a mystery in our eyes. None of us
can divine toy weat spell or what law of nature the
scheolfellows whom we beat at every possible trial
become in afew years colleeters orjudgea with prince-
ly incomes, or military cflicers with extraordivarY.
employments of great responsibil ty. It was not
for us to criticise a state of things in which the
least drop of En ,lish blood went for so much, where
it seemed a positive waste to be clever and strotnn
and where the only danger was le.t, like Gulliver
among the Lilliputians, we should occasi ,nally d°
damage by forg-tting the smallness and the ff
ness of the race we had to deal with. Hence it„''
that even the British public, ever alive as it is 0
all misgovernment at home, and quick to he tr cony
plaiats, wes not roused by the known indignatiell
and mi,.givinge of Sir Charles Napier. In ficti
what could we do ? We have only just reenWei
and largely modified the Charter, wi'h hope) 0:
improve went. As for the army, that we could no
,"
reach. Theze stun ting armies indeed stall'
The highest military re ,son is that a 111ng is s°'
Why, for example, di I we make Dethi a strong for"
tress surround it with new bastions, excavate!:
deep ditch oat of the granite rock, leave within 1"
a hundred thousand "muskets, two parks of the
heaviest artillery iu India, and powder enough °
blaze away at any enemy for a ye sr, and then plate
the the whole in the sole charge of three native rag!"
merits ? Why did we not see the absurdity of this
course ? The answer is, that it always was so I?
Indian memory, It has been so the whole of tbo
century, and no harm haS'come of it.
What is described in these passages from the
"Lite of Sir Charles Napier" is the gradual es".
tinct ion of the British 'element in the native Indian
army, and the simultane sus elevation of the Elia'
don. Had there been a compact by. virtue of which
we were gra Wally to surren ter our dominion, to
relinquish step try step the ground won for us bf:
succeiAon of couple vots above our own standard,
to let the Hindoo acqui e the strength, the rank:
the self c .nfid,nce,.tite absolute end, pendency., and
the contempt of ourselves necessary to (pally hits
for doing without us, we could net have done other"
wise than we have. Hi re we see he picture of an ira;
mouse army, of the finest men the country mil"
produce ; full i,f caste and prejudice ; well paid
with wive:, children, and camp followers ; 0131;
ple I ely officered by thier own race ; thee officer,
mete of years, exp rieuce, arid dignified character
and everything, in a'word, that could make a ro„
native army. We see a Ling indulgence to natl.";
pride and scruples to an extent unknown in °ll
own army at home. On the other hand, we see
the Bri ish officers of these noble regiments gene'
rally reduced to a few youths, learning.their pro-
f. ssion from tire very men they are sent to e.)le-
mand and overawe ; spending their time in arnll4:
inents, or, welts., in idlene;s ; or, if they do lest':
and prect'se their profession, forthwith transferrt'
to sotto civil employment. The collection of O.
revenue, which is arid to have drained the Judicla
Departments of its best heads, robbed the army 314 n
of. its W,lest hands. Thus. in many
re-11
reginlell,-,
England has become only a name, as 14,
-
",
a name as the puppet we le ft on "i
throne of the Mogul and his feudatories. N87113r,
rem tined intact, what improved, and grew stronger
day by day, was the native organisation. Thera
were, indeed, pageants of Mahoruedan Royaltirt
and there were also other men in buckram t 194
at oil for the Brit sh conqueror. History record°
itself in a few foreign uniforms and idle ceremonies'
There was nothing real bum, the native, and th))
reality was witnesvd with respectful alarm by such
men as Sir C. Napier, wi h blind indifference bici
such men as Sir Wm. Goiam, and we must ad
with pain, Lord Dalhousie. S.) Sir . Charles 10;
tested and prophesied. He knew the breath would
he hardly out of his body Mole the whole ott.-4
fabric would crumble to pieces, but he would nut be
the Cassandra of India, the latighinestock of dire°•
tore and departments. He would, indeed, have piT
tested in vain. He did protest in vain. His own IlLe
and character were a continual protest against 1 118
indolence and luxury of the Engllshwan who play
the soldier to the increasing contempt of the Hinde,e'
Sir C•iarles was laughed at, snubbed, caricatureT
and finally
,beaten from the field, warning
~,11.1,e,
friends to the la-t of the impending catastrohe. II
has,. however, done his work. We have his ,"
And we shall profit by it. We have now to re-eoir
quer. India, ant we shall do it. - We have to rira
construct our system, to reorganize our army, 313
to create a new ideal of the British soldier iu ,
dia. That we shall do, 'for we are not a nation to
give up our ground once won, or to acquiesce 11/
deterioration. We have lost ground, slipped, all.fallen ..
; but we have no doubt India will soon u"
ours in a sense in which itehaS never been before.

DEFEAT of MR. BESSEMER'S AMERICAN

P a TEN T.

In AtnPrica, a pAtent granted for an invention I°
liable to be set aside if it can be :shown that the
p.teliteee has been anticipated by a previous
ven'or. This regulation has lead to the defeat °
Mr. Bessemer's American patent for the inventi°,ln
which produced 80 much excitement a twelvemonth
siiice. In our riumt er for Nov. 8. we mentione'
that Mr. W. Kelly, of the Suranne Iron-work'
Kentucky, claimed to be the inventor of what la
called the Bessemer process, and to have exhibitie,
it three or four years .ago to several English iron'
manutacturers... Mr. Kelly has subsequently ():e
twined a patent for the
,process. The iscienttil,
,
American, inturms us that. when Mr. Kay's a_„..PP,cO
cation for a patent came up before the PatentW .
for examination a pa.eut was refused, of couriet'
an interference was then declared, at his zecelet
and the following document, issued by Comte% .
sinner S. T. Shugart, will show the action whic
flowed from it :—" In the matter of interfereace,
between the patent of Henry Bessemer, of London'
and the application of William Kelly, of 107(n)
county, Ky., fur improvements in the 0021:11
facture of iron and steel, the hearing of
was fixed for the first Monday in April : It a'„'
pears that, by the concurrent testimony of nun'a
roust witnesses, Kelly made this 'invention, an
showed it by drawings and experiments as early o
1847, and tiis testimony appears to be reliablejea
every respect. The patent of Bessemer was seal
at London, on the 11th of April, 1856, and 00
date 11th of October, 1855. Priority of inventi
in this case is awarded to said Kelly, and 't
less
ordered that a patent be issued accordingly, nutbis
an appeal be taken within sixty days frorn
date." " Thus the interference," says ourvese..
temporary, "has been decided, and EfenrY
men's American patent is of no more value zuzino.
than so much waste paper."—Mechanics' 1114'

-
The Elberfield Gazette states that a postal convel'tice°ll,
has just been concluded between Austria and Fri'tnries
and that the rate of postage between the two cou
will receive a eneible diminution.