The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-16 00:00:00

and their services at the disposal of Government
without any reservation whatsoever.
At least five-sixths of the vo'amteers are Eurasians
—East Indians—half cistes—take which name you
will ;. colour, varying from that which is seen in
the fairest specimens of the natives, to the com-
plexion of an inhabitant of Southern Europe. These
persons form a mixed race, being degcendants of
native mothers and European fathers ; and
t'e miliiary display they make upon parale is
highly crattable considering the shortness of the
time they have been• under drill. It. some respects
they are the most unfortunate class of people in the
world, being despised generally by Europeans
and natives, and being stigmat'sed, though most
falsely, as possessing the worst qualities of both.
They have ever been used badly, indeed infa-
mously, by the Government. They aro deb irred
fi mu enlisting in the European regiment', and they
have been discouraged in almost every branch of
employment to which they have addressed them-
selves. In this climate it is impossible for them to
become labourers. The principal occupation open
to them is that of clerks or bandsmen in native in-
fantry regiments ; but as the demand for clerks as
well as bandsmen is limited, the
pay of the latter
too being wretchedly small—that is to say, 14s. a
menth—large numbers of unfortunate Eist Indians
are condemned to live in the extreme of misery.
It i 4 no .v a great desiderai uin t deci ease the na-
tive element in our armies to the renallest possible
amount'. It is also generally believed essential to
mix the different races and castes in such a man-
ner as shall effectually prevent any such cotabina-
tion as exists at present in the army of Bengal.
Admitting this, it is difficult to imagine a case in
which a government had a batter opportunity of
combining justice with the public advantage.. En-
glish soldiers are difficult ta grt, and expensive to
keep. Make use, then, of the invaluable material
which is at hand in the shape of East Indians in-
ured to the climate, born iu the country, speaking
its language as a mother tongue, but divided lw a
gulf of jealousy and mutual contempt from the rent
of the natives. What I should klie-to see would be
a company of East Indians in every native regiment
of the Madras army ; and while upon this subject,
I will lay before you a table which appeared in the
Madras d thenceum the other day. It brings into
striking relief the proportions which the differee-
cas,er bear to each other in the three armies of Ben.
gal, Madras, and Bombay.

Infantry. Bengal. Madras. Bombay,
Christians .......... 1,118
Mahomedans
Brahmins 2267933353
6,923
R ajpoots
Hindoos of an infe-
: 1
''''
12:6:

S i kit:
50
description... 15,761 ......
Telingas (Gentoo) ...... 16.50)
Tamil .
Other castes
Indo-Britons. . — ...••• 1,075
Mahrattas —

Grand Total... 83,916 44,191 25,933
On an attentive consideration of the above table
the superior distribution of castes in the Madras
army becomes evident to any one acquainted with
the subject. In the first place, there are 1,650 na-
tive Christian [Sepoys
.in the Madras army, those
ruarkul as Christians in the Bengal army being Indo-
Briton bandsmen and not Sopoys. Madras, in addi-
tion, has her complement of ludo-Briton bands-
men. These, however, are minor points. It is true
that we have more Mussulinans than they have, or
had, in Bengal ; but look at the other castes. Com-
pare our Telingas and Tamils, drawn from the most
peaceful and industrious races of men in the world,
with the turbulent Rajpoo`s and intriguing
the) Madras army,
Brahmins of Bengal ; and remember that while all
castes in the Bengal army speak Hindostani as
Mussuhuans,
their common
ocliorgmasr
anmdottihmerTaitoopufst,l,o
have each a perfectly distinct language of their
east
acqta
esge!tdt'na attaining to
iutance with the
mowonre;thtlaien
atwmo letterimperfect
ost
Hindostani or " Camp language.' The conclusions
to be drawn from this are obvious, and will tend
much to pacify the minds of those who have begun
to doubt the loyalty of the army of Madras. Never-
theless, this army is quite capable of improvement
in organisation. Some regiments have a large pre-
ponderance of Mussuluraus, others scarcely any.
In the cavalry it must be confessed that the pro-
portion of Mahomedans is altogether outrageous.
Out of a total of 3,290 trool.ors, 2,569 are followers
of the Prophet. The consequence is, and indeed
always has been, that the Madras Cavalry inspires
less confidence than the Madras Infantry, and the
conduct of the Bth Cavalry the other day was a
direct consequence of a faulty, organisation.
Now, suppose we had our regiments organised
as follows :

Company No 1. Indo-Britons.
2. Mahomedans,
3. Tolingas.
4. 'Paten's.
5. Native Christians.
6. Mahomedans.
7. Telir)gas.
8. Tamu!s.
9. Native Christians.
•
10. ludo-Britons, Native Christians,
or Tamely,
Such a distribution, or one similar to it, is far from
impossible—nay, it is perfectly feasible, and would
be an effectual asfeguard against mutiny. Add to
this that it is approved of by many experienced
ofticns.

Perhaps oar principal domestic event of the
present furtnight is the return of Sir Patrick Grant
to Madras. His sojourn in
Bengal has neither
raised nor lowered his reputation. It is difficult
to imagine how anyone, however highly endowed,
could have altered the course of events during the
peri id h 3 hAI office. He has been blamed because
he entrusted responsibility to fools who were inca-
pable of using ; but we have
.did so knowingly... These are days when everyone
in command is crying out for summary powers and
large discretion. It must, however, be admitted
that whi'e Sir P. Grant liiild the chief
lock were achieved, and that unlimited command
in India, the &lions exploits of Neil and Have-
yet to learn that he
every availabe support was given them. This much
we will venture to say, that the' appointment of
Mr. T. P. Grant, and the supersodiugthe gallant.
Havelock by that prince of vacillation and fussi-
ness—Outram, was no act of Sir Patrick's, whose.
powers and
return to Madras is hailed by every ono with
satisfaction.

TREMENDOUS
EXPLOSION AND LOSS
. OF ONE THOUS
av
AND LIVES.
We have been I
following translation of a Per-
sian letter i eceived from Joudpore, anent the ex-
plosion of the magazine at that place :
hours of 12 and 2, heavy
" On the night of the 10th August,
August 16) with theou" (gays the Sindiam of
with loud peals of thunder and vivid flashes of
lightning, h a npartin to everything around a ghastly
r anfelaccompanied between
spectacle terrifying to behold. A few minutes after
the scene was repeated with tenfold violence, and
the people were greatly intimidated. In the fort
belonging to the rajah, which is situated on a hill
constructed of stones of various dimensions and
i
sizes, and
of the rajah had been kept. This wasand containing a passage subterraneous, the
struck with lightning, and some thousands of
reaunds of powder were calf o.led. The shock was
so great that the walls of the fort and a temple and
four ponderous gates were blown up in the air into
a thousand pieces, destroying 590 houses and all
the people living therein. Up to tt,o time of writing,
the remnants of the inhabitants were engaged in
removing the dead bodice found under these ruins.
It was gleaned from the Kotwal of the place,
that upwards of (1,000) one thousand had already
been taken out, and that others were also being
removed, The domestic servants of the Rajah, as
well as some Sepoys
were whodAevsetrreoykeeaptatnodgoutahredrwthisee
injured. place, were all killed. Such a dreadful occurrence
was never known in Jou
rclpore before. The ma-
spteoonle" weighing one mound was picked
iitryea. of the
up at Soorsannagur Talao, distant four miles from
Joudpore, where' the political agent re•ides.
Another largo stone fell as far as six miles, at a
place called Chowpassaney, where falling on a
house, it killed three people. The explosion was
SO severe, that for six miles around the people and
houses sustained a shock." •

THE MADRAS ARMY.
(Prom the Madras Atlt(encura.)
Ti
are about t
military
o news
of the fortnight shows that
steps be, and in some cases have been
taken in the right direction. The batteries of
Horse Artillery at Madras are to have European
and East Indian drivers instead of native—a de-
cided change for the better, as the latter when in
action have an unpleasant habit of running away.
Tue tight Madras Rifle Companies of the Ist, 50,
24th, 26th, 36th, 38th, and 49h Regiments of
Native
for service. This
nt andl
formed
into one regi
n
is an excellent move, and shows the advantage of
went
having kept instead of disbanding them, as was
Infantry are toto b
lie regalf,
proposed by Government in 1830. To Colonel
Conway, the then' adjutant-general, we are now
indebted for the retention of this most efficient and
valuable arm of the Madras army.

INSTRUCTIONS RELATIVE TO THE
TREATMENT OF MUTINEERS.
The following instructions have been published
by order of the Government
North Western Provinces.
From C. Beadon, Esq., Secretary
,tootEaticeiaGtionvgersnemcreenttaryof
forward tLe accompanying Thornhill,ex-
cetnetd of
fotile
tos; India,e
Sir,--I
toon
IvCe Government