, 1880-12-04
O0 UD01VGV

allowed to hang on. AS they were by the
former scheme, till eld-o%tficers, literally III
scores, are doing dispiritedly the work of
captains. and so blocking the road that
subalterns are almost unprocurable. And
vet, can we conceive a position more I'M
happy than that of the Government OF
Bombay, obliged 10 hold large and scatter
ed territories, which touch on the n Orth on
Afchanistan, on the east on tho Mahratta
States, and on the south on the NizamS
DominionS, with an army said almost 9th"
cially to be in bad condition, certainly
diSpirited by recent failure, and this week
ordered away from the front to make way
for better soldiers r There is i'll such q
condition of affairs every clement of a great
catastrophe.
We are not c%on>cnding in any way for
any particular method OF reform. Our oWn
belief is that there should be one Southern
Army, that its cavalry should be entirely
native, officers and men, and that its Ire
fantry should have The old full complement
of European otlicers,-twenty-twO per regl-
ment, who should not be eligible for any
work outside cantonments. but make their
regiments their homes; but that Is the
one unpopular opinion for which it is
useless to contend. The system is costly,
imposes a dull life Of duty upon officers,
and is supposed to have produced the Mu-
tiny. though it was SO tar from doing 1t.
thai when the Sepoys revOlted they adher-
ed to the organisation. as the one that
suited them best. Ii will not be adopted,
and our object is not to press that or any
other scheme, but to urge the British pub
lie to demand that any scheme accepted by
the authorities shall be put in force au
once. There is no official resistance 70
overcome. The Indian Government is
perfectly aware of the defects eXis ing, as
aware as i was in 1856, has ordered and
completed all inquiries, and has a dozen
tullt elaborated schemes before 1t, and only
delays nc ion tll it has a little more leisure,
more money, and more opportunity. 1t
wants. in fact, to be done with Afghanis-
tan before it commences another most
laborious and irksome and costly task.
THAI, looks sensible, and if India were Eng
land, or If we could be assured of peace, it
would he sensible but it involves, as
affairs stand, very grave risk. You cannot
wet spilled powder too rapidly, and there
is spilled powder lying about just now
EVERYWHERE in India. In a few weeks, say,
at la,est by the end OF the cold weather,
thn Government of India will be stronger
in caDacitv ON the military side than it has
been since Lord Clyde left it and it ought
to be empowered and enjoined to settle tho
o~uestion Of tho Native Army, without
wasting more years in correspondence or
%inouirg, 1t knows what it wants we'll
enough, namely, one hundred strong Ma.
tive regiments Of infantry, and twenty OF
cavalry, 80 paid that recruits will never DO
wanting. so disciplined that hesitation to
oLn,- sI9u be unknown, and so provided
f t,eE that Sat' they icy can move at fifteen miles q
day without previous preparation It is
absurd to say that in a continent of soldiers
where q fighting man still thinks 3s' Cd. q
week endurable pay, and feeds himself on
it, and where Native Armies march thirty
miles a day, such an ideal can be difficult,
far less impossible, of attainment.