The Sun.
London, England, 1857-10-24 00:00:00

NATIVE CHRISTIAN REGIMENTS.

A correspondent of one of the Madras journals
suggesta to Lord Harris the advisability of raising
, regiments composed entirely of native Christians,
and doing so forthwith. He thinks that with the
aid of iniasionaries some 25,000 able-bodied men
might be procured, that is if government is satin
tied with able-bodied melt, and doe 4 not look for a
grenadier stature iu its recruits. The native Chris-
tians are not at present very willing to enlist in the
native infantry regiments, for, as might be ex-
pected from the barbarous ignorance of the Hin-
does and Malennedans, the latter affect to look
down upon the Christian sepoys as men who have
abandoned their caste. If all that we have beard
and read of Jesuits and of other missionaries and
their enterprises in Southern India is not fallacious,
a far larger number of Christian reccruits than
25,000 might be procured in the Madras presi-
dency. Why an attempt is not male to embody
them into separate regiments, we are at a loss to
conjecture. It has hitherto been the policy of the
Indian government to discourage the enlistment of
native Christians. No native Christian, is unneces-
sary say, /would have been received into auy of the
Bengal regiments, and if a sepoy of any of these
corps became a Christian, he would have been
turned out. This was one of the concessions
made to those bodies of men who have
proved so gloriously "st tuncl►".-_.but it was
a concession which was) necessary, when we re•
member that from the very earliest, times the mode
of recruiting adopted in the Bengal army was rotten
to the core. There was, however, no such necessity
fordiscouraging the enlistment of Christians in either
the Bombay or Madras armies, and measures might
have been taken to induce greater numbers of them
to join the corps of those presidencies than are now
to be found in them. The great desideratum, how-
ever, is to have regiments composed solely of native
Christians. Such a step will have the effect of ele-
vating the native Christians in their own esteem,
and showing them that Government does not regard
them as outcasts as the Mahomedaus and undone
do. One of the results of such a course would be,
that the regiments would never want recruits. We
need not say that we are adverse to any tampering
w►th the religions of the races of this country; bat
on the other hand, we do say, if the Government of
India thinks it politic to have a goodly number of
regiments of native Christian soldiers, that if it now
raises a few corps of such men, and treats them
with indulgence nod favour, it will be little less
than astonishing how thick native Christian appli-
cants for enrolment will be found to present them-
selves in the course of a very few years.—Pitsenix,
Sept. 5.

NANA SARIB. •
The Bombay Gazette has the following, relative
to the antecedents of the scoundrel Naua Sahib:—
" The Konkan 13ralnins, we learn, are loud, in
their execration of Iheir confrere Nana Sahib; and
well they may, for a greater monster of wickedness
use sentom trodden btie face this fallen world.
He was born, it appears, in the village of Ven, in
the talooka of Naarapoor, near the roots of 'the
mountain of Malheran. His father was a begging
Biretta who went to Bithoor in the hope of occasion-
ally sharing in the charity of the ex-Pesliwah, of
whose gottra, or clan, he was a member. The
Pesliwah set his eyes upon his boy Nana, and made
him, with others, an adopted son, that he might join
in the funeral and other ahaddra,s, intended to miti-
gate the Peshwah's sufferings or promote his well-
being either in his now birth in this world, or in his
ethereal abode above the skies. Nan a's elevation was
too much for him to bear, and at an early age he gra-
duated in the school of debauch e ry aad licentiousness
What a proficient be has become in the practice of
evil all India now Lows. However he may end
his days, he may depend upon being elevated i o the
gibbet of eternal infamy. Query—Will any Brah-
min be found base enough to perform his shruddle?'
To tie above it may be added that to au ordi-
nary observer Nana Sahib would have seemed one
of the least likely natives of th is coun! ry to perpetrate
the atrocities he has been guilty of. He appeared
what is called a native of Eugtsh tastes. He spoke
our language, and affected European refinement.
At Bithoor he lived in a style of costly profusion,
and stories are told of magnificent revels held by
him on the Gauges, with a fleet of boats gaily orna-
mented, and freighted with musicians, (ire. During
his visit to Calcutta, he was a gr.at patron of the
jewellers, and it was not unusual with him to turn
round to whoever happened to be in his company
and say, "Now, take whatever you like best in the
shop : I'll pay for it." The
man is a at.anding de-
monstration that', however we may
vices and antipathies of Orient ils, cannon, in one
na-
tives of this c nintry to read gild over the
generation eradicate them. We may
Englis teach tha
h, and make
.
them acquainted will the works of some of the
best authors in our language ;
but, not withstand-
ing this, it should always b 3 borne in mind that the
old leaven remains, and will remain as long as the
social system of the country remains unchanged,
and that aye- em we are not strongenough to upset.
—Phcotix, Aug. 29.

INDIAN MUTINY BELIEF COMMITTEE.

The following de4peli front her Maje3t y's Charge
d'Affaires at Ifainburg has been transmitted by the
Earl of Clarendon to the Lord Mayor :
" Haniburp Oct. 17, 1857.
"My Lord,—l have the honour to acknowledge the
receipt of your lordwhip'e despatch, No. 13, of the 29th
of Septemher, the contents of which I communicated to
some of the leadiug members of the committee here for
the relief of sufferers by the Indian mutiny, and with
which approval of their efforts they were highly pleased,
and I have now to state that the aubscriptious towards
the fund have nearly reached the sum of 1,0001.
"In addition to those donations contributed from all
classes of the Hamburg* community, I am informed by
Syndic Mereh that the Senate have instructed Mr.
Bucher, their Minister resident at the Court of St.
James',, to pay the sum of 500/ to the Lord Mayor of
London, as the contribution of the Government of Ham
nenont
burg towards the Indian fund.
tihnftutiahl; and wealthy Hamburg
and, iu conversing with
" The committee announce the close of the subscrip-
tionsaom
merchants,
e onof tht
he loesis tos oar
Messrs. Sisohroder, Morel), and Godeffroy,
poin t
they stated to ase that they had only announced that
subscriptions would received, but thatto they
afford hadto ahba-
sht a iinres dymfr
inhabitantspoam t
oh ly Hamburgtsolicitingh tthe
r e
fft
oh:re:sop yo promote civilisation
, wishing to
of testifyicg
t
and well-regulated government in India of the people of
Great Britain, with whom they have ao long and so
closely been connected by ties •,f friendship and mutual
interest.—l have the honour to be, your obedient sec.

♦ant,

(Signed)
" The Earl of Clarendon."

" G. LLOTD HODGES.

Among the recent contributions to this fund
there are a few that are of aktud to render suitable
a special notice. The officers and crews of 19 of her
Majesty's ships hive set a noble example to the
service by contributing the sum of 479/. 18s, 2d.
The East and West Indian and the St. Katherine
es,and Wigram, having each
Dock Companies have presented. liberal donations,
guineas to tine fund.
elichoiPubrsucilielVrisesasirisd.
and some of the most eurnioluseantiti
seGhorniepetornwi adoptinguusetremsdiatijoe,oso i

Great sensation was caused at Charleroi, in
of Gilly, had been murdered by
T.elg i u m ,
on Tuesday by the announca
1"i:1:
other-in-law. On going to the
tnent that an old man,
of blood, with not fewer than 12 stabs is hii
*tdrhe local authortties found him lying dead
ntiwiaatimifeswd
hi
fl:euasnea:l
tinlaraoltpt.oolHis hands and feet had been bound with a cord,
in order to facilitate the crime. Several knives, all
stained with blood, were on the floor, and the furniture
was also splashed with blood. As everything indicated
that the crime bad been committed by the wife and
brother-in-law, they were arrested aid lodged in gaol.
It appears that they had long been in the habit of ill-
treating the old man ; but their reason for the murder is
not yet known.