The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-07 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir, —Amongthe many conj, dares made respect-
ing the cause of the Bengal mutinies an assertion
has more than once appeared, stated in pretty pcni-
tive terms, that it is the inefficiency of the officers
and their want of sympathy with the natives under
them which have led to the deplorable results the
papers now teem will It is not simply to refute
this assertion that I now write, because events have
already proved its fallacy. It has now come to
light that the mutiny is, in fact, an insurrection,
fomented by the de-fp-laid intrigues of those who
have suffered by recent acts (strialy just and legal
of thomeelvea) of the Indian Government, and
springing from. convictions which no amount of
popularity in regimental officers could have com-
bated or neutralised the effects of. It is not, there-
fOre, I repeat, so much to refute the above asser-
tion that I address you as to offer a few obserVa-
tions on a fact I am ready to admit,—the want of
sympathy between British officers and the Sepoys
under them,—and to leave you and your readers
to decide whether such a Want of sympathy is cre-
ditable, or the reverse, to the former.
In the "good old days," when the pagoda tree
bore fruit and the voyage from England to India
was a business of six to eight-months, the " Com.
pany's servant" settled himself down in his Presi-
dency as in his future home. He ate, he drank,
and was merry, and when sated with the rough
companionship of his messm.ates (for a precious
rough set were our forefathers) he loplied about for
domestic enjoyment ; and, becau-e English ladies
were in those days few and far between, be betook
hiinself, in nine cases out ten, to the Howls of the
land, and in their arms forgot more and more the
ties that should bind him to his home, the restric-
tions that; should be oberved by a gentleman, and
the duties that are imperative on the Christian.
Sir, picture to youself an Indian of the old
school. He is lolling on his sofa or on two chairs,
arrayed in shirt and pyjamas .alone (though it be
long past noon), under a punkha, close to a tatty,
a hooka iu his mou h, a jormn of brandy-and-water
in his hand, and his " beebee" by his side or
squatted on the floor, with a host of her native re-
latives, and a rising brood of calf-skin-coloured
children around.

Let th 3 years pass, and look at the Indian officer
again through the medium of the overland passage,
the medium of quick and frequent intercourse with
his mother country. He may be dissipated, deep
in his tailor's books—but he is an Englishman in
appearance, though of the fast sort ; and he would
just as soon think of congregating with jackals as
passing the livelong day with Nauch girls and their
relations.

It is easy to ses that the first specimen must be
the favourite among the native, but whether it be
desirable to gain native affection by returning to
such a happy state it must remain for society and
the public to decide.
I have illustrated, of course, extreme cases; but
a mean would give, I suspect, a result mere favour-
able to the Indian officer of 1,357 than the one of
1817. Men now go out to India with some educa-
tion ; even cadets who come out direct pass some
examination ; while among those who have been
through Addiscombe and Chatham, as well as
among members of the civil service, persons will be
found of acquirements second to none. This was
not the case in former years. Our forefathers were
for the most part coarse and uneducated. The sol-
dier could drink, swear, and fight, and the civilian
was a mere tradesman. And, though the rough-
and-ready style of their acts may excite admiration
in some, I do not believe they pessessed a jot
more true energy than their more polished succes-
sors.

The vast improvement of late years in the tone
of the Cimpany's service, in the style of its mem-
bers, and especially among its military officers, has
been universally remerked and commented upon.
And it is strange that people should no•.v seek in
that very improvement the source of evils so dire-
ful as these murderous mutinies. - Yet such is the
fact, and these commentators do indirectly desire
the British officer in India to retrograde in these
times of improvement, to divest himself of English
ideas and habits, and to relapse into the disgusting
condition I have above endeavoured ts depict of an
"Old Indian."
It is unfortunate that advancement and improve-
ment and closer connexion with a pe )ple among
whom our lot is cast cannot go hand in hand ; but
it is not the less a fact. The Hindostanee, be he
Mussulman or be he Hindoo, is a creature to whom
change is unknown ; be is a perfect fixture, and as
lines springing from a point, and not parallel, di-
verge more the more they extend, so after years
will place a Wider gulf between this peculiar peo-
ple and the English who rule over them, and to
hiinpeffivecriricsYunjust to the last fer results which the
t the
Almightylatatieer with
canit
de-
gree.
From these remarks,
imperfectly as they are
worded, is it not easy te e that the volcano which
has now burst forth must have exploded in the
common course of events ? When we first took
India, or, more historically speaking, when we first
comseenced to reign there as masters, tardy com-
munication with England unanglicised the minds of
our officials. We gave in to the natives. We
adopted iu a measure their habits, their idea, their
dresi. We never thought of educating them. They
uneducated us. But when the Irresistible advance-
ment of later years spread into the land, when edu-
cation, litLle by lit le, forced its way into those
reams of ignorance and conceit, there remained to
the darkened Hindoo or the bigoted Mussulman
but one of two coo rsse—t become a convert him-
self, or to get rid of the instruments of conversion.
As regards the Hindoo, this will' be readily under-
stood when it is known that tl:e " Shastras," or
Hindoo Scriptures, are not confined to religious
subjects, but are a code embodying the entire
Hindoo system of astronomy and geography
that there is scar rely a passage in our exposition of
those sciences which does not utterly refute the
" Shastras ;" and that therefore to teach that the
earth is a globe, that it is divided into so many
continents, that it revolves around the sun, or that
• an eclipse is occasioned by the shadow of a heaven-
ly body, is as much to strike at the root of the Hin-
doo faith as denying the existence of the Messiah
would be to call in question the Holy Bible. In
proof of this assertion I have only to point out the
notorious fact, that the educated portion of the
Bengal race consists at present of men who are of
no religion,—that is, of no revealed or traditional
religion, but either Deists or Materialiats. These
gentlemen adopt partly the European dress, drive
about in gay carriages or gigs, drink freely of cham-
pagne, and partake, anathema maranatha, of beef-
steak and oyster sauce The recent rapid increa-e
of this class must have long ago struck the bigoted
uneducated Hindoo with apprehensions of the ap-
proaching downfall of Hindooisan • and when, in
addition, it is borne in mind that the Government
of India, determined to deal evenhanded justice to
all classes of its subjects, recently passed a law re-
scinding the Ilindoo law which deprives a convert
from Hindooism of all succession t heredit try pro-
perty, and thus released him from the talons of the
Brahmiuical priesthood, it is not difficult to under-
stand that every Brahmin in the country was ripe
for an effort to check the inevitable impending fall
of his religion.
As regards the Mussulman, he who does not
know that the followers of this persuasion have
ever to a man burned with hatred against us knows
little of that portion of our Indian subjects. So
bitter is this enmity that it is matter of wonder it
has not long ago overcome the want of unanimity
for which Orient as aro noted, and, instead of burst-
ing forth in some grand explosion, has contented
itself hitherto with a fe w frantic but limited emeutes,
as in the case of the Moulavies in Bengal and the
Moplas in Madras.
So far we deal with facts ; beyond this is mere
conjecture, which inquiries already set on foot in
India will establish or refute ; and these conjec-
tures range themselves thus :
Fromral thetheb e
timeoref
ehis a
nfi, first subjection
a wounded tiger in to the Bri-
tish
his lair, or a baffled spider in his web, has lain
smouldering away, so to say, with fiendish hate,
and a fierce longing for revenge, strengthened by
the deep enmity towards all other creeds taught
him ty his faith. Forming, however, but a portion
of the population of India, and having ages ago
rendered himself odious to the Hindoo, from whom
no co-operation cuuld be hoped for, he has re-
tranquil, biding his time—
attained comparatively
watching how long the Christian and the Hindoo
would reside quietly together. After an interreg-
num in which the former does nothing but scrape
together rnpees and acquire territory—the neces-
sity for ameliorating what we possess getting irre-
sistible—the first move iu the right direction is
taken by the abolit.on of-Suttee. The Mussulman
we cau fancy pricking up his ears at this, but for
so hsrrible a rate there are few advocates among
andtheyeamerassuthe withdrawal ofre passes quietly. It is
by
tfehleleHwiendeloosarte,r some
Government from all connexion with the villanous
idolatries of Juggernauth and of Gyajee, This pro'