The Sun. — 1848-01-27 (London, England)

INDIA. TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.  Sir,—For some years past our Indian Governors, though they may have got measured,for their coats, have been forced to put on their wars ready made. Let us hope that, in this respect at least, Lord Dalhousie will have been treated less scurvily than his predecsssors ; and that on taking charge of the important countries committed to him he may have found a tranquil field open to his abilities. Where so much is to be done, it is fortunate that there should be so much to do it with. For the present we seem to have got out of our scrape ;in the Punjaub much better than we had any right to expect ; and upon this we should hardly have had to plume ourselves, as we now may, but for the energy and talent which have been displayed in such ample measure, and with such steady perseverance, as we have lately seen. We have little now to fear from our advance beyond the Sutlej, but that it takes us so much nearer to the Affghans, who may still prove no less dangerous as neighbours than we have already found them vigorous as enemies. While Runjeat Singh lived, and while the Seikh soldiers retained their French officers, they, too, were a formidable people to deal with ; and even since they lost their rular and their leaders, they have offered a resistance, both for courage and activity, such as we had not before encountered in India. But left to themselves the Seikhs are physically no better than our own Sepoys. They belong, in fact, to the same race; and having once been put down effectually, the probability is that they will remain down. If ,b4Asked why they were not put down sooner, !ik4e iiiiiiVeviottrindian armies composed of similar materials, I can only say that I think it was the consequence, not of any superior courage in the men, but of the impression left upon them by their French officers. As commanders of Indian soldiers, and generally as implements of Indian warfare, there seems to be this remarkable distinction between the English and the French,—the English make the best leaders ; the French are good leaders too, and they are comrades into the bargain. When the Sepoys lose their English officers they lose their all ; much as they can do with their officers they can do nothing without them. But when the Sepoys lose their French officers, though they lose a great deal, still they retain something. The English officers never descend from their position; they are offi• cers off the parade as well as on it. The French officers, on the contrary, associate with their soldiers, both Indian and European. In Europe they have many, if not most of them, risen from the ranks ; and, therefore, it is easy for them both to go down towards their men, and to draw their men up towards them. They meet half-way, and have an acquaintance, an intimacy, beyond and independent of their military relation. I have been told by a friend who served through the greater ;part of the last war in Europe, that he had seen French officers playing at billiards with their men. The French officers and privates are " hail fellow well met." With the English it is different. The energy and dogged resolution of the Englishman will always rouse and carry on his nen when they see him in their front, but the familiarity and flexibility of the French character make a deeper and leave a longer impression than the reserve and stiffness of the English. The beggars at Hyderabad, in asking charity of an European, still used, in my time, to call him Bussy, after the officer who had commanded the Nizam's French corps be• fore we were any of us born ; and as late as 1820 M. Raymond's tomb there was still periodically illuminated, though he had been dead, I think, since 1797, and, for aught I know, it is so still. lam aware that they were both of them men of eminent ability; but we too have had no want of men of equal eminence ; and yet where is the English name, or the English monument in India, that is remembered in this way ? For ourselves, therefore, and for those of our Indian neighbours who, though now our allies, may some day become our enimies, I need hardly say that in this respect no change from our present circumstances could be for the better. Let but our Sepoys continue to have the same officers to lead them as have led them hitherto, and they will go anywhere; but the French Sepoys, even when their officers are no longer with them, for a time at least, prove the, better soldiers of the two.  LAMENTABLE SUICIDE Al' aWINDSOR.