Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-07-09
THE BRITISH ARMY.
A CHAT WITH AN OLD SOLDIER OF
THE BRITISH SERVICE.
Clothing Vorn-Brasery of English
and Scotch Soldiers Native
Army OF India
cincinnati En1lIirer.l

The other day Mr.. H. NJ Mason. an old
English soldier who has done duty in India,
has medals for bravery in tbs Chinese war
of 1860 and seen seven years OF British
service, was overhaule1 by a reporter, and
gave many practical and interesting facts
about the English army in India, as well as
some interesting "reminiscences which cannot
fail to prove interesting reading.
what is the English army-of what com
posed!7
They have what is called the standing
army, and in a crisis like this they call for
volunteers from the militia 1t Is seldom
that the militia, however, are called for and
sent abroad, yet some were during the Cri-
mean war sent to Malta
What is the sizs of the English armyF
~The regular English army numbers about
49,, 900. This includes English, Irish,
Scotch and Welsh. Besides this is the artil-
Iery, cavalry, sappers and miners, and a
new corps attached Of later years called the
transportation corps, which was organized
since the Crimean war. There Is also the
ambulance corps, which is modern ad-
dition Formerly, and until after the Cri
mean war it was tho duty Of the band Of a
regiment, who were disbanded, to remove
the dead and wounded from the field. They
what do you mean by tho native corpsF
an the East Indies they are the natives OF
the country organized, drilled AMI disci-
plinei by English officers. There are 300,-
300 in the East Indies"
What you mean by the contingentT
That's the native army OF the East In
aies They can only be called on for service
at home. but when Disraeli made Victoria
empress of India it wa- done with the idea
of giving her the power 70 call those troops
into foreign service. Hence their appear
ance in the Mediterranean in the Turko-
Russian war, and more recently in the Sou
dan"
What are the Sepoysr
The infantry OF India. They are good
for garrison duty, obedient, but they have
not the fighting grit of the Afghan seiks.
There is great difference in the fighting
qualities OF these troops. Now, speaking OF
these seik cavalry, l remember a young En-
glish officer, with a detachment of twenty Of
the seiks darting into a horde of 500 Tar
tar cavalry, and causing an immense
slaugh ter routing them completely. They
are brave TO desperation, yet childlike in
their Obedience. They will follow any whers
their superior officers lead. They are splen-
did horsemcn. and most Of them come frcni
the Punjsuhn
How do you march in that country"
Marching is mostly done at night from
10 o'clock till morning. During the day
men are not allowed to leave their bar
racks without permission, On account of the
heat Great care is taken OF soldiers
health there IL would seem incrslitabi.
the amount of flannel n man is required u
wear; first, two thicknesses in tb. share Of
81. Il bal
body 10 protect tho bowels from
chills: then sleeveless, flannel
Jacket over this These men are inspected
twice day to see that there is shirkins.
on this point The object of this flannel is
to check any rapid change Of temperature,
and the hotter the weather tho more strict
the discipline on thi, score. Half way or
just after midnight the regiment is halted
and extra rations of very hot coffee and
bread dealt out At home soldiers cook for
themselves, but in the Indies everything is
done for the men. In fact, the packs are
carried by ox-teams Labor is cheap hero.
Strong men can be hired for ID and p cents
n day.
Tine tents we occupy in the daytime are
all carried by the transportation train
They are double tents one inside the other.
an air.chamber in tho roof between them.
1t is rightly called marquee They will
accommodate Il doZsn men, giving plenty OF
room-
al imagine that the great body of our sol
diers. whether officers or men, are borne
forward and sustained in the path of dnty
not 81 much by moral force or by sense of
military obligation as by innate love Of
fighting and danger. by the shame OF dis
closing weakness, by the pride OF nation and
Of race. by pride of regiment, OF squad
ron, of troop, by personal pride; not
least, by the power of that wheel-soing
mechanism which assigns to each man his
task ami inclines him TO give but short au-
dience 10 distracting irrelevant thoughts.
But no matter what are the governing mo-
tives which keep every man 70 his duty
through the long minutes OF trying en-
gagement, there is no variety in the results;
for what il i mis- duty to do, every man
does, AMI rs often ~ squadron is torn,
so often the undisablel survivors make
haste to repair it. The same words are ever
recurring: Close i'm Close i'm Close
in the ccnterr Close in"
"Ths Scotch are great fighter They
have never been excclled in battle, for
where men can go they can 60. remember
the ans wer that Sir Colin Campbell, COM
VI lii- ''t'OCl ShNo way
afterward Lord Clyde. and put down the
Sepay rebel;ionl when his brigade was or
dered TO retire at the battle Of Alma: The
brigade will be- destroyei ought it not tn
fail back
when Sir Colin Campbell heard this say
ing his blood rose so high that the answer he
gave-impaSSionei and far resounding-wsS
Of quality to govern events: 1t is better.
sir. that every man in her MajeSty's guards
should lie dead upon the field than they
should turn their backs upoa the enemy.
Doubts and questionn:> ceased The di-
vision, wan. forward