The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-09-23
TROOPS FROM INDIA.
Christians Can he Used in Civilized
Naturalization for China.
New York Tribune.

1>cW IOIh
The circumstance that England dis
patches Indian instead of white regiments
to China indicates that the latter is re-
garded as being beyond the PALE as far
as the obligations of the rules of war are
concerned. Thus our jus gentium con-
dennis the use by Christian nations of bar
barianS in their wars, and when Lord Bea-
consfield brought large contingent of In
dian troops TO Malta in 1878, at moment
when England seemed to be on the brink
of an armed conflict with Russia, a chorus
of denunciation arose throughout Europe,
in which even large bodies of English peo-
pie Joined, it being pointed out that France
had forfeited much of the sympathy which
she would have otherwise enjoyed in 1870
in pitting against the German invaders
several regiments of TurcoS, a force made
up of semi-savage Algerians, Kabyles and
negroes. England would gladly have
awaited herself of her magnificent Indian
army in the South African campaign had
she not been unwilling to offend the doc
trines of civilized warfare, and the only use
to which she has put Indians during the
struggle with the Boer republics has been
as litter carriers and Stretcher bearers in
connection with the ambulance department
The Chinese, however, are not Christians,
and therefore Indian troops can be used
without any objection for the march on
Peking. The employment of Oriental troops
adds to the horrors of warfare, since all
the latent savagery of their nature is
brought to the surface, and in conflicts
where they are employed few prisoners are
taken, and there is little call for the sur
geons to attend to the enemy's wounded.
1t has been proved, in spite of all denials,
that during the last Sudan campaign there
was much shooting and bayoneting of
wounded Dervishes, the killing being done
by the black Sudanese battalion of the
Egyptian army, while appeals for quarter
and offers of surrender were rejected on
the ground that Mahdist was less trou-
blesome when dead than alive If this
spirit of the black troops sometimes COM
it is not surprising, for the white as well
as the black soldiers of Lord Kitchener
were aware of the horrible fate that await
ed them in the event of their being cap
tured, besides realizing the fact that a
wounded Dervish was at all times ready
to use his knife, even upon the very sur
geon who was tending his wounds or put
ting his water gourd to the mans lips. In
the war with France, carried on for so
many years against the semi-independent
tribes of southern China, who, under the
name Of the Black Flag, infested Tonuuin
every French soldier who fell into the
rible death; and often, when arriving be-
fore some Black Flag stronghold, the
French troops have been maddened with
rage by the sight of the bodies of their
comrades spitted to the walls of the place
by means of huge hooks and sharp knife
like projections. Spectacles such as these
were not calculated to render men disposed
to observe the civilized rules of warfare,
and ii is not astonishing. under the circum-
stances that the struggle should have been
carried on with a savagery on one side as
well as on the other which does not pre-
cisely constitute pleasant or Christian read