Star.
London, England, 1829-10-24 00:00:00


DISTRESSING AND ALARMING STATE OF
THE INDIAN ARMY.

PIIIIIATS LIMB.
CAWNPORF., Fri. 28, 1829.

I Ita,teit to gi•.-e you tlic earliest information respecting
the uoltappy state of things on this side of India. It was impos-
sible for any man to return to this country with a greater share of
popularity in his favour than Lord Bentinck ; and,vrithin a few short.
months, we loathe his very name. He has let: himself to measures
which Lord Hastier; openly declared he would rather resign his go-
vernment than do—be has dared, without assigning any feasible res.
son, to insult the whole of the Bengal army, and depr.ve them, and
the medical officers in particular, of what were their just rights—he
4as, in short, deprived the army of half their established allowance,
by placing the stations, notorious for being the most expensive in
Bengal, on " Half Batta ;" he has deprived the Medical Officers
—a class of officers whose services are the most responsible and
laborious of all others—of the whole of their medicine allowance.

You must he aware, as well as I can point oat to you, that the
territories watered by the Ganges alone embrace a population
of thirty millions of souls, or twice that of Great Britain.
History furnishes no example of so extensive and populous a
nation continuing long subject to another, placed at so immense
a distance, and with a population so much inferior. Government
cannot here repose on an opinion that the strength of the governing
body is physically competent to enforce obedience. The distance,
the climate, and the limited number of Europeans in this country,
prevent us from supporting a military force capable of opposing the
natives in case they rose en masse. Those native troops who have
fought and bled in our cause are, nevertheless, taken from the
mass of the inhabitants, imbued with the same prejudices, ani-
mated by kindred sentiments, and exposed to all the canoes which
may eventually excite a general feeling of discontent ; and this
feeling, I can assure you, has already got abroad.
The permanence of a Government thus circumstanced must,
therefore, unquestionably rest on an opinion that it is a wise and
beneficent one, and that it is for the general interest to submit to
its authority. Is this the case? But a people whose calculating
habits render them uncommonly clear-sighted where their own in-
wrest is concerned, cannot easily be either deceived or satisfied in
this particular. To appear good, the Government must really be so ;
and that not merely in our view of it, but in their's also. Of the
great mats of the natives, one-twelfth are Mahomedans, the remains,
I may say, of the ruling power of whose authority we have super-
seded, and who may be considered as very generally disaffected,and
willing to seize the first favourable opportunity of regaining the as-
cendancy of which they have been disposseued. The Hindoos
constitute the rest of the population ; but these, although willing to
submit to the authority of the Europeans, can never be brought to
assimilate with them. Keeping these principles in view, it must
appear to the must casual observer, that the arrangements actually
adopted by our beloved and gracious Governor are wisely calculated
to heighten the disaffected spirit which is creeping abroad. Al-
ready the Native Officers have heard the complaints of the British
Officers, and, ever alive, as I before mentioned, to their own in-
terest, they have naturally concluded that they will participate
equally in this vile breach of faith and justice.*
We came out to this country under the full conviction that our
pay and allowance would, come what might, never be infringed
on—that they would be considered inviolate, and au honourable
compensation for exiling ourselves from our kindred and friends
to drag on a solitary and dreary existence in the burning plains
of Hindoostan The whole army have come forward en
mane, and remonstrated against the injustice and cruelty prac-
tised on them ; and, unless redress is given, before you get this,
in all probability, the country will be in open rebellion ; fur what
can they do without tke military in such a country as this? And
this my Lord Dentinck will learn to his cost, if hedoet not take care.
Herewith 1 send a copy of two or three of the remonstrances f,
Just to give you an idea of the state of things, and that what I have
mentioned is really the caw. Surely, if the Company were in such
a wretched condition, they ought not to come on the poor military
man, arid above all, on the medical officer, whose duties in this hor-
rid climate are severe in the greatest degree. Night and day, in sick-
ors., or in health, he is expected to attend on all who call fur him, and
on his shoulders rests the care of the lives of upwards of 1,000 souls.
To give you an idea of juicier—from a Judge of Circuit, in the re-
ceipt of 50,000 sicca rupees a year, 5,000 have been taken away ;
front an Assistant-Surgeon in charge of a corps, whose pay and allow-
aucca amounted to 6,500 sonat rupees a-year, 3,000 have been taken
away. Is this justice, I would ask ? The Company may rely on
it, that as they are the first to break their faith, so they will be the
fir •t to repent of it. I may just tell you, that 400 rupees a month
are allowed to the officer (no matter of what rank) in immediate
command of a corps ; an Assistant-Surgeon, however, is put in
charge of a corps, and does not get a picel, although he does the
duty of full surgeon, who would draw, were he present, upwards
of 400 rupees fur performing the same duty.
• I can assure you, on the best authority, that the correspond-
ence carried on by native troops since the promulgation of the in-
famous order alluded to has been immense ; however, the Hon.
Court may think to stop their mouths by increasing a jemadar's
pay to three rupees a month.
t The Documents here alluded to appeared yesterday.
The Governor General is pleased to intimate that Assistant
Surgeons in charge of corps shall be allowed 60 rupees a month
extra ; and if, as is not unfrequently the case, they have charge of
tw., corps (2,000 men), they shall draw palker allowances of thirty
rupee, a month. —Vide Government Orders, Nov. 28, 1828.

FRENCH PAPERS.

• From the Messager des Chambres of Wednesday, Second
Edition.
A letter front Egina says that the President, Count
Capo d'lstria, arrived there from Poros on the sth of September,
on board the frigate Hellade, and that he was received with the
usual honeurr. A monk, who arrived on the 6th of September
at Egina, from the convent Jerusalem, near Melia, at the Foot
of Pat nauus, informs ua that 4,000 Albanians had penetrated as
far as the plains of Turkochori, by the defiles of Mount Oeta.—
They escorted 3,000 beasts of burthen, loaded with biscuits and
other provi.ions. Karatuso had, a few days previously, left his
position near Budonitza. The Turks halted there two days, in
order to convince themselves whether the enemy was behind the
defiles of Fontana and Wassiliko. The inhabitants of these coun-
tries bad escaped to the mountains, leaving the produce of the har-
vest in the hands of the enemy.
Demetrius Ypsilanti occupies, with about 3,000 men, the vil-
lage of Steveniko, Petra, and several other positions of the
as well as the routes which lead to the Delphi and Salons,
to the South of Parnassus. It is believed that Karatasso is near
Ambliani.

MUNICH, Ocr. 16.
Among the number of foreigners at present in our city is the
Brazili.,n Knigh:, Barbosa. He was at Munich In the month of
May. from whence he set out in June for Rio Janeiro, with the
comit.ct of marriage. He is now on his retut n from that city, and
is the bearer of the ratification of this contract by his Sovereign to
her Royal Highness the Duchess of Leuchtenberg. At his de-
Fol ture from Rio JAtieiro preparations were making for the recep-
tion of the young Empress, in honour of whom all that the city
and its Emperor can offer of sumptuous will be put under contri.*
hution. The Emperor will go to the port to meet his young wife.
It may be confidently expected that the vessels would have a good
pass.,-'e, as they had already passed the Azores, and the wind blew
tow•rsls the West. The young Empress will, therefore, be thou
et the place art her destination.
There has been a talk about inquests made at Paris and in the
departments relative to the periodical press—of inquests upon the
Conductors of Constitutional Journals, and even of inquests upon
the subscribers to those Journals. There is now an intention of
making a Secret Biovaphy, a pocket Statistic of the Reporters, for
the use ul the Ministry.
They wish to know exactly, not only what is their fortune, but
if they owe any debts, and to whom; if their property is
mortgaged, and in %%hose tame. They are not contented with
knowing the number, ate. and situation, of their children and
grandchildren—they also inquire about their nephews and grand-
nigitless a. cousin., and other relations, it is not said to what degree.
Sahli an inquest, certainly, is not like one of those made in public,
befoke a Commissary, and of which a races cabal is taken, as was
done by A.. de St. Cricq relative to sugar and wine. If we are
well informed, however, and we have reason to think so, the fact

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