The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-14 00:00:00

THE-- BEAMAL ARMY.

.
In. the uninterrupted di 'amnion of the discipline
and general state of the Be "anal Army to which its
mutiny _bete given occasion
' frequent allusion has
p.,, to the opinions of
boeeenn,rl:ll:7leacboyb,ituhdeid.i%ll tienffigucislu:ld officer whose ser-
.: t -town to the public
'ekes in Sande first made hon.
hief command not
at how,. a •Ild who is now left 1.1. -c
adi..:jaovnalry which is
i, which still re-
only of 1 admirable corps
called after -him, but of the
the evacuation of Herat.
mains in Pei '5" to insure
The opinions if General Jacob wera ezubodied in a
pamphlet- publ.
;shed some years since,. anal now not
i
easily obtained in
England. We believe that we
''
shall afford useft 11. information for the inte-Rigent
4;scussion of the
Indian question by republis2ting
this pamphlet, whi ma, with the suppression only elf
a few passages respt 'cling the bygone controversy
as
with Sir 0. Napier, 1
s follows :
tv.. ~ Let U., inquire what `really are the defects and wants
of the native army of B 'lngal, and the beet methods of
remedying and supplying , diem. Let the of of the
Bengal army apply themsel res fairly and honestly to the
task of reform, where refor vi is really needed, and let
them not flatter themselves, a. v too often is the case, that
they have remedied a defect % v. hen they have only con-
eea'ed it, or denied its existence ; ell sores must be laid
open with an unsparing hand, ae 'a. the caustic be freely
applied, before they can be prope.'l v healed ; let not the
patient think the surgeon an enemy 1;,, 'cause he gives pain.
" For myself, I shall endeavour .to write exactly. as if
I were myself an officer of the Ben ga 1 army ; my Judg-
ment may be erroneous and my opiniom i unsound, but my
motives are undoubtedly good : the)' t -e.e the wish hon-
estly to serve my hon. masters and illy country, and to
benefit, in my humble capacity, the BATT ice to which I
akin proud to belong. I have served alt G,g6 ther 23 3 ears,
have never been absent from my duty, oend have long
commanded a native corps of high reput' /. During the
course of my service I have seen a good deaf .of the Ben-
gal army, and have conversed much with its elfficers.
" With the opportunities and experience a hovemen-
Coned, my observations and opinions may be useless and
unsound, but they cannot justly be deemed presonaptu-
ens or hasty.
" The moat serious faults existing in and peculiar to
tke Bengal army appear to me to be as follows :
" 1. The absence of the highest moral tone and of a
simple and vigorous Anglo-Seaton honesty in dealing
with Asiaticson the part of English. officers of the array
of Bengal.
" 2. The want of power placed in the hands of regi-
mental commanding officers ; the -want of confidence
reposed in, and support afforded to them, by the Com-
mander-la-Chief and by Government.-
" 3. The most pernicious system of drawing pay by
teinpanies direct from the divisional Tap:nester, instead
of by regimente, which again tends tee bring regimental
commanders in contempt, and to reduc*i their power and
u s- fuloeee.
" 4. The most defective system of commanding offi-
cers! ine.,see.
"5. The entire absence or a proper cemfidence between
the offloera and the native soldiers,
F "G. The moat pernicious practice of attending to the
caste of native soldiers, thereby frequently excluding
from our ranks the best material fur soldiers and enlisting
the very worst.
"7. The very bad and fatally injurious system of pro-
motion t xisting with re.pect to native officers and sol-
there.

"8. The entire absence of a proper discipline through-
out the native part of the Bengal army.
"Ample proof of the first-mentioned fault is found in
proceetliuge towards mutineers—in the late orders to the
Ileogal army regarding Courts of Request, &c.—in dia•
closures which have been made regarding gambling af-
fairs, banking transactions, &c., too notorious to require
oetailteg, and too extensive and numerous to be attribut-
able t'. causes affecting individuals only. These proofs are
publie and patent to all men.
"The defect being admitted, where shall we look for
the cause and the remedy? One cause appears to We to
coaelst in the lowering of the English character by in-
seosiley adopting Asiatic habits, manners, and feelings,.
the AnglieSaxen becoming partly merged in the Hindoo.
This is extensively the case in the army of Bengal.
"Prom the moment a young officer sets foot in the
Banged presideney he is perpetually reminded that every
• English idea and habit is the sure mark of a griffin (that
is, of a fool). He must not go out in the sunshine ; he
must travel in a palki, instead of on horseback ; he must
•be pankaed and tettied, and God knows what else; he
must have a kbansainaun, a kidmutgar, a airdar bearer
anst)iearers, and a host of other servants, one for his pipe,
huother for his umbrella, another for 'his bottle, another
for his chair, &c., all to do the work of one man, and
which work would be done by one man in the case of
a Bombay griffin. Ry all these people the youth is
called Ghureeb purwar,' khoodabund,' &c.
"Thus state of affairs bewilders the new comer, till,
resigobio himself to his fate, he becomes accustomed to
it, aiel gradually loses part of the manliness of the
Angle,-Sexon character. With the external luxurious
anti lazy habits of Hindostan he imperceptibly adopts
soreewhat of Oriental morality.
Another cause is the difficulty existing in obtaining
furlough to Europe, which, if removed, would effect a
wonderful improvement in the tone of Indian society ;
this ceuse, although of great importance, ie, of course,
not p, collar to Bengal, but cornmeal to all India:
"The remedy is evident—let it be the fashion to be
Englieh. It is a fallacy to suppose that _the climate
cempele to be otherwise. There are faults enough I sup-
pose in the European society of the Western Presidency,
but assuredly it is ten times more English than that of
Bengal, yet the climate is no better than that of the
latter.
"Let the griffin have no more than two body servants
at most ; let him have no one in his service who will not
do such work as his master bids him do; if the Efindoos
objlc~ to such service, there are plenty of Mussulenans
ready, willing; and able to -take their places, and with
nu more prejudices than a Christian.
' " Let the young man never enter a palki, but go about
on the back of his pony; let him not fear the sun ; it
may tau his cheeks, but it will not hurt him.
"It is your efaminate g ntlefolk, who live in dark
houses, artificially cooled with a dozen Hiudoos at work
with tans and flappers to beat the flee off them, who
suffer by exposure, not the heady young Englishman,
who, if not intemperate, moon becomes acclimatised, and
the fuse readily so the less he regards the sunshine,
which is healthy enough in moderation ; expert() crede.
" Let him, in short, while studying the character of
the ua'dees of India as deeply as possible, and making
himself completely acquainted with their habits, thoughts,
feelings, modes of expression, &a, endeavour himself by
al's means in his power to remain a thoroughly Engiiah
cgeutleinen. As he succeeds in doing so he will assuredly
succeed in commanding the respect and regard of every
native around him. All our power in lull& rests on
this. We may lay it down as an absolute certainty that
the neliions of natives which a handful of Englishmen
govern in this vast continent will .not consent to bo go-
verned by a handful of their equals. Our power con-
skits in cur being essentially different from them, and in
their belief in our moral superiority only. The only thing
which can endanger the existence of this power is the
destruction or weakening of that belief.
"Thu state of the body will often affect the mind ;-
habit's and manners will act on and be reacted on by
by morals and religion.
" Let UP, then, be English in all thing's, to the utmost
of our power, internally and externally, in religion and
in merely, in habits and in feelings, allowing absolute
freedoile of opinion and fair play to all men, and all will
be well.
" Th., second evil is notorious, it has been frequently
reinarlSed on, its existence is everywhere acknowledged,
and ite effects are lamentable. The commanding officer
el ie.regirrient in the Bengal army is almost powerless
tor good, he is allowed to do nothing, his men are almost
taught to despise him, and in many instances of late
years the Sepoyes have been allowed and encouraged to
far ward written complaints against their commanders
d'r:et, to army.head-quartere What can be worse than
this ? It is utterly destructive of all military discipline
and uoldierlike pride.
I' The third and fourth mentioned evils are closely
connected with the second. In the Bengal army the
practice prevails of each commander of a company
drawing pay for that company himself separatley,
direct :rom the divisional paymaster; so that the pecu-
iiiary transactions of the regiment are carried on in a
great measure independently of the commanding offi-
c.o., and often without his knee ledge, as, for ex
ample, has appeared in some late disclosures regard-
ug ben'eing transactions, wherein the officers command-
n4 Oen:tamales appear to have made arrangements with
divieteeel paymasters for the recovery by regular instal-
moot, of payments on account of various bankicg trans-
aesi'oes without the commanding officers of the regiments
lap es ires anything of the matter. All these also tend to
reduce the useful power of regimental commandants and
'snake them be despised.
With regard to messes the st ite of affairs is very
15 home regimeets no mess t xistt ; the maintaining
i 3 not only not made compulsory, but even where
Is maintained it is 'optional with officers whether
W' meg to it or not ; such a state of affairs is fraught
att,`u .11;v:fit consequences—it breaks a regiment up
a parties, and gives rise to all manner of
It also lsseens the power and good influence
of commanding o(fIlf crin an extraordinary degree,
clpti=eaandelynamperchepti,tlhe support which a commander
rezziyea from all well-disposed
officers, who have a properwrileiloa in their noble profes-
ie ed it enables otherell
be; ill-disposed to
work iniechief unperceived, until IT
effect. become ap-
poser, t in the bad state of the reginee„ae
o Toe remedy fur all these evils is in th e hands of the
Comm-slider-in-Chief and of Goveinment ; let tho cool
mender of a regiment
be systematically and eft eauall
supported in the xercise of his legitimate power. y
ample as possible every
in . ; let
tbose rowers be as r-spect—
reeeseteig regimental affairs, let a. turn, centre,_. and rem,
on bile ; and with these full powers snake him respensible
that goes on well. It it do not, displace him from hie
eieerearet. Let there be a regimental paymaster to whom
the cresipany officers seed their muster rolls' and whose
due.); it is to draw the pay of the regiment, under the
y of the regime etel commander:.
test the loess be a public institution, to belong to
vride4 la compulsory
on all officers. Let the commanding
°altars be held responsible that it be conducted with due
hod pr.-per regard to economy, comfort, and proptioth
toes them full power to enforce such a state of things.
yhereie nothing new in these rules ; they exist with the
ireopiest effects in the other armies of India, and would
beecu:ally advautageoue to that of Bengal.
" Me fifth evil is notorious, and is plainly proved by
men .deserting their officers in the field, by frequent mu-
tinies, s!ec., where nothinghas been known by the officers
of wb it was going on until it resulted in open resistance

This dofect has lately been to some extent remedied.