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UA668 .J46™" """""*"' '■"'""* 
 The British ;^rmy in India : 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 030 727 014 
 
THE 
 
 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA: 
 
 ITS PRESERVATION 
 
 BY AN APPROPRIATE 
 
 CLOTHING, HOUSING, LOCATING, RECREATIVE EMPLOYMENT, 
 AND HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE TROOPS. 
 
 AN APPENDIX ON INDIA : 
 
 THE CLIMATE OP ITS HILLS ; THE DEVELOPMENT OF ITS RESODRCBS, INDUSTRY, AND ARTS ; 
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE ; THE BLACK ACT ; THE PROGRESS OF CHRIS- 
 TIANITY ; THE TRAFFIC IN OPIUM ; THE VALUE OF INDIA ; PERMANENT 
 CAUSES OF DISAFFECTION, AND OF THE RECENT REBELLION ; 
 THE TRADITIONARY POLICY; MISGOVERNMENT BY 
 NATIVE RULERS ; ANNEXATIONS OF THEIR 
 TERRITORY, ETC. 
 
 By JULIUS JEFFEEYS, F.K.S., 
 
 FORMERLY STAFF-SURGEON OF CAWNPORE, AND CIVIL SURGEON OF FUTTEII6USH. 
 
 LONDON: 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GEEEN, LONGMANS, & ROBERTS. 
 
 1858. 
 
LONDON: PRIKTED BY W. CLOWES AKD SOKS, STAMFOKI) STREET, 
 AND CHARIKG CtlOSS. 
 
TO 
 
 JAMES RANALD MARTIN, Esq., F.R.S. 
 
 Kingston, Surrey, 
 
 May 20th, 1858. 
 My dear Martin, 
 
 It is not a friendly acquaintance of many years only 
 which prompts my desire to address these pages to you. 
 
 I would fain by these lines connect a work on Tropical 
 Prophylactics with your valuable writings on Tropical Pathology 
 and Therapeutics. 
 
 It is doubtless well said that prevention is better than cure ; 
 and to the former you have, throughout j'our career abroad and 
 at home, devoted your best energies, while, in bounden duty, as 
 an army surgeon, you have likewise pursued, and with an equal 
 success, the science and practice of curing disease. 
 
 Having propounded more advanced views on Tropical Patho- 
 logy, you have established them by the surest means — an exten- 
 sively successful practice ; and you have shown, during the 
 many years since your return to Europe, that professional talent 
 and benevolence are not limited in their sphere to one clime 
 alone, but are general in their efficiency and action. 
 
 For myself, accident, not choice, having found me a student of 
 medicine, while it was impossible not to pursue with pleasure 
 medical philosophy, as such, and as the foremost in secular 
 knowledge, a natural temperament has ever caused me to seek 
 release from the practice of an uncertain science, the subject 
 of which was the living man ; and to prefer operating upon 
 inanimate matter (I cared not in how large or small propor- 
 tions) through the agency, too, of more certain knowledge. 
 I have been ready to pay the penalty, and it is not a small 
 one, of being a member of one profession, but an amateur of 
 others. To this cause is due the present, and former, efforts 
 
IV DEDICATION. 
 
 to avoid a sense of professional barrenness by performing a 
 mediqal part tbrough the agency of physical and mechanical 
 science. 
 
 A member of the Health of Towns' Commission, and of the 
 recent Army Sanitary Commission, you may view, with more 
 than a friendly interest, the effort of a not unfamiliar pen to 
 contribute something towards the preservation of the soldiers' 
 health in the Tropics, which forms the prominent portion of 
 this volume ; and of which a part was in the press when the 
 Eeport of your Commission was published. That Eeport, it 
 would appear, for I have not seen it, is such, in ability and 
 meetness of official style, as the names on the Commission would 
 guarantee. In the following composition you will observe a 
 contrast, and in the Introduction its apology. 
 
 I remain. 
 
 My dear Martin, 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 Julius Jeffreys. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In placing before the public a work touching upon 
 various questions of importance relating to India, 
 the Author feels sensible that the many years which 
 have elapsed since he left that country, and the 
 many months since the first portion of this volume 
 was sent to press, demand some explanation in justi- 
 fication of the publication. 
 
 Without venturing, with the great historian of 
 India, to claim as an advantage for the task, the 
 study of his subject in England removed from all 
 such prejudice as may arise from a personal obser- 
 vation of the country, he may safely presume that a 
 residence of many years in India of such intensity as 
 his own, followed since his return by an attentive 
 observation of the progress of events, will be con- 
 sidered as affording ample opportunities to any mind 
 seriously devoted to the inquiry. 
 
 For arriving at information connected ^sith India, 
 of the nature briefly imparted in the following pages, 
 a residence in the country of some years' duration 
 was, he thinks, indispensable ; but had its duration 
 been doubled it could have resulted in little more 
 than a repetition of the same observations and ex- 
 perience. • 
 
 Such has been the rapidity of events during the 
 time that this Work has been in the press, that they 
 have already realized to a distressing extent antici- 
 pations in its pages, indited as a warning protest 
 against the encouragements to brave the tropical sun 
 published at the time on all side?, even in India, and 
 
VI INTRODUCTION. 
 
 not unreasonably copied from such local authority by 
 the press in England. The delay in the publication 
 of the work has been caused by the same hesitation 
 to break a purposed silence upon Indian questions, 
 which has been maintained since the first year of 
 the Author's return, with one exception of an anony- 
 mous pamphlet. The present volume was commenced 
 as a pamphlet, to be rigidly confined to one subject — 
 the Dress of British Troops in India. On opening 
 for the purpose his somewhat voluminous notes on 
 India, matter which had been gradually accumulated 
 upon a variety of subjects presented itself, and ap- 
 peared to possess at least equal importance with that 
 which was to have formed a monograph of small 
 bulk ; while it related to questions of much interest 
 at the present moment — of more interest to many 
 minds than the clothing of troops. Hence the body 
 of the Work -. retaining its military character, has ex- 
 panded from one to five heads ; while a quantity of 
 matter, most of it upon wider and still more impor- 
 tant questions, has found its way into the Appendix, 
 and doubled the contents of the volume. To some of 
 this matter, more especially to that relating to the 
 opium question* and to the development of the re- 
 sources arid industry of India, and the state of the useful 
 arts there,\ the reader's attention is invited with an 
 anxiety second only to that for the preservation and 
 happiness, and hopes for time and eternity, of the 
 British soldiery and their families in India. 
 
 Without the power to express himself upon serious 
 questions in any other terms than such as are com- 
 mensurate with their gravity, the Author must be 
 prepared to find exception taken to the strength of 
 
 * Appendix I, page 323. t Appendix F, page 255. 
 
INTRODUCTION. Vll 
 
 some of his expressions. It is, however, to errors 
 not persons they apply ; and he is but too conscious 
 of his own supineness in faihng to impart to others 
 information long accumulated and convictions deeply 
 felt upon the various questions contained in this 
 volume, not to apply to himself a due share of the 
 inferences deducible from the earnest deprecation 
 of neglect which he has been constrained to make. 
 
 In 1824, the Author visited the Himalayas, at the 
 age of twenty-three, for the purpose of studying their 
 climate and its sanitary properties, and published the 
 result of his observations in an essay,* in which the 
 formation of stations at suitable elevations was re- 
 commended. The subject attracted the attention of 
 the Government of Bengal, and the medical autho- 
 rities, with whom he had correspondence f on the 
 establishment of the military sanitary stations which 
 were shortly afterwards fixed at Simla, Missouri, and 
 Landour. 
 
 Ten years afterwards, in 1834, he laid before Lord 
 William Bentinck, then Grovernor-Greneral of India, 
 certain views having reference to the mental and 
 sanitary condition of British troops in that country, 
 with a proposal based on them for offering the soldiery 
 a certain employment, which would prove to them a 
 cheering and remunerative occupation, keeping them 
 from ennui and dissipation, and tending to promote 
 their happiness, contentment, and health ; and which 
 
 * Appendix E, page 242. 
 
 + The late Dr. Burke, H.M. Inspector-General of Hospitals in India, and 
 Mr. MacDowell, Superintending Surgeon of the Kumaul Division (which 
 included the Hill country), informed the Author that the perusal of that 
 essay had led them to address : the one the Government, the other the 
 Medical Board, inviting their attention to the formation of Military Sani- 
 tary Stations at the elevations recommended. 
 
Vlll INTEODUCTIOK 
 
 would at the same time be instrumental towards 
 improving many of the useful arts in India, at 
 present too rudely conducted to be a source of 
 national wealth or of social advancement. 
 
 He has to acknowledge with grateful recollections 
 the very encouraging reception his Lordship af- 
 forded to this and other proposals for developing the 
 resources of the country, and advancing the condition 
 of the natives. He did him the honour, more than 
 once, of expressing a wish that his health might 
 permit him to remain in India, with a view to giving 
 effect to some of these plans. But multifarious exer- 
 tions of mind and body had proved exhausting, and 
 compelled him to leave. Nevertheless, he had endured 
 for many years an amount of exposure to the sun 
 and weather which would have proved fatal to a 
 much stronger person clad in an ordinary manner. 
 The exemption from serious illness, which was se- 
 cured by simply clothing himself in a respectful 
 obedience to natural laws, on the one hand, and the 
 deplorable effects in others which he has, times 
 without number, witnessed from long-continued ex- 
 posure with defective clothing, on the other hand, 
 have from an early period impressed him with the 
 conviction that much more might be done to protect 
 British troops exposed on duty in the Tropics. It 
 was his desire, many years ago, to have attracted 
 the attention of the home authorities to the ques- 
 tion ; but after some observation he could not flatter 
 himself that he would succeed in impressing upon the 
 minds of persons then in power convictions as deep 
 as his own, as to the greater extent to which the 
 health and lives of British soldiers in India might be 
 preserved ; the prevailing opinion appearing to he 
 
INTRODUCTION. IX 
 
 that whatever was practicable had been already 
 done. 
 
 Upon the news of the mutiny reaching England, 
 the extensive exposure of our troops which it would 
 necessarily involve renewed the impressions of thirty 
 years. Accordingly, he endeavoured to invite atten- 
 tion to the subject then. More recently he has found 
 the Chairman and Deputy-Chairman of the East 
 India Direction ready to afford every attention to 
 the question, and fully alive to its importance. 
 
 For more general information of a sanitary cha- 
 racter relating to the army, the reader is referred to 
 the labours of the various military medical oiEcers 
 who have written on the subject ; more especially to 
 those of Mr. Martin, connected with India, in which 
 it is difficult whether to admire most the judgment or 
 the energy displayed. Such, likewise, would appear to 
 be the character of the Report of the Army Sanitary 
 Commission, of which he, with others of distin- 
 guished ability, is a member. 
 
 The author would regret not having had the oppor- 
 tunity of availing himself of that Report, published 
 when these pages were in the press, had the object 
 of his undertaking embraced anything like a treatise 
 on the whole sanitary question. For the views and 
 matter contained in the following pages he is solely 
 responsible, as the result of his own observations. 
 
 To the ability and meetness of style of the Sani- 
 tary Report (which he has not himself seen) the 
 public press has borne testimony as being such as 
 the constitution of the Commission could not fail to 
 ensure. A Royal Commission maintains a proper 
 dignity by presuming that its authority alone : will 
 command for t]ie facts it reports, either the attention 
 
X INTEODUCTION. 
 
 of the executive, or an -appeal to public feeling 
 through the eloquence of the politician. But for a 
 private writer to imitate the impassive style of a 
 Royal Eeport is a pedantry of the day which too 
 often fails of its object. If a bare announcement 
 of facts would avail anything, the evils which pre- 
 vail on all hands, would have been long since re- 
 medied. The mind, in busy English life, cannot, or 
 will not, take the trouble to nurse a bare and un- 
 sightly fact, and much less a progeny of them, until 
 it has grown to such proportions as to hold posses- 
 sion of the feelings and impel them to action. A 
 fact, unsupported by influential authority, before it 
 can be felt, as well as known, by a reader or hearer, 
 must be, as it were, weighed in his presence, and 
 have its various aspects, hues, tendencies, and claims 
 set fully and forcibly before him ; or in general it 
 had better not be stated at all ; for the condition of 
 all others most hopeless of good is a familiarity of 
 the ear with grave facts unaccompanied by any in- 
 fluence of them on the heart. 
 
 It is under these convictions the Author writes ; but, 
 though he has not allowed any consideration how far 
 his remarks may be acceptable or otherwise to some 
 of his readers to cramp his expressions, he has to 
 regret his inability to do more justice to the claims 
 he advocates ; and that, owing to various interruptions, 
 this work, which has been a long time in the press, 
 should not have been published last year. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. v 
 
 General View OF THE Subject .. .. .. .. .. 1 
 
 Recent opinions encouraging exposure to a tropical sun. Their danger 2 
 
 Mental excitement postpones the effect of exposure in most men . . 3 
 
 Casualty amongst troops exposed to the climate in India . . 4 
 
 The aid of Science indispensable .. .. .. .. .. 7 
 
 The Author protected by theoretically constructed dress . . . . 9 
 
 Right practice inseparable from theory . . . . . . . . 10 
 
 The duty of the soldier and his employers reciprocal .. .. 13 
 
 Sickness of Europeans ; its effect on the native mind .. .. 14 
 
 Caution against a pre-judgment of the dress proposed .. .. 16 
 
 Causes of intemperance amongst soldiers in India .. .. .. 19 
 
 On the Specific Peopbeties op Matter through which Heat 
 
 Operates AND IS TO BE Resisted .. .. .. .. 21 
 
 Conduction .. .. ., .. .. .. .. .. 21 
 
 The example of the natives an imperfect guide in dress . . . . 22 
 
 Turbans and sola-hats imperfect in action .. .. .. .. 23 
 
 Solar heat penetrates even thick roofs . . . . . . . . . . 24 
 
 Evaporation .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 25 
 
 Evaporation ; its cooling power in India in " tattees " .. .. 25 
 
 A piano protected through great heat by evaporation . . . . 26 
 
 Evaporation a powerful but critical agent . . . . . . . . 27 
 
 The Reflection of Heat .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 28 
 
 The value of bright metallic surfaces for dress .. .. .. 30 
 
 Slow Radiation ; its value . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 
 
 Convection of Heat ; its value . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 
 
 The subterranean Absorption of Heat .. .. .. .. .. 32 
 
 Thie Khanus ; their inadequate effect . . . . . . . . . . 33 
 
 ' The principle of subterranean absorption is a powerful resource . . 34 
 
 Geneeai Remarks on Tropical Virulence and Vital Resistance 35 
 
 The British soldier under exposure . . . . , . . . . . 35 
 
 Action of the sun on the head and system generally . . . . . . 36 
 
 Destructive character of military hats .. .. .. .. 38 
 
 Sun-stroke an important warning to commanders .. .. .. 40 
 
 Action of the sun on the surface in Englishmen and other races . . 40 
 
 Error of attempting to acclimate Englishmen by exposure . . . . 42 
 
 Sun-stroke but a small part of the solar eifects . . . . . . 44 
 
 The action of the sun's rays in inducing disease . . . . . . 44 
 
 And in aggravating the effects of wounds .. .. .. .. 45 
 
 TJie Atmosphere .. .. ■■ ■■ •■ •• •• ■■ 46 
 
 The importance of husbanding the tone of the skin 47 
 
 Tlio real causes of diminished illness in regiments after some residence 
 
 in India 4S 
 
XU CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Cutaneous phenomena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 
 
 A hot atmosphere fails to dissipate the sun's rays . . . . . . 52 
 
 Remarkable mountain phenomenon . . . . . . . . . . 52 
 
 The Soldier's Deess . . . . . . . . • . . . . . 54 
 
 Character of an effective head-dress . . . . . . . . . . 54 
 
 The question of weight and bulk considered . . . . . . . . 55 
 
 Helmets for mounted troops . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 
 
 The defensive principles available in the construction of head-dress 59 
 
 Metal plate-helmets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 
 
 Double shed-helmets .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 77 
 
 Helmets for Infantry .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 83 
 
 Spheroidal helmets dazzling, but cylindrical the contrary . . . . 83 
 
 The troops in India already perishing from imperfect dress . . . . 90 
 
 Helmet not reflecting at the surface . . . . . . . . . . 91 
 
 Curtain for the Nech .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 93 
 
 Concluding remarks on head-dress . . . . . . . . . . 94 
 
 Fashion conflicting with indispensable bulk . . . . . . 94 
 
 Unsuitable forms contemptible however elegant .. .. .. 96 
 
 The weight of a well-poised hat little felt . . . . . . . . 98 
 
 The Body-dress for British Soldiei'S in India .. .. .. ,. 100 
 
 The Author's personal experience . . . . . . . . . . 102 
 
 A sun-screen tunic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 
 
 Concluding observations inviting efforts for the improvement of the 
 
 soldier's dress .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 112 
 
 On THE Housing OF British Tkoops IN India .. .. .. 117 
 
 The lodgment of soldiers on a ground-floor undesirable .. .. 117 
 
 The importance of a double roof .. .. .. .. .. 118 
 
 Officers' quarters should be constructed on like principles . . . . 120 
 
 Defects of an ordinary bungalow .. .. .. .. ..121 
 
 Quarters proposed for officers .. .. .. .. .. ..122 
 
 Cawnpore and other stations defectively laid out .. .. .. 125 
 
 On the Ventilation of BarracJes .. .. .. .. ..128 
 
 Free ventilation for soldiers' barracks especially needful . . . . 128 
 
 The value and defects of tattees .. .. .. .. .. 129 
 
 The earth affords a boundless source of coolness in hot and warmth 
 
 in cold weather .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 130 
 
 A plan for cooling by subterranean action . . . . . . . . 132 
 
 Ventilating Machines. Dessaguiller's .. .. .. .. .. 189 
 
 The Eefrigerator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 
 
 Dr. Rankin's thermantidote . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 
 
 A modification of Dessaguiller's machine proposed .. .. .. 145 
 
 Objections to the system of well- ventilation anticipated .. .. 147 
 
 On the Locating of British Troops in India .. .. .. 152 
 
 The Author's visit to the Himalayas for climatic observations . . 153 
 The formation of sanitary stations recommended in an Essay bv the 
 
 author in 1824 .. .. " .. 154 
 
 Reasons for increasing the proportion of Europeans slatiunod in the hills IST) 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The experience of the recent rebellion not unfavourable to it . . 155 
 
 Cause of the unhealthiness of forts to British troops . . . . 157 
 
 Eemediable by a suitable method of housing them 158 
 
 Provision for wholesome granaries in garrisons .. .. .. 159 
 
 Advantages of the preceding arrangements in a state of siege . . 162 
 
 Railways; their importance .. .. .. .. .. .. X63 
 
 An entire dependence on them not necessary .. .. .. ..164 
 
 Certain advantages of tramways . . . . . . . . . . 165 
 
 Ea vines near stations very objectionable . . . . . . . . 166 
 
 Eiver-side localities ; their advantages and defects . . . . . . 169 
 
 The vicinity of canals objectionable .. .. .. .. ..170 
 
 The Preservation of the Soldier's Child.. .. .. .. .. 171 
 
 The rearing of children in a healthy climate an indispensable duty . . 172 
 
 Ungenerous objections to it answered .. .. .. .. .. 172 
 
 Soldiers' children all swept away by death . . . . . . . . 172 
 
 The path of duty plain .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 174 
 
 The Eeckeatiye Employment of the Soldier . . . . . . I75 
 
 The disheartening character of barrack life in India .. .. .. 175 
 
 Eegimental libraries, their value but inadequacy .. .. .. 176 
 
 Hereditary labour on spare diet incompatible with intellectual activity 177 
 
 Cause of the dullness of English village boys . . . . . . . . 178 
 
 Manual occupations desirable for the soldier. Workshops proposed . . 180 
 Measures for rendering such occupations beneficial also to the country, 
 
 proposed in 1833 and 1834 181 
 
 Paper on the employment of the European soldiery presented to Govern- 
 ment in 1834 182 
 
 The art of turning : its advantages to the soldier, and to the natives 185 
 
 The punching press next in importance . . . . . . . . 187 
 
 Experimental farms ; their value and interest . . . . . . . . 188 
 
 For deciding the question of cotton cultivation . . . . . . 189 
 
 Irrigation by wells : machines for improving it .. .. .. 190 
 
 No real ploughing in India . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 
 
 Eemarkable match of one English against ten native sawyers . . 192 
 
 Eacket courts, their defects. Golf and billiards . . . . . . 193 
 
 Intemperance mitigated by these provisions .. .. .. .. 195 
 
 Stimulants : the only right use of them . . . . . . . . 195 
 
 On the Hopeful Encouragement of British Soldiers Serving 
 
 IN India .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 198 
 
 The position and remuneration of the British soldier in India a serious 
 
 question .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 198 
 
 Position of H.M. officers in India .. .. .. .. .. 199 
 
 Military claims on India .. .. .. .. .. .. 201 
 
 The introduction of Africans early recommended as a highly politic 
 
 measure .. .. .. .. .. ■• .. .. 203 
 
 Broad distinction between military service in India and elsewhere .. 204 
 
 Service in India should be free . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 
 
 Inequitable character of the present system . . . . . . . . 207 
 
XIV 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Grievous moral condition of the soldiery in India 
 
 India no blessing to our working classes 
 
 The only just and safe position for military service in 
 
 The simple remedy for the humiliating evil 
 
 Freedom : the right of service in India . . 
 
 Its cost but small 
 
 40,000 Effective men might suffice 
 
 The British soldier the guard of the opulent native 
 
 Eecapitulation .. .. .. .. 
 
 The soldier's habits chiefly caused by his position 
 
 A comparison of pensions 
 
 India has no right to expect cheap defence 
 
 India 
 
 PAGE 
 
 213 
 217 
 219 
 224 
 225 
 226 
 228 
 229 
 232 
 233 
 235 
 237 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 C. — Complaints of the weight of the head-dress . . . . . . 239 
 
 D. — Mistaken advice respecting exposure .. .. .. .. 240 
 
 E. — Interesting character of the climate of the hills .. .. .. 242 
 
 Essay on the Climate of the Hill Provinces . . . . ... 243 
 
 Mountain summits in Europe not inviting .. .. .. .. 244 
 
 Barometric pressure, its effects on the skin .. .. .. .. 247 
 
 Fogs on high elevations less oppressive than below . . . . . . 248 
 
 Equability of climate on mountains .. .. .. .. .. 249 
 
 At Simla, &c., barometric pressure reduced by one-fifth. The effect 
 
 of this 252 
 
 Its effect on the brain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 
 
 F. — Fiscal questions of immediate importance .. .. .. 255 
 
 On the Resources and Industrial State op India . . . . 256 
 
 State of agriculture. Preservation and renewal of the soil neglected 256 
 
 Ploughing unknown in India .. .. .. .. .. .. 258 
 
 In-igation, its state in Western India . . . . . . . . . . 259 
 
 Individual settlers can effect little at present .. .. .. ..263 
 
 Local works costless to a government in India . . .. .. .. 265 
 
 The effect of carrying away from a district its rent . . . . . . 266 
 
 The Government the party most interested in facilitating means of 
 
 transport .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 267 
 
 Canals and roads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 
 
 Permanent revenue settlement, a hindrance to improvement . . 271 
 
 The great and self-imposed responsibilities of Britain.. .. .. 272 
 
 The Accepted Laws of Economical Science Inapplicable to the 
 
 Present State of India .. .. .. .. .. .. 274 
 
 Civilized example slow in its effect . . . . . . . . . . 275 
 
 Contrast between the English and Indian temperament . . . . 277 
 
 Errors respecting the demand for British manufactures .. .. 280 
 
 The causes of the slow progress and poverty of India .. .. .. 282 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 284 
 287 
 288 
 289 
 290 
 292 
 
 Spontaneous improvement not to be expected . . 
 
 On the State or the Useful Arts in India 
 
 Erroneous views of native arts .. 
 
 Simplicity in means, their advantages, and defects 
 
 Indian dyeing of cotton and silk 
 
 Soap-making, glass do., stone- ware, and fire-bricks 
 
 Mecbanical arts. Eiver boats. The Budgerow. The Hackery, &c. 293 
 
 On the Mobal and Jubidical Obstacles to Peogbess in India .. 298 
 
 Pravity. Honour without honesty. Mendacity. Inhumanity .. 298 
 
 Judiciary provisions. Inadequate number of functionaries . . . . 299 
 
 Prevalence of con-uption and injustice, its consequence . . . . 300 
 
 Medical and military officers available in the administration of justice 30] 
 
 Protection of Mental Property .. .. .. . . . . . . 303 
 
 The Policy of the Government an Obstacle to Bdeopean 
 
 Entbepeise .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 304 
 
 The Black Act, its injurious tendencies . . . . . , . . 304 
 
 Insecurity of a settler without some privileges of his race .. .. 305 
 
 Privilege assumed without limit by the nation, but denied to individuals 306 
 
 Causes Eetaeding the Peogbess of Cheistianity . . . . . . 308 
 
 Conquest not the proper precursor of conversion .. .. .. 309 
 
 G. — The claims of the soldiers' children, how advocated .. .. 312 
 
 H. — Arts of importance introduced into India . . . . . . . . 313 
 
 Remarkable instances of gross taste in natives . . , . . . . . 315 
 
 Oil of vitriol manufactured. Its importance to India .. .. 316 
 
 And of firebricks, stoneware, &c. .. .. .. .. .. 317 
 
 Varieties of crude saltpetre. Peculiar process for refining it . . . . 319 
 
 Extensive works for the purpose. Their success .. .. ,. 319 
 
 I. — The Teaffio IN Opium IN THE East .. .. .. .. 323 
 
 Striking illustration of the quantity consumed in China . . . . 323 
 
 Comparison of it with spirits consumed in England . . . . . . 324 
 
 Facilities for the production of the drug in China .. .. .. 326 
 
 Growth of the traffic in the hands of England . , . . . . . . 327 
 
 Ready means for the suppression of the traffic . . . . . . 328 
 
 The Earl of Shaftesbury's motion in 1843 330 
 
 Opium as an article of luxury, and historical notice of opium . . 331 
 
 Testified opinion of the medical profession respecting the use of it . . 333 
 
 Erroneous opinion respecting the waste and use of it in China . . 334 
 
 Mistaken course of the friends of Temperance . . . . . . 337 
 
 Teetotalers unjustly charged with opium eating .. .. .. 338 
 
 Testimony from India of the destructive effects of Opium . . . . 339 
 
 Testimony from China of the destructive effects of Opium .. .. 341 
 
 MoBAL AND Religious Aspect of the Teaffic . . . . . . 344 
 
 Four Contingencies greatly aggravating the Cliaracter of the Traffic — 347 
 
 1. Repeated collision with us, or ruinous debauchery inevitable to 
 
 China 347 
 
 2. The traffic in opium scandalizing to Christianity . . 34S 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 3. Breacli by England of the treaty with China .. .. .. 349 
 
 4. England the Tempter of a heathen Emperor . . . . . . 354 
 
 K. — The Inteodttction into India of Afeican Soldiers ; its 
 
 adyantages. Objections answered . . . . . . . . 357 
 
 L. — System of enlistment improved by the Acts of 1847 . . . . 358 
 
 M. — BemarkcMe General Orders in India with Beference to Militakt 
 
 Crimes 359 
 
 N. — Bemarkahle Incident connected tvith Enlistment and Crimes 362 
 
 0. — On THE Value OP India as A Dependency .. .. .. 365 
 
 Comparison of it with Australia or America . . . . . . 367 
 
 An amalgamation with the North American provinces of the empire 369 
 
 Kemarks ON THE Cattses OP THE Ebbellion .. .. .. 370 
 
 Distress of the landowners, and its drain on the funds of the sepoys 370 
 
 Jealousy of the Brahmin for his prescriptive power .. .. .. 371 
 
 Anecdote showing the effect of deference to Mahometan prejudices 372 
 
 Effect of a native press unbalanced by a Government organ . . 374 
 
 Absence of paternal government . . . . . . . . . . 375 
 
 Confidence of the natives in our want of detective means . . . . 377 
 
 A secret service corps recommended .. .. .. .. .. 378 
 
 Causes of the rebellion in their conjoint action .. .. .. 379 
 
 The Path OP Duty THE Soundest Polict .. .. .. .. 383 
 
 Favourable state of India for such policy, when first acquired by us 383 
 
 Advantages of a low caste army . . . . . . . . . . 384 
 
 The traditionary policy its unfortunate contrast to the above . . 386 
 
 A Word on the Claims op Native Edlbrs . . . . . . 387 
 
 Prevalent corruption of Asiatic rule ; unintentionally supported .. 387 
 
 The duty of the British Government in India as supreme . . . . 389 
 
 P. — The British soldiers' service in India should vary with their ages 390 
 Tables of the scanty pensions allowed European soldiers for service in 
 
 India 391 
 
 BRBATA. 
 
 Page 254, line 12, omit "as." 
 „ 832, ,, 5, /o)- "exhudation" recK^ "exudation.' 
 „ 345, „ 15, /or "though" rmf/ "through." 
 
 DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. 
 
 Figs. 2 and 3 to face page 59 
 
 „ 5 and 6 „ 73 
 
 „ OiindlO 92 
 
THE BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA, 
 
 GENEEAL VIEW OF THE SUBJECT. 
 
 There are few questions which at the present 
 moment have a greater claim upon the attention of 
 the pubHc, and especially of statesmen, than that of 
 affording British Troops in India all possible pro- 
 tection from that hostile climate. 
 
 The subject will be treated, in the following The subject 
 
 ■\ r 1 1 1 m /-^ treated under 
 
 pages, under nve general heads: — Ihe Clothing, five heads. 
 
 Housing, Locating, Eecreative Employment, 
 
 and Hopeful Encouragement of the Soldiery; 
 
 and the amount of matter presented before the 
 
 reader will be only such as shall suffice for inviting 
 
 him to join in certain views upon the chief points 
 
 of this wide question, which it is hoped will prove 
 
 of sufficient importance and interest to repay his 
 
 attention. 
 
 Since the exposure of British Troops to the weather 
 will be much greater than hitherto, when nearly all 
 military duty was in peace performed by a native 
 army, and especially greater during the next two 
 years, during which they may be frequently in the 
 field, it is the dress of the soldier which claims 
 primary attention. This subject, therefore, will be 
 treated foremost in the following pages. 
 
 B 
 
^ BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Before entering upon our subject, it is necessary in 
 
 limine to protest against and refute an opinion at 
 
 present too prevalent in India as well as in England, 
 
 that, after all, exposure to the sun in India is not so 
 
 Eecent opi- injurious as has been hitherto believed. The apparent 
 
 ragiQg ™xpo- exemption from injury of the troops before Delhi, 
 
 pkai sun. '^°" nay, the improved appearance of some, has been cited 
 
 in both countries as evidence of the fact that, without 
 
 any greater protection than they had, British soldiers 
 
 may be employed in the field throughout the year 
 
 with no great injury. 
 
 Their danger. It is impossible to exaggerate the danger of such 
 
 an opinion. If acted upon, it would before long 
 
 issue in the destruction of the most vigorous army, 
 
 had it to keep the field. The casualties from 
 
 broken constitutions and death would be such as, in 
 
 these days of prompt information, would very soon 
 
 chill the military zeal of the youth of Britain. 
 
 If the question were not that of a commander watch- 
 ing over his army, but of an entomologist over the 
 cicadce in his garden, he might speak exultingly of 
 their state, if most of them were found pretty vigorous 
 after fluttering in the sun throughout one whole 
 summer ; but human health, even in India, is to be 
 estimated at more than one season's duration. The 
 vis vitcB is not so wholly without power against cli- 
 matic influence, especially in the prime of life, but 
 that some time will in general be occupied in forcing 
 it to yield, even where mental emotions do not come in 
 to its aid. As will be seen in the sequel, a stroke of 
 the sun is but a casual effect of its rays. By far the 
 more extensive and certain are those more gradual 
 
aSNEBAL VIEW OP THE SUBJECT. 6 
 
 effects which, according to a man's constitution and 
 the state of his mind, will occupy one, two, or three 
 years in becoming established, excepting in certain 
 abnormal cases where men possess not perhaps a more 
 really vigorous, but what may be termed a semi- 
 tropical constitution. 
 
 It is unfortunate for others when a man of influence The immu- 
 nity of some 
 possesses the immunity it confers, unless he should from a semi- 
 tropical con- 
 happen to be a sound pathologist. Where this is not stitution. 
 
 the case, however great his ability in other respects, 
 
 he is too likely to measure the constitutions of others 
 
 by'his own, and to imagine that an acclimation which 
 
 was almost spontaneous in his case, requires for its 
 
 establishment in others only a like perseverance in 
 
 braving the sun. 
 
 It is the aid which mental emotions bring to the Mental ex- 
 
 _ citement post- 
 
 vis vitce, especially hopeful excitement, that will ponea the ef- 
 
 . . fects of expo- 
 
 enable most men to bear with apparent impunity sure in most 
 
 for a time, adverse climatic influences even doubly 
 severer than those which were gradually under- 
 mining their constitutions during the monotonous 
 routine of barrack life. The extra heat and exces- 
 sive bodily exertion also operate as an increased 
 stimulus, forcing the secreting organs for a time into 
 brisker action, and producing, with the aid of ele- 
 vated spirits, even an improvement in the digestion, 
 and a temporary relief of any congested organs. 
 But a return to spirit-drinking will, not unfre- 
 quently, do much the same, in cases where its inju- 
 rious effects had brought incurable disease upon the 
 very organs now temporarily relieved, and appa- 
 rently benefited, but in reality ruined by its re- 
 
4 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 sumption. We have it on the authority of Baron 
 Munchausen, that on a return to a warm chmate a 
 bugle gave forth spontaneously tunes inaudible before, 
 having been frozen into it by excessive cold. The 
 fiction may offer to the unpathological some illustra- 
 tion of the effect of mental and other exciting causes 
 in veiling, for a time, climatic effects which are, alas ! 
 too truly, accumulating in the system, to burst forth 
 when those arresting causes are removed. Evidence 
 of this will be adduced hereafter. 
 Casualty a- It is not too much . to affirm that, if the British 
 exposed to the forces in India, caparisoned as they are, should have 
 
 climate in In- . , t-iti 
 
 dia. to keep the field continuously and with little support 
 
 from native troops, the casualties from climate alone, 
 after the first year, might be estimated at 50 per 
 cent, per annum at the least,* and that of these a large 
 proportion would be traceable to nearly avoidable 
 causes. 
 
 To do all that is possible for preserving the lives of 
 our fellow-countrymen after inducing them to enlist, 
 and upon whose loyalty have to be made the largest 
 demands, is an obligation of so solemn a character that 
 men in power are not to be envied the responsibility 
 it lays upon their consciences. It involves also the 
 difference between an efficient and a perishing army. 
 Efficiency ir- Surely then, compared with this important ques- 
 
 reapectiTe of . . _ ^ ^ 
 
 appearance, tion, any notions of fashion or ideal proprieties of 
 
 * How far within the truth is this estimate, written some months ago, 
 and then considered exorbitant by some, we have now a melancholy proof 
 in the thinning of our ranks. One corps alone, and that presumed most 
 acclimated, the Madras Fusileers, are stated to have been reduced, chiefly 
 by disease, in six months from 850 strong to 190 fit for duty ! Doubtless 
 the rest of the gallant force under the late Sir Henry Havelock have 
 suffered in much the same proportion. 
 
GENERAL VIEW OP THE SUBJECT. 
 
 form in dress ought not to be allowed one moment's the true crite- 
 consideration ! In military matters, at least, the in diess. 
 manly rule of Aristotle ought surely to be the only 
 guide — namely, that those forms of things should 
 ever be most esteemed which are best suited to their 
 uses. Of how many a fine enduring soldier in the 
 Tropics have not a defective head and body dress 
 caused the death ! 
 
 A despot in the East of Europe, setting no great 
 value on human life, and having an unlimited com- 
 mand over his subjects by conscription, may, with 
 the vanity of a woman at her toilet, be ever dressing 
 his army, as he thinks, smart ; but he cannot arrest 
 the hand of Nature when she causes that army as a 
 consequence to melt away before his eyes ! 
 
 If the dress of the British army is ill-suited for the 
 Tropics, its prospect is very different. 
 
 The exalted personage who is understood to be 
 much interested in the question possesses not only 
 moral feelings as elevated as is his position, and a 
 mind highly cultivated, but is himself the especial 
 patron of practical science. A like confidence, ac- 
 cording to all reports, is due to the supreme oflficial 
 authority of the army. It is, then, not to be doubted, 
 now that so considerable a portion of Her Majesty's 
 forces will henceforth be stationed in India, and be 
 much less relieved from exposure by the aid of 
 native troops than hitherto, that the importance of a 
 sound practical application of the laws of science to a 
 protective clothing of the army in India will be fully 
 recognised. 
 
 Others as well as myself have seen our fellow-. 
 
b BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 countrymen (with whom, however humble their 
 estate, we must desire to feel ourselves as of one 
 national family) in the vigour of Hfe struck dead or 
 rapidly destroyed by causes for which those in com- 
 mand of them were in no wise to blame, having 
 doubtless considered them inevitable ; but most of 
 which physics, pathology, and experience have taught 
 me to believe nearly preventible. If the feelings 
 natural to such a recollection and such a belief 
 should betray themselves in any fervent expressions 
 Appeal to to which the reader might be disposed to take 
 lence of°ttie exception,* I Can only make my appeal from his 
 reader. sensitiveness to his generosity, patriotism, and 
 
 humanity, and, relying upon these, earnestly hope 
 that the soldiers, of all ranks, who are winning back 
 our Empire under the northern Tropic, may have 
 the benefit of any truths these pages may contain. 
 
 With respect to most of the points discussed in the 
 
 following pages, I do not know what improvements 
 
 may have been proposed to the governing authorities 
 
 His efforts by others. I know what has yet been done. In pro- 
 
 iavited. tit 
 
 portion as any reader can show that the measures 
 advocated here are approached or anticipated by 
 the suggestions of others, he will be welcomed as 
 bringing other authority in support of them ; and he 
 will be more welcomed if he can supersede them by 
 any suggestions of his own, the superiority of which 
 he is prepared to establish incontestably. If there is 
 a shade of difference in the merits of any plans, let 
 the soldier have the benefit of it. 
 
 ' A dry statement of facts, suitable from official pens, savours of indiffer- 
 ence from a private one. Vide Introduction. 
 
GENERAL VIEW OF THE SUBJECT. 7 
 
 Knowing that an insiglit into the physics and 
 pathology of the question is indispensable for any- 
 thing like a clear view of it, or anything better in 
 practice than mere empiricism, I feel the necessity of 
 inviting the reader to a brief review and arrange- 
 ment of the principles in science concerned, before 
 inviting him to join in the search for means by 
 which to concentrate those principles in such prac- 
 tical forms as shall prove both eiEcient and con- 
 venient. At the same time, bearing in mind that, of 
 those who may favour these pages with a perusal, the 
 most responsible may not be pathologists, I shall en- 
 deavour to be as brief as is compatible with clearness, 
 and to avoid obscure details and unfamiliar terms. 
 
 It is indeed surprising to witness the courage 
 with which some will dash into the thick of 
 complicated questions with minds unarmed for the 
 purpose, and will, upon the ground of personal 
 experience alone, or with no experience, pronounce 
 decisions which would imperil the lives of their fellow 
 men, and the eflSciency of armies ! A mere casual 
 acquaintance with certain uses of matter, and local 
 practices, which produce some approximation towards 
 the desired result, may lead us but a small way, nay, 
 will often mislead us, as long as we are contented to 
 let our minds float vaguely over the surface of the 
 question. The case is urgent : men are dying, and The aid of 
 
 ^ _ ° _ . science mdia- 
 
 will die in increasing numbers if we do not enlist for pensaWe. 
 their protection all those principles in science, and 
 properties of matter, which are ready, if but called 
 upon, to flock to the rescue ! 
 
 We must make solar radiation and the laAvs of beat 
 
» BEITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 our study, and also the properties in relation to 
 heat of terrestrial matter in its various forms, espe- 
 cially of that most wondrous form of matter, 
 which, tabernacling a spirit, lives, breathes, and 
 thinks— a prey to outward influences and inward 
 commotion ! * 
 Objections to Much indeed is said on this, as on all other ques- 
 
 theory preva- ,, 
 
 lent but crude, tions, of the prudence of avoiding all ^'theory, and 
 relying solely upon '^practical experience." The 
 writer of these lines cannot be accused of contemn- 
 ing " practice." Few have been urged by a " prac- 
 tical" turn to originate a greater variety of prac- 
 tical appliances. If in practical effect they have 
 
 * While these pages were in the press, their publication has been inter- 
 rupted, amongst other causes, by the task, to which I have been happy to 
 give the time, of superintending the constructing of pattern helmets of 
 different kinds, at the request of the Chairman and Deputy- Chairman of 
 the Court of Directors of the East India Company, whose attention had 
 been invited to the subject. Though far from being working patterns, they 
 are, considering the difficulty, attending all first productions, a satisfactory 
 exhibition of their principles, and such as would amply suffice to place at 
 once before the view of a com.mittee in which the different branches of 
 science concerned were as duly represented as the military, the various 
 important objects sought, and the design of each of the several parts, and 
 of their respective proportions. It was my endeavour to put before the 
 Military Committee at the India House such a view of the prophylactic 
 requirements and details of the case as could be embraced in the limited 
 period of a single interview, and I have to acknowledge the polite attention 
 afforded me by the members generally. But the subject is one demanding 
 repeated scientific discussion, and that close examination into all require- 
 ments, with that a^yportioning to each its due relative weight, which it would 
 be unreasonable to expect from the members of a single profession. 
 
 These helmets have been lying some time at the India House, and may 
 have been seen by army accoutrement makers, disposed to exhibit con- 
 structions of their own to the military authorities. Any such, who may be 
 desirous of producing specimens of protective helmets, are welcome to adopt 
 the suggestions offered by those patterns ; but they are earnestly cautioned 
 not to carry too far, with the view of rendering their constructiobs Inviting, 
 a reduction in the size, nor to think that havoc can be made of the embodied 
 principles without a proportional injury to the result. 
 
GENERAL VIEW OP THE SUBJECT. » 
 
 not proved unsuccessful, it has been because tbey 
 have never been attempted but upon " theory " 
 based on scientific truths accumulated by others, and 
 whenever it was possible confirmed by experiments 
 of his own. Thus on this very question of Tropical 
 dress, it was because he was no less attached to 
 theory than to practice, to science than to art, that, 
 with a constitution more than usually disqualified to 
 endure a tropical sun and a raging hot wind, he 
 was enabled to insulate himself under the rays of The author 
 
 T p 11 • • • f 1 1 protected by 
 
 the former, and the exsiccating action oi the latter, theoretically 
 
 , , n • constructed. 
 
 and as a consequence to persevere lor many years m diess. 
 
 occupations demanding exposure of the most trying 
 
 kind ; and though ultimately exhausted, to escape 
 
 acute attacks and prevailing epidemics of every sort. 
 
 Upon this experience, and upon too much of a 
 
 converse nature in the case of men of much greater 
 
 vigour, and less tendency to suffer in the head from 
 
 the sun, but not thus protected, these two axioms 
 
 have been founded. 1st. That when a man is Axioms re- 
 lating to pro- 
 struck by the sun, there is m general no better tective dress. 
 
 reason for it than for another's being drowned 
 
 through shipment in a leaky vessel. 2nd. That very 
 
 few natives of Britain can long endure exposure to 
 
 the sun on a Tropical continent without serious 
 
 damage to the constitution, unless thoroughly, or, in 
 
 other words, scientifically protected. 
 
 It must, on reflection, be manifest to every one, 
 
 that since an acquaintance with the properties of 
 
 matter is essential to theory in Natural Science, as 
 
 the very basis of the reasoning on which it is built, to 
 
 speak of theory and practice as not agreeing toge- 
 
10 BEITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 ther involves a contradiction. If there is a dis- 
 agreement apparent in any case, one or other, or 
 both, of what we term " theory " and " practice" 
 must be unsound. 
 
 That the knowledge possessed by the ablest minds 
 is but imperfect, and unable to protect them at all 
 times from error, is too true ; but if on that account 
 we contemn that knowledge in our own practice, we 
 must either be content, as so many are, to remain 
 without progress, persevering in a defective course 
 of action, so long as it does not bring us to dead a lock, 
 or we must go stumbling forwards in the dark, since 
 we refuse to be guided by the only and proper light 
 to practice — Theory. 
 Kigiit prac- It is a truth worthy of note that the more the 
 bie from the- mind shriuks from " theory" (the comprehension of 
 causes and consequences), and is set upon being 
 " thoroughly practical," the more barren in resources 
 and instruments does it become — the more wanting 
 in practical means — the more unpractical, until to 
 be " thoroughly practical " comes to mean little 
 more than to close the understanding and feelings 
 — the eyes, ears, and heart — to the consequences, 
 often deplorable, of blundering on from generation 
 to generation with meagre and defective appliances. 
 Practical ex- « Practical Experience" cannot be too hiarhlv 
 
 penence. Its _ _ -^ o j 
 
 trae charac- estimated in all mundane undertakings ; but how 
 commonly is the term misapplied, or its comprehen- 
 siveness not discerned ! As practice without theory 
 is mere stagnant empiricism, so a boasted " practical 
 experience," without experiment, is merely a constant 
 reiteration of the same course of action, which may 
 
GENERAL VIEW OF THE SUBJECT. 1 1 
 
 be faulty, and is sure to be incomplete ; in whicb 
 case the less of sucb experience a person has the 
 better ; and, at best, it can afford no information 
 beyond its own narrow bounds. Hence the value of 
 men's experience is often in an inverse proportion to 
 its duration, which only serves to rivet imperfection, 
 if not error also, more firmly on the mind. 
 
 Can any man of judgment and feeling who may, 
 by the perusal of these pages, have his attention 
 drawn to such considerations, fail to have the follow- 
 ing questions forcibly intruded on his thoughts : 
 " Whence is it that a thoroughly philosophical and 
 practical inquiry, with all the resources of the State, 
 has not long since been instituted upon a subject of 
 so great importance as the preservation * of British 
 soldiers in the Tropics ? " " Whence is it that there The preva- 
 should still prevail all that discordance of opinion cordant opi- 
 
 •• T • ^ ij. r 1 xi 1 nions on sani- 
 
 upon it which results irom, and proves, the absence tary questions, 
 
 of an authoritative decision of the question meriting cause. 
 
 that general respect which would be commanded by 
 
 a persevering investigation of it by qualified minds ? " 
 
 Is it possible that a conclave of military officers 
 
 alone, whatever may be their rank and experience, 
 
 should command that confidence by merely calling 
 
 in, when they may judge it necessary, the passing 
 
 opinions of men of science ? Of the two, it would be 
 
 better for the result that the latter should form the 
 
 standing committee, and the former be consulted 
 
 upon exclusively military points. Yet the defects of 
 
 such a proposal would be at once glaringly manifest 
 
 * By the choicest system of Clothing, Housing, Locating, Dieting, Re- 
 creative Employment, and Hopeful Encouragement. 
 
12 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 from its not having the sanction of custom, while 
 the greater defects of the existing system are little 
 considered, though they inevitably deprive it of re- 
 spect, and, what is worse, cause it to remain so barren 
 of useful results. But is it well that men, dignified 
 and able in their own profession, should be placed in 
 so false a position ? Is it fair that omniscience should 
 be expected of military men ; that all science, and all 
 art, should be supposed to lie open before them ? 
 other The question of combining, in the highest degree, 
 science be- the Sanitary protection of the soldier with his 
 indispensable, military efficiency, is one into which physiology, 
 pathology, natural philosophy, with a knowledge of 
 the properties of matter, and a skill in employing 
 them, enter quite as much* as does military science. 
 Any conclave in which they are not fully repre- 
 sented cannot merit respect, nor master the subject. 
 
 It is grievous to think, that while every village in 
 the land is being searched for recruits even of the 
 average stature of women, every department of 
 science and of art should not long since have been 
 ransacked, and all their available resources enlisted, for 
 the preservation of the soldier when he is obtained ! 
 
 Is it, or not, under the authority of the govern- 
 ment itself that our uninformed fellow countrymen 
 are invited to throw themselves confidingly upon 
 the honour and affection of their country to protect 
 them, while risking their lives in its battles, from all 
 such suffering as is avoidable and unavailing to the 
 
 * This truth is abundantly evinced in the evidence given before various 
 parliamentary committees ; especially in the very important evidence of 
 Mr. Martin before the Committee of the House of Commons on Indian Terri- 
 tories in 1853. 
 
GENERAL VIEW OF THE SUBJECT. 13 
 
 objects of their prowess ? When the soldier is not The duty of 
 
 . . . r> 1 1 the soldier and 
 
 permitted to choose his own equipment, as of old, and his employers 
 would only err if he did, when discipline of necessity 
 demands of him in all things a confiding trust in his 
 superiors as heroic in the Camp as in the Field, is 
 the reciprocal duty on their part a whit less morally 
 imperative? Upon what is he asked to base the 
 patriotic love which is to fire his breast, and carry 
 him, as it does, through the serried ranks of any foe 
 that may be opposed to him from the pole to the 
 equator ? Is there amongst the unenviable responsi- 
 bilities of government a more solemn obligation than 
 that the very best measures which science can dictate, 
 and art can realize, should be preconcerted and pro- 
 vided for his protection before he is invited to step 
 in a moment from the fields of freedom across the 
 Eubicon into the dominion of absolute command ? 
 
 It is indeed painful to observe how many persons, 
 while exulting in the successful devotion of our 
 soldiers, are so much engrossed by political con- 
 siderations as to be sadly oblivious of the debt of 
 gratitude and humanity which they themselves 
 individually, and the whole nation, are thereby 
 incurring ; how many appear to be more concerned 
 with the question whether reinforcements will 
 abound, than with the suffering and death which 
 create the demand for them ! While it is frankly 
 admitted that a concern for the preservation of 
 British life imperilled in India, much more than of 
 India itself as a possession, has prompted this 
 publication, the objects of those with whom the latter 
 is the prior consideration will also be most effectually 
 
14 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 promoted by the means whicli it advocates ; by 
 devoting as strenuous efforts to the preservation of 
 lives there as to the replacing of them from hence. 
 Sieimess of Not Only would a great mortality in the army 
 McTon^he check* the ardour of recruits, but its effect upon the 
 natiye mind, j^g^i^ygg would be more serious still. I had frequent 
 opportunities of noting the impression produced on 
 their minds by the sickliness of Europeans in India, 
 and have at times elicited their opinions upon it. 
 They differ nothing from mankind in general in 
 being universally disposed to plume themselves 
 upon any advantages they possess over others, and 
 especially upon the solitary advantage over us in 
 possessing tropical constitutions. Man, everywhere, 
 is likewise disposed to look upon that climate which 
 suits him best, as the proper one, and upon the native 
 of a different clime, who sickens and declines in the 
 former, as a " poor creature " of a feeble constitution. 
 The natives of India look upon us as white bears 
 from the cold unhealthy North, ferociously brave, but 
 of sickly constitutions, disabling us from occupying 
 their country without their aid. That the rebellion 
 was long meditated,f and purposely timed to com- 
 mence in the hottest season, I cannot entertain a 
 doubt. The rebels were not wrong in their estimate 
 of the power of their sun ; but they miscalculated 
 the time it would require for doing their work. It 
 
 * Does not common humanity prompt the desire that it should, and thus 
 ensure a change of system ? 
 
 t Certain inquiries led me to entertain, and to express in print, twenty, 
 five years ago, the apprehension of a wide-spread disaffection in the families 
 from which the sepoys are drawn, especially in Bundelkund. These causes 
 have been frequently referred to in the letters from politicians in India 
 recently published, as now manifesting themselves. 
 
GENERAL VIEW OP THE SUBJECT. 15 
 
 was true that it could destroy a whole army of 
 British soldiers, but too gradually for their purpose. 
 Aided by elating excitement, the former are enabled 
 to last through one, two, or three seasons, according 
 to their power of endurance severally, and to strike 
 down rebellion before they are themselves struck 
 down by the climate. But we may rest assured 
 that the hopes of the disaffected are watchfully 
 directed to the thinning of our ranks by each 
 year of exposure ; and that they rightly draw 
 more encouragement from this, than from the 
 prospect of meeting our forces with success in the 
 field. Extensive casualties amongst the soldiery 
 from disease would too probably keep alive the 
 embers of insurrection, which again would prolong 
 the necessity for the exposure which, equipped as 
 the troops are, would prove a cause of sickness 
 constantly increasing in its effects. Should this 
 vicious circle ever become fully established through 
 equal perseverance on both sides, there can be little 
 doubt in what it must eventuate. If our soldiers, 
 therefore, can be indued with more lasting persist- 
 ence under exposure in the field, a moral effect of 
 great influence will, I am persuaded, be produced. 
 
 The subject. Dress, has been given a primary jj^^^g ^^^^^ 
 position, not from its possessing a superior imperii ^^ i^'^poil- 
 ance to the Housing and Occupation of the soldier, ^^<'^- 
 for, on the return of tranquillity, these will assume 
 greater dimensions, but because he is now in the 
 field, and in danger of dying there before the 
 question of rightly housing and employing him can 
 have a practical solution. 
 
16 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Caution a- To guard against any prejudgment of the dress 
 
 judgment '"^of proposed, it may be well, without anticipating the 
 
 posed, ^^^^"" subject, to invite the reader's attention to a few 
 
 points here. In the first place, in the dimensions 
 
 adopted in the several forms of helmets, it was 
 
 felt to be necessary that some standard should be 
 
 selected. It might be a maximum, a medium, or a 
 
 minimum. Upon consideration, the first has been 
 
 chosen, the primary point being adequate protection. 
 
 and objections The Several parts, divisions, and materials, and their 
 
 anticipated. . ,■ i • t i-it t 
 
 respective proportions having been decidea, as nearly 
 as was possible beforehand, the dimensions may be 
 reduced to such an extent as may be deemed 
 necessary for the efficiency of the soldier. In the 
 case of cavalry, with their quick movements through 
 the air, and against wind, it may be requisite to 
 squeeze down the dimensions of the head-dress more 
 than were to be desired for security ; but it would 
 be indeed a folly to let the mind be so carried away 
 by partial and commonplace views as to rush into 
 the extreme of scantiness, and to ruin the consti- 
 tutionsof a whole corps in a season or two, from an 
 overstrained desire not to encumber them. 
 
 It should be kept well in view, that in the question 
 
 of size, so far as encumbrance is concerned, we have 
 
 ^ , only to consider the "resistance of the air. The helmet 
 
 The eiiect •' •' 
 
 of size in tiie must not be SO large that in riding against a wind 
 a man will experience more inconvenience than 
 is repaid to him by the increased protection those 
 dimensions afibrd. But we must not look to the 
 inconvenience of resistance alone. If men, being 
 only somewhat inconvenienced by the size of their 
 
GENERAL VIEW OF THE SUBJECT. 17 
 
 helmets, should have them exchanged for others 
 so much reduced that they began again to suffer 
 seriously from solar effects from which their larger 
 helmets had protected them, it is manifest that the 
 reduction in size would have been carried too far. 
 
 Again, as is explained in the sequel, if the weight 
 be rested on the top of the head, and not supported 
 by the tension round the brows and sides, and if 
 the hat be low in proportion to its breadth, and 
 its centre of gravity be kept below its centre of and of weight. 
 support, it might have double the weight of many 
 helmets (not that this is necessary) without being 
 felt as heavy or encumbering. 
 
 Furthermore, there is an express provision ena- Variability in 
 
 _ 7 . tli8 dimen- 
 
 blmg the soldier to vary the dimensions of the hat sions of a hat 
 
 deEdxable. 
 
 round his head, that he may not have to endure as 
 tight pressure around it as when the weight is 
 mainly supported by such pressure. But though the 
 soldier is thus enabled to relieve his head of much 
 constriction, and to wear his helmet as easy around 
 his brows as circumstances may permit, it is not of 
 course intended, nor is there any necessity from this 
 provision, that it should be worn insecurely loose. 
 The tension requisite for security may be regulated 
 to any desired extent, without interfering with the 
 support of the weight on the top of the head by 
 means of the draw-cap. 
 
 It would be found, indeed, in practice, that if the 
 weight be thus supported, and its centre of gravity 
 placed as low as possible, much less tension round 
 the brows would be necessary to prevent the helmet 
 from being shaken off in the prancing of a horse 
 
 c 
 
18 BEITISH AEMT IN INDIA. 
 
 than might be supposed ; but the very provision 
 secures to the trooper the option of increasing that 
 tension to any extent, and at any moment he pleases. 
 So far is it from involving, as has been imagined, an 
 insecure looseness of his helmet, that when he comes 
 out of hospital convalescent, with his head emaciated 
 after having been shaved and blistered, as is the fate 
 of many, it would provide for the contraction of his 
 helmet to the reduced dimension of his head, whereas 
 an ordinary irreducible helmet would have to be 
 stuffed perhaps with hard leather to be made to fit 
 him. 
 Bright ex- Again, the protective power of a bright metallic 
 mets. exterior is fully noted, and applied in most of 
 
 the constructions proposed ; but, as will be seen, the 
 inconvenience to foot soldiers of a reflection of the 
 sun's rays from each other's hats has been by no 
 means overlooked, neither has the philosophical 
 provision against it, of avoiding all spheroidal forms 
 in their helmets, and giving them only vertical and 
 horizontal faces. An ordinary fashionable hat, a 
 shako with upright sides, or an inverted saucepan, 
 offer forms for metal surfaces secure against that 
 defect, however bright they may be ; nay, in propor- 
 tion to their brilliancy. 
 
 When, therefore, it is objected that bright helmets 
 are inadmissible also for cavalry, upon the ground 
 that they render them more visible to an enemy, we 
 may simply propose that their helmets for the Tropics 
 should likewise be given the above homely form, 
 instead of a more elegant spheroidal, without asking 
 the question, " Why then have so many regiments 
 
GENERAL VIEW OF THE SUBJECT. 19 
 
 splendid helmets if they are useless in the field until 
 covered, and how much does it avail to cover them 
 if the broad scabbards, trappings, and mountings 
 remain bright, which, tilting their planes of reflec- 
 tion in all manners of directions, would, one would 
 imagine, be sure to catch the sight, and exhibit the 
 trooper ? " 
 
 Under the heads. The Housing, Locating, Encou- 
 ragement, and Employment of soldiers in India, will 
 be found matter inviting contemplation and inquiry. 
 Before the hope can be with reason entertained of 
 repressing the intemperance of the soldiers, which in 
 India appears to be bounded only with the opportu- 
 nities they can command, and which is so destructive 
 to them, and so disgracing* to their Christianity, the 
 causes of it must be sought out, and as far as is temperence 
 
 _ _ amongst sol- 
 
 possible removed. We shall find that in addition to diers in India, 
 the hereditary, pernicious views, and habits, which 
 they bring with them from England, an uneasiness 
 of body and mind, occasioned by a climate which 
 keeps them gloomily within doors, and worries them 
 
 * Intemperance and Christianity are to a lamentable extent associated 
 togetlier in the minds of the natives, both Hindus and Mahomedans, as 
 every missionary knows too well, from the obstacle it offers to his labours. 
 The following is a remarkable instance. On my making inquiries into the 
 creeds of certain black descendants of Europeans scattered about the 
 upper provinces (not the " Eurasians "), a well-informed Mussulman stated 
 that they were Christians. Upon- my asking how he came to know it, as 
 they had no places of worship to frequent, he said, not disrespectfully, 
 but in all simplicity, that he knew it from their being nearly all of them 
 drunkards. It is a grievous fact that the example of" Christians," and the 
 efforts of the government to multiply spirit-shops for the sake of revenue, 
 are changing the habits of the natives. Drunkenness is becoming gra- 
 dually prevalent, whereas formerly there were few who touched alcohol in 
 any form. 
 
 c 2 
 
20 BRITISH AEMT IN INDIA. 
 
 there, and by other grave causes, is their especial 
 incentive to intemperance in India. 
 
 An anxiety for them, and for their example, com- 
 bined with a desire that a British spirit of progress 
 (not the mere rhetorical aspirations of politicians, the 
 easy curricles to reputation endlessly employed, but) 
 a thoroughly practical effort, through the aid of the 
 soldiery, should be applied to the improvement of 
 the arts and development of the resources of India, 
 led me to devise* (most of them many years ago) 
 various amusing employments for their minds, and 
 measures for rendering their barracks more healthy 
 and enjoyable. To this subject the attention of the 
 reader will be earnestly requested in the sequel. 
 
 * Vide Introduction. 
 
HEAT— CONDUCTION. 21 
 
 ON THE SPEOrPIC PEOPEETIES OF MATTEE THEOUGH 
 WHICH HEAT OPEEATES AND IS TO BE EESISTED. 
 
 We cannot move a step towards obtaining a clear 
 view of the agencies by whicb a climate operates 
 injuriously, so far as beat is concerned, or of those at 
 our command for resisting it, until we have so well 
 arranged before our minds the following six proper- 
 ties of matter in relation to heat that we can at once 
 discern when any of them are acting against us, and 
 how to win them over to our aid, either for separate 
 or combined operation. 
 
 These properties are, Oondtjction, Absorption ^. ^te proper- 
 
 I: i- ' ' ties of matter 
 
 OF Heat by Evaporation, Eeplection, Eadia- thioughwhicii 
 
 ' ' neat operates. 
 
 TioN, Convection, and Subterranean Absorption 
 OP Heat. 
 
 Conduction. — Quick conduction of heat operates Conduction. 
 far more often unfavourably by letting in outer heat, 
 as in the case of imperfect roofing and walls of a 
 house, or of defective head-dress and clothing of 
 the body, than favourably by carrying off internal 
 heat ; though its value through the agency of 
 light clothing, under certain conditions, is doubtless 
 great. Slow-conduction (commonly but incorrectly 
 termed non-conduction) is the operative principle in 
 the various familiar means for warding off heat, 
 which have forced themselves upon the attention of 
 the natives of the Tropics, who were ignorant of 
 
22 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 causes. The shelter of shade would suggest their 
 calico as a general covering, which experience would 
 reduplicate into a turban for the more sensitive 
 head ; and stiffer materials would be substituted, when 
 stiffness was wanted for a raised crown and sides, to 
 relieve the head from oppression by giving space 
 over it, as in the hats of all countries ; and in India 
 the pith " Sola " offered the same effect in a high 
 siow-conduc- degree, by combining the extreme of slow-conduction 
 cMefly^ reS with that of lightness ; but with too fragile a texture 
 
 on by the na- e* t , ,^ in 
 
 tives for re- lor any Dut gentle usage •, moreover, as we shall 
 SIS mg ea . ^^^^ ^^^ slow-conductiou wiU not alone suflSce. 
 
 When therefore it is aiErmed that we cannot do 
 better than copy the example of the natives of hot 
 climates, a double oversight is committed. In the 
 first place, their sensibility to climatic influences is 
 altogether different from ours, so that what suffices 
 for them may not by any means for us, of which 
 Their exam- there is evidence at every turn in India; and in the 
 feet guide. next, sincc they have no light from science to open 
 to their view any resources beyond those stumbled 
 over in the obscure path of experience along which 
 they grope, it is highly improbable that they should 
 have fallen upon the best means of effecting their 
 ends. No small part of my time in India was 
 devoted to examining their agricultural and manu- 
 facturing mechanics, as well as several of their 
 chemical arts, and in an endeavour to improve some 
 of them. With few exceptions I found the result 
 no other than was to have been expected in a 
 country where science had no existence, where 
 material property, until our rule, had had little 
 
HEAT— CONDUCTION. 23 
 
 protection, and where mental property was still with- 
 out any protection whatever, and that amongst a 
 people singularly wanting in enterprise. These 
 remarks are necessary to clear the ground from the 
 constant appeal made to native usage. If it offer 
 the best example it will bear the test of theory and 
 of trial ; now, as will be seen, it is not theoretically 
 perfect ; and as for trial, taking the instance of the 
 
 J.1 r ci PIT Turbans im- 
 
 turban, so oiten reierred to as a perfect head-dress, perfect in ac- 
 though it is doubtless much better than a British 
 head-dress, it has repeatedly failed to give that im- 
 munity to necessary exposure which we have a 
 right to hope for from modern resources, and are 
 bound to seek for our gallant countrymen. Men are 
 still not unfrequently struck by the sun, and many 
 more graduate under it for inflammation of the liver, 
 cholera, and fever, though it may take one or even 
 two years of exposure to qualify them for candi- 
 dature. 
 
 Nor will any single layer, or even two, of the pith 
 of "sola," though pre-eminent amongst slow-con- jJ^^° "*°^* 
 ductors, exclude the sun's heat sufficiently to guard 
 all persons, even against sun-stroke, which is an 
 effect proving a large penetration of heat to have taken 
 place. At the storming of Rangoon, in the late 
 Burmese war, officers wearing sola hats were struck 
 by the sun. How many more, then, must have been 
 receiving its more gradual, but in the end scarcely 
 less deleterious impressions ! 
 
 That the principle of slow-conduction operating in 
 the turban and the sola hat, should, when employed 
 alone, fall short in resisting power, will surprise no 
 
24 BRITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 one who bears in mind that a masonry roof of li 
 or even 2 feet in thickness fails to keep the upper 
 rooms of houses in India from being perceptibly- 
 Solar heat pe- affected by the sun's rays; and that much heatpene- 
 thick roofs. trates even through the thatch of a bungalow when 
 a foot or more in thickness ; the air near its under 
 surface being much heated. The eight layers of 
 thick cotton cloth in the two flies (roofs) of an 
 officer's tent in India, even though much aided by the 
 convection of heat from them (a large body of air cir- 
 culating between them), fail to prevent the solar heat 
 from penetrating. With such power is it projected 
 down by the radiant cloth that it will often drive 
 the inmate under the table for further shelter, unless 
 he protect himself by a wetted cloth on the 
 head. 
 
 The reason of this becomes obvious when we re- 
 flect upon the nature of sZoic-conduction. Its very 
 name (there being no such thing as NON-conduction) 
 shows that after all it does but operate against time, 
 
 siow-conduc- which wiU beat it at last. The property of slow-con- 
 tors only tem- . x i .^ 
 
 porary in ac- duction possessed bv auv matter promises nothing: 
 
 tion, and re- . ^ J J r «3 
 
 ceiveheatrea- to it agaiust the entrance of heat radiated upon its 
 
 dily at their ■'^ 
 
 surface. surface. On the contrary, nearly in proportion as 
 
 bodies are the slowest conductors of heat, are they 
 the readiest admitters of radiant heat falling on their 
 surface. Hence clothing which is simply slow-con- 
 ducting, though it may so retard the progress of the 
 fiercest rays, as for a time to afford complete protec- 
 tion, must, since it passively receives nearly all the 
 rays that fall upon it, by degrees convey a large 
 part of them inwards to the body it covers. The 
 
HEAT— EVAPORATION. 25 
 
 slowest conductor would transport heat mucli more 
 rapidly than it does, did it not get rid of a portion, 
 immediately on its entrance, by imparting some of it 
 by conduction to the air, and by re-radiating some ; 
 but these are feeble aids when the air is very hot, and 
 other solid bodies near are as hot as the radiating 
 surface. 
 
 Nevertheless, slow-conduction is a principle of Vettheprin- 
 
 ' i -t ciple IS of 
 
 high value in aid of our object when it is employed ^»i"^- 
 in conjunction with others. 
 
 Evaporation. — The absorption of heat in the 
 evaporation of water is the next property which has 
 been fortuitously employed, not only for mitigating 
 atmospheric heat, but also for absorbing the solar 
 rays. "With the use of the " tattee " or bamboo frame 
 covered with the fragrant " khus-khv^s " root, or 
 with the "jewassee" grass, and kept drenched with 
 water, every one is familiar ; but perhaps few have Evaporation, 
 taken note of the prodigious quantity of water which po^eri^i^l 
 is required to supply the evaporation from each "i"tattees." 
 single tattee of the size of a doorway. I made some 
 experiments for successive days in a hot season of 
 average temperature ; the mid-day heat ranging 
 from 110" to 115°. I regret that I have not at 
 hand a memorandum of the results to refer to, but 
 I believe the evaporation amounted to several hun- 
 dred pounds when the wind blew briskly through 
 the "tattee." The air would thus fall readily 30 
 degrees and sometimes nearer 40 degrees in its 
 momentary passage through it. 
 
 There is then in evaporation an agent of abundant 
 
26 BRITISH AEMT IN INDIA. 
 
 power, where plenty of water and a current of air to 
 maintain its evaporation can be commanded. Even 
 when a person is sitting still in a tent a wetted cloth 
 or turban on the head will, as already remarked, 
 mitigate the heat penetrating through the tent in 
 no small degree. In the outer air also the cooling 
 power of evaporation can master the heat of both 
 the sun and the atmosphere if there be wind to 
 excite it. Every resident in the western provinces 
 of India is aware how soon a piano will be warped 
 out of shape and value in a house which is not 
 artificially cooled, and how soon it loses its tune even 
 A piano pro- in a coolcd ouc. In the height of the hot winds I 
 ^eat heat^by Sent a piauo in full tune from Cawnpore to friends at 
 evapora on. ]y[ge]»ut, a distance of near 300 miles, who, as it was 
 brought in through a fierce hot wind, expected to 
 find it destroyed, and at a baking heat. They in- 
 formed me that, when they opened it, it actually 
 cooled the air of the room near it, and was still in 
 tune ; and in fact had suffered nothing. Relying on 
 the power of evaporation, I had it wrapped in cere- 
 cloth well payed with melted wax to secure it from the 
 wet, and then enveloped in several layers of an open- 
 wove cloth,* the warp of which was thick cotton wick, 
 made for the " Refrigerator," the machine for cooling 
 houses, described under a future head. A slight 
 awning of " sirkee " (a fine reed) was suspended above 
 it. It was carried, like a palanquin, by bearers, and 
 was accompanied by two or three " bheestees " (water- 
 bearers) whose duty it was to keep it drenched with 
 water day and night, and whose reward double pay 
 
 * Any equally retentive substance would answer. 
 
HEAT— BVAPOBATION. 27 
 
 if it arrived in tune. I mention tliis incident not 
 only as strongly illustrative of the power of evapo- 
 ration to combat heat both of sun and wind, but as 
 an allowable digression, since it may afford informa- 
 tion useful to some of our fair countrywomen yet 
 surviving the horrors of the time, whom conjugal 
 duty may keep in or call back to India, and whose 
 renewed homes may well need the solace of music. 
 They will find the above, if rightly managed, the 
 safest and quickest way of conveying their instru- 
 ments by land, and not very expensive. 
 
 If any reader should think this episode to oppose 
 the future statement that the evaporation of cutaneous 
 perspiration cannot protect the brain and body from 
 the solar rays, I would remind him that not only is Solar action 
 
 ^ . f. -. , . . . ~, . on the skin 
 
 the quantity oi evaporable perspiration msumcient, different, 
 but that the brain and other organs when they suffer 
 are no more heated directly by the sun than was the 
 inner organism of the piano. Had the piano had life, 
 and had a delicate nervous tissue irritable by heat 
 pervaded the evaporating surface around it with 
 which its organism within was in close sympathy, 
 it also would have lost its tune, and been destroyed, 
 though the heat could not reach its interior. 
 
 Though the skin, owing to its sensibility, cannot 
 by evaporation from its own surface ward off all the 
 effects of radiant heat, copious evaporation from an Evaporation 
 inanimate surface, like clothes thoroughly wetted, and critical agent ; 
 in a current of wind, possesses abundant power to do 
 so ; but unfortunately it is a power which cannot be 
 placed under safe control, nor be always at command 
 when most needed. Yarying with every current of 
 
28 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 wind, it may at one moment just suffice to keep down 
 heat so far as to produce the impression of a tepid 
 bath, soothing and relaxing the skin ; and at another, 
 suddenly and severely chill the skin it had just 
 relaxed — an effect which must not be mistaken for, 
 as being very different from, the Russian douche 
 succeeding the steam bath. It is therefore an agent 
 which, even for the head, has to be employed with 
 caution out of doors, though in the steadier atmos- 
 phere of a tent or house it may by most persons be 
 safely employed. But it is liable also to be not at com- 
 mand when most needed, as on a line of march. Few 
 persons have perhaps considered how much water, if 
 evaporation alone were relied on, would have to be 
 supplied to each man even to keep the head alone 
 cool. As to the trunk and limbs, though soldiers are 
 often compelled by duty to wade through rivers, and 
 occasionally up to their very shoulders, and may 
 under excitement bear the subsequent evaporation 
 with apparent impunity, it is a cooling process the 
 pathologist would be sorry to recommend as a rule. 
 The occasional chills of their own perspiration are in 
 the Tropics quite trying enough for them to endure, 
 yet valuable Nevertheless, as a subordinate auxiliary means for 
 protecting the head when the atmospheric heat rises 
 above 100° (Fahr.), evaporation may with due pro- 
 visions be employed with much advantage. 
 
 Keflection a The Eeflection OF Heat. — The great protective 
 
 tive power. '"' power of this principle has not, so far as I am aware, 
 
 been employed by the natives of the Tropics ; the 
 
 gilding of their chattas of state (large parasols), 
 
THE EEPLBCTION OP HEAT. 
 
 29 
 
 in accordance witli their other gorgeous paraphernaHa, 
 being apparently used solely with a view to pomp. 
 
 Familiar as the natural philosopher is with the 
 properties of heat, so far as they are known, and of 
 matter in relation to this wonderful agent, the useful 
 application of these properties has not in every 
 direction kept pace with this knowledge. We are 
 familiar with the use of reflectors for the purpose of 
 utilizing the heat reflected, as in the case of reflecting 
 sides to a fire-grate, but reflection has not been as freely 
 employed as it might for warding o^heat. A striking 
 illustration of this power happened to be afforded by a ^g'*^o^g° "^ 
 construction I contrived some years ago for burning 
 coke and anthracite brilliantly in an open fire-grate, 
 and for carrying off the products of the combustion 
 effectively. This was attained by simply placing a 
 plate of metal, dR, Figs. 1 and la, immediately over the 
 
 A striking 
 
 Fig. 1, 
 
 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 Fig. la. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 ,^s— 
 
 -LV 
 
30 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 fire, inclined at a certain angle, and suspended to a 
 shifting plate d d, which nearly closed the chimney- 
 way. If the grate be otherwise rightly formed, and 
 the current at bottom be duly checked, the air is 
 deflected by the inclined plate down upon the 
 fuel, and keeps the front and top of it in a high 
 state of brilliancy. It then occurred to me, that by 
 facing this plate with one of burnished steel I might 
 reflect into the room the heat from the whole top of 
 the fire which usually shines to waste up a chimney. 
 The effect was to give a double image of the fire, 
 and very nearly a double effect, and even more than 
 double when the fire was low, and its upper surface 
 larger than its front. The power of this reflector (r) 
 is so great that it would roast a joint in front of it as 
 readily as the fire itself, and it cannot be approached 
 by the hand within two or three feet. Yet the hand 
 can actually be kept pressed against the back of the 
 inclined plate itself while a brilliant fire is within a 
 few inches of it, and has been shining upon it the 
 whole day. But had a facing of calico or leather been 
 substituted for the steel mirror, not only would any 
 such substance have been instantly scorched, but 
 the skin of the hand pressed on the back of the 
 plate would have been immediately destroyed. 
 
 Now, since the relation of the solar rays to metallic 
 surfaces is nearly the same as of rays from a fire, 
 how powerful a resisting property have we, in bright 
 metal, available for warding off the sun from the 
 The value of head and body of the soldier ! Moreover, in the case 
 Uc surfacea for of the head, a metallic covering possesses mechanical 
 qualities of resistance and durability so well suited 
 
HEAT— SLOW EADIATION: CONVEOTIOK. 31 
 
 for a military head-dress, as, on account of these 
 alone, to have been employed for helmets from the 
 earliest days. In this instance, at least, we have 
 that scowling phantom Custom, so troublesome and 
 obstructive to improvement, for once on our side.* 
 We cannot, indeed, command so dense and brilliant a 
 reflecting surface as the polished steel mirror, which 
 turns off nearly the whole heat, but a degree of 
 smoothness which can be easily preserved will 
 reject three-fourths of the heat which will enter 
 cotton ; p,nd, as will be shown in the practical appli- 
 cation of the principle, since the property of reflection 
 rests in the surface alone and has nothing to do with 
 the thickness, so thin metal may be employed that 
 we may have a wide space within it, and a second face 
 of metal to arrest such heat as shall have penetrated 
 and been projected inwards from the first. 
 
 Slow Radiation. — This property is also very slow radiar 
 
 . "^ . tion. Its value. 
 
 valuable for our purpose, though in a minor degree 
 to the former. It is happily possessed by the very 
 same matter which enjoys the property of high 
 reflection, and is in fact its reciprocal property. 
 
 Since some portion of the sun's rays must be ex- 
 pected to enter the reflecting barrier even when 
 it is bright, and a considerable portion if it is 
 allowed to become tarnished ; and since such rays 
 will then be conducted through the substance of the 
 metal to its inner surface, if we leave this unlined by 
 
 * The objection whicli may be raised to the employment of bright 
 surfaces, that they would render their wearers too dazzling to comrades, 
 and too visible by enemies, has been already touched upon, and will be 
 found fully discussed and obviated in the sequel. 
 
32 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 cloth or any fibrous substance, and simply tinned, it 
 will radiate heat very slowly and feebly upon the 
 head or other contents within it, compared with 
 cotton cloth, felt, or leather ; the radiating power of 
 any of these substances being from six to eight times 
 as great as of a bright tinned or brass surface, and 
 four or five times that of a dull tinned one. 
 
 If, in our construction, we can employ this re- 
 tarding property of slow radiation more than once 
 between the sun and the surface to be protected, we 
 shall materially improve our results. 
 
 Convection of ^HE CONVECTIOIS" OF HeAT. — This property of 
 
 fluids may be also employed with much efifect as an 
 auxiliary against solar influence. Air, like water, 
 receiving heat from any warmer surface, expands, 
 rises, and is replaced by other air from below. If a 
 free exit above be given to the rising air and free 
 entrance below to the air replacing it, we may have 
 such a current over the hot surface as shall sweep 
 away a large part of the heat it has to give, provided 
 the air be cooler than itself by some degrees. When 
 the force of any wind is added to the current, the 
 convection of heat is materially increased. 
 
 Of this principle of convection we must therefore 
 be careful to avail ourselves in our undertaking. It 
 is readily applicable both to the head and body dress ; 
 and also to buildings, especially to their roofs. 
 
 The Subteerajstban Absorption op Heat is 
 the last agency which it is necessary to include in 
 our means. As it is applicable solely to the cooling 
 of dwellings, and will be noticed under that head 
 
SUBTERRANEAN ABSORPTION OF HEAT. 33 
 
 with certain practical suggestions, but a brief refer- 
 ence to it can be aiforded here. 
 
 Although there is every reason for believing that 
 a very high temperature prevails in the bowels of 
 the earth, and at no greater depth than some miles 
 from its surface, yet the diffusion of heat upwards is 
 so gradual as not to affect appreciably the tempera- 
 ture of the soil within forty or fifty feet of the surface. 
 To about that depth, though varying in different 
 countries, it is well known that the temperature of 
 the earth is entirely due to climatic causes, mainly to 
 solar influence, and to the great power of throwing 
 off heat by radiation possessed by the earth's surface. 
 Earthy matter is so moderate a conductor of heat 
 that at about that mean depth any heat of the hot 
 months ceases to descend, being invited back to 
 supply warmth to the surface when it is chilled 
 in the cold months of the year. So that at a certain 
 depth the temperature scarcely varies at all all 
 the year round, and is very nearly the same as the 
 mean temperature of the surface. It is plain then, that Coolness in 
 
 ^ . . summer of the 
 
 the whole body of this upper stratum of earth is, to stratum sub- 
 
 1 T ■ 1 1 ^ ^ 1 ■ jacent to the 
 
 that depth, cooler in the hot months than the air at earth's sur- 
 
 face, 
 
 the surface ; the lowermost part of this stratum being 
 
 in the hot winds in India as much as thirty or forty 
 
 degrees cooler than the wind. Hence the walls and 
 
 floor of the underground dwellings, called in India 
 
 " Thie Khanus" cool their atmosphere in hot weather TWe Khanus. 
 
 by many degrees ; an effect increased materially when 
 
 they exhale moisture which evaporates into the air. 
 
 Some of the most effective of these Thie Khanus that 
 
 I have noticed were at Delhi, and one in a garden 
 
 D 
 
34 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 near Agra. I also made one myself, but it was only 
 a single apartment for a study. 
 
 Sucli apartments are well enougli for occupation 
 by day wben no unwholesome malaria enters them 
 and when their cubic contents are large in com- 
 parison with the number of the occupants, but they 
 are altogether unsuited for day barracks even, for 
 which I have heard them more than once proposed. 
 Their inade- The Ventilation necessary in a barrack for health 
 qua e e ec . ^^^^^j altogether overpower the cooling action of 
 the comparatively limited surface of wall in the 
 largest barrack, even if it were deep under ground. 
 From the same cause a tunnel of considerable size 
 and length, constructed at Cawnpore in 1824, for 
 ventilating a large hospital with cool air, failed to 
 have an adequate effect. Both its depth below 
 ground and its cooling surface of earth were not suf- 
 ficient ; though it was otherwise ingeniously planned,* 
 the air after passing through the tunnel being con- 
 But the prin- veyed up into the hospital. At the same time my 
 terranean ^ah- experiments lead me to believe that this agency of 
 powerful '^e^ subterranean absorption of heat may be rendered 
 source. available in a manner both remarkably economical 
 
 and effective ; since a cooling surface of great extent 
 may be commanded, aided by a large evaporative 
 surface. The details of this plan fall under another 
 head — the housing of troops. 
 
 * The plan was, I believe, adopted from a hospital in England. 
 
TROPICAL VIRULENCE AND VITAL RESISTANCE. 35 
 
 GENEEAL EEMAEKS ON TEOPICAL VIEULENCE 
 AND VITAL EESISTANCE. 
 
 In India the Britisli soldier on duty, surrounded 
 by the atmosphere, with the sun over his head, and the 
 ground under his feet, presents to our view the unfor- 
 tunate subject of three hostile agencies. It is the 
 influence of these agents upon him, both in their 
 distinct and in their combined operation, which must 
 be studied before we can successfully avail ourselves 
 of the best means which nature affords for insulating 
 him so far as to enfeeble their power. 
 
 It is manifest that his internal economy of vital The functions 
 
 . . of the ekin of 
 
 organs cannot be reached or m any way acted upon prominent im- 
 by external agencies but through the medium of his 
 outer or inner surfaces — his skin or the membrane 
 lining his air passages.* 
 
 The functions of his skin then are of prominent 
 account. It is active in throwing off the internal or 
 animal heat by perspiring, and where it is uncovered 
 by radiating off heat ; and in this it is aided by the 
 atmosphere, when colder than itself, carrying off 
 heat by convection. But when the heat of the air 
 is above that of the skin the convection is reversed, 
 bringing heat to the skin and putting its active 
 powers to the double trial of having to throw off, not 
 
 * The action of climatic, and especially of tarometric, influences upon 
 these surfaces was expatiated upon in an Essay by the author, on the 
 climate of the Himalayas, published in 1824, and referred to under the 
 head Locating of Tboops. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 only the animal heat, but invading atmospheric heat 
 also. Nevertheless the skin, when aided by suitable 
 clothing, possesses the power of warding off a large 
 amount of heat when brought to it simply by the 
 process of atmospheric convection. 
 The skin Against radiant heat, especially solar, the skin has 
 siating radiant much Icss power, being chicfly dependent upon the 
 passive provision of that peculiar nervous impression 
 — the sensation of heat — which serves as a warning 
 that the sun's rays should be avoided, and those like- 
 wise projected, when the solar heat is intense, from 
 the ground he stands on and from buildings upright 
 before him. 
 
 Confined as he is to the ground, his pulmonary 
 and outer skins become assaulted, and too often car- 
 ried, by malaria in its nascent and direst form. But 
 subtile and baneful as are all forms of malaria, they 
 may to a considerable extent be neutralized by va- 
 rious means ; especially by combating in the first 
 instance their powerful coadjutor the sun's rays, 
 and in the second their great opportunity, atony 
 in the cutaneous defences, manifested by a sup- 
 pressed perspiration. 
 Ordinary iiata With rcspcct to the head, the exhalation from its 
 boxes vigour- surfacc ought to be especially encouraged, and in all 
 so.] Theiv^lZ cases we ought to be very jealous, not to shut the 
 Sr ° ^' head up in a vapour-tight box, or one which is nearly 
 so, with the feeble means of ventilation to be found 
 in any hats or helmets in England. "When exhala- 
 tion is quite or nearly cut off, and the perspiration 
 lies wet upon the surface, the skin of the head learns 
 to throw out less of it than is natural and necessary. 
 
TEOPICAL VIRULENCE AND VITAL EESISTANCE. 37 
 
 There can be no doubt tbat to not a few persons in 
 England, especially those advanced in life, the con- 
 sequences of smothering, for many successive hours, 
 the exhalation from the head, of all parts of the 
 body, are not a little serious, though the effect may 
 progress too insidiously to be observed. But as HatsinEng- 
 fashion is pleased to form our hats, supposing that but eadiy^im- 
 most capricious and inexorable of despots, and most ^^°''^^^^^- 
 ignorant, could be induced to permit their walls to 
 be encircled near the crown with a line of perfora- 
 tions, the free ventilation would in these climes chill 
 the head in cold weather. Such insubordination to 
 her is therefore not even attempted. But if our 
 hats had a circle of such ventilating perforations, and 
 below their level a flat inner crown of porous cloth 
 similar to the concave moveable crown, bb, in all the 
 following figures of helmets, the head would be kept 
 from chills and even warmer in severely cold wea- 
 ther than at present ; while it would be cooler in 
 hot, and the exhalations might proceed to a natural 
 and desirable extent. 
 
 Even in the hottest weather, however, in England 
 the smothering of the head by our defective hats is 
 of small moment when compared with its effect in 
 India, where the atmosphere is often at, and above, 
 the blood heat, and the sun's rays so powerful. In 
 such climatic conditions the only known process by 
 which the head can relieve itself of accumulating ani- 
 mal heat (leaving out of account the large amount 
 of intruding external heat) is by a free evaporation 
 of moisture abundantly exhaled. 
 
 What then is to be said of coverings for the head 
 
38 BRITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 whicli not only let in solar heat to a large extent, 
 but, as if they were intended as instruments of capital 
 punishment, lock up the only door of escape by 
 smothering the scalp altogether or tantalizing it 
 with a few ventilating holes of the size of a pin, or 
 at most of a pencil, and at the crown only ! The 
 marvel is, how any warm-blooded animal should, 
 with the head in such a predicament, escape 
 apoplectic destruction, even though it were of the 
 Destructive coolcst temperament, emasculated and bovine ! But, 
 
 character of . im ii -i-i 
 
 military hats, that manly braius, — bulky and busy, — turgid with 
 blood and with thoughts of blood ! — with the spirits 
 on fire and excited to the combat ! — should endure for 
 one hour the double culinary process of roasting from 
 without and stewing within, is what no reflecting 
 physiologist could have anticipated ! The brain 
 does, however, through the aid of the vis vitoe, make 
 shift to endure it for the time ; but, for the most part, 
 by shifting the oppression from itself to some distant 
 organ, and to the whole skin of the body. The man 
 sooner or later shudders (a skin impression), vomits, 
 and is in for cholera ! or shudders, and starts at more 
 than a bayonet in his liver, the commencement of 
 acute inflammation in that organ ! or he shudders, 
 and dejects blood, while, if there be reality in feeling, 
 his bowels are being twisted into viol strings ! 
 Acute dysentery with its long train of sufiering is 
 his lot ! 
 Especially the Again, with respect to that portion of a hat more 
 Fn^'^^gS especially which encircles and presses against the 
 the head. head, what are we to think of it ? Of the mariner it is 
 said he has but a plank between him and death ; but 
 
TROPICAL VIRULENCE AND VITAL RESISTANCE. 39 
 
 in a good ship and true, that plank effectually keeps 
 out the dangerous liquid. Of the white soldier on 
 the plains of India it may with more force be said, he 
 has but a film between him and death, of leather, 
 pith, or fur, with perhaps a little calico to boot, 
 through which the ethereal fluid leaks in to his 
 destruction ! It is positively frightful to contemplate 
 the passive spectacle of the sun above in Cancer, 
 British skulls below hard by that tropic, and between 
 them scarce a quarter of an inch of matter, and that 
 the most receptive of radiance, and at the crown only 
 at any distance from the skull, but pressing close 
 against its sides all round. It would be thought a 
 reprehensible waste of property to subject to such 
 solar influence empty caskets of ivory inlaid with 
 goodly stones, seeing they would be warped and 
 cracked to pieces very soon ; but that more precious 
 casket, the British skull, filled with a living brain 
 and jewelled with eyes and other organs, has been 
 thus exposed to ruin by thousands ! Would that one 
 had the command of rhetoric and of leisure ade- 
 quately to depict the cerebral ruin and constitutional 
 destruction pacing on in an army marching in such 
 shakos and helmets, and throttled with neck stocks ! 
 
 But if feeble in depicting the evil I would fain 
 hope to succeed better in the more grateful and im- 
 portant task of attempting a remedy, and will have 
 to beg the reader to contrast with such nominal 
 protection any of the following constructions. 
 
 The Sun. — The Sun then is the foe whose assaults 
 we have first to ward off. 
 
40 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 When a man falls, felled like a bullock, by a stroke 
 of the sun, we have its power exhibiting one of Lord 
 Bacon's " glaring instances " of a truth too literally. 
 But so far is this from being its whole, or its chief, 
 offence, that these cases of sun-stroke, while sad 
 indeed for the sufferers, would have their account did 
 they but impress the sight as forcibly as loud military 
 Sun-stroke buffles the ear, warning commanders in the Tropics 
 
 an important ° . . i t i i • 
 
 warning to to rccoguise a discipHnc more absolute than their 
 
 commanders. ° . , -, . 
 
 own, and, with all despatch, to rid their men oi 
 their present* shakos (cotton cloth covered though 
 they may be), their bear caps, foraging caps, 
 and throttling stocks, and otherwise to clothe 
 them more in obedience to the laws of natural 
 science. 
 
 In all but delicate persons the skin may, by a little 
 aid from right clothing, as has been already remarked, 
 be enabled to guard itself against a large amount of 
 atmospheric heat ; but reflected and radiated heat, that 
 of the sun especially, possesses a peculiar penetrating 
 power, causing it, before it can be carried off by per- 
 spiration, to act upon the nervous expanse of the skin 
 with various degrees of effect in different races: 
 with little or none in many Indians, who can bask 
 in the sun with pleasure ; in a modified degree on 
 Action of some fcw Englishmen who, happening to possess a 
 
 the Sim on the •, -i j.*j.i- t , ,i ^ 
 
 surfaceinEng- semi-tropical Constitution, can acclimate themselves 
 other races!^"^ to it by dint of exposurc ; but in a very hostile 
 degree on the great majority of them, who are much 
 to be pitied when they fall under the command of 
 one of the former, should he, as has more than once 
 occurred, measure their constitutions by his own and 
 
the outer skin 
 ill some Indi- 
 ans. 
 
 TROPICAL VIRULENCE AND VITAL RESISTANCE. 41 
 
 think to inure them to the sun by forcing them to 
 brave its assaults. 
 
 This difference in solar endurance is traceable to 
 various causes. In the first place the scarf-skin of 
 the native of the Tropics (and just in proportion as 
 he has a hereditary habituation to the sun) has a 
 thickness greatly surpassing that of the European, 
 and especially of the enjoyers of our cloudy skies. 
 Even amongst the natives themselves I had occasion 
 to remark, when superintendent of vaccination at 
 Futtehgurh, a surprising difference in the thickness 
 of the skin in infants as well as in adults. Coolies thi^knra3^*''of 
 and Assamees, whose naked bodies are exposed to the 
 sun throughout the day, impart a hereditary thick- 
 ness to the scarf-skin of their children. To pene- 
 trate the outer skin of such infants it was necessary 
 to employ a lancet ground with a strong obtuse 
 point. It was a horny hide when compared with 
 that of the coarsest European adult, or even with 
 that of well-clad and less exposed natives. The 
 reader has doubtless felt, upon some accidental abra- 
 sion of the outer or scarf-skin of the finger, how acutely 
 sensitive is the nervous surface of the true skin under 
 it. Perceiving so thin a scarf to have been thus 
 protective, he will the more readily appreciate the 
 resisting power of the Indian's hide many times the 
 thickness of his. 
 
 -Again, in the Indian the nervous expanse itself 
 has, in the course of many generations, gradually lost 
 much of its sensibiHty to heat; while the vitals 
 within have also lost much of their irritability to it. 
 Moreover his heat-generating system has long since 
 
42 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 acquired the habit of a temperate production, so as 
 not to trouble him with such a surplus of animal 
 heat as helps to destroy the European. 
 Error of at- When therefore it is proposed that the English- 
 Smate a^ man shall inure himself to the climate of India by 
 by Ixpo^e. bravely exposing himself to it, the work of generations 
 is attempted to be effected at once ; a work which, by 
 the time it was thoroughly complete in the constitu- 
 tions of his few surviving descendants, would have 
 simply re-transformed them into Asiatics, stewed and 
 torrefied under the same skies which have gradually 
 concocted the Indian. By that time they would pro- 
 bably have become in no way superior to him ; since 
 the haughty Englishman has now to acknowledge 
 with him the same Iranian or J?^rfo-atlantic stock. 
 
 The acclimating experiment has been often made. 
 "When aided by hopeful excitement it promises so 
 well for a time, that the lessons of experience are 
 being constantly forgotten. The following were 
 pretty large experiments of the right kind for a 
 prompt decision of the question; not being com- 
 plicated by any circumstances of mental excitement 
 or change of scene and air tending to modify or 
 postpone the effects. 
 
 A finer body of men than Her Majesty's 44th 
 its injurious regiment in 1823 could not be found now in the 
 British army. I believe it was 900 strong. The 
 commanding officer was said to have contemned 
 confinement of the men during the day as effeminate, 
 and especially to have continued drilling them in 
 the forenoon after the hot season had begun. 
 Before the error was discovered its dire effects had 
 
TROPICAL VIRULENCE AND VITAL RESISTANCE. 43 
 
 commenced. For some months not less than one 
 third, and for some weeks one half of the men were 
 in hospital at once ; chiefly with fever, dysentery, and 
 cholera. I remember to have seen for some time 
 from five to ten bodies in the dead-room of a 
 morning, many of them specimens of athletics. 
 Again, during a tedious voyage up the Granges, in 
 medical charge of 800 recruits and drafts, with their 
 families, for different branches of the service, in about 
 100 boats (there being no steamers on the river in 
 those days), I found that the sickness fell almost 
 entirely upon the men who exposed themselves to the 
 sun by truanting on the shore, and very great and 
 harassing it was. Again, when I was Staff Surgeon 
 of Cawnpore, the field army was moved from their 
 quarters, in the hot winds of 1825, towards Bhurt- 
 pore, but the troops were rightly recalled by the 
 Grovernor-Greneral till the cold season. During their 
 exposure of two months, the usual effects of elating 
 excitement were manifested ; the men stood the 
 march as well as the natives ; but soon after their 
 return to their barracks the previous exposure to the 
 sun took effect upon them, and filled the hospitals 
 with sick, many with a severe form of cholera, 
 although in the station generally the disease was 
 not at all prevalent at the time ; marking the 
 fact I have already emphatically noted, how 
 trifling an amount of the mephisis of any epidemic 
 will suffice to affect the system when the sen- 
 sorium and the skin have been debilitated by solar 
 action. 
 
 At the end of another generation we hear of 
 
44 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 precisely similar effects. Hopeful excitement sustains 
 our soldiery of the different forces a time ; but sooner 
 or later they begin to yield, and in a year or two 
 long-continued exposure with no better protection 
 than they have at present will, if it shall continue 
 necessary, too certainly shatter the constitutions of 
 nearly all. 
 Sun-stroke We have abundant evidence that a stroke of the 
 part of the so- sun is but a Small part of the ill-doing in India of that 
 powerful luminary ; and it is its direct rays, much 
 more than the high atmospheric temperature which 
 it occasions, which do the mischief, of which notice 
 will be taken under the head " atmosphere^' 
 
 Bach portion of the nervous expanse pervading 
 the skin possesses a close and peculiar sympathy with 
 the vital organ subjacent to it, although it has no 
 continuity of texture with it. This is especially the 
 case with the brain and spine ; and there is a 
 peculiarity in the nature of this sympathy in their 
 case, more particularly in that of the brain, which 
 renders heat acting upon the skin of the head invari- 
 ably trying to the organ within. 
 The action Now, as has been already observed, reflected and 
 
 of the sun's . . *' ' 
 
 rays in iuduc- radiant heat, more especially solar, is impinged with 
 
 ing disease, i • i i ■ • J. o 
 
 a force which eludes the perspiration-barrier of the 
 skin, and excites its nervous expanse. When it is 
 the skin over the head which receives the impulse, 
 either directly or through an imperfect hat, the brain 
 accepts the impression, and sometimes so acutely as 
 to rule its own destruction by apoplectic congestion. 
 The man falls struck by the sun. But much more 
 frequently the brain, the fountain of vital influence, 
 
TEOPICAL VIRULENCE AND VITAL EESISTANCE. 45 
 
 impresses its infirmity upon all the other organs, 
 especially on the liver, intestines, and skin, which 
 are already oppressed at such a season by accumu- 
 lated animal heat, and, in the case of the two former, 
 by sympathy also with the oppressed skin. The 
 brain, instead of ulcerating itself, will often stamp 
 an abscess in the liver, or an ulcer in the bowels, in 
 the smallest number of hours in which the preli- 
 minary inflammation can be hurried on to its ter- 
 mination. More frequently still, the debility in the 
 sensorial citadel is transmitted to every part of the 
 outer wall. The whole skin is debilitated, or even 
 paralysed, and the skin's debility is malarias opportunity. 
 The Mephites of Fever, Dysentery, and Cholera, 
 stalking over the bodies of a sleeping army, which 
 has been thus exposed to the sun by day, quickly 
 scent out the enfeebled skins, and divide the prey ! 
 Thus it is that exposure to the sun renders men 
 obnoxious to all manner of Tropical disease. 
 
 To the soldier in action, moreover, the shafts from and in aggia- 
 
 . T 1 f T • mating the 
 
 the solar adversary commingling with those of his eficcts' of 
 
 ^ rr n ^ wounds. 
 
 human enemies seriously aggravate the eiiects oi the 
 latter. Traumatic Tetanus, lock-jaw from wounds, 
 may be considered as more especially a Tropical 
 affection. Wounds shattering the nerves to not one 
 fourth the extent which in a temperate climate would 
 be needed to produce this dreadful complication, will 
 suflSce to induce it when the sensorium commune, the 
 brain and spinal cord, have been daily wrought up 
 to a state of irritation which needs but a hint, as it 
 were, from some distressed extremity, for them to 
 lose all self-control and set the whole frame in con- 
 
46 BRITISH AEMT IN INDIA. 
 
 vulsion. And in the case of a " stump," is it possible 
 that the exuding and organizing of nature's glue, 
 under the guidance of a subdued and healthy inflam- 
 mation, can proceed aright when the centre of all 
 command, the brain, is thrown out of tone and.tune ? 
 — that a brain, which was on the eve of giving itself, 
 some organ, or the whole system, up as a prey to 
 disease, can conduct the delicate and abnormal process 
 of closing up a great wound to as healthy a termina- 
 tion as if that brain had been thoroughly guarded 
 from all solar violence from the moment it received 
 the order to take the field ? 
 
 It would be painfully interesting to note the 
 possible diminution of death and damage in field 
 hospitals in the Tropics, after, if ever, a perfect system 
 of clothing, housing, and mental recreation (with a 
 consequent diminished intemperance) had been for a 
 sufficient time established. 
 
 The brain's auxiliary, the spinal marrow, is to a 
 
 great, though minor, extent in the same sympathetic 
 
 The spine predicament with it. Next to the sun's action on 
 
 also suffers .tit.... ±^ • • -i 
 
 from solar ao- the nead, its action on the spine is the most trying, 
 and most to be avoided. But the direct rays of a 
 powerful sun upon the rest of the trunk are also 
 sufficiently injurious to render a repulsion of them 
 desirable. 
 
 The Atmosphere next demands attention. The 
 
 temperature of the blood in the Tropics being slightly 
 
 Atmospheric above what it is in colder zones, or about 100°, and of 
 
 Sower'S'^per' *^® ^^^^ ^^^^ ^o* uueasy about 90°, when the atmos- 
 
 Sng"?"'^" P^®^^ "^^^ *<^ ^^^° «^ ™o^e' i* ^""^^^ impart lieat 
 
TEOPICAL VIRULENCE AND VITAL RESISTANCE. 47 
 
 rapidly to tlie body but for its being a gaseous fluid 
 whicb both conducts beat very slowly, and at 
 tbe same time admits tbe vapour of perspiration 
 freely into its pores. This vapour absorbs all tbe 
 beat the air is able to convey to tbe skin as fast as 
 it is presented. The extent to which atmospheric 
 heat thus assaulting the body may be absorbed, ap- 
 pears to be limited only by the power of the skin to 
 supply moisture. 
 
 I have known instances of officers who never 
 used tattees nor closed their glass doors against the 
 hot wind which found its way freely through the 
 Venetian doors, and who enjoyed very fair health at 
 the end of a long residence ; but in all such cases 
 the sun had been as much as possible avoided. In 
 the few instances in which it had been long braved 
 with apparent impunity there was invariably, as far 
 as my own observation went, an amount of chronic 
 disease, of long continuance, manifestly present, 
 which would render the attainment of anything like 
 longevity out of the question. 
 
 It is not with any purpose of recommending a ance"'o™''hut 
 habitual exposure to hot wind, that this fact is men- tg^^ff ^^l 
 tioned ; for I have had too much experience of its ^'^'°- 
 exhausting effects in my own case, and that of others ; 
 but to show that, if the soldier, whom duty compels 
 to expose himself, can but be thoroughly protected 
 from the sun, he will, if in ordinary Indian health, 
 bear, with no great injury, the hot winds of any cam- 
 paign ; and he will bear them all the better if no 
 attempt is made to accustom his skin to them, when 
 he is in quarters, by letting them blow untempered 
 
48 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 by art through his barrack. The more the skin can 
 be saved from repeated exhaustion, the better tone 
 will it preserve for each necessary emergency. There 
 is no such thing possible as to gain tone by en- 
 durance. It is a notable fact that the percentage 
 of mortality does not decrease amongst troops 
 by residence in the country, as it would at the 
 prime of life if an advantageous acclimation were 
 going on, but it steadily increases, showing that 
 exhaustion and not acclimation is the general re- 
 sult. 
 The real We must uot mistake the prevalent illness and 
 nisiied illness mortality in a corps recently landed from Europe, 
 afte/somf re- and the decrease of illness subsequently, to a want of 
 dia. acclimation at first, and its establishment afterwards. 
 
 The case is mainly this. In every large body of 
 men, there are some whose constitutions, though 
 perhaps vigorous in a temperate climate, are totally 
 unfitted for a Tropical. These die off at once by acute 
 disease. There are others, generally those who are 
 somewhat feeble anywhere, who sicken early, and 
 are frequently ailing; some of them dying soon, 
 others becoming early invalided. There are also 
 some men of all degrees of vigour so recklessly, 
 sometimes wilfully, careless of themselves, or so dis- 
 satisfied with their lot, that they soon fall a prey to 
 the climate, the effects of which they universally 
 precipitate by intemperance and exposure. When 
 all these are sifted out of a regiment, the sickness 
 and mortality, as a matter of course, decrease 
 greatly, but not because the survivors have become 
 climate-proof. 
 
TROPICAL VIRULENCE AND VITAL RESISTANCE. 49 
 
 It is not here meant to be affirmed that acdimation 
 of no kind or degree takes place. There is some 
 effect, but it simply amounts to this. To the impres- 
 sions of malaria, where they have not taken effect upon a 
 man, his cutaneous and pulmonary surfaces become in 
 some degree blunted by habit ; but whert they have 
 produced disease, so far is acclimation from following 
 a recovery, that in nearly all cases the susceptibility 
 greatly increases. A man who has had jungle or 
 remittent fever will have relapses, and generally die, 
 if he has not change of climate ; and he is ever after- 
 wards more susceptible than previously. This is also 
 the case, though in a somewhat less degree, with cho- 
 lera and dysentery. Again, the diminution in India 
 in the quantity of the blood, and the impoverishment 
 of its quality, which take place, especially in those 
 who have been frequently ill, do certainly lessen the 
 tendency to acute inflammation, and to acute affec- 
 tions of head ; but this progress towards decay is a 
 poor sort of acclimation. Lastly, the skin, in general, 
 ceases, after a time, to drench itself so immoderately 
 with sweat upon the least exertion, or in a hot atmo- 
 sphere which is motionless, as at first, and is there- 
 fore less open to sudden impressions, especially to 
 chills from a redundant evaporation. If there is any 
 change meriting the name of acclimation it is this. 
 But the main difference between a newly landed and 
 a long resident corps is to be traced to the sifting out 
 from it of the anti-tropical constitutions, the utterly 
 reckless, and the desponding ; and to some growth of 
 prudence amongst the rest. 
 
 To return to our subject — the action of a tropical 
 
 E 
 
50 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 The different atmosphere upon the skin and system. If a man 
 the°°'^oSflict sat naked in a perfectly still atmosphere, it would 
 mo^lTric "■ cause him little inconvenience though it were 
 neousaction^ twenty or more degrees above the heat of his 
 blood, were it not for tlie accumulation of his own 
 animal heat. In such an atmosphere he would run 
 down with perspiration, which would effectually 
 prevent outer heat from being conducted inwards ; 
 but it would not at the same time carry off his 
 own internal heat quickly enough to prevent his 
 suffering, unless that air were put in motion. When 
 in motion, however, the quickly renewed visits of 
 dry air so accelerate the evaporation, that not only 
 the atmospheric heat, but also that portion of animal 
 heat which has to pass off by the skin, is absorbed 
 by it. When the current of the hot air is regulated 
 just to this point, either by letting it pass with mo- 
 derate force through a house or by agitating it 
 moderately by means of a punkah, we have this 
 endurable condition of skin as to heat, and with no 
 such excessive demands made upon it as to exhaust 
 its powers rapidly. This is about the general state 
 of the persons mentioned above who let the hot winds 
 have more or less free access to their houses, throw- 
 ing upon their own skins much rude evaporative 
 duty which had better have been done for them by 
 " tattees " temperately indulged in. Again, if the mo- 
 tion of the air amounts to a breeze, the absorption of 
 the heat is so rapid that the skin falls much below 
 the heat of the blood, causing the hot wind to feel 
 cold. We have the curious and frequent, though 
 commonly unobserved, phenomenon of the air with- 
 
TROPICAL VIRULENCE AND VITAL RESISTANCE. 51 
 
 out being at 110° or 120°, the blood within at 100°, 
 and a film of moist skin between them at 80° or 90°. 
 While this is going on, the man if hearty, will, for 
 the time, feel refreshed, if delicate, chilly. But it 
 will not last long. Such evaporation soon overtakes 
 the power of supply of any skin, especially of the 
 mummied skin of the old campaigner. The sen- 
 sible perspiration dries up, and the insensible is not 
 equal to the demand of the inner and outer heat. 
 The skin becomes dry and hot ; and its heat will rise 
 in proportion to the insufficiency of the perspiration. 
 
 We have here then three unsafe conditions, when Cutaneous 
 the skin is naked, or imperfectly covered, and the air ^ ^^°^'^^'^- 
 very hot. At one moment, in air absolutely still, the 
 internal heat accumulates ; at another, in a breeze, 
 there may be, and often is, such a chill as to cause 
 suppressed perspiration ; and, at another, there may 
 be direct febrile irritation from the drying up of the 
 skin and positive ingress of heat.* Again, in the 
 rainy season, when the atmosphere is from 10° to 20° 
 below the temperature of the blood, and between 
 showers in a semi-humid state, its conductive power 
 is so considerable that, aiding its remaining evapora- 
 tive, it becomes especially chilling. Hence the rainy 
 is the season of chills. It is the season also, as it 
 advances, for malaria, of which its humidity appears 
 the solvent and ready vehicle for its mephitic action 
 on an enfeebled skin or pulmonary membrane. 
 
 Now the skin will be subject to all these liabilities 
 in proportion as the atmosphere has imrestrained ac- 
 
 * In a work on the statics of the chest and animal heat, pnblished in 
 1843, and in previous writings, I have dwelt on these points more fully. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 cess to it ; but especially in proportion as the sun's 
 rays have access to the head and spine, with all their 
 evil effects already detailed, 
 A hot atmos- The indirect effect of a hot atmosphere in its 
 
 phere fails to . t • t pi • i 
 
 dissipate the neglecting to dissipate the rays oi the sun is worthy 
 
 sun's rays. r .• • 1, 1, -J 
 
 01 notice ; since some persons, who have experienced 
 little inconvenience from a tropical sun at sea or on 
 mountains, are apt when suffering from exposure on 
 continental plains to charge their distress to the 
 atmospheric heat directly, more than to the sun, 
 which used not to distress them under the former 
 circumstances, though it was at an equal altitude. 
 
 I have heard this fact argued in favor of accustom- 
 ing oneself to a tropical sun. It is true that the hot 
 air is in one sense chargeable with the whole assaults 
 of the continental heat, both its own heat and the 
 sun's ; but it is much in the same way as a sleeping 
 guard is chargeable with the inroad of an enemy. 
 A cool, and especially a cold atmosphere, is vigilant 
 to carry off by convection very fierce solar heat, 
 directly it is, by lighting upon the surface of any 
 opaque matter, changed from a radiant to an 
 operative state. Thus; although the highly trans- 
 parent atmosphere, often obtaining on lofty moun- 
 tain heights in the Tropics, transmits the sun's 
 rays with unimpeded force, it is so cold that it 
 catches them up, the instant they have alighted, 
 wherever it can circulate with freedom over the 
 Remarkable impinged surface. That struggle for dominion be- 
 rme^n.^*"'" t^^^n the empires of cold and heat— so majestically 
 described by Milton— the summer traveller in Swit- 
 zerland may see to some extent exemplified ; but 
 
TROPICAL VIRULENCE AND VITAL RESISTANCE, 53 
 
 more forcibly he, who, toiling over the passes of the 
 Himalayas, shall be careful to note how, of two 
 contiguous spots, both of them beaten upon by a sun 
 of high ascension, the one may be — not merely a 
 surface of melting snow or glacier, but a region of 
 active frost — the subject of a keen wind sweeping away 
 from it all solar heat it had in mockery transmitted 
 to it ! while the other spot, sheltered from that wind 
 by a rocky prominence, or a lofty cliff of ice itself, 
 and replete with those calorific transmissions, may be 
 luxuriant with vegetable and even with insect life ! 
 
 To descend to the plains. Could we brinff down i" » <^?i'^ 
 
 ^ '-' mountainwiDd 
 
 to blow over the soldier's head-dress that cold wind, ti^^ ordinaiy 
 
 head-dresB ol 
 
 even the little thiners he is now provided with, while the soldier 
 
 ° ■■■ _ _ might suince 
 
 acting as ray-traps to feed the keen air with heat, all if it were more 
 
 of which it would lick up at their very surface, would 
 
 suffice to protect the heads they covered, and would 
 
 cease to present tp the eye of science the pitiful and 
 
 painful aspect they do. But, unfortunately, on the 
 
 plain and solid surface of the earth, where the sun 
 
 has great power, the air will be hot, and will then 
 
 but feebly catch up from any surface its impinging 
 
 rays. 
 
 The GtROUND. — Omitting as foreign to the pre- 
 sent undertaking any inquiry into the action of 
 the earth and its productions as the sources of mal- 
 aria, we have to confine our view to the action of 
 the ground in radiating and reflecting heat upon the 
 body of the soldier. That this mundane heat proves 
 a material aggravation of the direct action of the sun 
 from above, every observant person in the Tropics 
 
54 BEITISH A.EMY IN INDIA. 
 
 must have perceived, when standing upon a glaring 
 soil ; especially if he contrasts its effects with that 
 of a green sward, or an elevated position, as an 
 upper balcony. 
 
 THE SOLDIEK'S DEESS. 
 
 HAViNa taken a glance at the mode of action of 
 the SiJN, the G-round, and the Atmosphere upon 
 the skin, and through it upon the brain and the 
 system in general, and having taken as full a view, 
 as was compatible with brevity, of the various pro- 
 perties of matter in relation to heat, which are 
 available for protecting the body from radiant and 
 reflected heat, and, to a certain extent, from atmos- 
 pheric, I purpose deferring a further consideration of 
 the latter until the body dress is treated of, and now 
 proceed at once to the point first in importance. 
 
 Character of The Head Dress. — A head-dress to be effective 
 
 an effective , , , ... -, rr 
 
 head-dress. should possess such resisting power as to ward on 
 entirely the whole rays of the sun throughout an 
 exposure to its a.ction of any duration ; and not only 
 from the skull, but also from the sides of the head, 
 face, and neck. It ought also to transmit so copious 
 a ventilation over the head as to encourage the per- 
 spiration to evaporate freely from it ; and yet with 
 a provision by which in cold weather the circulation 
 of the air could be, at once, reduced or cut off. At 
 the same time, such a head-dress should be no more 
 
THE SOLDIER'S DRESS. 55 
 
 cumbrous than was necessary to fulfil all those -con- 
 ditions completely. 
 
 It is here proper to remark that while all unneces- The question 
 sary weight and bulk should, as a matter of course, bu^*''^ consi- 
 be avoided, to object to that which was really neces- 
 sary for his complete protection, would be not a whit 
 more reasonable than to complain of the size alid 
 weight of the soldier's rifle and ammunition, and to 
 substitute for them an air-gun and its pellets, which 
 would better defend him against his human enemy 
 than does his present head-dress against his solar. 
 It may at once be affirmed with confidence that the 
 soldier will be abundantly repaid the trouble of 
 carrying every inch and ounce of helmet which is 
 necessary for a total repulsion of the sun and pre- 
 vention of its dire and complicated effects.* We may 
 in England, in the effeminacy of luxurious life, foster 
 sensitiveness to weight and consult levity in our hats 
 until " the grasshopper will be a burden " should it 
 settle upon them, but in the Tropics the weight of the 
 sun's rays is such that even the effeminate would be 
 thankful to bear any weight of defensive matter on 
 their heads in lieu of that crushing sense of weight 
 which knocks the strongest down at last. Well 
 would it be worth while to reduce, if needful, his 
 accoutrements by a pound or more, and add it if 
 required to his head-dress. In fact, the head readily The head 
 acquires the habit of carrying with ease ten or twenty ^°^. carrying 
 times that necessary weight. Not to mention our 
 maiden carriers at home of fruit and fish, and Welch 
 butter-women balancing their firkin to market on 
 
 * The subject is further considered in p. 95. 
 
56 BRITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 their heads, walking, knitting, and singing as they 
 go, we find in India itself the head to be the chief 
 seat of carriage ; kukars (bearers) only employing the 
 shoulders. The coolie trotting many miles with his five 
 to eight stone of grain, the milk and well girls with 
 their spherical foot or even eighteen inches of liquid, 
 and women and children with their " cowrie khapes " 
 of mud running eight hours a day and rearing the most 
 formidable of fortresses, prove that by choice the 
 head is selected for carrying loads, and for great 
 distances rivals the back and shoulders. "With these 
 facts before our minds we must perceive how wanting 
 in judgment it would be to object to any addition of 
 The bear- Weight uecessarv for an effective head-dress. Indeed 
 
 skin hat. . . . 
 
 that costly erection the bearskin hat, so formidable 
 to nursery children but otherwise so useless, is 
 even now, though much lightened, weightier than a 
 thoroughly protective helmet or shako need be, and 
 far more so from its being top-heavy. Owing to 
 the large surface it presents to the wind it subjects 
 the neck also to horizontal strains in all directions, 
 which are beyond measure more trying than a 
 steady vertical weight of much greater amount. 
 
 A variety of trials leads me to believe that a really 
 sun-proof head-dress may be produced weighing about 
 two pounds ; but were the weight as much again, if 
 properly poised, as explained hereafter, it would be 
 of small moment in comparison with any short- 
 coming in the protection. 
 
 Placing in order before our view the six available 
 properties of matter concerned in the movements of 
 heat, which we have already examined, we may en- 
 
THE SOLDIER'S DRESS. 57 
 
 deavour to enlist on our side for our present purpose 
 all but one of them — the subterranean absorption of heat. 
 
 While, on the one hand, we must on no account a rejection 
 
 ^ r -I --IP • ^ p of fashion and 
 
 aeiraua our principles oi one inch oi space or one proper eoo- 
 ounce of matter which is really necessary for their and weighT" 
 development — while we must, as we would acquit 
 ourselves of a solemn responsibility, crucify fashion 
 in a moment wherever we find it treacherously doing 
 the work of our enemies in betraying our soldiers to 
 the attacks of climate, it behoves us, on the other 
 hand, to husband our means so well, as to avoid all 
 redundance of bulk and weight, no fraction of space 
 or particle of matter employed being superfluous or 
 inoperative. "We shall find it impossible to jump to 
 our conclusion at once, — to arrive at so desirable a 
 result by a single construction. Not only do bulk 
 and weight, but durability, and facility of repair on 
 the spot, enter as important elements into the ques- 
 tion of practical utility. 
 
 Let it not be imagined any longer that this is the Protection 
 
 ,° ./ o of cotton cloth 
 
 trifling question it has been supposed. "We may but tempo- 
 no doubt command a comparatively considerable 
 amount of protection by seizing upon some one form 
 of matter having the familiar property of slow con- 
 duction, as cotton cloth, or " sola," and by a redu- 
 plication of it into a thick mass, as a turban or a hat of 
 pith some inches thick. But such protection is tempo- 
 rary only ; and unless we are careful to set that hat 
 out at night under a clear sky, that it may radiate 
 away a portion of the heat accumulated in its sub- 
 stance under the sun by day, it will begin to heat the 
 head even as soon as it is put on; and at best 
 
58 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 we cannot prevent substances, whicli are such ready 
 receivers of radiant heat as these, from becoming 
 gorged with it. 
 siow-oonduot- Moreover we must be careful how we place a mass 
 matter"^ next of slow-conducting and impervious matter next to the 
 jiiriour ' ™" head and pressing round its sides ; thereby, not only 
 shutting in perspiration, but also retarding the con- 
 duction of the animal heat outwards, as much as of 
 the solar inwards. In all solar hats in use, and also 
 in all ordinary military helmets, it is only when the 
 atmosphere has risen to above 100° (a state rare ex- 
 cept in Western India, and during the hot winds) 
 that the detention of the animal heat of the head by 
 such coverings ceases to be chargeable to their slow 
 conducting nature. 
 
 As already remarked, no single principle or pro- 
 perty of matter in relation to heat will alone give 
 that complete protection which we are bound to 
 strive after. 
 A thick roof Any One who would trifle with the difficulty 
 trated byThe ought, towards a hot wcather afternoon in India, to 
 ^ ^'^^^' be stationed on a ladder in a room having a masonry 
 roof, of even a foot and a half in thickness, with his 
 head not as near to it indeed a,s the soldier's to his 
 helmet, but at some inches from it. He will very 
 soon be thankful to descend from his elevation and 
 escape a radiance of heat which neither the massive 
 thickness nor the slow-conducting character of the 
 materials of the roof has prevented from penetrating 
 through it. The officer in a tent having double 
 walls and flies, of many plies of cloth each, who is 
 yet compelled to sit with a wetted turban on his 
 
HELMETS POE MOUNTED TROOPS. 59 
 
 head, will assuredly not trifle witli tlie difficulty of 
 our undertaking. Neither will the experimental 
 philosopher, who well knows that theory, indispens- 
 able as it is, can only guide us to general principles, 
 and that his sciences have not, as yet, so far ad- 
 vanced, as to admit of that mathematical exactness 
 which would enable us to decide without experiment 
 in what relative proportion to employ our several 
 principles, if indeed we should be able to select be- 
 forehand the best order for their successive operation. 
 
 HELMETS FOE MOUNTED TEOOPS. 
 
 Commencing with one form of head-dress for The defen- 
 
 , 1 , T • 1 r • • ■ 1 sive principles 
 
 mounted troops, and rangmg our defensive principles avaUabie in 
 
 pji 1' fv I 1 • 1'ij.i 1 the construc- 
 
 m one oi the diflerent orders m which they may be tion of head- 
 more or less effectively employed, we may place ^^^' 
 Reflection in the van ; next to it Retarded Conduction ; 
 then Slow Radiation, then Convection, then Reflection 
 again ; then Slow Conduction, then Slow Radiation 
 again ; then, to carry off the animal heat, &c.. Ven- 
 tilation and Exhalation ; and lastly, and occasionally, 
 artificial Evaporation. 
 
 Commencing with helmets of one type. Let Fig. 2 embodied in 
 represent a vertical section from front to back of a posed"^*^ ^"' 
 soldier's head-dress. The cross section from ear to 
 ear differs from the former only by the smaller cross 
 diameter of the head, and by the absence of the front 
 and back peak. 
 
60 
 
 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Fig. 3 shows the plan or base of the hat as seen 
 from below. The letters in both figures denote the 
 same parts. Deferring all details of the construction ; 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 the walls of the hat round the head, from a to c, will 
 be found an inch and a half thick, and to comprise 
 the following matter, space, and virtue. The out- 
 side shell, cc, of this hat is either a bright metal 
 shell of brass or German silver able to support itself, 
 or a strong fine canvas coated on the outside and 
 
HELMETS FOR MOUNTED TROOPS. 
 
 61 
 
 inside with bright tin ; or lastly, should a reflecting 
 exterior in a spheroidal helmet be considered, even 
 for cavalry, so objectionable as to overrule the 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 great advantages it oifers to its wearer — whom its 
 visibility in certain positions would not expose to 
 one-tenth the danger from the missiles of his human 
 enemies which its reflective power would avert from 
 his solar — should it be demanded that in this type of 
 helmets the surface shall not be reflective, we must 
 sacrifice the exterior metal and leave the canvas bare, 
 or coat it with a thin varnish of a slate colour. 
 Clinging, however, to a metallic exterior until forced 
 
62 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 The value of to renounce it, a surface of tin claims our preference ; 
 
 tin as an outer . i i p • • xi i j. 
 
 and inuer sur- masmucJi as, next to a gold suriace, it is tne least 
 given to tarnish. It is so brilliant, that, could it 
 retain its face, it alone would repel at once the larger 
 part of the impinging rays ; but though less affected 
 chemically by atmospheric agents than silver, the 
 surface of which falls so ready a prey to sulphur, 
 both this agent in the atmosphere and the oxygen 
 slightly damage its face ; while its softness causes it 
 to be so easily scratched that it soon loses its bril- 
 liancy. Nevertheless when tin, as an old tin teapot, 
 has lost, in common with the aged housewife who may 
 own it, the brilliant complexion of early freshness, 
 and can with her claim homage only for thriftiness, 
 it will be found to have still a surface very slow to 
 lose and therefore slow to receive heat by radiation. 
 It will economize her tea far better than if enclosed in 
 a cotton or leather surface. And many a poor fellow's 
 life would have been saved could he have inverted 
 over his shako any clean tin pot, however old, but 
 not blackened by smoke. 
 
 Outward re- This tin surface c c then will be found, even when 
 damaged, to throw off so large an amount of rays as 
 to render it an agent well worthy of employment. 
 It is fixed down upon the canvas casing by processes 
 which promise with proper appliances to acquire 
 much durability. 
 
 This canvas, while it carries the metallic surfaces 
 and forms a strong casing for the hat, is equal to 
 
 Retarded con- -. f , , ^• t -, 
 
 duetion in- a layer oi stout calico as a retarding conductor 
 of the heat that has penetrated the outer sur- 
 face, in its progress to the surface of tin-foil lining 
 
HELMETS FOR MOUNTED TBOOPS. 63 
 
 the inside of the canvas This inner metallic face, 
 c c, being protected from injury, will retain much of 
 its brilliancy, and will prove, as when retaining the 
 heat of a housewife's tea, an unwilling radiator of siow-radia- 
 heat to the surface, d d, opposite to it ; thus bring- 
 ing into action the principle of Slow Radiation. 
 Whatever objections may be entertained to exterior internal 
 
 , , • 1 X brightness free 
 
 suriace brilliancy, there can be none raised to our from every ob- 
 indulging ourselves, or rather the subjective brain 
 within, to a repetition of it in the cavernous walls of 
 the helmet wherever its virtues of prompt reflection 
 and stint radiation can be brought to act with effect. 
 Between the surfaces, c c and d J, is a space d d, &c., 
 half an inch wide, all round the hat, ojDen at bottom 
 to the atmosphere, and having a free vent at top 
 through the aperture p, and the openings around 
 the ventilating cover R. This space then is devised 
 both to give play to the virtue of the surfaces ccc 
 and ddd, and as a free way for air which can rush 
 up it without interruption, rising either by its buoy- 
 ancy when heated, pr by the pressure of the current inter-iaminar 
 
 . /. T 1 , 1 , 1 convection. 
 
 caught by the curtain n of the hat, and turned up- 
 wards. To the air flowing up the space d d, the un- 
 willingly radiating metallic surface, cc, imparts its 
 heat readily by conduction, which the air carries 
 away with it by convection. Which principle is here 
 brought into action. 
 
 But it would not do to suppose that no heat is 
 radiated inwards from the tin lining of the canvas. 
 To repel as much of such heat as possible we have a 
 bright tin surface, d d, on the inner side of the air 
 space D D. This surface brings the principle of Be- 
 
64 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Eeflection jkctiou a second time into play, and with power, 
 ^"^^^^ ** ■ owing to the brightness of its protected surface. It 
 is true that it operates so far disadvantageously com- 
 pared with the outermost reflecting surface c 0, that, 
 whereas the latter gets rid altogether of whatever 
 heat it has repelled by reflection, the heat being pro- 
 jected away into space or to distant objects, the inner 
 reflecting surface dd, on the contrary, has opposed 
 to it, at half an inch distance, a reflecting surface c c, 
 as bright as itself, which beats the rays back again. 
 While the rays are thus tossed forwards and back- 
 wards like shuttlecocks between battledores, they by 
 degrees obtain some entrance into the metallic sur- 
 faces ; but then, they become, as combined heat, readily 
 imparted to the current of air ascending between the 
 surfaces, which, as just explained, will take away 
 much of them by convection. 
 siow-conduc- T^^is third metallic surface, d d, overlies a body 
 f^ltsaS!" of soft wadding, M M, three-eighths of an inch 
 thick, which receives from it and transmits tardily 
 whatever heat has not been intercepted by the previous 
 agencies ; and thus brings into play in an eflScient 
 manner the principle of SLOW- Conduction. This prin- 
 ciple is not placed in the van, but is introduced as a 
 powerful reserve, to retard the progress of rays which 
 have broken in through all the previous barriers, and 
 are coming by dead pressure for conduction ; against 
 which such fibrous matter is effective, whereas it can 
 offer but poor resistance to the solar rays if it is so 
 placed as to receive the brunt of them direct, when 
 they come vibrating down through space as pro- 
 jectiles. It is of importance that we should keep 
 
HELMETS FOE MOUNTED TROOPS. 65 
 
 efore our view th.e fact already noted, that fibrous 
 matters of all kinds, both vegetable and animal, are 
 most ready recipients of radiated heat. Thus the Defect of cot- 
 
 •' ^ ton, leather, 
 
 leather of a shako and the cotton rag: above it, when *o- ^^ absorb- 
 
 ° mg heat. 
 
 a cover is used, or the flimsy pith named " sola," take 
 in the solar rays readily. The virtue of all these 
 porous matters rests solely in their slow-conducting 
 power ; and so valuable is this property that where 
 the exposure is of short duration, as for an hour or 
 so, they will, if thick, answer that purpose. But since 
 they absorb most of the rays of heat that fall upon 
 them, they become in time gorged with heat, which 
 their under surface then, not being metallic, radiates 
 to surfaces near to them, as the head, with great 
 facility. Hence fibrous matter, unless it be employed 
 in two or more layers, far apart from each other, and 
 each of them of such substance as to be thick, bulky, 
 and cumbrous indeed, can never give anything like 
 complete protection. While, if they touch the head, 
 or there be not much ventilation going on, they detain 
 animal heat as already explained. 
 
 Having placed our slow-conducting medium M M, 
 &c., in a favorable position, protected by successive 
 metallic shelters from all direct rays, and saved also 
 from much of their heat, which has penetrated, by the 
 brisk convection of it going on up the channel D d, 
 we shall yet do well to keep our view upon such heat 
 as does still pervade this slow-conducting case m m, 
 &c., after all our precautions. We shall do well to The action of 
 retard the propulsion of such heat from the otherwise repeated. 
 freely radiant inner surface of our slow-conducting 
 medium M M, by coating it also with tin-foil, and 
 
 F 
 
66 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 thus again employing the principle of Slow Radiation. 
 Of the small amount of heat this metallic face may 
 receive, it will project no appreciable amount to the 
 fabric A A, opposite to it, which is in contact with 
 the wearer's head. 
 A second in- Between the surface m m, and the woollen fabric 
 
 terior and Ten- . • -i 
 
 tiiating eiian- A A, IS a spacc E B, Similar to the exterior space d d, 
 in being open to the atmosphere below all round the 
 bottom of the hat, and in having a free ventilation 
 above ; but the air rising in this space has no com- 
 munication with the exterior and hotter current in 
 D D, until it falls into it near its exit at top by passing 
 out through four holes p f, in the slow-conducting 
 case M M, which casing is made thicker at the crown 
 where the sun's rays beat more severely than at the 
 sides. The value of a slow-conducting medium m m, 
 between the heated current rising in the channel d d, 
 and the comparatively cool current ascending in e e, 
 and ventilating the head, will now be apparent. 
 FaiDiio next It is to be uotcd that the fabric A A, which presses 
 
 the head. Its . . . . . 
 
 especial pro- against the head, is not impervious to moisture like 
 the substance composing all ordinary hats, shakos, or 
 helmets, which consequently heat the forehead and 
 detain the perspiration, but is of so porous a texture 
 as to permit the perspiration to be exhaled freely 
 through it into the fresh ascending current in E E. 
 So likewise the top of the head is freely ventilated 
 by the ascending current passing over it through the 
 broad aperture e e e, all round between the sides A A, 
 and the shifting crown b e. This ventilation permits 
 the head to throw off perspiration copiously, while 
 the wearer's hair, acting on the principle of the body 
 
HELMETS FOR MOUNTED TROOPS. 67 
 
 dress described hereafter, detains the sensible perspi- 
 ration sufficiently to prevent its being carried oS too 
 rapidly by a very dry air. Where a person is bald, 
 the inner crown, B B, which is moveable, may be inner cro\vu 
 drawn down if the drying is too rapid. This crown 
 being very porous will permit exhalations from the 
 head to pass freely through it, and be carried off in 
 the ventilating air, which can also permeate this 
 crown sufficiently. This casing a a, and crown B b, 
 ■while porous themselves and permitting a free exha- 
 lation, are sheltered by the inch and a half of gaseous 
 and solid matter (just described) of different kinds 
 and properties, and variously arranged ; some for 
 repelling and others for intercepting all intruding 
 heat, even to tripping up such of its last straggling 
 portions as reach and fall in the way of the inner 
 ventilating current E e. 
 . Furthermore, the case may arise in a very hot and Supply of 
 
 _•'_ _ "^ moisture for 
 
 arid atmosphere, when additional moisture would be evaporation. 
 desirable for tempering the heat by more evaporation 
 than the head can supply. Such moisture can be 
 readily introduced through a tube t, Fig. 8, fixed 
 through the ventilating top E, and the casing M, 
 and ordinarily closed by a cork, with or without a 
 feather or other military ornament connected to it. 
 "Water-bearers, " bheesties," accompanying an army, 
 might, as opportunities were offered, pour water into 
 soldiers' hats through these tubes with their " dolchees," 
 leathern mugs ; the water would pass to the top of the 
 inner crown b e, and soaking it would trickle down 
 the porous side a a. While the hat itself ought to be 
 proof against all solar heat, this additional evapora- 
 
68 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 tion would be valuable in absorbing atmospheric heat 
 when it was intense, so long as the supply of moisture 
 lasted. If five or ten gallons per hour could be 
 supplied for the purpose to every hundred men, it 
 would be worth while to overlay these inner crown 
 and walls with several folds of thick and porous 
 cotton cloth, that they might hold as much as a pint 
 at a time. The uncertainty of the supply and the 
 inconvenience of the detention (though the watering 
 might take place at each halt of the troops) offer 
 some obstacle to this provision. Nevertheless, it is 
 worthy of attention. 
 
 It is, however, only during about three months of 
 the year, and in the more arid parts of India, that the 
 temperature rises above blood heat. At other times, 
 provided the sun's rays can be completely prevented 
 from penetrating to the head, and there is a free flow 
 of air over it, and over such a porous and evaporating 
 fabric as surrounds the brows in this hat, the natural 
 perspiration, husbanded in this fabric and in the hair 
 of the head, would in general suffice to carry off the 
 animal heat readily enough. 
 Shifting in. The inner crown b b is suspended by a cord k, 
 with a sliding button p, by drawing which and 
 pulling on the tape 6 6, the crown is brought down 
 into the dotted position G G, or to any intermediate 
 position. When this crown is raised, the air of 
 ventilation flows both above and below it, — above, 
 to carry off any heat that has stolen downwards 
 through all the intercepting media exterior to it, and 
 below it to ventilate the head. 
 
 When the crown B B is drawn down, it rests upon 
 
 ner crown, 
 
tance. 
 
 HELMETS FOR MOUNTED TROOPS. 69 
 
 the upper edge of the inner walls, or fabric a a. 
 The current of air is then entirely cut off from the 
 head of the wearer, and his helmet becomes as warm 
 a cover in cold weather, as it is cool in hot. At the 
 same time the head is by no means suffocated, even 
 when the crown is quite down. The crown being 
 itself composed of like porous fabric with the sides, 
 A A, would permit an exhalation to take place through 
 it, abundant for cold weather. 
 
 Such a provision of a shiftine; crown is important it^ impor- 
 on more than one account. It appears to me de- 
 sirable that the same helmet should be worn at all 
 seasons, that the head may be habituated to one size 
 and weight of helmet. Every change is irksome at 
 first, and campaigning in hot weather is at best so 
 trying, that every irksome change that can be 
 avoided at that time should be. On the other hand, 
 use is second nature. The mere habit of wearing 
 any one form of head-dress constantly would render 
 it, provided it did but fit the head well, more accept- 
 able to the feelings than any other. Again, even 
 in the cold weather in India, men, suffering from 
 chronic disease of the liver, are frequently distressed 
 and injured by the mid-day sun, and require more 
 protection for the head than, may appear necessary 
 to the vigorous. In the valleys in the more hilly 
 parts of India, as in Bundelkund, there is often in the 
 colder months a difference of temperature of 40 degrees 
 between sunrise and two o'clock in the same day, at 
 which hour the sun by contrast is oppressive to most 
 men as early in the year as February, and as late as 
 November. With this helmet the soldier might com- 
 
70 
 
 BEITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 mence his march of a raw morning, with the crown 
 drawn snugly down, and his head comfortably warm. 
 But when the day grew oppressive, especially if he 
 were preparing to engage in the heat of combat, he 
 would find great relief from simply raising up the 
 crown, more or less, to admit ventilation. 
 
 Description . . 
 
 of the fabrica- We havc uow to cousider the materials and fabri- 
 
 tion and mate- . r- i ■ i i 
 
 rials of this cation of this helmet. 
 
 In one form, the whole fabric is supported by a 
 
 cage or frame. Fig. 4, 
 of steel wire, consisting 
 of six vertical arches, 
 crossing over the sum- 
 mit at two centres a x, 
 and forming twelve 
 equidistant ribs v v, &c. 
 all round. A spiral 
 steel wire, winding 
 
 Fig. 4. 
 
 round them to the top, forms with them an elastic 
 cage of steel, which may be sword-proof, and at 
 the same time light. 
 
 The lower ends of the ribs are bent at a right 
 angle u u, converging towards the centre of the 
 helmet, and at a distance of an inch and a half at 
 another right angle y y, upwards ; their extremities 
 zz being firmly secured each to the rib of which it 
 is a continuance. Thus are formed a number of 
 brackets, uy, pointing inwards. 
 
 In this simple manner a strong framework is 
 formed, over the exterior of which the strong canvas 
 cover c c, Fig. 3, faced on one or both sides with 
 tin-foil, is stretched. The pliancy of this cloth 
 
HELMETS FOE MOUNTED TEOOPS. 71 
 
 covering, and the elasticity of the steel frame carry- 
 ing it, would render it proof against injury from 
 ordinary accidents, as falls or pressure ; while any 
 abrasions of the surface by violence may be easily 
 repaired by an instructed person. 
 
 The inner casing m m, Pigs. 2 and 3, designed to 
 act as a slow-conducting medium, is formed of com- 
 pressed cotton wadding, or the pith " sola," lined on 
 both sides with tin-foil, for the reasons already de- 
 tailed. 
 
 The casing or sides a a, Figs. 2, 3, and 8, next the Provisionfor 
 
 head, is formed of fine thick flannel, or other porous size of the hel- 
 met, 
 woollen cloth, and is firmly attached to the twelve 
 
 upright wires, y z, of the basket, Fig. 4, or in Figs. 2 
 and 3 to the twelve wires 1 1 1, &c. A worsted band 
 a a, about two inches wide, surrounds the fabric A a, be- 
 tween it and the wires 1 1 1. This encircling band a a 
 is grasped across its breadth, at o, Fig. 3, by a wire 
 staple 0, with an eye at top, by twisting which with 
 the thumb and finger the band is wound upon it, and 
 the sides a a are compressed from an oval to a poly- 
 gonal form. By this arrangement the size of helmet 
 round the head is variable instantaneously, and to a 
 considerable extent. A wire pin s, sliding by eyes 
 on the oval wire at the base of the frame 1 1 1, &c., is 
 passed into the eye of the pin, o, to keep it from un- 
 twisting. 
 
 A fold of open canvas or fine net, J J, Figs. 2 and 3, ^JJ« j^n 
 is attached to the upper edge of the cloth a a all «^ejop of the 
 round, and to all the wires 1 1 1, and its loose fold is 
 drawn with a tape into a cap J J, resting on the 
 head of the wearer. This causes the whole weight 
 
72 BEITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 of the helmet to rest upon the head, instead of being 
 in any degree supported, as in common hats, by tight 
 lateral pressure against the sides of the head ; than 
 which nothing can be more disadvantageous. A 
 weight which habit would render almost imper- 
 ceptible, if it were distributed equally upon the 
 head, becomes insupportable if it has to be sus- 
 pended by tight pressure against the sides of the 
 head. 
 Important As already observed, the encircling wall or cloth 
 
 11S6S 01 tllG 
 
 provision for A A, as scen in the base view Fig. 3, does not 
 
 varying the 
 
 size or tight- form an oval, but a polygon, stretched loosely from 
 
 ness of the r ./ o ' ^ J 
 
 iiat. bracket to bracket, and brought into the angular form 
 
 by tightening a band a a, surrounding the fabric. 
 When the band is loosened, the cloth wall A A can 
 be stretched into a more oval form, and its calibre 
 much increased. By this provision, not only may 
 the same size of helmet be made to fit a considerable 
 range of heads ; but to each man the fitting will be 
 more comfortable than the ordinary hat of fixed 
 dimensions. In the latter case a trifling difference 
 of size makes all the diff"erence between insecure 
 looseness and painful tightness. Also one size of 
 hat does not suit a man well at all times. A hat, as 
 tight as can ordinarily be worn with comfort, feels 
 insecure in a high wind, and has to be pushed far- 
 ther down on the head ; whereas a helmet in India 
 ought not to be so shallowly worn as to admit of this. 
 Moreover a hat pleasantly easy for ordinary weather, 
 urges the wearer in a high wind to keep his ocapito- 
 frontalis and temporal muscles in a constant state of 
 contraction, in order to swell out the integuments of 
 
HELMETS FOR MOUNTED TROOPS. 73 
 
 the head against the hat and keep it from being blown 
 ont of position if he has a chin-strap, or off altogether 
 if he has none. This continued contraction of the 
 muscles of the head is one chief source of weariness 
 in marching long in a high wind, and a cause often 
 of head-ache. Whereas in this helmet the soldier 
 can, without removing it even, tighten or loosen 
 the enclosing band at pleasure, and thus make 
 any difference he pleases in the degree of pressure 
 round the head ; tightening it in a strong wind or 
 when he is preparing for combat. Again ; the pres- 
 sure against the head, being that of many flat facets 
 instead of a rigid oval, will have a pleasant elasticity 
 from the springiness of each face. 
 
 The front peak h is in this helmet, as shown in 
 Fig. 3, as wide at its base h h as the whole diameter 
 of the sides, and projects so well forwards that all the 
 front and sides of the face will be guarded from the 
 sun. The hinder peak L may descend as far down 
 behind the neck as the motion of the head in looking 
 upwards will permit ; but for the protection of the 
 neck, reliance must chiefly be placed in an effective 
 back curtain isr n". 
 
 The helmet, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, is not con- J/y™^r?i^ 
 structed upon the wire basket. Fig. 4, but, with a o^Fi^'aTud 
 view to lightness in the following manner. The ^ iieim«ts- 
 lines iiii, Fig. 3, show the crossings at top of a 
 strong wire frame or basket, the sides of which are 
 twelve upright wires 1 1, 1 1, Figs. 2 and 3, terminat- 
 ing below in eyes which a stout oval wire, t t, passes 
 through, and is firmly secured to all round. 
 
 The outer ceasing c c, of canvas lined with tin, is 
 
74 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 not rigidly fixed to this wire frame, but is simply 
 stiffened out (as fashion distends female skirts, but 
 with more of reason and stiffness) by spiral coils of 
 fine steel wire crossing each other within it from top 
 to bottom. This case c c, then, is simply placed over 
 the stout wire frame 1 1, 1 1, after the inner casing m m 
 has been built into it, and is firmly secured to the frame 
 round the upper line 1 1, Fig. 2. It is then maintained 
 concentric with the enclosed frame by means of stays 
 of cord tttt, stretching from it to the upright wires 
 II of the inner frame. These stays pass through the 
 inner case M M at different levels all round, and are 
 firmly secured to it in their passage, so as to keep it 
 suspended in its midway position between the outer 
 case c c and the frame 1 1. 
 
 By this construction, rigidity is only needed in the 
 small inner frame or basket of wire I i i i, which 
 forms the basis on which the whole rests. The 
 casings c c and M M, while stiff enough to maintain 
 their position and scarcely to vibrate perceptibly in a 
 strong wind, are pliant and yielding to pressure or 
 blows. To give a rigid support to so large a case as 
 c c, requires an addition of more than half a pound 
 of wire, and even then the durability would probably 
 be less than in a construction elastic and yielding. 
 At the same time such a helmet, while its main 
 object is protection from the sun, would afford no 
 Protection small protection from sword-cuts. To cut through 
 
 againat sword ^ _ ...... „ . 
 
 cuts. the crossings iiit, Fig. 4, of stout steel wires at the 
 
 crown, and then through the several media down to 
 the head of the wearer, would require no ordinary 
 stroke of the arm and temper in the blade. Of 
 
HELMETS FOE MOUNTED TBOOPS. 75 
 
 oblique cuts the force would probably be exhausted, 
 on the tough yielding casings and the stout upright 
 wires i i i i, within them, around the head, before 
 the latter was seriously cut or contused. It has to Cuts on the 
 be borne in mind that it is not the wound alone, but pec^arHy'?"'' 
 the concussion also which the brain receives from a 
 blow coming with unbroken force, which renders cuts 
 on the head so dangerous. No contemptible advan- 
 tage of the size necessary for a perfect solar helmet 
 would be its interposing matter like an advanced 
 guard or a buffer, to receive the first shock of blows 
 at some distance from the skull. 
 
 The trial helmets which have been made of this Lateral ven- 
 tilators in 
 and the next following kind have, in addition to the some hats. 
 
 parts above described as essential to them, four venti- 
 lating ports, dotted outlines v v. Fig. 8, each screened 
 with a projecting hood, which are the mouths of 
 tubes fixed midway up the sides of the helmet, and 
 crossing from the outer "casing c c, into the chamber 
 over the head, as at G G. These ports allow air to 
 be blown through the helmet over the head, and 
 materially increase the ventilation. 
 
 Helmets. 
 
 Metal Plate Helmets. — Holding still to the ^ Metal Plate 
 same general form and operative parts, trial helmets 
 having a sheet-brass surface have been made in lieu 
 of one of metal-faced cloth on a wire frame, as 
 Figs. 2 and 4. The brass being bright on the outside, 
 and tinned within, affords at once the two operative 
 properties of reflection outwards and slow radiation 
 inwards, and is itself a stiff case into which the softer 
 inner casings, &c., can be conveniently fixed. The 
 
76 BEITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 only objection to this construction has been the diffi- 
 culty of combining together adequate size, rigidity, 
 and lightness. Through the superior skill and 
 appliances of a London House largely engaged in 
 the brass manufactures, Messrs. Tylor and Sons, of 
 Warwick Lane, these requirements have been realized 
 to an extent which was not anticipated, and to the 
 zealous interest they have taken in the matter we 
 may be indebted for the utmost combination of light- 
 ness and strength in the outer shell for such helmets 
 which hardened metal admits of. Trial will deter- 
 mine the comparative advantages of this metal 
 plate, and the steel frame helmet covered with the 
 metal-faced cloth, or with cloth lined within only with 
 metal. By adding about three-quarters of a pound 
 to the weight, the metal plate helmet can be given a 
 rigidity proof against any but severe blows, and with 
 the interior provisions quite proof against a sword- 
 cut. Since the tendency of brass to become tarnished 
 might involve more frequent cleaning than was con- 
 venient to a marching army, white metal may be 
 substituted for it, which possesses even greater 
 hardness and powers of resistance, and is much 
 less affected by the atmosphere and other chemical 
 agencies causing tarnish. 
 
 The brass shell made by Messrs. Tylor for a helmet 
 of the patterns Figs. 2 and .3, has its interior con- 
 struction somewhat varied from that in the figures. 
 The intermediate casing m m, of slow-conducting 
 matter, lies in contact with the outer brass shell as a 
 lining to it. In this, the current of convection in the 
 passage r> d, and the inner reflecting surface d d, are 
 
HELMETS FOR MOUNTED TROOPS. 77 
 
 omitted. Trial would determiue with what loss of 
 effect. Were the exterior surface not bright, such 
 a sacrifice of principles within the walls would be 
 indeed an error. 
 
 The Double Shed Helmet. — This helmet is Double shed 
 
 Helmet. 
 
 also of metal plate, and acts upon the same general 
 principles with the former, but has not quite so many 
 protective provisions. Yet from the great freedom 
 with which the air circulates amongst its parts, it 
 may prove in no way inferior to the former kinds 
 with concentric layers and ventilating currents. 
 The objection taken to a bright metallic surface that tg^op"^^n^I 
 it renders the wearer more visible to an enemy than <=ated. 
 any other has been already noticed in the commence- 
 ment of the work. To what is stated there and in the 
 sequel, it may be added, first, that, admitting the 
 validity of the objection, it is a question whether a 
 loss of life or of military results could arise from this 
 cause, amounting to a tithe of the loss which might 
 result from sacrificing so valuable a principle at the 
 surface as Reflection; and secondly, that even if we itsviaibiiity 
 
 •^ . . . obviated. 
 
 retain the conoidal or spheroidal form we may, as will 
 be more fully explained, convert this very property 
 of reflection into a means of obscuration, rendering a 
 helmet, in proportion as it is most bright, least visible. 
 This may be effected by breaking up the curved sur- 
 faces into a multitude of steps, presenting only ver- 
 tical and horizontal planes, which cannot but reflect 
 all solar rays up to the heavens or downwards to the 
 ground, excepting those at the moment of sunset, or 
 sunrise. 
 
78 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA, 
 
 Conatraction Pig-. 5 is a Vertical section of this helmet from front 
 
 of the Double ° 
 
 Shed Helmet, to back. 
 
 Pig. 6 is a base view, or the aspect of the helmet 
 when inverted. In both figures the letters corre- 
 spond with the same parts. 
 
 This helmet consists essentially of the following 
 members. 
 
 1st. — The upright sides A a, forming an upright 
 oval, as in ordinary beaver hats. 
 
 2nd. — The inner shifting crown B B. 
 
 3rd. — The exterior crown or upper shed c c, 
 united to the sides all round their summit at D D, 
 and projecting as a shed E E, beyond them. 
 
 4th. — The Lower Shell or Shed F f, encircling 
 the sides a little above their mid- way at G G, and 
 sweeping down to form a shed exterior to them. In 
 front this shed projects forwards to form a peak H, 
 and behind downwards to form, with a curtain as in 
 Fig. 3, a shield for the neck, L. 
 
 It will be seen at once that the roof c c, and the 
 
 shed p F, are the parts which . receive the brunt of 
 
 Its surface the sun's rays. They are of sheet metal, more or 
 
 reflection and . 
 
 slow radiation less bright both on the outer and inner surfaces — on 
 
 inwards. . 
 
 their outer to give action, as in the helmets just 
 described, to the effective principle of reflection ; and 
 on their inner to bring into play slow-radiation. 
 Important Commencing with the inner upright casing A A , 
 D G, next the head ; the lower portion of it is of soft 
 porous cloth formed into a twelve-sided prism A a, 
 Fig. 6, by attachment to the wire brackets i i i, 
 &c., which support them. Enclosed by a worsted 
 band, contractible by a' draw tie, s, or still better. 
 
Missing Page 
 
HELMETS FOR MOUNTED TEOOPS. 79 
 
 as in Fig. 3, by a twisting pin o, the sides a a 
 can be tightened round the head or loosened at 
 will ; the whole weight resting on the crown of the 
 head by means of the drawn cap J J, of open canvas, 
 while its centre of gravity being lower down takes 
 off the sense of weight. The helmet may then be 
 ordinarily worn quite loose. The portion of the 
 sides or walls which surround the head, consisting of 
 a porous absorbent fabric, permits a free exhalation 
 of perspiration through it into the air circulating in 
 the space n n", within the outer shed. 
 
 The upper half, d g, of this casing, is not made of 
 cloth, but of thin sheet metal, shaped into a cylindrical 
 oval, and abounding all round with free ventilating 
 fissures e e, opening downwards, the metal above 
 each fissure being stamped out into little sloping 
 semicircular hoods, preventing any ingress of rays 
 projected from the under surface of the outer shell 
 downwards or sideways. Between the lower edge E e 
 of the roof c c, and the upper edge of the shed p f, 
 will be observed a wide opening all round leading 
 to the numerous ventilators e e e in the casing d g, 
 and giving an iminterrupted passage to every current 
 of air. 
 
 Within the outer shell c c, and concentric to it, is 
 a fixed crown M M, leaving between them a space, 
 D D, of about half an inch, into which air enters 
 through twelve holes all round, being the uppermost 
 of the tiers of holes e e ; such air constantly rising 
 passes out above through the free ventilating opening 
 p, under the top plate r. 
 
 This crown, M M, consists of a thick body of wad- 
 
80 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 The fixed dine:, having: botli its convex and concave surfaces 
 
 and mOTeable o' o • • v 
 
 crowns. coated with the thinnest foil of tin. Concentric with 
 
 this fixed crown m m, at a distance within it of half 
 or three quarters of an inch, is a moveable crown 
 B B, composed of one or two layers of thick flannel or 
 other porous woollen cloth. It is suspended by a cord 
 and sliding button p ; by easing which, and pulling 
 on the cross tapes b b, it may in a moment be drawn 
 down near to, or into the position of, the dotted line 
 G K G ; so as to lessen or to cut off the copious " venti- 
 lation " (vide figure) which ordinarily flows across 
 through the two lowermost tiers, e e, of twenty-four 
 holes. The crown, when quite down, fits upon the 
 walls A A, round their summit G G. At the same 
 time the porosity of the crown and sides enclosing 
 the head (while they keep the head snug in cold or 
 damp weather) will permit a free exhalation of the 
 perspiration to take place. 
 Proviaionfor This crown, in hot weather, and in active exertion 
 
 copious venti- 
 lation, in cooler, should be suspended high, as in the figure, 
 
 that copious ventilation may go on below it, through 
 
 the two lowermost tiers of holes e e. The copious 
 
 ventilation going on between this crown and the 
 
 wearer's head will not only favor a free exhalation of 
 
 perspiration from the head, but when the air is at all 
 
 cooler than the head will conduct off animal heat 
 
 from it. When the wearer is bald, and the wind 
 
 very hot, either a flannel cap should be worn or the 
 
 crown be drawn down, upon the principle set forth 
 
 under the following subject of Body Dress. As has 
 
 been fully set forth under the head of Ventilation, 
 
 it is scarcely possible to exaggerate the importance of 
 
HELMETS FOR MODNTBD TROOPS. 81 
 
 giving to the head the power to exhale perspiration Thia helmet 
 freely, or the danger on the other hand of shutting flSntwice." 
 the head up in an air-tight helmet under a powerful 
 sun ; and the ventilation must not be the sham ven- 
 tilation of ventilating hats, so called, but large and 
 free. The functions of all the surfaces, spaces, and 
 variety of materials in this helmet are set forth 
 in writing in the figures opposite to each part. We 
 have at top, " Reflection," first from the convex exterior 
 of the shell o c, and secondly from that of the fixed 
 crown M M. Again we have ^^slow-Radiation" from siow-Eadia- 
 
 ,1 ..„ „ />inn tion iTwice ope- 
 
 tne concave interior laces, first of the shell, and rating ; also 
 secondly of the fixed crown. We have Convection, 
 first between the outer shell and the fixed crown, 
 and secondly between this and the moveable crown 
 B B. In the region of B E, all round, where the 
 shell c c shelters the hoods o o o oi the ventilating 
 holes e e e, &c., we have the reflection as before of the 
 exterior of the shell, and again from the convex of 
 each little hood o. Also the slovj- Radiation, maintained 
 by the inner face of the shell at e, is repeated at the 
 inner concave of all the little hoods o o o. Proceed- 
 ing lower, we have the shed f f reflecting heat freely 
 from its exterior, and radiating it tardily inwards from 
 its under surface ; while we have in the large space 
 N N, Convection freely maintained, not indeed by the 
 continuous ascent of the heated current, but through 
 its constant displacement by every movement of the 
 wearer or of the atmosphere. This current might 
 be allowed to pass out at the top of the gorge through 
 numerous perforations, but then it would flow into 
 the ventilating current e e, and might liring into it 
 
 G 
 
82 BRITISH AKMY IN INDIA. 
 
 lieat swept from the interior of the shed. Moreover 
 such a provision is quite unnecessary. 
 siow-Couduo- Lastly, we have the principle of " sloiv- Conduction," 
 rates in the introduced in the action of the body of wadding, or 
 " sola," forming the substance of the fixed crown 
 M M, where it will be of good service in retarding the 
 progress of any heat coming down from above, which 
 may have escaped all previous interception, and 
 it cannot operate adversely by confining the animal 
 heat. It might be of advantage to give the shed F p, 
 to the extremity of its peaks H and l, a lining of such 
 matter, which should be faced inwardly with tin-foil 
 to perform the retarding duty of the present tinned 
 under surface of the shed and peaks, which would be 
 covered up by it. 
 
 This helmet, like the others, Fig. 2 and 8, is fitted 
 with a back curtain to protect the neck, and in part 
 the shoulders, from reflected rays. It is made in three 
 rows of flounces, very full and connected to each 
 other at points only, by which arrangement the air 
 can flow freely through the curtain while rays are 
 kept off. The metal double-shed helmet, which has 
 now been fully described, would probably be found as 
 efficient as any that could be proposed. One that 
 has been finished weighs only 2 lbs. 4 oz. with all its 
 fittings. The metal work by Messrs. Tylor and Sons, 
 though it has a large extent of surface, weighs under 
 If lb. Other specimens have been made of stouter 
 brass and proportionably heavier, but yet of no really 
 objectionable weight. 
 
HELMETS FOR INFANTRY. 
 
 83 
 
 HELMETS FOE INFANTEY. 
 
 The proximity of foot soldiers to each other presents spheroidal 
 a serious obstacle to the combination of a bright zii!i™!^but'^cy- 
 reflecting exterior with an elliptical or spheroidal conu-aiy. ""^ 
 form of helmet. Owing to the infinity of tangent 
 planes presented by such curved surfaces, whatever 
 may be the position of the sun, some rays of light 
 falling upon them are sure to be reflected into the 
 eyes of neighbouring soldiers. Into the same eye, as 
 shown below. Fig. 7, rays will be projected from 
 
 the helmet, whether the sun is at c, or at h. Though 
 each reflecting plane of such a surface is infinitely 
 small — a mere point — and though, proceeding from a 
 convex surface, the rays from expansion are much 
 diluted, their brilliancy, even from somewhat dull 
 metal, might be trying to the sight of a comrade close 
 at hand. Whereas, let a bright helmet be given the 
 
 G 2 
 
84 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 simple form, Fig. 7 a, of an ordinary fashionable hat 
 or inverted saucepan, and let the sun be at h, d, or 
 anywhere, excepting near the horizon when shining 
 feebly at the moment of its rising or setting. All 
 rays from it falling upon the flat top of the helmet 
 are sure to be reflected more or less skyward, as in 
 the direction of the arrow e, while all rays falling 
 upon the vertical sides are equally certain of being 
 given a groundward direction, g, below the eye of a 
 man even within two feet of the wearer, excepting 
 when the latter happened to be much the taller of the 
 two, and the sun getting low. 
 
 To provide then against the contingency of reflec- 
 tion dazzling to foot soldiers, we must in their 
 helmets either sacrifice shape for the sake of surface- 
 reflection, or surface-reflection for the sake of shape. 
 Trial helmets of both kinds have been made. 
 Shako pjp, g exhibits an instance of the former. It is a 
 
 or saucepan- & 
 
 shaped hat: vertical scction of a saucepan-shaped helmet or shako, 
 
 Its virtues. '- '- ' 
 
 having no other pretension to beauty of form than 
 what it can claim upon Aristotle's rule ; but accord- 
 ing to that standard its pretensions for admiration 
 are high. The soldier owning it, while carrying off 
 the field some poor comrade, snorting with apoplexy, 
 his crown half covered with a foraging cap of a 
 measure taken in some nursery, or closely fitted 
 with a shako helped out with calico, would assuredly 
 contemplate with admiration his own redoubtable 
 protector, though homely in form. And where 
 is the fastidious consultor of shapes who with such 
 a sight before him would not do the same ? As 
 above shown in Pig. 7 a, all rays reflected from 
 
HELMETS FOE INFANTRY. 85 
 
 its horizontal top, even the most oblique, will be 
 thrown far above the eyes of neighbours, while 
 rays reflected from its vertical sides will be thrown 
 altogether below them, excepting near sunset, 'v^hen 
 they are feeble. Such a helmet, so far from being 
 glaring, would be least visible in proportion as it 
 was most brie-ht. The windows of a house, if there , illustrated 
 
 o 'by reflection 
 
 be no white blinds behind them, are in the day-time from windows, 
 the darkest parts of its surface when viewed from 
 without, owing to their being vertical ; but at sunrise 
 or sunset, to a person at a somewhat lower level, they 
 appear on fire, so brilliantly does the glass reflect the 
 nearly horizontal rays into the eyes of a person below 
 the points of reflection. During the day, while the 
 glass is to the sight darker than the neighbouiing 
 brick wall, it is reflecting rays downwards upon the 
 ground so powerfully, that in the summer the grass 
 of a plot near low windows or glass doors is often- 
 times burnt up, while the rest of it may be verdant. 
 Were bright metal substituted for the glass, this effect 
 would be more remarkable, for in the case of glass 
 the greater part of the rays penetrate it and enter 
 the room. 
 
 This unpretending hat or shako, with its flat top 
 and vertical walls, contains all the same operative 
 parts with the metal helmet of the first construction. 
 Figs. 2 and 3, viz. : — 
 
 1st. — A metal-faced canvas or metallic shell c c. Operative 
 reflecting heat from its outer, and unwillingly radiating hat. 
 it from its inner surface c c. 
 
 2nd. — A free passage d d, all romid, and at top, 
 for the ascending current of convection. 
 
86 
 
 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 3rd.^ — A metallic surface d d, coating the casing 
 M M, round tte sides and at the top, facing outwards 
 to act as a second reflector. 
 
 4th. — A thick inner casing M M, of wadding or 
 " sola," as a slow conductor. 
 
 5th. — A metallic surface m m, lining M M, facing 
 inwards as a second tard,y radiator. 
 
 6th. — A free ventilating space all round, E E, com- 
 municating with the head under the crown B B, and 
 with the space above it, and also with the four lateral 
 ventilating ports v v, where these are introduced. 
 
 Ith. — A porous casing of cloth A A, encircling the 
 head and absorbing and exhaling the perspiration 
 
HELMETS FOR INFANTRY. H7 
 
 freely into the current of air ascending in the ven- 
 tilating space E E. 
 
 8th. — A shifting crown B b, also of porous woollen 
 cloth, which when raised permits a current of venti- 
 lation to pass under it as well as over it, and when 
 drawn down in cold weather still transmits through 
 its pores the exhalant perspiration. 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 This helmet is so similar in its construction to the 
 spheroidal one, Pig. 2, that the same base view, 
 Fig. 3, will suffice for both of them. They are both 
 built upon a wire frame, 1 1 1 1, iiii, which in Fig. 8 
 only differs from the frame in Fig. 2 in being a flat- 
 topped cylinder. Hence the top cover, r r, extends 
 
88 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 across it, and the ventilating currents make their 
 exit at the fissure r r r, all round it. The outlet, 
 p p, of the passage, d d, is also an annular opening, 
 and not a central one as in Fig. 2. 
 
 The structure of the outer casing c C of this 
 helmet is also peculiar. It consists of a strong open- 
 wove canvas, such as forms the basis of worsted 
 work, overlaid without with sheet tin. The sheet tin 
 employed is that peculiar manufacture known by the 
 name " taqqars ;" which though used for humble pur- 
 
 Coatedwith . . . 
 
 the tMnnest poses is Certainly a beautiful manufacture. Though 
 
 sheet-tin. '^ ... . . . . 
 
 the body of it is iron, with a rich coating of tin 
 on both sides, it weighs only 2\ ounces per 
 square foot, and may even be obtained thinner. 
 When supported on the canvas it forms a pliant but 
 very tough coat, abundantly reflective on its outer 
 surface ; while the open meshes of the canvas under 
 it leaves its inner surface sufficiently denuded for it 
 to operate as a tardy radiator. While the top and 
 upright sides can reflect no solar rays in a trouble- 
 some direction, it may be necessary to paint the small 
 inclined surface from /• to c of some dark colour, as 
 slate. For this reason, and to shelter the four holes 
 p p, the inclined part is wadded within, at w w, 
 which may compensate for the loss of exterior 
 reflection there. 
 
 As in the spheroidal helmet, Fig. 2, the casings, 
 c c and m m, are also kept in a distended state by 
 spiral coils of fine steel wire within the canvas of c c, 
 and they are kept concentric with the inner frame 
 by similar cords t t t t. 
 
 The front peak h, and back L, are simply folds of 
 
HELMETS FOR INFANTRY. 89 
 
 canvas lined witli metal on their upper surface, and 
 kept distended by an encircling steel wire, but pliant 
 in all directions, yet always resilient into tbe right 
 position. 
 
 Of the effectiveness of this hat or helmet there can Effective pro- 
 
 1T11T Ti -1 IT- pertiea of this 
 
 be little doubt. Its shape, with none but horizontal tat. 
 and vertical planes which the sun could reach (for 
 the hat would shade the peaks from the sun when 
 in a troublesome direction), would command all 
 the advantages of external reflection without any 
 dazzling effect. At a little distance the helmet 
 would be scarcely more visible than if covered with 
 dark cloth. The very fact that rays from a bright 
 metal surface are so trying when thrown on the 
 face, proves the value of the principle of Reflection 
 for repelling a large amount of heat ; for, in the sun- 
 beam, rays of heat accompany and are reflected with 
 those of light, and observe the same laws so far as 
 our present matters are concerned. If rays coming 
 from one only out of ten thousand simultaneously 
 reflecting points on the hemisphere of a helmet 
 facing the sun, are so dazzling, what must be the 
 amount of heat the head within that helmet is being 
 protected from by this vigilant principle of Reflec- 
 tion ? A grey cloth cap looks cool to a neighbour's 
 eye, whose estimate is instinctively taken from his 
 own conA^enience. It is cool, non-reflective, in the 
 direction of his eye, and in ten thousand other 
 direciions, because it is passively admitting nearly 
 all the rays, and conveying them sooner or later, 
 according to the thickness of its texture, to the 
 martyred head within. The cylindrical bright helmet 
 
90 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 would look cool, filso, having a shady aspect from 
 the rays not visiting the eyes. But it would not 
 only look cool to the beholder, but be cool also to 
 the wearer. 
 The troops A fair estimate of the casualties in the gallant 
 ready perish- force with which Sir H. Havelock commenced his 
 pCTfecUbe™ heroic campaign, which have taken place in excess 
 of those which would have occurred had the sun 
 been in the southern instead of the northern Tropic, 
 of the men who suffered directly and indirectly from 
 its rays aggravating the effects of diseases and of 
 wounds, would show a proportion of the whole force 
 to have suffered from solar action most distressing 
 to contemplate ; * and if to these were added the 
 constitutional shock which the rest have sustained, 
 and which will cause them to break down in another 
 such season or two, the havoc exhibited in that little 
 army alone would be such as would make the most 
 pedantic stickler for appearance to throw elegance 
 and fashion to the dogs ! Would that the men of 
 our hope and pride had had good saucepan or Tower 
 of Babel shaped helmets as redoubtable as them- 
 selves — convulsive to the sons of polite art, the 
 fastidious devotees of sweeping curves, but beautiful 
 to the philosophic eye, as vigilantly parrying ten 
 thousand solar darts, and at the same time sending 
 them all flying off to the skies or dovsna to the 
 ground, so that not one chance ray can find its 
 way to distress a neighbour's eye, or give him any 
 but a shaded view of the bright and busy surface 
 
 * We now hear that of that force scarcely one fourth remained at tlic 
 end of six months. 
 
HELMETS FOR INFANTRY. 91 
 
 over which the defensive process of Reflection is 
 going on ! 
 
 With such a head-dress, and with their body- 
 guarded in a corresponding manner, what might 
 not the state of that force have been, compared 
 with what its remnant, lost amongst many reinforce- 
 ments, has already become ! 
 
 But if virtue must needs be sacrificed to a more Helmet not 
 graceful shape, the endeavour must be made, in therarfiie. " 
 adopting some spheroidal form, to dispense with 
 reflection at the surface, and to carry out the other 
 provisions so fully as to compensate if possible for 
 the loss of that valuable agency. 
 
 A trial helmet of this description has been made. 
 It diff"ers from the one just described only in its 
 shape, which is ellipsoidal, and in having a cloth in 
 place of a metal surface, the several concentric parts 
 being carried by a frame of steel busks. That these 
 helmets will greatly surpass any in ordinary use may 
 be safely assumed ; but whether surface-reflection 
 can be dispensed with without a marked loss of effect 
 is doubtful. It is not enough that the protection 
 shall surpass any yet enjoyed by the soldier. It 
 would be a blind, spiritless, and unworthy course to 
 stop short of anything that science can dictate and 
 art afford. We know too well what the climate of 
 India can do while imperfectly opposed ; we have 
 yet to learn what may be the immunities conferred 
 by the most perfect protection at our command ! 
 
 In committing so glaring a departure from prin- suehiieimets 
 ciple as to countenance trial helmets having a cloth, ™*J 
 or any but a metallic surface, I venture upon it only 
 
92 
 
 BRITISH AEMT IN INDIA. 
 
 under the impression that they may possibly be 
 constructed absolutely proof against a vertical sun, 
 if a proportional jealousy be observed to maintain 
 in the highest efficiency the several interior pro- 
 visions which have been fully described. But 
 perhaps we might, by the following conforma- 
 tion, compound the matter between homely virtue 
 repelling the advances of Apollo, and comely frailty 
 receiving them — between a bright inverted saucepan 
 rejecting his rays, and a cloth ellipsoid admitting 
 them. Thus a helmet may be constructed, elliptical 
 in its general form, but with its metallic shell 
 stamped or wrought up into a series of steps 
 presenting none but horizontal and vertical faces. 
 Such a helmet would reiiect nearly as well as one with 
 a plane surface, while, like the flat-topped cylinder, 
 every little step up to the summit would throw rays 
 off skyward and ground ward. At the same time it 
 would, I understand, be not difficult to construct, 
 and would acquire much rigidity by having bands 
 or wires soldered within the shell so as to form 
 diagonals to the steps. The interior organism of this 
 helmet would be similar to the others. 
 
 The double shell helmet. Figs. 5 and 6, might have 
 its surface brought up in like manner into steps. 
 A helmet of The lithographed Figs. 9 and 10 exhibit a helmet 
 
 another kiud ... i i r • • xi j_ i 
 
 suggested as cousistmg solely 01 successive casings, the outer layer, 
 rymg. ^^ ^^^ very thin sheet tin already described, being 
 laid on open canvas. Lines of perforations, i i i i, 
 run round the sides of all of these casings from top 
 to bottom. As the air could blow through this hat 
 freely in all directions, and the principles of Reflection 
 
FIC . 9. 
 
 F I C. 10 
 
CURTAIN FOR THE NECK, 93 
 
 and slow-Radiation would be frequently repeated in 
 it, it might prove a light, easily constructed, and 
 effective helmet. Although the principle of slow- 
 conduction is omitted in it, and the air after pene- 
 trating the heated exterior casings finds access to the 
 head, the large quantity of air which would flow 
 through such a structure might carry off heat as fast 
 as it was deposited without becoming itself heated 
 to an extent which would distress the head. This 
 construction from its toughness and ready pliancy 
 would not be wanting in durability, while its 
 principle would be worth a trial. At the same time 
 it cannot be viewed as having by any means equal 
 certainty with the others. The ventilating air, when 
 the current is not rapid, is likely to become heated 
 to an extent which might prove oppressive. 
 
 CUETAIN FOE THE NECK. 
 
 Helmets of suiEcient variety for protecting the head Protection of 
 
 ■^ ^ ° the neck ne- 
 
 having been described, the wants of the neck and cessary. 
 side of the face must not be overlooked. The spinal 
 marrow, its upper part especially, is highly sensitive ; 
 and shading though these helmets are, they cannot 
 always protect the lower part of the neck from the 
 sun, and the sides of the face from the fierce glare of 
 the ground and walls. Figs. 2 and 8 show a helmet 
 with a curtain such as it is proposed should be attached 
 to all helmgts. It consists of three flounces, the lower 
 edge of each being fuller than the upper edge of the 
 one next below it, and attached to it at certain points 
 
94 BBITISH ARMY IN IKDIA. 
 
 only. In this way numerous ventilating loops are 
 formed facing downwards, so that there can be no 
 confinement of the air round the neck, and a wind 
 from behind can find its way through to the neck 
 and face. Moreover, the suspension of the curtain 
 from the edge of the shed leaves a wide space 
 between it and the neck for a free circulation of air. 
 This curtain may be composed of two or three layers 
 of jean or other closely wove cloth ; but a single 
 layer of a fabric having a metal face on both its 
 surfaces would be more effective. Small squares of 
 the sheet tin already described, about an inch or 
 an inch and a half each way, sewn down to a piece of 
 canvas net, or linked together, would afford a better, 
 protection than a considerable thickness of cloth, and 
 would be lighter and less bulky ; though the latter 
 would not offer any encumbrance worthy of a 
 thought compared with the ruinous effects to the 
 constitution of spinal exposure. 
 Fashion con- In concluding the subject of Head-dress, while 
 indi^onsabic cuough has been said respecting the question of 
 form, it is well that we should be prepared for the 
 first impressions which may be excited by the bulk 
 requisite for commanding an absolute security. The 
 times in which we live are no doubt unfortunate for 
 this necessary increase of bulk. Fashion, the arbitress 
 of taste, making the ceaseless round of her Zodiac in 
 the " Limbo of Vanity," is now, in the matter of head- 
 dress, moving slowly through the sign of Lilliput. 
 She sends ladies for bonnets, and soldiers ^r foraging 
 caps, and sometimes for shakos, to fit themselves in 
 " bal)y warehouses." In this she may be borne with 
 
 bulk. 
 
CURTAIN FOR THE NECK. 95 
 
 in our climate, where the sun's declination through 
 three-fourths of the year is so considerable, and 
 where at most times the welkin hangs thick over 
 our heads, a gigantic helmet common to all. 
 
 The region of taste too much resembles Milton's 
 bog for one who is simply depasturing in the fields 
 of science to venture upon it. Fashion's horoscope, 
 revealing mysteries too deep for human reason, has 
 pronounced it to be good taste, for the current hour, 
 that the cover for ladies and soldiers' heads should not 
 be a cover at all, but one-half or one-third of a cover. 
 If we must bow to this her inscrutable arbitrament, 
 we may surely complain at her inconsistency in not 
 extending the rule to our furniture where it would be 
 comparatively harmless. Why may not the man who 
 would dwell consistently, having feasted his eyes on 
 the semi-bonneted head of his wife, cut away one 
 half of the cover of his table, of his sofa, and of his 
 chairs, and leave his furniture in strict accordance 
 with her head, both as to elegance and protection ? 
 
 All this is comparatively * endurable, but when rusiiion faUii 
 Fashion is playing into the hands of Death, and drees. 
 filling the grave with her victims, her despotism 
 becomes insufferable. Losing sight of the foraging- 
 cap for the time, and conceding to the ordinary 
 dress-caps,f shakos, and helmets, a suitableness for our 
 particular climate, we need not go further southward 
 than the Mediterranean J stations for their defi- 
 
 * Comparatively only. How many a constitution has not the ladies' 
 bonnet victimized, both in the cold of winter and sun of summer, in 
 Europe ? 
 
 t Saving that ingeniously faulty conceit the bcar-skm cap. 
 
 J An officer some time ago remarked to me that it used to distress him 
 
96 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 ciencies to tell upon the health of troops exposed to 
 the sun. But when we approach the tropics, we 
 have the atmosphere, for six months, ranging fifteen 
 degrees on either side of blood heat. Being already 
 surcharged with heat, it is little able to wash away 
 by convection the sun's rays, as they fall upon any 
 surface ; the inadequate thickness of all ordinary 
 head-dress, even of the best in use, would be glaringly 
 manifest to any one who could have witnessed the 
 preservative power of one of adequate dimensions. 
 As it is, the sudden or gradual destruction of life or 
 health is viewed as somehow inevitable, or referred 
 to various auxiliary causes, not wanting, indeed, in 
 number and power, arising out of the imprudence 
 and irregular habits of soldiers. 
 Unsuitable -^ Londou wherry, or a cock-boat, might answer 
 te™tibiehow- ^^^^ ^°^ couveyiug soHicrs over the gentle stream 
 ever elegant, ^f ^]^q Thames, above-bridge, and many of these 
 " funnies " are beautiful in their construction and- 
 form, when viewed in their proper place and ele- 
 ment ; but ship an army into wherries off Ports- 
 mouth, to cross the Atlantic, or even the Channel, 
 and the scant size and flimsy structure which, onthe 
 gentle Thames, were pleasing to the view, wqjild 
 now appear contemptible and disgusting ; and the 
 man would be thought inhuman and insane, who 
 should propose thus to harden men to the boisterous 
 element. Yet to the man who dies apoplectic under 
 the sun in India, but had been well enough within 
 
 at Gibraltar to see orderlies of a morning, with the sun, already high, shinino- 
 upon the uncovered half of their heads, to which it would be informal for 
 them to pull over from the other half the scanty foraging cap, a pitiful 
 protection at the best ! 
 
CURTAIN FOB THE NECK. 97 
 
 doors, his dress has, in fact, proved just as fatally 
 unequal to his protection as would the wherry, which 
 would have swamped with him in a sea where he 
 would have been safe enough in a ship. 
 
 Furthermore, to think to render a shako duly sun 
 proof in the Tropics by slipping over it a calico 
 cover,* though more reasonably hopeful than to think 
 to render a wherry seaworthy by slipping over it a 
 coracle, would be so by some degrees only. 
 
 In fine, when experience shall hereafter confirm 
 what philosophy may safely now affirm, when by 
 giving a suitable bulk and structure to the head- 
 dress, and suitably modifying the body-dress, the 
 soldier shall be enabled to march over the plains of 
 India at all seasons, with a security approaching 
 towards that with which he may go to sea at all 
 seasons, in a ship of suitable dimensions and struc- 
 ture, there cannot be a question that habit, and the 
 exhibition of such redoubtable properties, will give to j^Jg' propel!* 
 the lateral increase of bulk requisite, not only a to'fateraibuUc 
 grateful effect, based on a sense of its adaptation to ^^^^^^\ ^^^^'. 
 the highest purpose, but that commanding one also, J^p["^^ ^^' 
 which is at present sought in the case of the bear- 
 skin cap of the Guards, by a vertical extension 
 worse than useless. 
 
 It is vertical extension which renders top-heavi- 
 ness, and especially the resistance of wind, so trying. 
 Now, the sun-proof helmets require little, if any, 
 increase of height above that of ordinary hats. 
 
 * Nevertheless it was doubtless the best means at hand for mitigating 
 the defects of the shako, and was therefore with proper judgment adopted, 
 though with what short-coming in protective effects the tragical result of 
 almost annihilated regiments has already too plainly shown! 
 
 H 
 
98 BRITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 The weight On the question of weight it has already been fully 
 
 poised "^Mt explained, that if the weight is, by means of a draw- 
 httie felt. ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ ^^g Yie&d, and not 
 
 supported by lateral pressure round the brow and sides, 
 and the centre of gravity is placed below that of sup- 
 port, a greater weight than that of any of the helmets 
 proposed would, by a little habit, become unnoticed. 
 Pour times the weight that is distressing, when sus- 
 pended by lateral pressure, will be carried easily if 
 rested fairly upon the head.* Easiness round the head 
 is so important for comfort, especially in hot weather, 
 that, as already explained, the construction of the inner 
 lining of the helmets has been adapted to this especial 
 object. The soldier can wear such helmets, ordi- 
 narily, as easy as he pleases, secured from accidental 
 displacement by the chin-strap ; and when a strong 
 wind or unusual exertion renders it necessary, he can, 
 without uncovering his head, tighten the lining of 
 cloth round his head to any extent in an instant, 
 and loosen it again with equal facility. 
 The weight "With rcspcct to the weight of the helmets, the 
 helmets. majority of those which have been made range be- 
 
 tween two and two and three-quarter pounds. It 
 appears very practicable to have steel wire basket 
 helmets, which promise to be very effective, of from 
 two, to two and a quarter pounds weight, and durable 
 plate metal helmets, equally effective, half a pound 
 heavier. Of one of the latter kind, which, complete, 
 weighs only two pounds two ounces, the metal is 
 rather too slight. 
 
 It is a common but not altogether fair remark, 
 
 * Appendix C. 
 
CURTAIN FOR THE NECK. 99 
 
 that soldiers are indisposed to appreciate changes ThenegU- 
 
 1 n 1 • ^ /> ITT T gence of sol- 
 
 made tor their benefit, or to trouble themselves to diers a futile 
 
 . . objection. 
 
 understand any novel construction, however simple. 
 Were it so, the discipline they are under is abund- 
 antly absolute to ensure the result desired. We see 
 the dullest men soon drilled into difiScult and compli- 
 cated movements and the management of fire-arms, 
 all fifty-fold more intricate than simply to tighten a 
 draw-cap or band round the head. 
 
 It is true with them, as with their betters, that 
 dullness and prejudice are rather abundant ; but 
 having seen something both of soldiers and of work- 
 men, I had rather undertake to introduce any new 
 rule or use amongst the former, owing to their habit 
 of prompt attention and their subordination, than 
 amongst the latter ; yet these have continually to 
 adapt themselves to new appliances. 
 
 In introducing a new dress, a commanding officer 
 could, on parade, address his men, informing them 
 that it had, at great pains, been provided for their 
 protection; that it would undoubtedly tend to pre- 
 serve their health and lives ; and that every part of 
 it was of use, and necessary for that object ; also 
 that the Serjeants would explain the use, and see 
 that no wanton mischief was done to it by any man, 
 whose punishment would be all the more severe, as 
 marking his ingratitude for the anxiety shown for 
 his benefit. 
 
 H 2 
 
100 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 THE BODY-DBESS FOE BEITISH SOLDIERS IN INDIA. 
 
 Limits of tho To attempt any detailed examination of the several 
 
 subject in i ^ T i . 
 
 iiand. articles of dress with which it may be expedient to 
 
 provide the soldier, would be foreign to the objects 
 of this Essay, which are confined to his protection 
 from the assaults of the climate, and especially of the 
 sun. Their effects upon the spine, skin, and system 
 generally have been sufficiently examined under 
 former heads for guiding our attempts to make such 
 modifications in, or additions to, the soldier's body 
 dress as shall go far towards protecting him from the 
 injurious action of the sun and atmosphere. 
 
 It has been shown* how the excessive heat in the 
 atmosjDhere, combined with its evaporative power 
 from dryness, in the hot season, or a relaxing heat 
 alternating with conductive dampness in the rainy, 
 produce, according as the air happens to be still or 
 in motion around the body, various injurious tran- 
 sitions ; as from a drenched state of the skin with an 
 oppressive accumulation of animal heat, in a still 
 atmosphere, to either a febrile dryness, or a sudden 
 chill with suppressed perspiration, in one that is 
 briskly in motion. 
 Cii-cum- In a still atmosphere within doors, in no extreme 
 
 which the Condition as to temperature, or to dryness or damp- 
 is suitable. ^"^ ness, the majority of persons find the freest access of 
 the air to their skin to be most suitable to them ; 
 
 • Pages .50 .ind .51. 
 
BODY-DRESS. 101 
 
 and hence the smallest amount of covering permis- 
 sible by the proprieties of European life. As sucli a 
 slight dress also appears to suffice out-of-doors so long 
 as exposure to the sun is limited, and the exercise 
 taken moderate, most persons have presumed that 
 the lightest cotton dress, is the best under all cir- 
 cumstances during the warmer months. The press, 
 both in India and England, has been furnished with 
 complaints of the oppressive nature of the clothing of 
 some regiments which had recently landed in that 
 country from England, and such clothing has been 
 contrasted with the supposed comfort of a light 
 cotton dress. On the other hand, experience has led 
 others to defend the regulation clothing as best 
 suited for India. 
 
 This is one of those questions in which " expe- Atbindnss 
 
 ^ . ^ ill suited for 
 
 rience " will tell opposite ways, according to circum- mucU expu- 
 
 sure to a hot 
 
 stances, and which can never be settled by looking atmobphere. 
 
 to particular effects, but requires for its safe solution 
 
 a careful investigation of causes. With this view, a 
 
 brief examination has been already rqade of the 
 
 physical and pathological action upon the naked skin 
 
 of the body, of an atmosphere of high temperature, 
 
 and in different degrees of dryness and of motion. 
 
 It was shown how unfitted is the European skin, 
 
 when uncovered, to cope with the exactions and 
 
 caprice of such an atmosphere. Now, next to a state 
 
 of absolute nudity, a flimsy dress of cotton gives far 
 
 too rude an access to an out-door atmosphere, with 
 
 its rough practice on the skin already described. 
 
 What is required for the campaigners skin in ^^j^^™*^'' 
 India, is a protective partition between it and the twrni the skin 
 
102 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 andtheatmoe- atmosphere, to act like a wicketed, or turnstiled 
 
 phere. . , £ • 
 
 barrier, preventing too rapid a passage oi an impe- 
 tuous crowd — a barrier against the atmosphere which 
 shall prevent too hurried a passage both of heat and 
 of gaseous particles either way — a slow-conducting, 
 poroics, and spongi/ medium, to husband the resources 
 of the skin, and to ward off too rude and rapid an 
 Its nature and action of the air. It must be slow-conducting, to 
 
 properties. i i c i • i -x" 
 
 check as lar as may be, at one time, the positive 
 entrance of heat into the body from air hotter than 
 the blood, and, at another, the opposite chilling 
 action, of a rapid evaporation of the sweat, or of a 
 damp air, somewhat cooler than the skin. It must 
 be spongy to receive and husband all sensible per- 
 spiration. It must be porous to afford a sufficiently 
 free, but controlled ingress, to the atmosphere, and 
 egress again of its particles, moderately charged with 
 perspiration. For such a medium, what so good a 
 material as soft thick flannel, next to, and enclosing 
 the whole skin ? Men engaged in athletic exercises 
 in England, as rowers and cricketers, find at once 
 the advantage of such a flannel dress ; but in the 
 high temperature of India, the danger of a flimsy 
 cotton dress is veiled by its being at times more 
 comfortable, especially in the still atmosphere of a 
 house. Whereas, the importance of flannel is greater 
 there than in England, where there is no fear of 
 febrile dryness from outer heat above the blood heat ; 
 and where the consequences of suppressed perspira- 
 tion though dangerous, are not so deadly. 
 jCTsoiwi ex°'e- Having, during a period of eight years, to undergo 
 rience. exposure to the atmosphere, often throughout the 
 
BODY-DRESS. 103 
 
 whole day, at two of the hottest stations in India, 
 Cawnpore and Futtehgurh (now of such fatal no- 
 toriety), the ruffianism of the atmosphere, against 
 the assaults of which nature had given him but 
 indiff"erent cutaneous powers, soon urged the author 
 to trace out its various modes of action, and to clothe 
 the whole body, and next the skin, from the neck to 
 the ancles, with thick flannel. But at first the arms 
 were not covered with it. The exterior clothing 
 was the usual cotton dress of Europeans in India. 
 When out in the hot winds, usually at a hundred 
 and ten or a hundred and fifteen degrees, the 
 temperature of the surface of the arms under the 
 cotton covering only, was frequently above that of 
 the blood, and the skin was dry and often febrile, 
 while at other times, when loaded with perspiration, 
 a current of wind would suddenly cool the arms with 
 distressing chills. Whereas, everywhere else under 
 the flannel, the skin was at all times moist and cool, 
 never so drenched, and never dry and hot. The 
 effect was so remarkable, that the flannel was very 
 soon extended to the wrists, and thus he was enabled, 
 during the long period named, to pursue a most try- 
 ing course, suffering indeed from chronic disorder of 
 the liver (which was, however, mitigated from the 
 time the dress was adopted), but escaping, altogether, 
 cholera, dysentery, and fever, excepting one slight 
 attack of the latter, although they were often epi- 
 demic. With the head thoroughly protected from 
 the sun by a hat of an effective construction, he has 
 oftentimes, while at Futtehgurh, after remaining 
 some time in the verandah of experimental furnaces, 
 
104 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 where the atmosphere was as high as a hundred 
 and thirty degrees (Fahr.), come out into the sun 
 to cool himself in a wind at above a hundred de- 
 grees. As this course was pursued many years by 
 one to whom a tropical climate was more than 
 usually hostile, it is one of the many instances con- 
 firmatory of the fact, that it is the solar ray and 
 malaria, much more than simple atmospheric heat, 
 which are destructive to nearly all European con- 
 stitutions exposed to their influence. Undoubtedly, 
 a high atmospheric temperature is eventually ex- 
 hausting to all ; and to not a few, to females espe- 
 cially, is often a cause of derangement of the health 
 from the commencement of a residence in the coun- 
 try ; but persons possessed of any vigour of consti- 
 tution can stand a high atmospheric temperature for 
 a long period, more particularly if it be not over- 
 charged with moisture. But then the skin must 
 not be exposed to the direct and unrestrained action 
 of the hot air. 
 Flannel next While advocating" strongly the use of flannel over 
 
 the skin, but . . 
 
 not thick the whole body by British troops exposed in India, 
 
 clothing, desi- . . . . 
 
 rahie. as Icss exhausting, after the skin is accustomed to it, 
 
 than the unrestrained drought of the hot winds, and 
 as a great protection against the alternations of heat 
 and chill, especially in the rains, I would, on no ac- 
 count, be understood to defend the use, in hot 
 weather, of a tight outer clothing of dense woollen 
 cloth, which is a very different thing, and which is 
 often, by its tightness and density, suifocative to the 
 skin, and far too retentive of the animal heat. It is 
 not unfrequently defended by persons who certainly 
 
BODY-DRESS. 105 
 
 do not enter deeply into principles, by the practice, 
 supposed to be analogous, of wrapping up ice in 
 blankets to preserve it from melting in hot weather. 
 There might be some parallel in the two cases if a 
 man had no internal heat to get rid of, which must, 
 otherwise, prove destructive to him : if the skin also 
 had no transpiring and exhaling duties to perform : 
 and if, at the same time, his blood like the ice, were 
 at all times many degrees cooler than the air against 
 which it is blanketed. But, as matters are, there is 
 in the imagined parallel, little that is similar, and 
 much that is deceptive. 
 
 With respect to the cold season, there can be no Waimtii in 
 
 the cold sea- 
 question but that soldiers should be so clad as to be s"" ui-edfui. 
 
 comfortably warm. To men who have been several 
 
 years in the country the cold season, especially in 
 
 the western provinces, is frequently that of most 
 
 ailment. The skin having become exhausted and 
 
 enfeebled by a long continued action of the climate 
 
 is liable to be more chilled than braced at that 
 
 season, and as a consequence the liver and other 
 
 organs suffer from congestion and torpor. 
 
 It has to be borne in mind that the extent to 
 which winter cold is trying, depends, not upon the 
 actual degree of cold only, but also, and still more, 
 upon the severity and duration of the previous heat. 
 
 Now in Western India the annual extremes of Ammai cx- 
 
 tremcs of tem- 
 
 temperature even surpass those of England, a range peratuie gicat 
 
 ... „,,. in India. 
 
 of seventy and eighty degrees oi r ahr. bemg common. 
 At Kurnaul in 1824 I found the air some feet from 
 the ground to sink as low as to the freezing point, 
 more than once, in January ; and in July, a friend 
 
106 BEITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 who noted the temperature while I was absent in the 
 hills, found it to rise to a hundred and twenty-two 
 degrees in a northern aspect and sheltered position.* 
 Here was a difference of ninety- two degrees — an 
 extreme instance, certainly, as far as my own obser- 
 vations went. 
 
 Many soldiers and oiEcers likewise think that 
 because they are in India they cannot suffer by any 
 carelessness with respect to cold, and many, as a 
 consequence, bring themselves upon the sick-list, 
 and with ailments often of a tedious character. 
 
 A SUN-SCEEEN TUNIC. 
 
 Having siifficiently considered the effects of atmo- 
 spheric vicissitudes, and the body clothing suited to 
 counteract them, we have still a serious and trouble- 
 some problem to deal with, namely, the protection of 
 the spine and trunk of the body from the rays of the 
 sun and from those reflected ■ and radiated from a 
 heated ground and from walls. 
 taniXtoe" Although the head is, undoubtedly, by far the 
 most sensitive part of the body, a protection of it 
 alone will by no means suffice. The spine is also 
 highly sensitive. Eadiant heat acting upon the 
 back will, if powerful and long continued, put the 
 strongest constitution to trial. Every one is familiar 
 with the sickening effect of sitting for any time with 
 the back towards even an ordinary house-fire of any 
 
 * This is the highest temperature in the shade I have known in India. 
 
 back neces- 
 sary. 
 
A SUN-SCREEN TUNIC. 107 
 
 power. For the back of the marching soldier to be 
 exposed for many successive hours to the fierce im- 
 pulses of a tropical sun, with merely a few layers of 
 clothing between them, and that of matters will- 
 ingly receptive of radiance, and applied close to the 
 body, so as to conduct the heat into the skin at once, 
 is a condition of things too painful to contemplate 
 with the mind impressed with the conviction that it 
 is not unavoidable. It may be difficult to attain, at 
 once, to the complete protection which a flexible 
 metallic medium would afford, if so placed as to 
 bring three of our principles, — Reflection, Slow-Ra- 
 diation, and Convection — to bear with their utmost 
 effect ; but much may be effected by ordinary means. 
 If it should prove more difficult, than in the pro- 
 tection of the head, to bring into play the reflective 
 and slowly-radiant properties of metallic surfaces, 
 the principle of convection may be largely employed. 
 To protect the back, we may suspend behind it, at a 
 distance of some inches, an apron or curtain (Fig. 
 11) composed of two or more layers of closely wove 
 linen or cotton cloth, to receive the sun's rays and to 
 detain much of them until they are imparted to the 
 air circulating between the curtain and the body, 
 which will carry them off into the general atmo- 
 sphere. If the curtain hangs free and at its full 
 distance from the body at bottom, and is constructed 
 like the neck-curtain, of a succession of flounces 
 abounding with ventilating fissures facing down- 
 wards not to admit the sun's rays, the circulation of 
 the air will be sufficiently quick for the process of 
 convection to operate with much effect, especially 
 
108 
 
 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 when there is any wind or the body is in motion. 
 We may certainly by this simple means reduce the 
 solar influence by more than one-half. But there is 
 no reason why we should rest satisfied with materials 
 for our curtain so glaringly deficient in virtue — why 
 
 A flexible 
 metal-faced 
 cloth a desi- 
 deratum. 
 
 Fig. 11. 
 
 we should not determine to command the two briffht 
 metallic surfaces we need, in some form or other. 
 
 Although it has been with me an interesting pur- 
 suit to acquire some knowledge of most processes em- 
 ployed in the arts both in England and India, the 
 giving to textile fabrics metallic surfaces is one which 
 had not attracted my attention. I applied to Messrs. 
 
A SUN-SCREEN TUNIC. 109 
 
 Bishop, of Grodliman Street, Doctor's Commons, orna- 
 mental painters and banner-makers, as persons whose 
 experience and skill might enable them to produce a 
 fabric resplendent with metal, which might be placed 
 between the poor soldier's body and the sun as a ram- 
 part, proof against its most penetrating projectiles. I 
 could not learn from them or others that any cloth of 
 such a nature available for the purpose has as yet been 
 manufactured. Cloth covered with metal-leaf does 
 not admit of being folded up closely. It cracks at 
 the creases and angles, and soon gives way ; the 
 metal not only scaling off, but even the silk, which is 
 the substance usually employed, soon becoming cut. 
 
 As it was plain that the extreme tenuity of the metal 
 leaf itself would enable it to be bent at the sharpest 
 angle, and would prevent it from having any cutting 
 power, it appeared evident, upon a little reflection, 
 that the defect was chiefly due to the brittle nature 
 of the cement employed for fixing the leaf upon the 
 . cloth. It appears that a " size " composed of the 
 more or less brittle " gums " of commerce is em- 
 ployed. It consequently occurred to me to suggest 
 to Messrs. Bishop the trial of a " size "' made of 
 India-rubber ; and that, perhaps, the article known 
 as India-rubber cement would answer the purpose. 
 
 They politely adopted the suggestion, and have 
 produced a specimen of a few square feet, which 
 possesses all the flexibility to be desired, and which, 
 as a first trial, is a creditable and promising produc- 
 tion. The metallic surface completely shields the 
 vulcanized rubber surfaces from their liability to 
 adhere when folded together ; and it ajipears also to 
 
110 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 render them proof against a degree of radiant heat 
 they could not otherwise stand ; no doubt by its 
 reflective power. If this article could be made with 
 a durable surface, and proof against the heat of India, 
 it would be invaluable for our purpose; especially 
 as the moderate cost at which, by a right application 
 of means, it might be manufactured, would allow of 
 its being renewed every season at a cost of small 
 moment, when measured by its valuable action. It 
 has to be borne in mind that, hanging vertically, 
 such a curtain, however resplendently it was pro- 
 tecting its wearer from the solar rays, would reflect 
 none of them upon the faces of his comrades, but 
 would send them all downwards to the earth. 
 
 With a metallic curtain then, of this description, 
 we might, by merely suspending its slight medium 
 between the sun and the soldier's back, at a few 
 inches from the latter, intercept so large a portion of 
 the sun's rays, as to render the proportion of them, 
 which stole their way into his clothes, comparatively 
 innocuous. 
 Curtain of We have then the strongest reasons for seeking 
 
 the thinnest . . ° . ° 
 
 sheet tin. perscveriugly such metallic armour, in some form or 
 other. If a metal-faced cloth of adequate durability 
 should prove unattainable, we are not left without 
 other resources. The cheap, familiar, and resplen- 
 dent article " sheet tin," which is plates of soft iron 
 tinned, offers its aid. The reader may perhaps know 
 it only in the comparatively weighty substance of 
 tin ware, or of ordinary tin sheets ; but there is a 
 manufacture of these, already referred to, named 
 " Taggers," of such tenuity, as to weigh under two 
 
A SUN-SCREEN TUNIC. Ill 
 
 and a half ounces per square foot, and withal of much 
 strength and toughness. A surface of this, of five 
 square feet — an ample size for a back-curtain — would 
 weigh twelve ounces only ; and when it was finished, 
 little above a pound : whereas a very light cloak 
 weighs twice as much. To give this armour ade- 
 quate flexibility, all that is necessary is to cut the 
 sheets up into small rectangles, oblong or square, to 
 turn over and seal their edges to fine wires, drawn 
 through a fusible solder and forming eyes at the 
 four angles of each piece, and to connect the pieces 
 together by means of small rings passing through 
 these eyes. This may be done in such a manner, 
 as to leave between the plates only inappreciable 
 fissures for the intrusion of rays. This curtain, 
 when not used, might be folded one way like a 
 map, and if it were made in two detached halves, 
 meeting and overlapping each other along the mid- 
 dle of the back, each half might be folded sepa- 
 rately ; and when the two were laid together, they 
 would form a small parcel a foot long and three or 
 four inches broad, and two thick, which might be 
 lodged on the knapsack, or strapped to the back. 
 
 But thouffh the spine demands, next to the head, Acm-tamfor 
 
 °, . _ ' the front of 
 
 especial consideration, why should not protection be the tody also 
 also afforded to the front of the body, with its 
 expanse of nervous skin overlying an upper and 
 lower conclave of vitals, the latter so especially 
 sensitive to the various impressions of the skin from 
 tropical influences ? Why let the sun batter upon the 
 skin over the stomach through the poor protection of 
 clothing lying right against it, with no intervening 
 
112 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA, 
 
 space for the play of convection, until the man be- 
 ginning to retch, the mephitis of cholera prowling 
 about catches the sound, and finds its victim a ready 
 pupil in actual practice ! 
 
 Where is the army surgeon of experience in the 
 Tropics, who has not at times heard men say they 
 had felt the sun " take the pit of the stomach " before 
 they were attacked ? Can there be a doubt that 
 that which is destructive to some must be injurious 
 to all ? 
 
 While it is manifest that a back-curtain may be 
 worn, without in any way incommoding the soldier, 
 it is freely admitted that a question may be raised 
 whether a front apron can be so suspended, as not in 
 the smallest degree to impede his evolutions with his 
 musket. But if the shoulders remain quite free, and 
 the steel or cane arch, as in Fig. 11, which sus- 
 pends the curtain free of the body, shall abut against 
 the chest at the sides, and not spring more than 
 three inches in front of it at the middle, it would 
 perhaps ofi'er no obstruction to his movements ; and 
 if it did, it might be readily shifted round over his 
 back in a moment. 
 Concluding Such then are the modifications of, and additions 
 inviting every to the soldiers' dress in the Tropics, which, after an 
 improvement auxious Consideration of the question in all its bear- 
 Dress. i^gs, and after applying to it no little observation 
 
 and experience, I have to offer. It is with no pre- 
 sumptuous confidence in their perfection that I do 
 so. On the contrary, I do most sincerely desire that 
 any means which would prove really superior, should 
 be promptly devised and brought into action. 
 
A SUN-SCREEN TUNIC. 113 
 
 The subject commends itself to the attention of 
 every one who is moved by feelings of duty, hu- 
 manity, or gratitude, to further the object of neu- 
 tralizing to the utmost extent, which the advanced 
 state of science shall render possible, the effects of 
 the climate of India upon the gallant men of all 
 ranks, who, oblivious of any hope or prospect of 
 personal advantage, are devoting, and it is to be 
 feared, sacrificing themselves to the maintenance of 
 British supremacy in the Bast. 
 
 To appreciate fully the importance of a sun-proof 
 armour, a man ought, doubtless, to be a tropical 
 pathologist. He ought to have watched the des- 
 truction, rapid in some instances, gradual in others, 
 nearly universal in all, of the vitals of the Portal 
 Circle, from the battering of the sun on the body, 
 especially on the head. He will not be deceived 
 into imagining an army of Englishmen to have 
 become possessed of tropical constitutions, because 
 under the elating excitement of war, the effects 
 of exposure being postponed, there is a flattering 
 promise of immunity from them. And if his 
 thoughts are not too exclusively confined to the 
 hospital, he will direct them anxiously to prophy- 
 lactics as well as therapeutics. Seeing that men 
 under the shelter of well-constructed roofs do not 
 suffer eventual damage to anything like the same 
 extent, he will look to the character of the clothing 
 in which they are launched into the flood of solar 
 heat; whether it be, at all points, as proof as is 
 possible against the streams of liquid glare which 
 beat upon it ; whether, at the same time that 
 
 I 
 
114 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 simple and confiding recruits are being enlisted, 
 every principle in science and property of matter 
 available, are being as sedulously enlisted for their 
 protection. 
 The question "Witli respcct to the different descriptions of hel- 
 
 of a trial of ^ • t • i n i j 
 
 improvements mcts, and the body tunics which have been proposed, 
 to their adop- or to any others that can be devised really better, 
 
 tion consider- . . , i i • i • 
 
 ed. although it might appear prudent to claim the evi- 
 
 dence of a practical demonstration of the value of 
 each by trial on a sufficient scale in India, before any 
 general adoption of them was made, a higher pru- 
 dence would perhaps array before the mind the 
 sixty thousand British troops who may bave to pass 
 through great exposure next hot season as best they 
 may ; and the fact that, however jauntily they to 
 wbom it is the first year of great exposure may 
 seem to endure it for the time, the lives of thousands, 
 and the constitutions of tens of thousands of them 
 will be sacrificed to the climate, unless they can, 
 in the interim, be provided with protective clothing 
 far more efficient than any yet in use. 
 
 Since, at any rate, no loss of effect, but greater or 
 less advantage must accrue from the adoption of 
 carefully devised improvements, and the question, 
 therefore, can scarcely be in fairness viewed as even 
 a mere risk of the expense (a point not to be named 
 in connexion with the object sought), it would ap- 
 pear no great matter for a wealthy nation to incur 
 the cost at once, of supplying her gallant sons with 
 the very best sun-proof armour at command ; if it 
 were only to evince to them her conscientiousness 
 and humanity. It would be a telling fact in the 
 
A SUN-SOREEN TUNIC. 115 
 
 mouths of the recruiting sergeants, whose deficiency 
 in inYiting Jacts leads to practices painful indeed to 
 every honourable mind to contemplate. 
 
 But happily, it is not necessary either to wait for The trial of 
 a comparative trial made in India, or to adopt any easily made in 
 plans untried. It would be easy to produce an arti- 
 ficial solar effect, which, so far as the various non- 
 transparent media, we have to do with, are concerned, 
 would be abundantly parallel to the radiation of heat 
 from the sun itself. By means of two planished tin 
 or other metallic mirrors, the rays of a large open 
 fire might be reflected first upwards towards the 
 ceiling of the room, and thence downwards, with 
 varying degrees of obliquity. These rays may, for 
 a crucial trial, be given a power threefold that of 
 any solar rays, at the distance of our earth from the 
 mystic luminary. Under the influence of these rays, 
 two men may be placed side by side, so as to be 
 subjected to them equally. One of them may be 
 clad in the usual way, his shako or cap encased in 
 the cotton covering supplied to the troops in India ; 
 and the other may be dressed in the manner pro- 
 posed. It will soon appear which of them is first 
 driven away from his post, and how many times longer 
 the other is able to remain in his without inconveni- 
 ence. The men may then be dressed, in succession, 
 in the different kinds of helmets and tunics pro- 
 posed in the preceding pages, to decide which of the 
 several descriptions is most effective and otherwise 
 comfortable. It is probable, that unless a fire of 
 unusual dimensions were employed, it would be 
 difficult to displace either of them. Presuming that 
 
 I 2 
 
116 BEITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 any such result were obtained, it would surely be 
 unnecessary to send sucb armour to India* to be 
 tested ! The trial might be made at once, for it is 
 my belief, that a man caparisoned in the manner 
 proposed might, according to which of the dresses 
 was adopted, be enabled to sit out from five to eight 
 men in succession in the ordinary dress of the sol- 
 dier ; and that, if our troops in India were clad in 
 solar armour of this description, strokes of the sun 
 would become of very rare occurrence, while the 
 great accession given to epidemics through its action 
 would cease. The simple heat of the atmosphere 
 might then remain almost the only source of incon- 
 venience from exposure during the day — an incon- 
 venience not trifling indeed, nor to be lightly in- 
 curred, but of small account when compared with the 
 assaults of the sun. 
 
 In concluding this division of my task, I may truly 
 say that it has proved a source of no small anxiety 
 and trouble, and that it would not have been under- 
 taken but under deep and painful convictions, not 
 the smallest of which has been the consciousness of 
 wrong in my having allowed many years to elapse 
 and many an earnest conviction to be suppressed 
 
 * If the trial were made there on a small scale, and ith imperfect 
 patterns, such as these ^irsi constructions necessarily are, prejudice against an 
 unaccustomed, though absolutely necessary hulk or weight, or wantoffami- 
 liarity with the simplest adaptations, would, too probably, lead to the rejec- 
 tion of them, though they should he the very best constructions which 
 could be contrived. Such a rejection of the helmets in question would be 
 of no importance — nay, it would he most desirable — if it could be 
 followed by a prompt devising and adopting of plans really superior. 
 Otherwise tens of thousands of soldiers who were in vigorous health in 
 England last year, will, in India, suffer, some of them constitutional 
 DESTRUCTION, others death, before the close of the present ! 
 
HOUSING OF BRITISH TBOOPS. 117 
 
 through a hesitation to intrude upon a field in which 
 I had long ceased to hold any official position, and 
 in which, according to report, such intrusion would 
 prove unacceptable and unavailing. 
 
 ON THE HOUSING OF BEITISH TEOOPS IN INDIA. 
 
 Upon" this very important question the Company's 
 government has been in nowise wanting in solicitous 
 care. But as no small number of the barracks 
 throughout Hindostan have been destroyed by the 
 rebels, and a large increase of accommodation will 
 be needed for the future, the present is the moment 
 for taking into consideration any modifications in 
 their reconstruction, since they would be attended 
 with a double cost if made hereafter. 
 
 To be as brief as possible. Many reasons may be The lodg- 
 adduced against the lodgment of European soldiers on dlers V "" u 
 a ground floor ; which was universal when I was in f^d^iiabie!^ 
 India, and I believe is so still, and many and great 
 advantages demonstrated in favour of an upper-floor 
 housing of them. In the first place, every person 
 who has studied the habitudes of malaria well knows 
 how exceedingly more rife it is, especially the malaria 
 generating the fevers of India, near the surface of 
 the ground. The natives, though as such they ought 
 to be more exempt, are much more prone to attacks 
 of fever, owing to their sleeping close to the ground, 
 than the Europeans, who lie at a somewhat higher 
 
118 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 level, even wliere both are equally tinder shelter. 
 Other causes no doubt are also in operation, but this 
 is a main one. In some countries the inhabitants 
 sleeping on an upper floor are almost exempt from the 
 effects of malaria which is decimating ground-sleepers. 
 The wealthier inhabitants of Calcutta live entirely 
 on the upper floors of their houses. Moreover, the 
 glare from the ground, and from the walls enclosing 
 premises which are not spacious, aggravates the heat 
 of a ground floor materially, and renders it painful 
 to keep Venetians open, and to look out even towards 
 the shady side of a house ; and the look-out upon an 
 ever-present and glaring mud wall, often enclosing a 
 barrack-ground, is but a dull and dispiriting sight for 
 the soldier. Yet, near a town, with his present habits, 
 he cannot with safety be trusted in unenclosed bar- 
 racks. Again, wind, which is so much longed for, and 
 so necessary during the hotter seasons, meets with 
 many impediments near the ground which do not 
 exist ten or twenty feet up. A refreshing breeze 
 may often be felt at an upstairs window when a dead 
 calm prevails below. Moreover, if quartered upstairs, 
 the soldier could not be constantly truanting into the 
 sun and glare of the barrack-yard, nor would he feel 
 tempted to do so when he had spacious upstairs 
 verandahs to walk and lounge in, with an open and 
 cheerful view over the cantonments. 
 The import- Abovc his head he ought by all means to have a 
 
 anoe of a dou- tii r-n i i-t-it 
 
 bie roof. douDle rooi, — the outer may be a high-pitched one of 
 
 grass, such as is usual, and the inner a roof parallel 
 to it at a distance of a yard, or it might be, though 
 not so well, a ceiling of mats simply overlaid with 
 
HOUSING OF BRITISH TROOPS. 119 
 
 grass or straw, and suspended from the rafters and 
 tie-beams of tlie outer roof. Between them a free 
 way should be given for a current of air to pass 
 horizontally when pressed by wind, or vertically, 
 through chimneys in the upper roof, when relying on 
 its own buoyancy for motion. This current is needed 
 as an ever-watchful convector of the heat, which will 
 steal its way in treacherous quantity through every 
 single roof, and, if not thus carried away by convec- 
 tion, come radiated down by the willing roof (the 
 material of which is so adept a radiator) to mar the 
 coolness below. The same amount of material that is 
 often put into the present roof would suffice for both, 
 though more ought to be allowed, and would prove 
 doubly eflective. 
 
 The importance of a double roof is shown in the 
 fact that a ground floor, where there is an upper floor 
 above it, is in general much the cooler of the two, 
 although there are causes, already referred to, which 
 render it, when it has only a single roof above it, 
 much hotter than an upper floor with a similar roof. 
 To secure the best effect, the heat and stagnation of 
 the atmosphere on the ground-level should be avoided 
 by residing on a well-raised first floor ; and the solar 
 heat from above should be arrested by two roofs well 
 apart, as described above, and by an upward current 
 of ventilation through openings in the ceilings and 
 roofs at all times when the set from below can be 
 commanded, as will be described presently. 
 
 Now all these advantages would cost next to no- 
 thing. If the white ants were kept from the imder 
 roof, only the outer one would, as now, require fre- 
 
120 BEITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 quent repair. Also quite as large an area of shelter 
 must, I presume, be wanted for a due protection of 
 the inanimate as of the living instruments of war. 
 Might not then all the contents of arsenals which 
 need shelter, and of magazines, excepting the powder, 
 he lodged not only as well, hut with much advantage, 
 in the ground floor below the soldiers, thus saving 
 extra buildings for them, and needing no extra guard 
 to protect them ? There would be much less chance 
 of fire, than in barracks at present, when the eaves 
 of the thatch were so far above the ground. With 
 respect to the lower roof or straw ceiling, it might be 
 well to stretch a whitewashed cloth over it : it would 
 prevent a hot wind, which was blowing through 
 above it, from penetrating the loose texture of the 
 straw, and thus overruling its slow-conductive virtue. 
 If there were a cloth, also covering the imder surface, 
 it would of course be an additional though minor 
 advantage. 
 
 In thus venturing to discuss the question of bar- 
 rack construction, though my experience in building 
 in India was not small, it is upon sanitary and philo- 
 sophical points only I would be understood as pre- 
 suming to give an' opinion — the engineers of the 
 India service, many of them of unsurpassed ability, 
 . being the authority to determine all points connected 
 with their own profession. 
 Officers' quar- It ig not for the soldiery only that residence at a 
 
 ters saould bo _ %/ ./ 
 
 constnictedou higher level would prove advantageous. It would 
 
 likeprinciplea. _ . . 
 
 for like reasons, be equally so for their officers. If 
 they, as hitherto, had to provide their own residences, 
 at most stations their ground floors might be avail- 
 
HOUSINa OP BRITISH TROOPS. 121 
 
 able for Government storehouses, where it was an 
 object to them to be relieved of a part of their rent ; 
 and they ought assuredly to provide themselves, or 
 be provided with, double roofs, as costing but a trifle 
 more, and ensuring a considerable increase of effect. 
 
 At the same time the fact demands attention that 
 bungalows and other detached dwellings are more 
 expensive and far less effective structures for the 
 exclusion of heat than contiguous quarters in long- 
 barracks, properly placed and constructed, would 
 prove. The wind blows during all the warmer 
 months so generally from the north-west and south- 
 east that quarters open in those directions would 
 receive every current during nine days out of ten. 
 While, if the system of subterranean well-ventila- 
 tion, presently described, were adopted, the direction 
 of the wind would be of no moment. 
 
 A detached bungalow presents four sides to the Defects of 
 
 an ordinary 
 
 heat, and all of them slope down at so steep an bungalow. 
 angle that the roof is lofty only over the centre 
 room. All the rest of the building is assailed by 
 heat and glare from above, around, and below, while 
 the single roof, though so high pitched in the 
 middle, has elsewhere no adequate elevation. There 
 being no ventilation in its summit the hot air of 
 each day is pent up within the huge pyramid above 
 the level of the doors from day to day, and keeps 
 that mass of heated matter from the cooling action 
 of the nightly air entering around below it. At 
 the same time the heated air commixing with the 
 latter, as it revolves into the house, and the heated 
 mass of wall and roof propelling caloric downward. 
 
122 BRITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 keep the interior of the dwelHng throughout the 
 night oppressively hotter than the outer air. Hence 
 the house appears to require four open sides to 
 let in air and relieve the breathless oppression of 
 the inmates. But could it have a dozen sides they 
 would not suffice, so faulty is the construction. In 
 fact, the whole mass of matter — roof and walls — 
 above the tops of the doorways is in much the same 
 predicament as the surface of the earth, receiving 
 and absorbing the sun's rays from day to day, and 
 growing hotter and hotter as the season of heat 
 advances. It becomes, in short, a magazine of heat. 
 Straw, so valuable as a slow conductor, is even a 
 more ready receiver of rays than the bare surface of 
 the earth. Did it not radiate back again into the 
 sky at night a considerable portion of the heat it 
 takes in by day, a bungalow would soon become 
 intolerably hot, in spite of the utmost thickness of 
 any single roof. In addition to the following 
 arrangement for tapping the roof and drawing off 
 its heat upwards, it might be worth consideration 
 whether an outer roof of the thinnest sheet-tin from 
 England, nailed on boards, would not be both eco- 
 nomical and very effective in repelling the solar 
 rays. It might have so moderate a slope as not to 
 reflect rays, under any position of the sun, ground- 
 ward, so as to annoy persons who were not on a 
 higher level than the roof itself. 
 Quarters pro- Contrast with the ordinary bungalow the foUow- 
 
 posed tor otii- _ "^ ° 
 
 cers, ing : — Take the apex of the pyramid of a lofty 
 
 bungalow as the height (not from the ground only, 
 but from the first floor) of the extended ridge of 
 
Housma OF British teoops. 123 
 
 an elongated building. Divide the building by 
 partition walls crosswise, excepting its outer veran- 
 dahs, into spacious quarters. Give it throughout its 
 length a double roof, say a yard apart, the inner 
 similar and parallel to the outer. Eun a raised 
 pent-shed over and along its outer ridge, and make 
 to each set of quarters two large openings through 
 each of the roofs at their summit, or the openings 
 may pierce the inner roof only ; in which case the 
 ridge-shed will not be needed. These openings JT|*'> ™°^ ^^"- 
 will be sheltered by the shed above, and during 
 the day partially or completely closed by thickly 
 thatched and moveable frames commanded by cords 
 hanging down through the inner ceiling and against 
 the wall into the centre rooms below. The ceiling 
 also of each room should have one or more open- 
 ings with covers, commanded by strings, to let air 
 out at will ; chiefly at night, but often in the day, 
 when the cooled air is pressing in with force enough 
 to blow upwards ; especially when, there being little 
 wind, artificial ventilation is employed by means of 
 one or other of the instruments to be described ; or 
 when, a subterranean ventilation being enjoyed, its 
 course may have an opposite direction to the wind 
 above, and be entering at what is then the leeward 
 side of the building. An upward flow of the venti- 
 lation will not only carry off all heated air otherwise 
 stagnating in the upper part of the rooms and 
 above the ceiling, but it will also conduct off heat 
 from the mass of walls and roofs, and thus prevent 
 their accumulating it day by day, and striking it 
 downwards, as already described. 
 
124 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 The advan- The outer verandahs of such a building should be 
 
 tages of long ° 
 
 verandahs aa gpacious in breadth, and run unobstructed by par- 
 promenades. ' ' _ . 
 
 titions throughout their entire length. Being fifteen 
 
 or twenty feet above the ground they would, of 
 
 course, be enclosed by railings, and would form a 
 
 delightful place of recreation for children throughout 
 
 the day for more than half the year ; and that to 
 
 the north-west at all times when the wind was not 
 
 hot ; their diminished glare from the ground at that 
 
 elevation, and the glare from the sky, being kept off 
 
 by " chekes " of " seinta " (rolling blinds made of a 
 
 stout reed), or of bamboo. Such verandahs would 
 
 also form a promenade for the adults, quadrupling 
 
 the time they could remain in the outer air, and 
 
 enabling them often, even in the middle of the day 
 
 in the rainy months, to break the weary monotony 
 
 of a livelong confinement. 
 
 Such quarters would each of them present only 
 two sides to the heat, while the roof, inclined on two 
 sides only, instead of being a pyramid falling on all 
 sides, would prove far more protective than the latter. 
 The currents from the trap- ways in the ceilings of all 
 the rooms would, of course, flow to the main openings 
 in the roofs ; and would, with the best effect, catch 
 and carry away upwards the heat travelling down- 
 wards by conduction through the walls and roofs. 
 
 On one side of the building a spacious garden 
 common to all the quarters might be kept up in a 
 much better manner and more economically, as in the 
 case of the ice committees, under the management of 
 those officers who had a taste for gardening, than 
 where each family has to contend with the fraud 
 
HOUSING OP BRITISH TEOOPS. 125 
 
 and idleness of a class of servants, of whose charges 
 and proper work most of them are little prepared to 
 judge. At the same time, for those who preserved 
 their English desire of seclusion, the ground along 
 the other side might be divided by walls not above 
 six feet high into spaces corresponding with the 
 breadth, say from forty to eighty feet, of each set 
 of quarters. Thus each family would have at its 
 command a public and private garden or space. 
 
 Such portion of the ground-floor of the building as 
 was not employed for public stores or other pur- 
 poses, might serve for the offices of the Eesidents. 
 
 Officers might be sumptuously housed in such Oawnpore 
 
 J. ./ and other sta- 
 
 quarters at no greater, perhaps at less, expense than tio"^ "Jefeo- 
 
 . tively laid out. 
 
 m their present separate dwellings. Nearly the 
 whole of the great station of Cawnpore, in my time 
 running some miles along the river, was so cut up 
 into small " compounds " by high mud walls, that 
 a bird's-eye view would have given it the appear- 
 ance of a divided honey-comb. These walls, with 
 the profusion of trees they enclosed, seemed as if 
 designed to cut off every current of wind from 
 the inhabitants of all those ground-floor dwellings 
 hidden within them. Though having a profusion of 
 thatch and wall, the heat of most of them, especially 
 at night, was stifling, unless assailed at all available 
 points with " tattees ;" often by night as well as by 
 day ; while towards the rainy season these were un- 
 availing. 
 
 In rearing such a building as has been here advo- 
 cated, very little " pukka " work — brick and lime 
 masonry — would be needed. A foundation of it for 
 
126 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 the main walls, rising not more than a yard above 
 the ground, would suffice everywhere but in Lower 
 Bengal. From that level unburnt bricks laid with 
 loam might constitute the rest, and, if tolerably 
 massive, be carried up to any desired height. I 
 erected a storied building, even without that founda- 
 tion to guard against ground damp, and though the 
 walls were divided, like those of a church, by large 
 arches, it stood perfectly well, and was, in fact, 
 stronger than most of the suburban masonry of 
 London, which is run up three or four stories a 
 brick and a half thick. For bathing-rooms, all that 
 is necessary is to line the walls with a thin course of 
 masonry coated with good cement. 
 
 Engineers in India are familiar with all these 
 facts ; but I have known a disposition to contemn 
 anything but " pukka " masonry in public buildings, 
 the much greater expense of which might prompt to 
 a restriction of the dimensions, which would be most 
 undesirable. Massive timbers, so expensive in India, 
 especially when they become the lodgment and board 
 of white ants, would not be needed for supporting the 
 dwelling floor. By subdividing the ground-floor by 
 narrow walls of the same unburnt bricks, these would 
 serve the purpose of girders, and are even better ; and 
 as their distances may be small where the ground-floor 
 is employed only as domestic offices or compartments 
 for stores, the joists overlying them may be of very 
 moderate scantling. I have found a large upper 
 floor thus supported, cheap to construct, very firm, 
 and able to carry a great weight. 
 
 The ventilators in the roofs and ceilings ought to 
 
HOUSING OF BRITISH TEOOPS. 127 
 
 be abundantly spacious, and it would be better tbat , J'^*' , ^<'°*'" 
 
 •i i- ' lators : now to 
 
 tbeir covers, instead of tilting on central or side be coveredand 
 
 ' • ° employed. 
 
 binges, should rise and sink flat against the open- 
 ings, so as not to tempt tbe formation of false 
 descending as well as ascending currents through 
 them. They ought, of course, to fit fairly, that at all 
 times when the inner air was colder than the outer, 
 and not being urged upwards by the ventilating 
 pressure from below, of wind or other power, it 
 might not gravitate downwards and be followed by 
 hot air from above to any considerable extent. 
 Whenever these ventilators were open in the day- 
 time, the doors of the house to leeward ought, of 
 course, to be closed enough to force the current up- 
 wards. 
 
 Many of these remarks apply equally to the bar- 
 racks for the men and their families. They have 
 been carried* more into details than may appear to 
 some necessary, from an earnest desire to leave 
 nothing wanting to recommend what, I believe, 
 would prove a great improvement in the housing 
 of both officers and men. There are other points 
 which might have been insisted on, — amongst them 
 the advantage of having the quarters of young officers 
 in one building, and not tempting them, in visiting 
 each other, to be constantly passing backwards and 
 forwards, ill-covered with a mere cap or shako, under 
 a midday sun from one end to another of a straggling 
 station — so common a cause of severe, and not un- 
 frequently fatal, attacks of illness, as I well re- 
 member.* 
 
 * Appendix D, 
 
128 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 ON THE YENTILATION OF BAEEAGKS. 
 
 Not only is it of importance to Europeans of all 
 ranks ttat they should he housed within a thoroughly 
 sun-proof roof and walls, and, as I believe, that they 
 should dwell at as high a level above the surface of 
 the earth as possible, in every part of the plains of 
 India ; but in the case of soldiers in barracks, more 
 particularly, that means should be provided for a 
 copious ventilation of them at all seasons, especially 
 in hot weather.* 
 
 The houses of civil and military officers are, in 
 general, so capacious, that even where tatties, as in 
 Lower Bengal, are not employed, the doors and 
 windows may be closed throughout tha day, in the 
 hot season to shut out the heat, and in the winter 
 months the cold, without injury to the occupants, 
 the wants of whose lungs and skin bear a limited 
 proportion to the cubic contents of such dwellings. 
 Free venti- But for soldiers in barracks it is of great moment 
 diers'bai-racks that the wholc atmosphcre of the dwelling should 
 needflii/ be at all times undergoing a rapid renewal. The 
 defectiveness of many barracks in respect to ven- 
 tilation was very serious when I was in India ; 
 especially of some at Cawnpore and in Fort William. 
 But even where the ventilation is not obstructed by 
 walls and trees, in the western provinces the intense 
 
 * The importance in India of free ventilation lias been at various times 
 urged by both medical and military officers ; especially by Mr. Banald 
 Martin, who has devoted so much attention to sanitary questions in India 
 as well as in England. 
 
VENTILATION OF BAEEACKS. 129 
 
 heat of the day in the summer and the sharp cold of 
 the air in the winter, in the early morning and 
 during the night, present no small obstacle to an 
 unlimited admission of air. 
 
 The Grovernment has, in many instances, supplied 
 the soldiers' barracks with " tattees " in the hot 
 months, and in doing so have acted wisely as well 
 as humanely. But " tattees" valuable as they are, and The value 
 effective while the wind is steady and in the west tattees. 
 and therefore dry, are not without serious drawbacks. 
 Even with a large and costly establishment of bullocks 
 to draw water, of bheesties to carry it, and of coolies to 
 splash it upon the tattees, constant vigilance is neces- 
 sary to keep them from becoming dry through the 
 insatiable thirst of the hot wind and the lassitude or 
 indolence of the purveyors of water to it. We may 
 then find the air within the tattee rise in a quarter 
 of an hour from a temperature of seventy-eight 
 or eighty degrees to one hundred degrees or more, 
 and from a humid to a very arid state. These 
 transitions are liable to be ' repeated in a barrack 
 several times a day, and are unquestionably very 
 trying ; yet not equal to the uninterrupted play of 
 the hot and arid wind upon the skin. Another 
 defect of tattees is that they are of little or no use 
 at night without the aid of blowing-machines ; and 
 of less use still during the terrific hiatus of a fortnight 
 or month between the hot and rainy seasons, and 
 during the oppressive intervals between the rainy days 
 after the monsoon has set in, and towards its close. 
 
 Again, in the cold season, the body, habituated to 
 a copious ventilation throughout the rest of the year, 
 
130 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 yearns for fresh air far more than if does in England 
 in weather equally cold to the feelings ; and a con- 
 fined atmosphere is absolutely more injurious in a 
 climate where the skin and frame, generally, is in 
 much lower tone, and is surrounded by prejudicial 
 influences. In short, barrack ventilation in India is 
 a subject demanding a close and active attention. 
 Looking merely to the economy of expensive lives, 
 it will abundantly repay any outlay necessary for 
 commanding it in perfection. 
 The earth af- Happily, we have at command a boundless source 
 less sovirce of from which to draw coolness in the hot, and warmth 
 andvrarmthin in the cold seasou. When those properties of mat- 
 co weat er. ^^^ -^ relation to HEAT, through which it operates, 
 and is to be resisted, were being considered in the 
 preceding pages, the subterranean absorption of heat 
 claimed attention, and was briefly examined. It 
 was there stated that this property, rightly em- 
 ployed, was available, with great advantage, for 
 the ventilation of buildings. 
 
 While we are wont to look to the soil of the upper- 
 most few inches only of the earth's surface, as that 
 in which, for the most part, we have any interest ; 
 while, if we dig deeper into it, we do so only for 
 water or for minerals ; we are prone to overlook 
 altogether, or to employ in an unreflecting and defec- 
 tive manner its capabilities as an equalizer of cli- 
 matic temperaments.' Equatorial climates are, for 
 the most part, equable more than enough ; — hot at all 
 times. But near to and beyond the Tropics, and 
 therefore over nearly all India, we may view the 
 uppermost fifty feet of the surface of that continent, — 
 
VENTILATION OF BARRACKS. 131 
 
 or as many feet down as we can reach without the 
 intrusion of water, — as one vast equalizing reservoir ; 
 ready to absorb, from any amount of air we may 
 choose to subject to its action, a large proportion of 
 its summer heat, even if we do not aid our reservoir 
 in its annual emptying itself of such heat in the 
 cold season, but leave it to conduct back, sponta- 
 neously, such heat tardily upwards to the surface 
 during the winter months. But if we adopt proper 
 measures for cooling thoroughly, in the winter, the 
 mass of earth we select for our absorbing reservoir, 
 we may have it emptied of more than the accumu- 
 lated summer heat before the ensuing hot season, and 
 brought down nearly to the winter mean, and ready, 
 therefore, to absorb again much more heat than when 
 it had to cool itself by the tardy spontaneous process 
 of upward conduction through its whole mass. 
 
 Furthermore, since it is by the agency of the cold ^t wiii temper 
 
 the winter 
 
 air of the winter that we must empty our reservoir cold. 
 of heat, that air will become warmed by the process, 
 and available for a tempered ventilation throughout 
 the very season when the air is more sharp than is 
 suitable to bodily frames more or less relaxed, and 
 at rest ; especially during sleep. 
 
 In looking around for means by which to com- The means 
 mand such valuable results, we find them offered to India at a 
 us at once, if we will but exercise a little thought, in 
 the facility and cheapness with which wells are made 
 throughout India. In the whole of the western 
 provinces, and I believe, throughout Hindostan ge- 
 nerally, wells about three feet six inches in diameter 
 may be dug down to the water level at a cost of from 
 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 BRITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 eighteen pence to half-a-crown, where the depth does 
 not exceed fifty feet. In most soils these wells are 
 available without being guarded by any masonry 
 lining, excepting under the water level, for the 
 drawing of water throughout the whole day for many 
 months, during several years. And in soils even to a 
 considerable extent sandy, they can be dug, and will 
 last as they are, if not used, for a great length of time. 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 The plan for 
 cooling by sub- 
 terranean ac- 
 tion. 
 
 Now if we select, contiguous to a barrack of the 
 largest size, a plot of ground. A, B, c, D, Fig. 12, only 
 a hundred yards square, or a hundred and twenty 
 yards long by eighty yards wide, less might do, and 
 prick it over with wells about seven yards apart, the 
 cost of digging them all will be only twenty pounds, 
 and we shall possess two hundred to operate upon a 
 cubic block of earth a hundred yards square,* and 
 say fifty feet deep. There are numerous parts of 
 India, in which the water being forty or fifty feet 
 or more from the surface, dry wells to that depth 
 
 * The plot of ground may with preference be oblong, as 200 yards by 50, 
 accor.ling to the length of the barrack or barracks. 
 
VENTILATION 0¥ BARRACKS. 133 
 
 may be dug ; but on the other hand, in many loca- 
 lities, as at Meerut, Bareilly, and Delhi, the depth is 
 much lesSj in some not one-half as much. In such 
 places the number of the wells would have to be 
 multiplied ; and evaporation from the water's surface 
 and the humid sides of the wells would make up for 
 the effect of their inferior depth. Upon the plan 
 proving effective, it might form an important object 
 in the choice of a station, to select localities in which 
 the refrigerative well ventilation could be given the 
 best effect — whether with deep wells and a drier air, 
 or of shallow and a more humid. At Futtehgurh, 
 Cawnpore, Agra, and in Bundelcund, etc., dry wells 
 from forty to seventy feet deep may be dug. 
 
 To put the wells in action we may proceed thus. 
 Let E, F, G, etc., be successive rows of wells ; the 
 first of each row E 1, e 1, G 1, being sunk in the 
 lower verandah of the barrack, throughout its length, 
 though this is not necessary, and the mouths of this 
 row being covered with wooden or bamboo gratings 
 to guard against accidents. All the wells exterior 
 to the building, excepting the furthermost of each 
 row, E 10, P 10, etc., must have their mouths closed 
 and plugged for some feet down by straw resting on 
 a simple bamboo frame propped across the well, as 
 at 0, etc. If the ground is wanted for exer- 
 cising the men, the mouths of the wells must be 
 arched over with brickwork, and covered level with 
 the ground around ; but as this would be expensive, 
 and the ground on one side of a barrack can ge- 
 nerally be spared to that moderate extent, the sim- 
 plest course would be to raise a common mud wall a 
 
134 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 foot or two high round each well, and to cover the 
 straw, plugging its mouth, with matting or a thin 
 thatch. The earth dug from the wells would raise 
 the level of the surface about a foot, and would in 
 general yield, if the lower sand were not put upper- 
 most, a fertile virgin soil. The whole area between 
 the wells might form a productive garden, with its, 
 surface kept cool by frequent watering from a few 
 wells reserved and deepened for the purpose, and by 
 being covered with vegetation; but it must not be such 
 vegetation as could be a source of malaria. This use 
 of the surface would appreciably check the travelling 
 of heat downwards into our cubic reservoir below. 
 
 The wells of each row must be made to commu- 
 nicate with each other, thus : from the bottom of 
 E 1, a horizontal passage p, about, two and a half 
 feet high and fifteen or eighteen inches wide, must be 
 cut to the bottom of the next well of the row e 2, 
 and from near the top of this well, below the straw, 
 about ten feet beneath the surface of the earth, a 
 similar horizontal passage must proceed to the 
 next well, e 3, and from the bottom of this well a 
 passage to E 4, and so on to the last well, e 10, 
 according to the number of wells in the row. This, 
 last well being surmounted by a large cowl, s (turned 
 to the wind by a fan-tail, or a lever moved by hand), 
 and acting as a wind-sail, the wind will blow down 
 it and through the passage at bottom to the next 
 well, then up it and through its upper passage to the 
 third well, and pursuing this course through all the 
 wells, will make its exit through the grating of the 
 well K 1, and into the verandah t, which should be 
 
VENTILATIOiSr OP BABEACKS. 135 
 
 well enclosed. As in each row of wells the last would 
 be similarly surmounted with a cowl, every first well 
 of each row would pour forth air into the verandah. 
 
 Supposing the barracks to be built, as has been 
 urgently recommended in the preceding pages, with 
 an upper floor for the residence of the men, the 
 verandah above that in which the wells are may 
 have its floor grated throughout, being laid with 
 battens say one inch and a quarter wide, and three 
 quarters of an inch apart. This should be an en- 
 closed verandah, of course. 
 
 We shall now have an abundant ventilation of 
 cooled air in the hot season, and of warmed air in 
 the cold, at all times when there is any wind. In 
 a calm state of the atmosphere the ventilation may be 
 easily maintained by mechanical aid ; the moderate 
 amount of labour required for which may be readily 
 afibrded when the army of bheesties, and coolies, and 
 bullocks, otherwise needed for tatties, is, with them, 
 superseded by our subterranean refrigeration. The 
 machinery by which an artificial current may with 
 best effect be maintained will receive some notice 
 presently. 
 
 Of the capability of such a heat-absorbing and Estimate of 
 
 .. . iiTip 1-1 ^^^ capability 
 
 heat-exhalmg reservoir as the block oi earth with of the terrene 
 
 rGssrvoir lor 
 
 its cavernous surfaces would form, we may obtain cooling, 
 some conception by a little calculation. First, as to 
 the whole earthy surface holding a commerce in 
 caloric with the air sweeping against it down and 
 up the wells. and through the transverse passages. 
 Each well, where there are forty perpendicular feet 
 available, and ten peripheral, will possess a surface 
 
136 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 of four hundred square feet, to wliicli must be added 
 one hundred feet more as the surface of one-half of 
 the two transverse passages connecting it with the 
 next wells. The acting surfaces of each well may 
 then be taken at five hundred square feet ; and of 
 the two hundred wells at no less than one hundred 
 thousand feet ; which immense surface would be con- 
 stantly acting upon the ventilating currents. These, 
 while traversing it, being repeatedly inverted and 
 changed in their direction, could not fail to have 
 every part of them brought into contact with the 
 earthy surface. With respect to the capacity, as a 
 reservoir for heat, of our block of earth of one 
 hundred yards square and fifty feet deep, forty of 
 which may be assumed available, it will be found on 
 calculation to contain, deducting the wells' space, 
 no less than three million six hundred thousand 
 cubic feet, weighing about five hundred and fifty 
 million pounds. Estimating the specific heat of 
 earth and of air as about the same, supposing the 
 surfaces of the wells to be at the commencement 
 of the hot season at the temperature of sixty de- 
 grees, one hundred millions of pounds of hot air 
 might pass through them during the ensuing hot 
 months, and be cooled down thirty degrees, without 
 raising the temperature of the mass of earth six 
 degrees, by the time the cooling process ceased to 
 be needed at the close of the warm months. Any 
 warming of the mass by heat that struck down from 
 the surface of the soil would, of course, be separate, 
 but not such as to affect materially the calculation ; 
 since, if the quantity to be cooled were doubled, the 
 
VENTILATION OP BAEKACKS. 137 
 
 earthy mass would only be heated by twelve de- 
 grees. 
 
 Supposing the cooling to be employed about two 
 hundred days, or about seven months, this would 
 allow no less than half a million pounds of venti- 
 lating air daily, or upwards of twenty thousand 
 pounds of air per hour, day and night. In bulk this 
 would amount to more than two hundred and fifty 
 thousand cubic feet ; which would renew every hour 
 the entire atmosphere of a barrack two hundred and 
 forty feet long, sixty feet wide, and about twenty feet 
 of mean height. Such a ventilation would be re- 
 dundant, and could only take place in strong winds, 
 since it would require a current of air through the 
 wells of six miles per hour, and through their con- 
 necting passages of twenty. Of course the surfaces 
 of the outermost wells first entered by the hot air would 
 soon lose much of their coolness ; but then the nearer 
 wells would have theirs less reduced in proportion. 
 
 In the cold season, during the warmth of the day 
 the action of the wells would not be needed, the 
 barrack doors being thrown open. At such times 
 the warmish current should not be allowed to blow 
 through the wells, as it would stop the progressive 
 cooling of their surfaces. To prevent this the cowls 
 should be turned with their backs to the wind, and 
 perhaps a mat laid over each of the outer wells. 
 At night probably not a fourth of the wells might 
 be needed for the temperate ventilation they sup- 
 plied, in lieu of the sharp night-air of the cold 
 season ; but while the air was cold, i. e. from soon 
 after sunset till an hour after sunrise, the wind 
 
138 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 should be allowed to blow through all the wells, 
 the rows not in use being made to blow their cur- 
 rent out of doors. The air of the wells being the 
 warmer of the two, the ventilation would proceed 
 almost spontaneously. By such management, espe- 
 cially if mechanical aid were employed when the 
 weather was calm, the terrene mass surrounding 
 the wells would be brought down to a temperature 
 much below the mean annual temperature of the 
 climate, which annual mean would be the utmost 
 cooling to which even its deepest stratum could 
 be reduced if the process were left to the natural 
 action of conduction upwards through the whole 
 mass. 
 
 Since the natural cooling and warming of the 
 earth extends in India forty or fifty feet down in 
 six months, while the mean distance of any part of 
 our block of earth from the nearest well surface 
 would be only five feet, the extreme from each, or 
 midway distance between two wells, being under ten 
 feet (there being six yards between the wells), there 
 can be little doubt that the whole of the block would 
 be effective as a heat-absorbing and heat-imparting 
 reservoir. 
 
 Moreover, had we the making of it on purpose, we 
 could not, perhaps, select more suitable materials. 
 Were our terrene block a mass of metal, it would be 
 far too quick a conductor of heat, which it would 
 absorb down from the surface until it was saturated, 
 shortly after the hot season set in. On the other 
 hand, were our terrene reservoir composed of wood 
 or charcoal, it would be useless. It would be as 
 
VENTILATING MACHINES. 139 
 
 much too slow a conductor of heat as metal would 
 be too quick. 
 
 Affain, the earthy mass would not only cool the The cooling 
 
 °_ _ "^ •' process aided 
 
 hot air by absorbing its heat, but also by exhaling '^J evapora- 
 into it much water, and this effect might be mate- 
 rially increased if the wells were carried down a 
 little below the water level. This would give, be- 
 sides the damp sides of the wells, two hundred cir- 
 cular yards of evaporating water surface, the effect 
 of which would be much increased by the perpen- 
 dicular descent of the air pressing it upon the water 
 in every second well. 
 
 VENTILATING MACHINES. 
 
 The blowing-machine, introduced first by Dr. Dessa- 
 guiller, I believe, to ventilate the House of Com- 
 mons, more than a hundred years ago, in which 
 the air is propelled by passing off at a tangent 
 through a centrifugal force imparted to it by ro- 
 tation, by means of fans revolving in a barrel, 
 requires, on account of the levity of air, a great 
 velocity to give the current any absolute force. It 
 is a favourite blower for "cupola" and other fur- 
 naces ; where the great velocity given to it causes a 
 stunning noise. With a view to ensure more certain 
 force in a ventilating current than this principle, 
 acting slowly, can give, I was led, in the year 1824, 
 
140 
 
 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 The Eefri- to contrive the following machine. It was a kind of 
 
 gerator a ven- _ . „ 
 
 tiiatingpump. pendulum pump, Figs, 13 and 14. a a is a frame 
 
 Fig. 13. Side view in section. 
 
 Fig. 14. Back view. 
 
 about eight feet square, hanging upon knife-edge 
 hinges h b, between and close to two parallel walls 
 of masonry or wood, B b, and oscillating between 
 them and over a concave arch, c c, of masonry or 
 planking. The frame on one side was laced over 
 with tape ; over which surface were stretched across, 
 from top to bottom, lappets, B E e, of fine cotton 
 cloth, overlying each other like Venetians. When 
 the pendulum frame, which was well weighted at 
 bottom, was drawn back, as in position 1, the lappets 
 flew up and the air passed through them. When 
 the pendulum oscillated forwards, towards its posi- 
 tion 2, the lappets fell close, and the whole volume 
 of air in the machine was driven through the valve- 
 doors D D, in the front enclosing frame P F, which 
 being very light, and nicely poised, opened readily 
 to the pressure. The frame, as seen in the dotted 
 position 2, has nearly finished its course forwards. 
 
VENTILATING MACHINES. 
 
 141 
 
 Directly it commences its oscillation backwards, the 
 valve-doors in the front enclosing frame fall, and the 
 lappets in the pendulum rise again. 
 
 Fig. 15. Bird's-eye view. 
 
 This machine was made to cool the atmosphere as 
 well as to ventilate, by having stretched over it a 
 cotton netting made on purpose, the warp or threads 
 of which were composed of cotton wick a third of an 
 inch thick. This netting covered both sides of the 
 frame, and had its upper edges extended into a 
 water trough above. By capillary action it kept 
 itself thoroughly wetted. Though the cooling power 
 
142 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 of this machine was great, and rendered the employer 
 of it independent of coolies to sprinkle tatties, and 
 though there was no waste of water as with these, 
 it is not advisable that the evaporating surface 
 should form part of the ventilating machine. It is 
 preferable to employ tatties of three or four times the 
 area of the pendulum fan, and enclosing the verandah 
 space in which it stands, as seen in the plan. Fig. 15. 
 In the former case, the greater part of the power 
 employed was expended in forcing the wetted net- 
 work hurriedly through the air. In the latter, the 
 large area of the wetted tatty-surface, and the con- 
 tinuous flow through it, greatly diminished the con- 
 sumption of labour in the machines fitted up in this 
 manner. 
 
 The peculiarities of this air-pump are, — 1st. The 
 entire absence of friction in the piston, it being a 
 pendulous frame hung on knife-edge hinges, and 
 not touching the sides of its chamber. 2nd. Its 
 requiring the force to act in one direction only ; 
 being a pendulum, and weighted, it oscillates freely 
 to nearly the same height as that to which it has 
 been drawn. 3rd. The capacious free-way for the 
 air, the whole surface of the frame being valvular, 
 and the formation of the valves light and nearly 
 air-tight, if close wove cloth is used, or oiled silk. 
 
 The fissure at the hinges b h has leather or soft 
 oil-cloth nailed over it, from the supporting bar to 
 the upper edge of the frame. Where it is not incon- 
 venient to let the man working the fan remain in 
 the room in front of it, it is preferable to let the 
 pulling force act in the direction of the resistance 
 
VENTILATING MACHINES. 143 
 
 as that of tlie dotted line h h, being a cane fixed to 
 the pendulum fan, and working through a slit in the 
 middle bar, between the lower valves D, of the 
 enclosing canvassed frame F P. 
 
 The ventilating fan of Dessaguiller, already no- 
 ticed, which in England is now chiefly employed of a P'^- ^'^^- 
 small size, but revolving with great rapidity, was antidote. 
 successfully introduced into India by Dr. Rankin, of 
 the Bengal Medical Service, accompanied with jets 
 of water, or with a tattee-surface, for cooling the air. 
 Revolving slowly by means of a winch-handle fixed 
 on the fan-axis itself, and turned by one or more men, 
 the fans and machine had to be given, as when first 
 invented by Dessaguiller, a much larger size than is 
 now common for blast purposes in England. Where its advan- 
 there are no blank walls or other obstructions oppo- 
 site the course of the current, and too near to the 
 machine, its action is very satisfactory, being accom- 
 panied with scarcely any sound, owing to its gentle 
 motion ; whereas, it was not possible to make the 
 " Refrigerator " equally silent ; though by not allow- 
 ing the valves to strike, the sound was reduced to 
 merely the " whiff" of the lappets. 
 
 But a large portion of the power employed in the and defects. 
 " Thermantidote " (the name given by Dr. Rankin 
 to his useful adaptation of the blowing machine), 
 is liable to be wasted, if any impediment is offered to 
 the current flowing from it. The centrifugal force 
 of so light a fluid as air revolving with little speed, 
 is too feeble to throw it off at a tangent, especially 
 within one quadrant only of the circle, if the exit is 
 not perfectly free. The contained air, instead of 
 
144 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 flowing out at each revolution, is liable to continue 
 revolving round in tlie drum like milk in a barrel- 
 churn. Oftentimes, a portion only of the contents 
 of the drum are evolved at each revolution. While 
 the coolies working the fans may be considered at 
 fault, the defect is intrinsic in the principle of Dessa- 
 guiller's machine, which requires great velocity to 
 give it power. Otherwise, there is much in its 
 silent action to recommend it. As it is of impor- 
 tance that employers of the " Thermantidote " should 
 be on their guard not to stifle the current, it may be 
 of use to cite an instance of this. One of large size 
 was, in 1834, fixed in such a manner as to blow air 
 through an opening in the wall of a room in Cal- 
 cutta, which being not more than twelve feet wide, 
 presented a blank wall opposite the current. This 
 impeded it so much, that the greater portion of the 
 air revolved repeatedly round in the drum before it 
 made its exit. It had been placed there by the 
 gentleman whose " ofiSce " it was intended to venti- 
 late, contrary to the advice of the late Colonel 
 Forbes,* who had recommended in that position the 
 employment of the Refrigerator, of the principles of 
 which he frequently expressed a favourable opinion, 
 as giving to the power employed a maximum effect. 
 In the many cases, as in the ventilation of mines, 
 where a powerful current has to be forced through 
 many obstructive channels, and where it is not of 
 importance that the process should be absolutely 
 silent, I think the entire absence of friction, and the 
 extensive valve-way of the pendulum pump, would 
 
 * The distinguished engineer and constructor of the Calcutta mint. 
 
VENTILATING MACHINES. 
 
 145 
 
 be found to render it a very effective instrument. 
 This opinion rests not on theory only, but upon the 
 trial of more than half a dozen, constructed for 
 friends and myself. 
 
 With a view to command the noiseless action of , . ^ mo^fica- 
 
 tion 01 Dessa 
 
 the centrifugal blower, without its defects, it occur- ^^f^ ™^' 
 red to me to suggest to the late Mr. Watson, magis- p"^'*'' 
 trate of Allyghur, the following modification of it 
 for trial. It is probable that the recent convulsion 
 in India, and the deatb of that active officer, have 
 taken place before it has been carried into effect. 
 Let "w w. Fig. 15, represent the wall between R, 
 
 pro- 
 
 / 
 
 Fig. 16. 
 Edge view. 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 Front view, the frame being removed. 
 
 a room, and v, a verandah ; B b is a circular opening, 
 two feet or more in diameter, either through the 
 wall or in a doorway boarded up. a a. Figs. 16 
 and 17, is a boarded frame about nine feet high, 
 which may be square or round at top. It stands 
 
146 BEITISH AKMY IN INDIA. 
 
 parallel with the walls, at a distance of one foot 
 and a half or two feet, and opposite the opening B. 
 F F, etc., are four fanners carried on an axis, and 
 four iron cross-arms, d d, etc. These fanners fit the 
 space between the wall and the boarded frame a, 
 without touching the sides, and are each about a 
 yard long, the diameter of the machine being about 
 eight feet ; and they are set in revolution by means 
 of the crank-handle c. The current of air is ad- 
 mitted at one side only, b e, of the machine, and im- 
 pinging against a curved cone E E, is given at once 
 a centrifugal direction, with little loss of its mo- 
 mentum. By this arrangement the machine, being 
 placed with its diameter parallel to the wall, which 
 may form one of its enclosing sides, occupies little 
 space. The fanners are not enclosed in a drum, 
 open only in one quadrant, as in all other forms of 
 the centrifugal blower, but are open round the whole 
 circumference. The air is thus permitted to flow 
 out at tangents the whole way round, as shown by 
 the arrows. 
 Ventiiat- It should be boi'ne in mind that when employed 
 
 ing macWnea „ •!• i -fi 
 
 ought not to tor ventilation the centritugai machine should not 
 tocreatewind. act as a Uowiug, but as a ventilating instrument. 
 Under no circumstances can any one sit prudently 
 throughout the day in an uninterinitting current blow- 
 ing against one side of his person ; especially if 
 the temperature of that current is lower than of 
 the air around him. A fan, or punkah, blows air 
 alternately against the opposite sides of the person, 
 and each puff is transient, and follo^ved by an equal 
 lull, during which the skin has time to prepare itself 
 
VENTILATING MACHINES. 147 
 
 for the next impression. Hence most persons may 
 safely sleep under punkahs oscillating over them all 
 night ; hut, though often practised, it is with ques- 
 tionable prudence that persons sleep in an uninter- 
 rupted current of wind. 
 
 The machine now described is proposed as an 
 effective ventilator, throwing off the entering air 
 copiously in all directions, and giving to the cen- 
 trifugal action its maximum of effect. Probably 
 where the diameter is so considerable and the motion 
 not rapid, six fans might be employed with advan- 
 tage instead of four. 
 
 Such a ventilating-machine would have the advan- 
 tage of simplicity and cheajjness in a high degree, 
 and might be employed to draw air through the 
 wells when the atmosphere was too calm for a spon- 
 taneous current through them. The labour required 
 to work the machines, from half a dozen to a dozen 
 of which would probably suffice for the largest bar- 
 rack, would cost but a small part of that which has 
 to be devoted continuously to the watering of tattees. 
 Indeed, the expense of tattees for two or three 
 seasons would pay for the construction of the wells 
 and machines, which, once made, would last many 
 years. It is to be hoped that a plan promising so 
 much comfort to our soldiery and their families, and 
 resting upon principles so unquestionably sound, as 
 would a system of wells for subterranean action, will 
 ■ receive a due attention and trial. 
 
 It may be well, in concluding this subject, to anti- thl'-'ay'ie^' ^"^ 
 cipate an objection which might be hastily raised to j;^JJ " ^^°«'^^: 
 the system of wells — that the resistance offered to the p'^*^'''- 
 
 L 2 
 
148 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 current by having its direction repeatedly changed 
 perpendicularly to its course, in traversing the Avells, 
 may be such as to prevent any copious ventilation 
 taking place through them. But they vs^ho know 
 through how long and tortuous a course air may be 
 pressed by no greater force than an ordinary breeze, 
 provided the passage-way be large enough, vnll not 
 The effect ajDprehcnd failure on this account. It is true that an 
 
 of friction con- ,. , i -t, c • i 
 
 sidered, extravagant renance on the mobility oi air and a 
 
 neglect of the resistance from its friction against a 
 great length of rough surfaces, have, in certain in- 
 stances, proved to mining engineers that there is a 
 limit to which it can with effect be driven under- 
 ground ; but such are extreme cases, having no pa- 
 rallel with the present. Residents in towns, especially 
 those situated on broad rivers or the sea-shore, 
 where sewers open upon a tide-way with imperfectly 
 trapped mouths, are painfully assured of the facility 
 with which air can be blown up drains a quarter 
 of a mile from the shore, and that, little in virtue 
 of its levity as drain air impregnated with com- 
 pounds of hydrogen, but whenever even a mode- 
 rate breeze may set against the mouths of the 
 sewers. 
 
 Let it be borne in mind that the length of a row 
 of ten wells with their connecting passages will not 
 exceed two hundred yards ; while the free way of 
 the wells is eight square feet, and of the passages 
 nearly four. At the same time, the wind-sails, or- 
 cowls, over each of the last wells, may be given 
 large dimensions, and be made duly conical, to re- 
 ceive the pressure of a large surface of wind ; and 
 
VENTILATING MACHINES. 149 
 
 this at a trifling cost, by constructing tliem of 
 bamboo frame-work covered with country matting. 
 
 It is questionable whether the resistance offered by 
 friction, in the passage of air through the small in- 
 terstices of tattees, does not much exceed any that 
 the well surfaces could offer. 
 
 Again, should any one imagine that the greater 
 specific gravity of the air, when cooled in the wells, 
 would offer too considerable a resistance to its dis- 
 placement, he is requested to bear in mind that any 
 force thus acting adversely is that only of the 
 difference between the weight of the column of air 
 pressed down the first, or cowled wells, and that 
 pressed up the last, or verandah wells ; for the in- 
 tervening eight wells form — every two of them — 
 syphons in which the columns balance each other. 
 Now, on calculation he will find that, supposing the 
 difference in the temperature of the two columns of 
 air in question — that in the first and that in the 
 last of each row of wells — should amount to thirty 
 degrees ; it will not, in a height of forty feet, pro- 
 duce a dift'erence of weight exceeding a pressure per 
 square foot of 0* 18 of a pound, or that of a gentle 
 breeze between five and six miles an hour. So that, 
 as far as this obstruction is concerned, a current of 
 wind at the latter pace would maintain a venti- 
 lation, and a breeze at eight miles an hour a rapid 
 one. When the wind was too feeble, if the pen- 
 dulum pump, " the Refrigerator," just described, 
 were employed to draw air through the wells, the 
 current must flow, however slowly it was oscillated, 
 and the hydrostatic pressure (if the term may be 
 
 and of the 
 density of the 
 cooled air. 
 
150 BRITISH AHMY IN INDIA. 
 
 used) would only amount to eleven pounds upon the 
 whole surface of a pendulum-frame eight feet each 
 way. 
 
 In this calculation the obstruction to the motion 
 of the current, arising from its density, has been 
 given credit for the whole condensing effect of a fall 
 of thirty degrees in the temperature, but this is 
 more than is due to it, for the air in passing the 
 wells will receive no small addition of aqueous 
 vapour. Now every pneumatician is aware that 
 the addition of aqueous vapour expands air so much 
 as to lessen its density appreciably. Since ten or 
 fifteen out of the thirty degrees of cooling may easily 
 result from evaporation in the wells, a portion of the 
 density due to this part of the cooling will be re- 
 duced by the expanding action of the vapour intro- 
 duced. Indeed, the subject may be placed in another 
 and striking aspect. Leaving out of the ques- 
 tion the main value of the well system— that of 
 bringing into play the heat-absorbing power of our 
 terrene mass, and viewing it as one of cooling by 
 evaporation only, it may be worthy of inquiry 
 whether it would not be better to send our air down 
 to cool itself spontaneously by the evaporation of 
 moisture from the bottom and sides of wells, than to 
 hoist up the water to be thrown into air, passing 
 tatties; since the former may be generally effected 
 by the wind alone, or somewliat aided by human or 
 other labour ; wliile the latter, viz., both the raising 
 and the sprinkling of the water, must at all times be 
 entirely effected by a large amount of labour and 
 vigilance. If desirable, when ventilating-machines 
 
VENTILATING MACHINES. 151 
 
 were needed, they might be worked by animal 
 (brute) power by means of " rigger " wheels exterior 
 to the barracks, or in their ground-floor ; bullocks 
 or " tattoos " (ponies) driving them, as horses do 
 thrashing-machines in England. But the labour of 
 coolies would be an expense too moderate to merit 
 any consideration. 
 
 As before stated, the wells would require no The weiu 
 
 ^ easy of con- 
 
 casing with masonrv, and below the water-level, onlv structiou and 
 
 ° ^ -^ ' -^ not too near 
 
 a few circles of the baked clay made for the purpose, to each other. 
 and procurable everywhere in Hindostan. The 
 horizontal passages between the wells, especially the 
 lower ones, where the soil was damp, would have to 
 be thus lined, but the cost would be trifling, and 
 would scarcely ever have to be renewed. It may 
 appear, at first sight, that wells only eighteen feet 
 apart would riddle the land too much for security ; 
 but there is no real ground for such an apprehen- 
 sion. Nothing is more common throughout the 
 well-irrigated districts, i. e., over three-fourths of 
 Hindostan, than to see several wells grouped to- 
 gether much nearer than that ; and not closed at top 
 and unused as those proposed for ventilating pur- 
 poses, but open to the weather, and with large 
 leathern bags of more than half their diameter — and 
 often squirting water against their earthy sides — 
 passing up and down them the whole day long. 
 
 The cheerful and healthy housing of troops, which atie'^indirect 
 has been so earnestly advocated and so fully de- p^ee^°^and 
 tailed, would prove conducive to the preservation of Wealthy hous- 
 
 ' ^ ^ ing 01 troops, 
 
 their health, not only directly, but to, perhaps, an 
 equal degree indirectly, by diminishing some of the 
 
152 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 chief incentives to intemperance — exhanstion, thirst, 
 discomfort, and sleeplessness. While in the still 
 more important question of their morals, and moral 
 example, any diminution in a debauchery which at 
 present appears to have no limits but those set by 
 coercion, would be cheaply purchased at any price. 
 
 ON THE LOCATING OF BEITISH TROOPS IN INDIA. 
 
 The first desire which naturally suggests itself to the 
 mind is, that the choicest climates which that conti- 
 nent affords, should, as far as political and military 
 considerations will permit it, be rendered available 
 for the residence of the European forces maintained 
 in India. 
 Importance Prom mv first landing in India I became, from 
 
 of an eai-ly re- •' ^ ' 
 
 movai of con- pecuHar circumstances, so extensively ena:aa:ed in 
 
 Talescents to a ■'■ ./ o o 
 
 temperate cu- the charge of European troops, that it required but 
 little discernment to perceive, in numerous instances, 
 that were an immediate removal to a temperate and 
 readily accessible climate practicable, before organic 
 disease was established through relapses, many a con- 
 stitution might not only be saved from destruction, 
 but become as well fitted to endure any necessary 
 residence in the plains of India, as if previous illness 
 had not occurred. 
 
 Availing myself of the opportunity, in medical 
 charge of the European troops at Kurnaul, I ob- 
 
LOCATING OF TROOPS. 153 
 
 tamed leave early in 1824, a year after my entering 
 the country, to visit the Himalayas, with the object 
 of studying the character of the climate. From dif- 
 ferent causes the climate at that time by no means 
 enioyed the repute it merited. Of the invalids who The authors 
 
 ''•'__ ^ visit to the 
 
 had visited it, most of them, instead of remain- Himalayas for 
 
 chmatic ohsor- 
 
 ing stationary at certain heights, had travelled vations. 
 through the lower ranges, and had, in two or three 
 instances, visited the higher. They had not, there- 
 fore, derived the benefit they might. More than 
 one instance had occurred of injury instead of benefit 
 having resulted from a visit to the Hills. There 
 also existed, against a residence at any height above 
 four thousand feet in the Gurwall Hills during the 
 . rainy season, a prejudice in which officers resi- 
 dent there partook so strongly, that for a time they 
 dissuaded some mutual friends from attempting 
 it. We remained, however, throughout a heavy 
 rainy season at Simla, at which spot there was then 
 but one house, and that never occupied in the rains. 
 Having made meteorological observations at various 
 heights and in valleys, from a low level up to more 
 than sixteen thousand feet, and having experienced 
 in the Hills a rainy season (undoubtedly the least 
 favourable part of the year) certain peculiar proper- 
 ties of the climate at suitable elevations presented 
 themselves to my view, which promised to give them, 
 as a temporary residence, a superiority, in some re- 
 spects, even over the climate of England ; and not to 
 interfere with their great comparative salubrity for 
 permanent residence. 
 
 Impressed with the peculiarity, the great interest, 
 
154 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Advantages and the importance of these properties of the cli- 
 
 of the climate ■■■ t i i -i i J 
 
 long neg- mate in their relation to medical philosophy, and 
 with the high claims with which they endowed it, 
 instead of the dubious reputation which had kept 
 it neglected for nine years since our acquisition of 
 the territory, I was led to condense my observations 
 
 The formation and to pubHsh them in an Essay,* which was circu- 
 
 of sanitary sta- _•"■ _ •iii • t i 
 
 tions lecom- latcd in all quarters in which the hope might be 
 
 mended in an . _ ^ c i • n • i i i 
 
 essay by the entertained that a useful influence might be exerted. 
 
 author in 1824. t r • c 'i-i. 
 
 A correspondence on the lormation oi military sani- 
 tary stations on the hills ensued with the different 
 medical and other authorities. Mr. Sandham, a 
 medical officer in H.M.'s service, of great ability, was 
 directed to select localities for stations, and visited 
 me on the subject. The opinion I ventured was that, 
 for sanitary stations the height should not be less 
 than 6000 feet, and should not materially exceed 
 7000. Simla appeared to me in several respects a 
 choice locality, — though, on account of the structure 
 of the mountain, and the effect of one of its spurs in 
 catching clouds and causing them to roll over the 
 ridge, I was not sure that even a better might not 
 have been selected. On the other hand, I thought 
 Landour higher than was desirable for a principal 
 station. Subsequent information confirmed my 
 opinion as to the best heights for chief stations ; but 
 led to the belief that for some cases of disease, and 
 for different stages of convalescence, in certain 
 instances, the climate of both less and greater alti- 
 tudes would be desirable. 
 
 Not only were sanitary stations formed shortly 
 
 * Apjie'ndix E. 
 
LOCATING OF TROOPS. 155 
 
 afterwards at desirable elevations, but in process of 
 time the Grovernment was led to perceive, I believe 
 through tlie judicious recommendations of Mr. Mar- 
 tin, that a portion of the troops in health might with 
 advantage be quartered in the hills, which has been 
 done for some years. 
 
 With convictions of thirty-four years' standinar . Reasons for 
 respecting the character of the climates of well- proportion of 
 
 7 7 • 1 . f T T Enropoans 
 
 selected spots m the mountain ranges of India deeply stationed in 
 impressed on my mind, both by an early theore- 
 tical view, which I believe to be sound, and by 
 the subsequent experience of thousands which has 
 confirmed it, it was impossible not to feel alarmed at 
 a recent report that hereafter the whole British force 
 would have to be stationed in the plains. I trust, 
 therefore, to be excused an intrusion into political 
 and military considerations which is unavoidable in 
 the endeavour to prove that a sanitary measure of 
 the greatest importance is not seriously opposed to 
 them.* 
 
 It is evident that if these considerations would The experi- 
 permit it, it would be indeed a happy measure for cent rebeiuou 
 all concerned, could the whole of the British soldiery able to it. 
 be stationed at elevations above five or six thousand 
 feet. Although this would be obviously inadmissible, 
 
 * Since this sheet was written I have heard with great satisfaction 
 that Mr. Martin has, with the merited weight of his authority in sanitary 
 affairs, brought the question prominently before the Court of Directors ; 
 and has shown, by elaborate proofs, that the advantages both in a financial 
 and political, as well as a humane point of view, of stationing even the 
 gi-eat bulk of the British forces at due elevations available in different 
 parts of India, would be signally great. I trust the hght in which the 
 question is placed in these pages may afford additional confirmation to this 
 important recommendation. 
 
156 BRITISH AKMY IN INDIA. 
 
 have the results of the rebellion been such as to 
 lead to the conclusion that not only an equal but 
 even a larger proportion of the European troOps than 
 hitherto could not with safety be stationed on hill 
 eminences? Surely not. Even in the recent un- 
 paralleled case of the totally unexpected mutiny of 
 the entire native army of Hindostan Proper, and 
 that at stations with, for the most part, open canton- 
 ments, the rebels have not had nerve to move with 
 any such concert and rapidity as would have pre- 
 vented any station in the western provinces from 
 receiving succour in good time, but for the disastrous 
 seizure of Delhi by them. 
 The deten- Had that misfortunc not overtaken the Grovern- 
 
 tion of the i i i r-i • ^ 
 
 British force ment, or had the (jrovernment, as in the case oi 
 
 before Dellii. • ■, r,r.r ■ ^ i 
 
 iihurtpoor m 1825, issued an announcement to the 
 eifect that, to avoid an exposure of its troops in the 
 worst season, the recapture would be postponed for 
 some months (whether such a decision would have 
 been politically • sound or not ; whether or not the 
 postponement would have exercised a worse influence 
 than remaining in front of the city several months 
 before capturing it), this at least is certain, that the 
 force there detained might in a few days have 
 rescued the Europeans of Futtehghur and Cawnpore, 
 disarming the troops ; and in a few more Lucknow 
 also, before any large adverse force was assembled 
 there : while smaller columns might have visited- 
 the stations in Rohilcund and the north of Oude 
 and thus have prevented the occurrence of nearly all 
 the massacres in that part of India, so dreadful in 
 themselves, and so damaging to the respect observed 
 
LOCATIXG OF TROOPS. 157 
 
 towards the persons of European officers, civil and 
 military, and their families. 
 
 It is not here proposed to raise the question 
 whether or not such would have been the more 
 desirable course, and whether the repeatedly occurring 
 defeats sustained by the rebels under the walls of 
 Delhi, in which they not only had a boundless supply 
 of artillery, but could always shelter their guns, 
 were comparable in effect with defeats where they 
 are drawn away from cover and invariably lose their 
 artillery and their baggage, but the question is 
 simply raised, whether it is not plain that a reserve 
 of British troops quartered in the nearest hills could 
 have arrived in aid of those distributed over the 
 subjacent plains in ample time to have rescued the 
 several stations in the late disaster, had circumstances 
 not led to the detention of the whole of the available 
 force before Delhi ? 
 
 Again ; without presuming to hazard a judgment gecurityofTnv 
 on a military question, it is impossible for any ob- ^^^l^ ^°^^^ 
 server of late events to be blind to the fact, that a fences. 
 small British force within a fortification of moderate 
 strength, and well provisioned, may set at defiance 
 the efforts of any number of natives during an inde- 
 finite period, and certainly until relief shall arrive 
 from the distance at which Hill residence may be 
 obtained from any part of the plains, especially if 
 such fortifications shall stand clear of buildings and 
 ravines which could give cover to an enemy near 
 enough to do injury by its missiles. 
 
 This leads us to an important sanitary inquiry. Cause of the 
 
 unhealthiness 
 
 The practice hitherto observed has been m general, of forts to bii- 
 
 ■'■ tisb troops. 
 
158 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 to destroy, and often to level to the ground, native 
 earth fortifications ; and in the case of the masonry 
 forts, majestic and venerable masses, while retaining 
 them, to quarter in them as few Europeans as pos- 
 sible, experience having proved them to be much 
 more unhealthy than open plains. Has not this, how- 
 ever, arisen from quartering troops in forts, according 
 to rule, as low as possible under the cover of the ram- 
 parts ? Were war in India the usual condition, and 
 peace the exception, the necessity of this would be 
 manifest ; but the objects for which India is held, 
 and the ability to hold it, require that a state of 
 defence, though a contingency it is of importance to 
 provide for, should be of very rare occurrence — so 
 rare that it should not enter as an element inter- 
 fering in the smallest degree with a sanitary housing 
 of the troops. 
 Remediable Now, if common mud walls, reared similarly to the 
 
 by a suitable . . 
 
 metbod of ramparts themselves, and of massive thickness, were 
 
 housing tbem. 
 
 run inwards from them as spurs parallel to each 
 other, at a distance of twenty feet or upwards apart, 
 and then connected by massive arches of burnt or 
 even of unburnt brick, they would afford over them 
 an extensive surface, which, being made level, might 
 form the floor of barracks on a level with the ram- 
 part or wall of the fort. Were properly solid bar- 
 racks of unburnt brick, solid against the climate, but 
 left to their fate in a siege from their exposed posi- 
 tion, erected on that base, and given a double roof 
 and the various other provisions for ventilation and 
 cooling already described, there would seem to be no 
 assignable reason why so well -raised and airy a 
 
LOCATING OF TROOPS, 159 
 
 habitation might not be as healthy as if it were witli- 
 out, instead of within, the defences. If an open plain 
 were preserved for a mile around, in a state of whole- 
 some cultivation, the main bazaar which grows up 
 round large stations being kept beyond that dis- 
 tance ; if only barrack and domestic servants were 
 allowed to reside within the fort, the various shop- 
 keepers and labourers coming in for the day to their 
 stores and occupations ; and if proper measures were 
 taken to guard against olfensive matter accumulating 
 in or near the fort, there would be good reason for 
 expecting that it would offer a far more healthy resi- 
 dence for troops than most of such cantonments as 
 I have known in India. 
 
 The spacious arches below the barracks mia-ht Provision for 
 
 -■- ° wholesome 
 
 serve various important purposes. In the ordinary granaries in 
 
 -'--'■•'- •' garrisons. 
 
 times of peace, some of them might be reserved for 
 use as military storehouses, others for granaries ; the 
 " bunniahs " who supplied the forces being required 
 to keep their grain stores in them. These corndealers 
 have the neighbouring " Zumeendars" commonly in 
 their debt for advances, and get possession of their 
 grain, which they bury in " khuttees" large pits dug in 
 the earth ten or twenty feet deep and lined with 
 straw and chaff. The corn is often seized, reaped, 
 and stored before it is fully dry, and is then not 
 easily brought up from the pits to be turned and 
 aired as often as it ought. Moreover, as these pits 
 are commonly in the open air, though they are dug 
 in the form of a dome, with small mouths like a kiln, 
 which are closed up with earth, there can be no 
 doubt that damp must often get into them. 
 
160 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 The grain in From sucti causes as these the wheat in military 
 
 military ba- . n • r> r u j-i. " 
 
 zaars often in- bazaars, when ground into all its forms oi atta, 
 " mieda," and " soojee," — coarse and fine flour, and 
 granulated wheat — is frequently of an inferior descrip- 
 tion. I have known it in military bazaars, musty 
 or sour for weeks together; so much so, that even 
 the high fermentation it undergoes under the in- 
 fluence of the "tarree" in being made into bread 
 will often fail to hide its defects. It is doubtless at 
 times sold in the military bazaars of a quality which 
 the Zumeendars would not themselves employ. 
 The impor- But if the com for the troops were stored in 
 
 tance of a con- ,.. 
 
 troi over its public warehouses, under the eye oi the authorities, 
 
 storing andse- . . , ,n , i i • 
 
 lection. it would be casy to see that none was housed m an 
 
 improper state. If instead of being buried under 
 ground in " khuttees " it were laid on mats raised on 
 a thick bed of straw in such warehouses ; and were 
 shut in by thick partitions lined with mats and 
 straw, and outside of these, by well fitted wooden 
 doors, so that it could be" easily turned and aired 
 in dry weather, can there be a doubt that the staff 
 of a garrison would be enabled to exercise much 
 more control than at present over the staff of life 
 which fed it ? When it is considered upon how 
 delicate a balance life hangs at times, how small a 
 cause will often turn the scale in favour of an 
 epidemic influence from which a body of men might 
 otherwise escape, and especially if, the epidemic being 
 cholera or dysentery, that cause entering in the food 
 acts upon the very organs prominently obnoxious to 
 attack, can there be a question that of all tilings the 
 wheat consumed should be known and watched from 
 
LOCATING OP TROOPS. 161 
 
 its reaping, if not also its planting, to its housing ? 
 Having been drawn into a digression upon food, I 
 am unwilling to omit an impression which may be 
 thought worthy of attention. The assessment paid 
 to collectors of revenue, especially at a distance from 
 the seats of chief consumption, is the product from 
 grain of which a portion is purchased again by the 
 government of the storing bunneahs, doubtless often 
 at double the price it yielded as revenue. Indeed, it . Superior 
 
 ^ '' ' grain prociira- 
 
 is often sold by the Zumeendar to the money-lender biecUrectfrom 
 
 ■' _ "^ _ _ the " Zumeen- 
 
 under circumstances of extortion, at a depreciation dars." 
 which is ruinous to him. To be ready with his rent 
 for the collector, he has often (doubtless from a 
 prevalent improvidence and parsimony combined) 
 to borrow the means from the " bunneah " at an 
 interest varying from thirty to sixty per cent, per 
 annum, or more, and, besides this, to sell his produce 
 to him in the unequal relative position of the debtor 
 to the creditor, who can, too often, almost make his 
 own terms. But this is not all ; to make sure of his 
 advances and usurious gains, the " hunneah" in the 
 dread lest some other claimant (perhaps the col- 
 lector's native agent seeking to recover some out- 
 standing arrears of revenue) may step in and secure 
 the crop before him, will enforce its being reaped 
 before it is fully ripe, and will carry it off and house 
 it in his khuttees before it has been properly dried. 
 
 Now, if the collector of revenue of a neigh- ^Throughthe 
 
 ' _ _ " Collectors of 
 
 bouring district were authorized to receive part of Eevenue. 
 his assessments in produce required for the troops of 
 a garrison, he could obtain it at a price far below that 
 paid for it in the military bazaar, and would at the 
 
 At 
 
162 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 same time relieve from a tyrannical oppression man;; 
 an unfortunate Zumeendar who would rejoice if h( 
 could but pay his rent in produce, and be then unde: 
 no compulsion to hurry it immatured oif the ground 
 The collector would be welcomed with proflfers o: 
 the choicest wheat in his district, to be selected bj 
 the commissariat officer. Whatever other obstacles 
 may exist to such a measure, to argue that it woulc 
 be an interference with trade, opposed to economica. 
 laws, would be one of those absurd objections, iv 
 reality meant only as stumbling-blocks, which 
 politicians of a certain stamp are ready to tliro"w 
 in the way of every proposed deviation from accus- 
 tomed routine. 
 Advantages Under the next head, the " Employment oi 
 ding arrange- Troops," the subject of their food may again be 
 state ^of siege! touched upon, when recreative and experimental 
 farms and gardens are mentioned ; but while here 
 advocating the locating of some of the British troops 
 at all European stations, within fortifications to secure 
 the possession of them, and thus to permit as large 
 a proportion of the European forces of the country 
 as possible to be stationed on mountain heights, on 
 the best elevations at command in the different presi- 
 dencies, it may be well to follow out the advantages 
 of the measures, here suggested, to a state of siege. 
 On the sudden occurrence of any outbreak, a fori 
 being possessed of granaries stocked at all times 
 with the choicest wheat, would only require coolies 
 and women enough to be detained with their 
 " chuckees," hand mills, for grinding it ; while the 
 greater part of the arched spaces would offer shelter 
 
LOCATING OF TROOPS. 163 
 
 to the garrison — quarters for them to descend into 
 from the exposed barrack above, which would be 
 left to suffer whatever it might from the enemy's 
 projectiles. The inmates of the arches below would 
 suffer nothing, though its thatch, and all else that 
 was combustible, should be burnt, and though its 
 walls should be battered down piecemeal and fall 
 as ruins upon the massive arches at their base. 
 Indeed, they would conduce to their protection by 
 breaking the fall of shot. 
 
 Recollecting the position of some of the European Troops quar- 
 barracks at Oawnpore, buried behind walls, and in forts should 
 the neighbourhood of foetid ravines and bazaars, advantagessu- 
 and also the interminable succession in all direc- in most cau- 
 tions of mud walls from eight to twelve feet high, °'^™*'° 
 I cannot believe that troops, quartered in the 
 manner described above, would not be much less 
 subject to epidemic cholera and other diseases 
 than those in some barracks at Cawnpore were. 
 Were there at every European station a mere earth- 
 work fortification of such a description as to offer 
 to a garrison as salubrious a residence as the plains 
 admit of, and were it preserved in readiness against 
 a siege, a small proportion of the whole European 
 force of the country might suffice for the temporary 
 protection of the plains. Recent experience would Eaiiways, 
 
 1 ^ • ^ 1 • ■ r ■ T • *^™ impor- 
 
 seem to place this beyond a question, even it implicit tance. 
 reliance should not be placed on the railway system, 
 when completed, for the rapid conveyance of troops. 
 The importance of railways to the government and 
 country at large is so great that the expenditure on 
 main lines is justifiably guaranteed by the State, 
 
 31 2 
 
164 
 
 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 even though none but those in the vicinity of the 
 Presidencies should pay as commercial undertakings. 
 The expenditure they involve is also, to a considerable 
 extent, of such a character that, if it were incurred by a 
 government which retained a control over the produc- 
 tive industry of a country, in the state of India, would 
 prove in reality an insignificant burden on it, and 
 altogether trifling when compared with the apparent 
 amount. This truth may be established, I believe, 
 on the soundest principles of fiscal and economical 
 science. As it is one of paramount importance 
 towards Indian progression, and is closely connected 
 with the question of transport and locomotion, I 
 have republished in the Appendix * portions of 
 papers in which it is fully discussed. 
 
 The invincibility by natives of small bodies of 
 British troops under any good cover behind a ram- 
 part, and fairly provisioned, does happily relieve the 
 question of stationing the bulk of our countrymen 
 on Hill eminences, of any absolute dependence on 
 railways ; for, most valuable as these must prove 
 on all ordinary occasions, the fact has to be kept in 
 view, that when the natives have become familiar 
 with them, it is impossible they should not in time 
 discern how easily communication by them may be 
 cut off. With a few bags of gunpowder sprung 
 under a line in half a dozen or a dozen places, 
 damage might be done in a few hours which it 
 Their liabi- would occupy weeks to repair. Moreover, not only 
 might large obstacles be laid in the way of trains 
 throughout a line, and be replaced as fast as they 
 
 * Appendix F. 
 
 An entire 
 dependence 
 on them not 
 neceasary. 
 
LOOATING OF TROOPS. 165 
 
 were cleared away, but an obstacle of a certain 
 description which could scarcely be observed might 
 be employed which would throw over a whole train 
 moving with any considerable speed. Entertaining 
 the highest opinion of railways for main lines, I 
 cannot but think, apart from political considerations, 
 that more encouragement than hitherto should be 
 also afforded to tramways. In a paper on the con- 
 struction of roads throughout India, published in 
 
 Calcutta in 1833, and signed " PhiloduS," I took Certain ad- 
 vantages , of 
 
 occasion to draw attention to means for producing tiamwaya. 
 artificial " metalling " for common roads, materials 
 for them being offered by nature but scantily in 
 most parts of the country. The cheapness of 
 English bar iron in India, which, carried out as 
 ballast, might at all times be obtained in Calcutta 
 or Bombay at its price in London, offers the means 
 for laying tramways which would greatly aid the 
 transport of produce, and would be available for 
 military purposes. If they were broken up by 
 an enemy at certain places, the vehicles on them 
 would be available on the surface of the land, 
 and could be drawn by extra aid round the da- 
 maged places on to the trams again ; or ' they might 
 be independent of them altogether. At present, 
 on all the country roads, bullocks are the cattle 
 employed ; the jolting of the poles of the carts 
 from the irregularity of the surface being such 
 as would destroy horses. But if good tramways 
 abounded, mules and "tattoos" (ponies) would be 
 more largely bred, as well as horses, and could 
 easily be exercised to a pace double that of bullocks. 
 
166 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Conceding then the objections which may be raised 
 against too absolute a reHance on " locomotive" rail- 
 ways, passing through a hostile country, not only 
 are the chances much in favour of the movement of 
 troops being aifected before hostile combinations have 
 advanced to the pitch of damaging them, but even by 
 the ordinary means of road travelling succour could 
 not fail to arrive before any such garrisons had to 
 capitulate, or were much straitened. 
 Eaviiies near Having mentioned the vicinity of ravines, it is, I 
 
 stations very ,,. .-, ,. .,., .,«. -, 
 
 objectionable, believe. Considered, m a military point oi view, unde- 
 sirable, since they afford shelter to an enemy. It 
 certainly is in a sanitary. The natives not using 
 privies, and having an aversion to them, always 
 speak of visiting the " maidan," the open plain, for 
 a natural purpose. On such a plain they ought by 
 their religion, following the example of some ani- 
 mals, to bury their dejections. But they are glad to 
 avail themselves of ravines which, near a populous 
 bazaar and the rendezvous of both sexes, become the 
 depositories of what more refined communities are at 
 such pains to carry off by sewers. 
 
 from the pu- There can be no doubt that, under the action of 
 
 trescent mat- . . „ , 
 
 ter accumuia- the Weather, a decomposition of such matters via siccd, 
 
 ting in them. i t f n i 
 
 and modined by earthy action, goes on, of a character 
 by no means so injurious in its products, as that 
 which takes place md humidd, and in the confine- 
 ment of cesspools and sewers. Nevertheless, in calm 
 weather, the body of stagnant air, entangled in the 
 recesses of a large ravine throughout a hot day, be- 
 comes charged with the gaseous products of putrefac- 
 tion in all its stages. As the night advances it is 
 
LOCATING OF TROOPS. 167 
 
 liable to be displaced by a colder and denser air from 
 an adjacent cultivated plain, which has cooled its 
 incumbent atmosphere much more by radiation, or to 
 be pressed upwards by a current of wind setting upon 
 the mouth of the ravine. This stratum of contami- 
 nated air, sometimes perceptibly so to the senses, will 
 then be rolled through the open doors of ground- 
 floor buildings to leeward and over the unconscious 
 sleepers they are filled with. In a struggle between 
 the vis vitce and any epidemic poison enjoying the 
 curriculum of the station at the time, which side such 
 contaminated air is likely to take can scarcely be a 
 matter of doubt, even with those who are prompt to 
 argue from their own " experience," — their own mer- 
 ciful exemption, — in favour of tempting Providence 
 by all manner of neglects. 
 
 Were vicinity to ravines as desirable for military 
 purposes as might be supposed from the position of 
 many stations, instead of being the contrary, as we 
 are informed, their lodgment of stagnant and often 
 very impure air, ready in store to be purveyed to 
 sleeping breathers around, would be quite enough to 
 demand the rejection of such localities where it was 
 practicable. Where ravines are found near existing 
 stations, and cannot be filled up, a preservation of 
 them in a state of cleanliness should be a point of 
 watchful attention. Any illicit deposits ought to be Bazaar pork, 
 
 . .. its abominable 
 
 immediately and scrupulously buried ; wliile " khu- character. 
 teets" pig-breeders, ought not to be permitted to 
 drive their filthy swine into them to exhume, par- 
 tially devour, and leave exposed noxious matter that 
 ought to have remained subjected to the disinfecting 
 
168 BRITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 power of earth. Neither should the pork of such 
 swine be vendible to European troops or their fami- 
 lies. It is true that, neglected as ravines now are, 
 these creatures surpass jackalls as scavengers, and 
 mitigate the evil in no small degree ; but it is to be 
 feared that, as neither Mussulmans nor Hindoos ex- 
 cept of the lowest castes will touch pork of any 
 kind, European soldiers are ignorantly amongst the 
 chief customers for this unwholesome and most dis- 
 gusting food. 
 
 On every account then, amongst others to cut oft 
 facilities for intemperance, as few other native resi- 
 dences as possible, besides those of servants, should 
 be permitted near European cantonments or forts. 
 Workmen, labourers, and dealers of all kinds should 
 live at some distance, though they might have shops 
 in an airy station bazaar, in each of which one per- 
 son only should remain at night. 
 
 It is pleasant to pass on from so uninviting a sub- 
 ject ; though on this account to neglect it, while con- 
 vinced of its importance, or to treat it lightly, would 
 be an unpardonable affectation. 
 Land under The character and state of the land round a station 
 
 a wholesome . „ • , ji • i i 
 
 cnitivationde- IS 01 morc importance than is by many supposed. 
 
 sirable round -»t i i i i • i • i 
 
 a station. JNot Only are swamps and low jungles m general 
 unhealthy, as is well known, but barren land be- 
 comes in the hot season, arid and intensely hot, ma- 
 terially increasing the heat of places to leeward of 
 it ; while in the rains it is commonly covered with 
 pools of water, rank with a transient vegetation 
 which decays on the spot afterwards. Whereas a 
 soil levelled, ploughed, and irrigated moderately from 
 
LOCATING OP TROOPS. 169 
 
 wells, bearing a " rubbee" grain cultivation in the 
 cooler months, which is cropped and carried off the 
 ground when it is ripe, and in the rains not allowed 
 to be planted with a " khurreef " crop of too high 
 and rank a growth (there being no want of plants of 
 a suitable character available and equally profitable), 
 will be found, I believe, so far as my opportunities of 
 judging authorize an opinion, not only the most 
 refreshing to the sight, but also the most salubrious 
 condition for land surrounding a station. 
 
 A high bank upon a large river is not an unde- Eiver-side lo- 
 sirable situation for a station, but much the contrary advantages'^''^ 
 under certain conditions. Such a river ensures some 
 motion in the atmosphere and certainly tempers its 
 heat ; but unfortunately rivers in India are so capri- 
 cious in their course, and often diverted from their 
 accustomed channel by such trifling causes, that the 
 largest river will not unfrequently desert a bank 
 under which it had flowed through successive gene- 
 rations, and cast up under it an extensive marshy 
 plain, sometimes of mud as well as sand, which may, 
 in that case, give growth to a vegetation causing its 
 vicinity to be very insalubrious. Such an island lay 
 off Patna, and is probably still there, rendering it, 
 doubtless, much less healthy than in earlier times 
 when the whole body of the river flowed by it. An 
 extensive plain of the same kind was also deposited 
 under Futtehgurh, which but a few years before had 
 the main stream of the Granges always flowing by it. 
 Fortunately that deposit was chiefly sand, and did 
 not therefore form so unwholesome a "teraie" (low 
 marshy groimd) as one of mud. Since the sinking of 
 
170 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 a boat, or of a tree, will in certain positions suflfice to 
 produce a set in a portion of the current wliicli by 
 degrees will cause a shifting of sand and formation 
 of a bank, ending in a lateral displacement of the 
 whole river, it is probable that by a watchful atten- 
 tion to the current above a station, at the rise and 
 fall of the river, much might be done to prevent its 
 departure from a desired course, and even to invite 
 it back where it has gone off, if aided by a skilful 
 imitation of such fortuitous causes of disturbance. 
 The vicinity Convenient as is a canal passing a station, observa- 
 jectionabie. tions made upon the effect of the Kurnal Canal, while 
 in charge of European troops there, and the known 
 effect of canals in all countries, have long convinced 
 me that they should not in India be brought too 
 near stations at which any Europeans reside. This 
 is, I believe, the opinion of medical officers generally; 
 and I supposed, until lately, it had been of late years 
 Although they generally acted upon by the government. Having 
 value to the been amongst the earliest and most strenuous advo- 
 counry. gatcs of canals in India, jointly for irrigation and 
 
 navigation — for the latter both for the economical 
 ti'ansport of produce and merchandise, and to ensure 
 their not being drained low for irrigating purposes, 
 and thereby aggravating their unavoidable unwhole- 
 someness by exposing humid and weedy banks to the 
 sun and air — I would regret to appear indifferent 
 to their importance. They who may have favoured 
 with a perusal papers published by me in different 
 journals, between twenty and thirty years ago, on the 
 improvement of the resources and industry of India, 
 in which the subjects of irrigation and means of 
 
PRESERVATION OF THE SOLDIER'S CHILD. IVI 
 
 transport were especially discussed, and the results of 
 certain experiments and inquiries detailed, will not 
 imagine that in deprecating the approach of canals, 
 and especially of canal basins, to European stations, I 
 would depreciate their great, nay indispensable ad- 
 vantages. It is, on the contrary, a cause of satisfaction 
 to me to think that in putting before the authorities 
 in India and at home, more especially before Lord 
 William Bentinck, who paid much attention to them, 
 the result of inquiries from time to time, I may have 
 taken some part in paving the way towards the recep- 
 tion of Sir Proby Cautly's plans for the construction 
 of the Dooab and other canals, which have been 
 perfected with an ability and success which must 
 place his name in a high position amongst those 
 whose deeds prove the inestimable advantage to 
 India of her connexion with Britain. 
 
 THE PRESERVATION" OF THE SOLDIER S CHILD. 
 Whether the Government shall decide upon adopt- a question 
 
 , , 111 -11 1 , ■ that cannot be 
 
 mg the humane and well-considered recommendation longer de- 
 of Mr. Martin, that the great bulk of the European 
 forces in India should henceforth be stationed on the 
 hill eminences most accessible from the subjacent 
 plains to be protected or overawed, or whether the 
 expediency of keeping the troops on the spot shall be 
 viewed as the paramount consideration, the preserva- 
 tion of the children of the soldiery, by rearing them 
 in a congenial climate, is a question which cannot 
 longer remain in its present position. 
 
 The opportunity of pleading the claims of these 
 
172 
 
 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 The rearing hapless children cannot be neglected by one who, 
 a healthy cii- from the first hour he had to witness their sufferings 
 
 mate an indis- . . . 
 
 pensabie duty, and fate, has felt deeply and painfully impressed with 
 the existence of a solemn duty in relation to them, 
 unrecognized and therefore unfulfilled. The children 
 of the soldiery of European blood, if retained in India, 
 ought all of them to be reared on the Himala, Neil- 
 gherry, and similar hills affording elevations not 
 under five thousand, and where available of six or 
 seven thousand, feet. The children might be brought 
 down once a year, during the two coldest months, to 
 visit their parents. Should anyone object that such 
 care of their children would entail too heavy an expense 
 on the Government ; the proper reply to him would 
 commence with the generous old English maxim, sadly 
 ignored by economists in these days, " Hve and let 
 XJngeneroug live." " Your objection, if valid, would prove India 
 
 objections to it ... - , . 
 
 answered. indeed not worth its tenure ; a due preservation of the 
 
 families of those without whom you could not hold it 
 
 a day forming a claim upon its revenues anterior in 
 
 Soldiers' ehu- moral right to every other." Few children of pure 
 
 dren all swept ..,-_ . . . 
 
 away by death. Jtljnglisn blood cau DC reared m the plains oi India, 
 and of that few the majority have constitutions which 
 might cause them to envy the lot of those who die in 
 their childhood. The mortality of barrack-children 
 is appalling, especially in the months of June, Sep- 
 tember, and October. At Cawnpore from twenty to 
 thirty have died in one month. In short the soldiery 
 leave no descendants of unmixed blood. Of the half 
 million of soldiers who have gone out to India, where 
 are all their legitimate descendants of pure English 
 blood, who by this time would have multiplied into a 
 
PRESERVATION OF THE SOLDIER'S CHILD. 173 
 
 numerous population if born in New Zealand, Ca- 
 nada, or Oregon, reciprocating industrial advantages 
 with the mother country of their parents, how much 
 more secure and durable than the military tenure of 
 India can ever yield ? Let myriads of feeble voices 
 from little graves scattered throughout her arid 
 plains supply the melancholy answer — " here ! " 
 
 But there are those who will further object — " If we . other ob- 
 
 if-T- 111 T jeetions an- 
 
 do rear these families into adults, what are we then to swered. 
 do with them ? " Were it allowable to rest a reply upon 
 so low a moral ground, it might be argued that the 
 males might all be employed with advantage in the 
 service by enlistment into the army, and admission 
 into subordinate posts in the civil departments of the 
 government ; while the females would be provided 
 for as wives to them and to soldiers who have not 
 brought out wives from England." But the more 
 rightful reply is — " If that be your objection, it ought 
 to have been weighed before their parents were 
 invited out to a climate in which the Creator mani- 
 festly never intended their offspring should be 
 reared ; the physical laws He has established, and 
 will not, to destroy human responsibility, enact a 
 miracle to counteract, being fatally opposed to it ! " 
 " If that be an objection, it ought to have been 
 weighed before we took upon ourselves to hold sway 
 over the country." " If that be an objection, it is more The infanti- 
 
 cide of the 
 
 valid in the mouth of the Hindoo, far poorer than the Hmdoo not 
 
 . . . . , more indefen- 
 
 government, who, by the law against mianticide, has sibie. 
 been restrained from a summary corrective in his own 
 case, of this trouble of providing for children — a cor- 
 rective which, though awful to contemplate, is, when 
 
174 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 viewed in tlie light of humanity and reason and not 
 of custom, scarcely more indefensible than the pro- 
 tracted liquidation, equally certain in the result, of 
 each generation of the infant life in question — than 
 the accumulation of suffering entailed on each victim 
 and on its sorrowing parents (where they have not 
 grown callous in their hopelessness) by the detention 
 of these little ones in the plains of India, in the face of 
 all experience!!" * Is there a " commissioned " or " co- 
 venanted " parent in India who could tolerate his 
 position if he were compelled to keep his children 
 there to sicken, to decline, and to die before his eyes, 
 excepting here and there one with a tenacity to life 
 or -a natural vigour enabling him to be reared into a 
 miserable representative of the parent stock ? 
 The path of The case is clear. All difficulty in the question will 
 
 duty plain. . . . _ _ "^ ■'■ 
 
 vanish directly it is perceived that to question the 
 practicability of doing that which is necessary for pre- 
 serving the lives of the European offspring of soldiers 
 in India is to question the expediency of retaining 
 possession of the country ; directly it is perceived that 
 this is in all right and duty amongst the very first 
 charges upon the revenues of India ; most assuredly 
 prior to the payment of the second moiety of the 
 
 * Since these pages were writteii for the press, public attention has been 
 drawn, at the recent meeting to do homage to the character of that great 
 and good man, Sir Henry Lawrence, to his humane and munificent effort 
 to provide for rearing the children of European soldiers in the climate of 
 the Hills. Were no other act associated with his memory this alone should 
 immortalize it. Scarcely less grateful was the announcement that the 
 Court of Directors had, in the midst of the present straits, afforded the 
 maintenance of the institution founded by him their attention and support. 
 The pecuniary vote in aid of it is most gratifying ; not on account of the 
 amount, for that is trifling, but as an incipient recognition of a dutj"-, the 
 complete fulfilment of which it is impossible should long be delajed. 
 
RECEEATIVE EMPLOYMENT OP THE SOLDIER. 175 
 
 salaries of the " covenanted " servants of the Grovern- 
 ment, from the supreme functionary down to all above 
 subalterns at the least ; not that a charge amounting 
 to less than one per cent, on the revenue would 
 involve with it any such necessity. 
 
 In a word, it were better for themselves these hap- 
 less children were passed through the fire to Moloch, 
 at their birth, than left, as at present, immolated in 
 the furnace of India to Mammoist.* 
 
 THE EEOEEATIVE EMPLOYMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 
 
 The opportunity is not to be neglected of saying The dia- 
 
 ,. -I • • • T • ^ •/ o heartening 
 
 something on this important question, which may prove eharaoter of 
 a seed dropped by a chance hand, but in a kindly soil, India. 
 — a hint acceptable to authorities so desirous of the 
 soldier's welfare as are those severally charged with 
 the care of Her Majesty's forces. For the present, 
 indeed, the contention and fatigues of war are af- 
 fording them occupation more than enough, and of a 
 kind which every one must lament. But it is to be 
 hoped that all active ebullitions of the natives will 
 be quenched by two years of chilling defeats ; and 
 then will recommence the dull routine of barrack 
 imprisonment, objectless and hopeless, with its ennui, 
 intemperance and, at times, even despair ! If any one 
 would see a picture of the gnome Ennui reigning ab- 
 solute, not even the descriptive power of the poet 
 Spenser will so well supply it, as the scenes within 
 a barrack-compound in India, surrounded or not by 
 
 * Appendix G. 
 
176 BRITISH ARMY .IN INDIA. 
 
 a hot and dull mud wall. There is life there truly, 
 for there is respiration, and perspiration enough ; but 
 life — a blank ! Eyes looking upon nothing — minds 
 caring for little and hoping less — thoughts of home 
 long suppressed ! 
 Eegimentai In its solicitous care the Indian Grovernment has 
 
 liDrai'ies, their 
 
 value but in- supplied its European troops with reading-rooms, 
 and, I believe, very suitable libraries (and a great 
 boon they are to some). But no small portion of the 
 soldiery are drawn from the village labourers of Eng- 
 land, who are barely fed up to the working-point, and, 
 working as they do, not to the reading-point also.* 
 
 owing to the jf a,ny one should weigh the English village la- 
 scanty diet ■' t> & o 
 
 and hard work bourer's bread and cheese for the day (he gets 
 
 of the English _ ... 
 
 labourer. nothing elsc), and, estimating it as fuel, should 
 set against it his daily work, valued in numbers of 
 pounds raised one foot high per pound of fuel con- 
 sumed by him, it will, I think, be found that his food, 
 measured only as a driving power to his muscles, 
 beats the work done by the fuel in the best steam- 
 The brain engine altogether. Measured by the price of food in 
 
 occupied pri- , . . , 
 
 mariiyinmain- each country, his IS perhaps the cheapest human la- 
 animai funo- bour in the world — cheaper than most labour in India 
 even. Again, the primary function of the human 
 brain corresponds with the whole duty nearly of the 
 brain of animals — that of giving nervous action to the 
 organs and muscles ; and how large a share nervous 
 energy has to do with muscular action may be seen 
 by comparing together the slender muscle of the 
 
 * If my reader should demur to the following views on account of their 
 apparent peculiarity, he is invited to bring them to the test of physiology 
 and experience. 
 
RECREATIVE EMPLOYMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 177 
 
 blood-horse, with its amazing strength, and the 
 bulky muscle of the cart-horse, so far inferior in 
 comparison. 
 
 Now the food of the English labourer is so scanty And mainly 
 for the work done, that, after the waste and wear of the m-fed la- 
 his muscles and the rest of his system have been land. 
 replaced, together with his animal heat, the portion 
 available for generating nervous energy or matter 
 (which you will), or both, is well nigh used up in 
 maintaining the animal function of driving his 
 muscles. The poor labourer has inherited a brain 
 for some generations fed barely enough to support one 
 class of functions only, either the intellectual or the 
 animal, while it has been trained entirely into the 
 latter ; it has therefore naturally acquired by degrees 
 more of a caballine nature. A great deal of diet has 
 to be broken up by the digestive organs to supply 
 the vital electricity * of the brain. With a limited 
 supply of food, or a limited digestive power, you may 
 have an Anglo-Saxon hedger and ditcher with a dull 
 intellect, or you may have a feeble-bodied philosopher 
 with a powerful one. You may, by training either 
 an animal or an intellectual organization of brain 
 through successive generations, or by searching out a 
 brain spontaneously organized either one way or the 
 other, command either much muscular or much in- 
 tellectual action, supported on a restricted amount of 
 food or of digestive power. But you cannot take it and muscular 
 out both ways. Where you have exercised, for any combinecT le- 
 length of time, both large muscular and large Intel- ti^ai diet!""' 
 
 * Accept the term hytrothetically or supply a better. 
 
178 BEITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 lectual power in the same person, you must have 
 a proportional diet well digested. 
 
 An undergraduate reading for honours must, even 
 though sedentary, be a fair eater, or he will ere 
 long be used up and grow consumptive. Many 
 a strong stomach has won for its possessor high 
 honours, and a weak one lost them. If a man pur- 
 sues hard reading and athletic exercises at the same 
 time, he must eat as much as two ordinary men, or 
 endanger the giving way of his body or his brain, 
 or of both. 
 
 The ill-fed Celt, so long as he is too lazy even to 
 enclose his cabbage-garden and improve his cabin, is 
 wondrously sharp in his intellect. 
 Muscular in- Place in a school together a certain number of such 
 
 dolence Ire- " 
 
 quent with Celtic boys, an equal number of still lazier Bengallees, 
 
 IUlCUOCIjUEII 
 
 sharpuess. and of our village youth of England, with their 
 hereditary muscle-driving brains, and you may pre- 
 dict for a certainty that the Bengallees will be at the 
 top, the Celts next, and the laborious Angles at the 
 bottom. Tempt the Celt to change his occasional 
 outbursts of exertion into the unremitted daily toil of 
 the navigator or hodman, and within a generation or 
 two the shine will be taken out of his intellect, 
 especially if it is not polished up with plenty of 
 strong food. 
 Cause of the Hence the general dullness of their villaare boys, 
 
 dullness of • ^^ c ? & ./ ' 
 
 English vii- especially 01 the strong ones, which perplexes and 
 sorely tries the worthy country clergymen and 
 schoolmasters of England. If they could persuade 
 the landlords and the farmers, between them, tc 
 spare the labourer such a reasonable share of the 
 
RECREATIVE EMPLOYMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 179 
 
 fruits of the earth as to feed the intellectual as well 
 as the animal functions of his brain, he would in a 
 few generations, be unsurpassed amongst races in 
 vigour both of body and of mind. At present he 
 and his children have not diet enough to support 
 the animal functions alone in any degree of vigour. 
 Since his vocation — labour — appropriates for their 
 sustentation his scanty diet, his intellect is well nigh 
 starved. 
 
 Enlisted as a soldier, there are, during times of o^a^^atiou^ 
 peace, both an end of the labourer's toil, and an "^a^'^g^'^'^ 
 improvement in his diet in India ; but a hereditary 
 organization cannot be changed in a day. So given 
 to muscular action had he been by nature, that at 
 the end of a long day of toil, as a labourer in Eng- 
 land, you might have seen him of an evening, hy 
 way of relaxation — lying at his length and reading a 
 book ? No, but playing at bowls, skittles, or even 
 cricket ! When you shut him up in a barrack in 
 India and give him books, treat him however kindly 
 you may, he chafes from inaction. He would be 
 happy to learn to make the paper of your books, 
 to print them, press them, bind them, pack them, 
 carry them, and do anything but read them. Excep- 
 tions of course there are ; men whose brains would 
 not generate toil-energy alone, but were apter for 
 intellectual. Some of these have sought the greater 
 leisure of military life. Invite in more of such 
 minds by promising them full play, and your ranks 
 will be greatly improved, and will supply you with 
 mighty commanders, if you will love war. 
 
 But it is not the mere labourers only to whom mus- 
 
 N 2 
 
180 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Manual as cular action is as their second nature. Artizans, 
 
 well as mental 
 
 occupations for the most part, love sucli exercises of tne 
 
 desirable for . . . 
 
 the soldier. intellect as have their expression m manual ones. 
 Such being the case, would it not prove greatly 
 conducive to the happiness, contentment, orderly con- 
 duct, sobriety, and health of the soldiery, to offer them 
 manual occupations of all such kinds in the hotter 
 months as could be pursued under shelter, and did 
 not require the use of fuel, and in the cold season 
 invigorating occupations out of doors, together vsdth 
 such as had to be conducted with open fires or with 
 furnace heat ? 
 Workshops Supposing the barracts to be built in the manner 
 already suggested, and the ground-floors not used for 
 government stores, they might then be employed 
 as workshops for the men, and their verandahs as 
 tennis-courts and bathing-rooms ; but the latter 
 opened only for bathing at stated times. Most 
 workshops it would however be preferable to place 
 on a raised floor in all parts of India where malaria 
 prevails, especially in all East of Chunar. 
 The profit From the value of the articles the soldier pro- 
 
 be°kid by" for duced, the Government might deduct the cost of 
 the materials and tools, and give him credit for the 
 balance, which might be laid by for him as an addi- 
 tion to his future pension. Few English soldiers 
 would sit idle with such opportunities for action before 
 them. But, even if the materials had to be charged 
 at less than their cost, or at a nominal price, in order 
 to produce a balance encouraging habits of occupa- 
 tion, contentment, and sobriety, what would it matter ? 
 India may well be charged a trumpery burden of a 
 
RECREATIVE EMPLOYMENT OP THE SOLDIER. 181 
 
 few lacs a year to render life in her sweltering lap 
 tolerable to the brave fellows whose presence is her 
 only safeguard from intestine commotions and from 
 being racked by an ill-bred progeny, gnawing out the 
 vitals of their mother country ! 
 
 But if the occupations were beneficial to the sol- Measures 
 diery themselves they might be rendered no less so such'^^'occupa^ 
 to the country, provided some such measures were ciaraiso'tcTtiie 
 adopted as those laid by me before the Grovernor- ''ogedTn isss 
 General in 1833 and 1834. and i834. 
 
 I had had opportunities of noting that a consider- 
 able proportion of the soldiery had, through ap- 
 prenticeship, a practical acquaintance with the ordi- 
 nary chemical, mechanical, and rural arts of England — 
 information which, if it could be imparted to the 
 natives, could scarcely fail, by improving their 
 processes, to increase employment and wealth, and 
 thus to relieve the land of multitudes teeming upon 
 it unproductively, and thereby leave a wider rent- 
 margin for the state.* It was evident that for 
 one soldier who would sit all day in a regimental 
 library there were five who would rejoice in the 
 instinctive union of hand with head work, in 
 amusing themselves with processes which reminded 
 them of home, and in the honest pride of imparting 
 
 * In the autumn of 1835 a series of papers by the author was published 
 in the Asiatic Journal for that year. It is believed that a perusal of them 
 would not be without interest to the reader who is desirous of studying 
 the resources of industry in India, and of penetrating somewhat more 
 deeply into the land revenue question than the many (even amongst the 
 friends of the Government) who imagine that one-third or even one-half of 
 the produce is absorbed as rent. That 10 or 15 per cent, is the outside 
 that is, or can be, taken throughout the Bengal presidency, is in those 
 lepers pro\HHl, it is believed, incontestably. 
 
182 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 instruction to others. I had twice obtained soldiers 
 on leave of absence for experiments, and shall never 
 forget the enjoyment they manifested at a return to 
 familiar thoughts and actions. After having devoted 
 attention to the native arts with a view to their im- 
 provement, I became convinced that excellent results 
 would flow from blending European and native pro- 
 cesses in the arts, and from sending forth thousands of 
 lads of those low-c-d.stes (by far the most hopeful 
 portion of the population) well instructed, and deeply 
 indebted to the " Ferringhee." 
 
 The following is a copy of one of the papers sub- 
 mitted to the Governor-G-eneral in Calcutta upon this 
 subject. The proposal has reference to such mecha- 
 nical and chemical arts as could be conducted on the 
 small scale suited to native resources, and by the aid of 
 soldiers and Chinamen of certain trades who would 
 bring European and some Chinese experence to bear 
 upon them under the guidance of men of science. 
 
 Paper on A Proposal for the Sstablishment of Schools of the Useful Arts 
 
 M'Trtsf p?^ ^* *^^ *^ ^ar^fer Stations of the Army ; as a recreative em- 
 
 sented to Go- floyment for the British Soldiery, and for the training and 
 
 1834!"'"^* ™ instruction of Native Youths in the path of industrial 
 
 progress. 
 
 Fort William, Calcutta, March 8th, 1834. 
 It is said, and the estimate I fear is a low one, that the mor- 
 tality of our European Corps during peace amounts in ten years to 
 the whole strength of the regiment upon its landing in India, and 
 that amongst men in the prime of life. So that if the coi-ps 
 landed 1000 strong, 1000 men will die or be constitutionally de- 
 stroj^ed in ten years. At lOOZ. per man, the lowest assumed rate, 
 this amounts to one laqk of rupees, ia each corps per annum. In 
 two months at Cawnpore a corps has I believe lost 100 men.* 
 
 * 100 by death, in two months, out of about 600, in the quiet times of 
 peace ! Not a usual occurrence, of course. 
 
EBCREATIVE EMPLOYMENT OF THE SOLDIBB. 183 
 
 Tlie mortality amongst the European soldiery has hitherto been 
 the most grievous contingency upon the tenure of India, and it is 
 too well known that it is greatly aggravated by drunkenness, 
 which, although our nation's vice, would not prevail to so serious 
 an extent were the active spirits and energy of Englishmen af- 
 forded a field for their exercise. It is a life of absolute idleness, 
 worse to a spirited Englishman than the prospect of death, which 
 makes any extremity often preferred by a soldier to a conti- 
 nuance in his present state. They who have the most mind 
 and spirit, who are the farthest removed from Eastern apathy, 
 can least endure that dormant state which is one of bliss to the 
 native. 
 
 In its desire to meliorate their condition, the government has 
 given libraries to most corps, and built reading rooms, finished 
 in an inviting manner. All the good perhaps has resulted from 
 this measure which could in reason be expected from it. But it 
 has always appeared to me that far more would have resulted from 
 employments more suited to the habits and condition in life of 
 the men — so as to put the limbs'in motion as well as the mind. 
 At Cawnpore in 1825, I hoped to have persuaded the General 
 Officer commanding there to propose the trial of a regimental 
 workshop for the amusement of the soldiers ; all the money 
 realized by the sale of the products of their labour being laid 
 up for the supply of reasonable wants for them and for their 
 families. 
 
 I would now propose the following plan. In order to com- 
 mence with every advantage, let the one of the European corps 
 at Meerut, Agra, or Cawnpore, be selected which, upon iaquiry, 
 shoiild be found to contain the largest number of artizans — so re- 
 cently from England as to retain their dexterity in their respec- 
 tive arts. A common " kutcher " but spacious building, with a 
 double tiled roof, should be erected sufficiently near to the bar- 
 racks. The building should afford a large empty space divided 
 into portions, one for each trade, and each man should have his 
 own space. 
 
 As ingenuity and originality do not prevail more among artizans 
 than amongst other men, most of them would be puzzled how to 
 apply the means of the country to their arts, and how to reduce 
 the processes they have practised on a large, to the small scale, 
 upon which they ought to work. They would therefore require 
 the guidance of science and origiual resources ; and since the 
 Chinese, though altogether far behind the artizans of England, 
 
i 84 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 are habituated to a style and scale of work which would suit well 
 the natives of India, the aid of their experience would be very- 
 desirable. Expert Chinamen, one for each art, ought to be pro- 
 cured, selected from amongst a number on account of their iatel- 
 ligence. 
 
 The arts which would soon spring up from the combination of 
 such means, ought to form a school admirably calculated for work- 
 ing a considerable change in the native arts of iadustiy. Each 
 European should have from 6 to 12 boys to assist him as appren- 
 tices, of the castes correspondiag with their respective trades. 
 The uneducated native is of so childish and suspicious a disposi- 
 tion, that som& finesse would be required at the commencement to 
 induce parents to view the employment for their children in the 
 light of a favour. At the same time it might be well to allow the 
 smaller boys two pice a day, and the larger ones three, for their 
 support, to be paid out of the proceeds of their labour. Of the 
 money realized by the sales of the manufactures, after deducting 
 the price of the materials, the net proceeds should be lodged in a 
 saviags' bank. Two thirds might be placed at the credit of the 
 soldier, and the other third should also accumulate as stock from 
 which to supply the youths whose period of apprenticeship was 
 completed, with tools, and means for com.mencing at their homes 
 the new arts they had learnt. It might be well to make it a mat- 
 ter of some little trouble to get a child into the establishment, by 
 requiring that evidence should be given of the parents' good cha- 
 racter, &o. &c. And, for effect, he might hold an admission 
 ticket bearing some imposing device and inscription, to give it a 
 character of importance. Upon the first school promising to an- 
 swer, one at least should be established at all stations where there 
 are European corps. Thus, in time, into every province would 
 be introduced new arts, and improvements in existing ones, con- 
 ducted in a manner eminently calculated for developing the 
 resources and increasing the wealth of India. 
 
 Let me particularly remark upon the gi-eat advantage of 
 placing boys imder an active European. The natives have 
 not many opportunities of witnessing activity, or of learning 
 what may be effected by steady exertion, and the ease with 
 which it is acquired by habit. There can be little doubt that tlie 
 soldiers would take much interest in the workshops, and it is a fact 
 that they and the natives, after an intimacy is formed, agree re- 
 markably well with each other. It would not be too much to 
 hope, that amongst the soldiers who thus acquired steady habits 
 
RECREATIVE EMPLOYMENT OP THE SOLDIER. 185 
 
 from the time of their landing in India, the mortality might he 
 greatly reduced ; perhaps by one half. Should any saving of life 
 approaching to this be effected — waiving the much higher con- 
 sideration of humanity, there can be little doubt that the money 
 saved by lives preserved, would go far to pay the cost of the 
 establishment. A few lives saved per annum in a regiment 
 might repay all the balance of expenses over proceeds of a large 
 polytechnic school established in this manner. If in time a great 
 work were not done in India by these means, under scientific 
 guidance well applied, I would despair of any important change 
 being effected by any other that could be proposed, except indeed 
 by a certain system of economical policy on an extended scale, 
 which might work a change in India so vast and so rapid that at 
 present it would appear to most persons folly even to imagine it. 
 
 Julius Jeffreys. 
 
 Without enterina: into any detail of the various ^ ^he art of 
 
 ° •' turning ; its 
 
 mechanical, and of certain chemical arts which important aj 
 
 ... vantages to 
 
 might with advantage he practised as an interesting the soldier 
 occupation for the soldiers, there is one art in par- 
 ticular, which is of such general application, and 
 affords such healthy and entertaining exercise, that to 
 omit to specify it would seem an oversight. That 
 art is turning. It is an art which any man may 
 learn, and at which by practice many would acquire 
 a dexterity which would render it fascinating to 
 them. It has the great advantage of giving exercise 
 of a moderate kind to the whole body without pro- 
 gression, and therefore of requiring but little space. 
 The useful products of even the simple lathe of one 
 movement, are various ; and when other " move- 
 ments" are added, and the tools handled with any 
 skill, the lathe becomes the universal agent and type 
 of mechanical progress in a country. 
 
 The soldiery, imprisoned by the sun, would soon and the pubuo 
 learn to produce, and rejoice to produce, almost 
 
186 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 everything, not weighty, required for the public ser- 
 vice. Though its apparent cost, on their being paid 
 liberally for the work, should be double the trade 
 prices of England, the virtual cost would be nothing, 
 or rather a negative charge through the mere saving 
 of human waste, resulting from their improved health 
 Also to raU- and habits. Eailways could give employment to an 
 ^^^^ ' army of turners, the nicest and most expensive part 
 
 of the " rolling stock" being the product of the lathe. 
 For all heavy turning, the revolution might be given 
 by prisoners (always abounding) at treadmills ; or 
 by coolies, or through shafts from steam-engines 
 placed at a sufficient distance to prevent any commu- 
 nication of heat from them, 
 and eapeciaiiy To native art, the sending forth of lads — the sol- 
 
 to the natives. -,. , , . , . , ■ n • , i j> _li 
 
 diers native apprentices, — trained m the use oi tne 
 Native turn- ]athe would be invaluable. All native turning is 
 
 lug very defec- _ 
 
 tive. performed in the rudest manner by a cord wound 
 
 round the suspended matter to be turned, and pulled 
 backwards and forwards, giving it a reciprocating 
 motion like a drill. Half the time, therefore, it is 
 rotating backwards, during which the tool is not 
 acting on it ; while there is a constantly repeated 
 loss of power in stopping and restoring its mo- 
 mentum. When a heavy mass has to be turned, 
 even of the working stroke one half of the run is 
 lost before it has sufficient momentum to admit of the 
 tool being applied to it with any effect. Hence the 
 turning of the " girrees" large pulleys, used at the 
 wells for irrigation, is a serious matter, and is seldom 
 done with any accuracy. These pulleys continue to 
 be used as long as they will hang upon the spindle, be- 
 
EECREATIVE EMPLOYMENT OF THE SOLDIEE. 187 
 
 coming often at last a ring of wood, with a bore worn 
 to three or four inches, grating round a fixed spindle of 
 three-fourths of an inch ! The power wasted through 
 imperfect well-pulleys, throughout Hindostan, would 
 probably be much under-estimated at a cost of 
 100,000^^. a-year. As to native iron turning, the 
 Englishman who would discipline his mind to patient 
 endurance could not do better than put himself in a 
 position to witness, pay, and wait for the process 
 and its product. 
 
 The government works in India have diffused skill 
 amongst the workmen in their vicinity ; but appren- 
 tice lads sent forth annually from every station, who 
 had never fallen into the rude and indolent practices 
 of the country, and who carried out with them lathes 
 of their own making, and other tools, would establish 
 an improved system throughout the country with 
 a hundred-fold greater rapidity. 
 
 Serviceable lathes can be obtained by contract at 
 so moderate a price, that if they were supplied from 
 England, the cost of providing every willing soldier 
 with one ought to prove no obstacle whatever. But 
 through the aid of a few skilled turners at a station, 
 each good lathe could soon be made to generate a 
 dozen like itself; so that eventually all the lathes 
 used by the soldiers and their apprentices might 
 be made on the spot ; the mere castings being sent 
 from England. 
 
 Next to the lathe, the fly* press is an instru- t^^ p^„^^. 
 ment most needed in India. Riveted spheroidal S^i^portf^ce! 
 boilers of various sizes are employed in numbers 
 to be estimated in all India by myriads, or even 
 
188 BRITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Native 1)011- millions. The punchina: and rivetins' of the scales 
 
 era worthless J- ° . 
 
 through bad of which they are formed, leave to native iron turn- 
 
 puaomng. _ •' 
 
 ing even, the palm of comparative excellence. The 
 waste of the liquor in sugar, salt, and salt-petre 
 making, and the delays attending the removal of 
 the '^keraees," boilers, for a repeated plugging of the 
 irregular holes with a cement of almond, sugar, flour, 
 and clay, which is soon burnt out again, forms a 
 serious part of the cost of these manufactures * as 
 conducted by the natives. 
 
 Since a perfectly serviceable fly press may be 
 made with a framing of wood,f only a little nice 
 metal turning and drilling — all lathe work — would 
 be needed for introducing into India generally, the 
 instrument, second in importance to the progress of 
 mechanical art. 
 Experimental Other proposals Submitted to tlie Grovernment 
 value 'and ki- about the Same time related to the establish- 
 ment of experimental farms near to large stations. 
 These might likewise with great advantage be, 
 partly at least, conducted by the soldiers. The 
 chief crops are the " Rubhee." The tillage com- 
 mences in October, and the crops are reaped in 
 March. During several hours of a morning and 
 evening the soldiers could occupy themselves 
 with benefit to their health upon the farms. The 
 " Khureef^' or crops of the rainy season, which are 
 of an inferior description, would be raised by na- 
 tives chiefly, though the soldiers not on duty might 
 at suitable times superintend even them. 
 
 The question of raising cotton in the best manner, 
 
 * Appendix 11. + Ibid. 
 
 terest 
 
RECREATIVE EMPLOYMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 189 
 and other commercial produce, would soon be decided ^r fiecidmg 
 
 . " the question of 
 
 on sncn farms. At present, owing to the heavy cotton euitiva- 
 expenses of irrigation m the hnest cotton districts, 
 those of Bundelkund, cotton is not in general planted 
 at the season for the best crops, October, but in the 
 commencement of the rains. It is not a "Eubbee" 
 but a " Khureef " crop I believe in most places. 
 This alone would account for its inferiority.* In 
 the papers at the conclusion of this work will be 
 found information connected with irrigation collected 
 with no little pains, and showing the extent to 
 which irrigation by wells is practised, and the de- 
 fectiveness of the means employed, as established by 
 my own experiments.^ When the water is raised 
 but a small height and from open reservoirs, it is 
 commonly tossed up in baskets by men. From the 
 circumstances of the case, the labour in this oper- 
 ation is employed with better effect. But through- 
 out the greater part of Hindostan wells supply 
 the water, and generally from a greater depth than 
 twenty feet. Experimental farms for the recreative 
 employment of European soldiers should all lie in 
 such positions. Wells cannot be a source of malaria, 
 but tanks, jheels, and canals are inevitably injurious 
 in this respect, though of great, and in many loca- 
 lities indispensable, value to native tillage. 
 
 That the method of raising water from wells ad- 
 
 * The late Dr. Royle, in his able researches into the cultivation of cottou, 
 remarks upon the too hurried growth and maturation of the plant in India. 
 In papers published in India and in others on irrigation addressed to the 
 Government of Calcutta twenty-four years ago, I mentioned this fact as 
 referable to the cultivation of cotton too commonly in the rainy season, 
 instead of in the cold and preferable season, on account of the expense of 
 the irrigation ueedful during the latter. t Appendix P. 
 
190 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 iragation mits of great improvement, and would in time receive 
 chines for im- it On farms Under scientific guidance, there can be 
 pioving 1 . j^^^][g doubt. Did the space and character of this 
 work invite it, it might be desirable, with a view 
 to promote these objects, to detail the experiments 
 which were made, and to give plans of certain econo- 
 mical hydraulic instruments, the contriving of which 
 they prompted. Two of these were tried on a large 
 scale, and one in a model. They were adapted to 
 the means of the natives, and had for their design, 
 to be as cheap in construction, and as economical of 
 labour, as possible. How far they would fulfil these 
 conditions it is for others to say. Having no man- 
 ner of pecuniary or other personal interest in the in- 
 troduction of them, it was not to be expected that I 
 could incur expense upon them. On news of the 
 occurrence of a grievous famine in "Western India 
 reaching this country, I brought the subject again 
 before the Court of Directors, but their established 
 system and policy did not admit of even a trifling 
 demonstrative outlay upon one, 
 windmiUsof As a " power " to work either of these apparatus, a 
 stSon. ''°'^' windmill of a very simple construction, and without 
 cogged wheels, though of the vertical kind, was also 
 contrived. It answered thoroughly, and could in 
 India be made of a large size for about 20^. and by 
 the natives eventually for less ; but even that sum a 
 Zumeendar would not at present be willing to lay 
 out upon the most efiective apparatus. It may be a 
 winduncer- Qucstion also whether during: the season of the 
 
 tain m force ,-, , 
 
 the cold '^ Rubbee" growth, there is a sufficiency of wind 
 
 son. •^ ' 
 
 From a table kept from October to March, 1833, at 
 
 season. 
 
RECREATIVE EMPLOYMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 191 
 
 Futtehgurh, there appeared to be in each month a 
 sufficient number of days of strong wind, of velocities 
 ranging from 10 to 20 or more miles an hour ; though 
 on the majority of days the wind was light, and not 
 a few were quite calm. But whether wind were em- 
 ployed or not, as a power, assuredly the endeavour 
 should be made that the hydraulic apparatus in use 
 should itself combine efficiency and economy in the 
 utmost degree. 
 
 Ploughing in India is in a worse state still than no real 
 irrigation."* Persons who extol the simplicity of the Ldif, ^ ™ 
 process must either be superficial observers or indif- 
 ferent mechanicians. It is true their opinions have 
 appeared to receive confirmation from the imperfect 
 success which has attended the attempt to introduce 
 the heavy English plough ; but that is nothing to 
 the point. Doubtless, in the hardened soil, and with 
 the feeble cattle of India, the massive English 
 plough might not answer. But that is not a reason 
 why a plough should not be employed and the land 
 therefore not be ploughed. The native instrument is Character of 
 not a plough. A plough consists mainly of a wrest, 
 sock, coulter, mould-board, and share. The native 
 article lacks the two last altogether, and in general 
 the coulter. The sock also is often merely pointed 
 wood instead of iron. Hence the breaking up of 
 the surface of the land which it is a misnomer 
 to dignify by the name of " ploughing," has to 
 be repeated many times, often from ten to twenty, 
 and, after all, the husbandman has not unfrequently 
 to cover his field with women and children to break 
 
 * Appendix F. 
 
192 BRITISH ARMY m INDIA. 
 
 to pieces with clubs of wood the hardened clods 
 which his so-called plough set loose without crushing. 
 Ploughs to In the cold season, the smiths amongst the soldiers 
 used demon- having made ploughs fitted especially for the light 
 the soidfers. ^ ploughing suited for India, but complete with their 
 coulter, share, and mould-board, with how jocund ex- 
 ultation would the ploughmen amongst the soldiers 
 exhibit upon the neighbouring fields an art which 
 would indeed astonish the native, who has no con- 
 ception of what a proper furrow is, with the soil 
 pierced by the sock, slit by the coulter, under- 
 rent by the share, and inverted and shivered by the 
 mould-board, ready to be pulverized by a little har- 
 rowing ! Any objection to a proper ploughing of 
 the land, taken from the fact that the seed has to be 
 sowed more shallow in India, is without foundation. 
 It is not in the plough furrow that the seed is sown, 
 but in the harrow furrow, which may be as shallow as 
 the cultivator pleases. The fact is, the natives are 
 well aware that a deeper ploughing than theirs would 
 be especially desirable, not only as giving them a 
 larger command of fresh soil, but also as forming a 
 deeper sponge to hold the water of irrigation, so much 
 of which now evaporates to waste at the surface. 
 
 That the bulk of the soldiers who were not read- 
 ing men, and probably most of these also, would re- 
 joice in such occupations as a recreation, especially 
 all who had not acquired habits of indolence and 
 hopeless dissipation, might, I think, be confidently 
 
 Eeraarkable anticipated. 
 
 match of one 
 
 English a- I once at Agra tried an English artilleryman, who 
 
 gainst ten na- i j ■. . j i 
 
 tive sawyers, liad been a sawyer, with a good-sized hand-saw 
 
RECREATIVE EMPLOYMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 193 
 
 against ten native carpenters together, with their poor 
 implements and squatting attitude. Though he was 
 out of practice, and not in English health, and they 
 in daily practice, he beat the ten hollow by the 
 evening ; having done more work than the whole of 
 them together, and won the prize for which they had 
 unitedly and keenly contended with him. The poor 
 fellow spoke of the occupation as the greatest treat, 
 and exhorted me to get him leave to come again. 
 
 It was this incident which led me to inquire into 
 the previous callings of the soldiery, and into con- 
 templating amusing employments for their abundant 
 leisure. Having on two subsequent occasions ob- 
 tained soldiers on leave for several days at Cawnpore 
 and Futtehgurh, after I had become acquainted with 
 the state of many of the native arts, it struck me 
 forcibly that employments interesting to the soldiers 
 might, at the same time, be made to render incal- 
 culable benefit to native industry. 
 
 In addition to such industrial occupations, recrea- Racket-courts, 
 
 1 . 1 , „ « . 1 . their defects 
 
 tive games, which do not call tor violent exertion, in India. 
 might be offered in greater variety than at present 
 to the men. Eackets are not perhaps well suited for 
 men who have been several years in the country, 
 and have lost the elasticity of youth ; and the 
 racket-courts built for them at the different stations, 
 though spacious and substantial, are scarcely the 
 places for Europeans to be found in, even of an even- 
 ing, during any of the warmer months. Even when 
 built with their backs to the south they are not pro- 
 tected from a sun which travels in an arc nearly 
 through the zenith. The floor and the side-walls are 
 
i94 BBITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 in succession, during the day, subjected to the whole 
 of its power, and become magazines of heat to be 
 radiated forth upon the persons of those who^ when 
 the sun is declining, commence their game heedless of 
 the excessive heat of the massive oven they are in. 
 Exercise in it brings forth at once a copious perspi- 
 ration, which the quick movements subject to the 
 evaporative power of the air, and then no doubt all 
 sense of heat vanishes ; but such profuse exhalation 
 is very exhausting. It is trying to the constitutions 
 even of the young, who, " feeling all the better for 
 it," are not very ready to believe that it tends to use 
 them up prematurely. Surely all such courts requir- 
 ing massive walls should be placed under shelter, as 
 has been proposed in the preceding pages. Surely 
 the heat of the earth's surface in India during seven 
 or eight months of the year is quite enough for Eu- 
 ropean endurance without catching a double supply 
 of it, by means of lofty walls acting as sun-traps, to 
 be projected upon the body, right and left, after the 
 sun itself is got rid of! 
 Golf and The Scotch game of golf is, for an out-door exer- 
 abirgames" " ^ise, better suited for evenings during three-fourths 
 of the year in India than the more athletic exercise 
 of cricket. Within-doors, billiards and similar games, 
 but under strict conditions against gambling, might 
 be more encouraged. When I was in India I never 
 heard of billiard-tables being supplied to European 
 regiments. A few to each regiment would offer the 
 men an interesting recreation during the tedious 
 hours of midday confinement. 
 
 That the measures recommended in the preceding 
 
RKCREATIVB EMPLOYMENT OP THE SOLDIER. 195 
 
 pages would not, all of them together, eradicate drunk- 
 enness entirely may be true. Before that desirable intemperance 
 
 1111 11 1 ■ -1 mitigated, but 
 
 end could be consummated the men must bring with not to be era- 
 them better notions, and habits, from England. Our these provi- 
 
 sions. 
 
 whole nation has yet to learn the unquestionable 
 physiological truth, that if any alcoholic drinks are 
 taken habitually, it should most assuredly never be 
 done upon an empty stomach. The temporary stimu- stimulants : 
 
 1 . . „ the only right 
 
 lation, II very moderate and turned to account at the uaeof them. 
 moment to digest solid food entering the stomach at 
 the same time, may produce no injury in the genera- 
 lity of constitutions ; nay, in some cases of weak, or 
 absent, nervous power, the stimulation may invite a 
 digestive action which shall lead t6 the production of 
 more nervous matter or power than was wasted by sti- 
 mulating the nerves — so that there may be a balance 
 in favour of the moderate stimulant. Such cases are 
 to be found amongst sedentary and intellectual la- 
 bourers, and amongst persons weakened below their 
 natural average by temporary illness ; but never per- 
 haps amongst bodily labourers in the open air, who 
 will perform their labour for the greatest number of 
 years and with the greatest ease in proportion as 
 they disuse fermented liquors, and especially distilled 
 forms of alcohol. Innocent, however, as a pint of 
 beer may be, tahen with a full meal, it is never per- 
 fectly innocent taken upon an empty stomach, more 
 particularly when taken to support labour. 
 
 Give to the great Spirit of Evil the possession of Error and 
 
 . . , injurious re- 
 
 this delusion over the mind of a nation, namely — that suita of Eng- 
 
 liah opinions 
 
 men must have "something to drink (that some- on the subject. 
 thing meaning an alcoholic fluid) from time to time, 
 
 2 
 
196 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 taken on an empty stomach, to support labour, and he 
 will bind the labouring portion of that population 
 either in the fetters of drunkenness, or in a con- 
 stant, and in many cases agonizing struggle against 
 it. Labour soon induces some little languor and 
 thirst. A draught of water will relieve the latter, 
 but a draught of " good beer " will relieve both. 
 After the beer, however, the langour and thirst 
 return all the sooner from its use, — the former from 
 the waste of nervous energy by the stimulation, 
 unrestored by any attendant and large process of 
 digestion, and the latter, the thirst, from the slight 
 febrile action which always accompanies stimulation 
 of an empty stomach. The desire for more beer in- 
 creases with every hour of labour and every repeti- 
 tion of the draught, and by the daily evening becomes, 
 in the case of many men, iirgent — by the Saturday 
 evening irresistibly great. Then comes in the aid of 
 the absurd convivialities of toasts and healths, as an 
 excuse for satisfying a craving which is the neces- 
 sary physical consequence of the delusion of taking 
 "something to drink" on a more or less empty stomach 
 day by day to support labour. " Adli seer attah" " a 
 lb. of meal " to eat, is the sensible request of the Hin- 
 doo Cooly in return for a job done, and that in a 
 thirsty land. " Something to drink" is the infatuated 
 request of the English labourer, and gift of the Eng- 
 lish gentleman, and that in our cold moist climate, 
 when the recipient is often neither exhausted nor per 
 spiring, and would be the worse for it if he were ! * 
 
 * Tho severest labour I ever witnessed is that performed by the human 
 beasts of burden, who carrj' ore from the iron mines in the Poondur district 
 
RECREATIVE EMPLOYMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 197 
 
 So long as this notion and practice continue, many 
 of our soldiers will go out to India ready to take in 
 liquor as instinctively as aquatic animals. When 
 remonstrated with, they will, as I have often heard 
 them, plead the drought and heat of the climate as their 
 excuse, just as in England men plead the need of 
 " keeping out the damp and cold ! " while in our colo- 
 nies, with intermediate climates, men drink as much 
 as or worse than in England. Could any one under- 
 take to deliver our nation from the two delusions of 
 associating drink ivith labour, and of taking liquors on 
 an empty stomach (or with the illusive meal of a crust 
 or a biscuit), and, it must be added, of the Saxonism 
 of drinking toasts and healths (substituting, if they 
 must be retained, the more reasonable eating of 
 them) — could any one effect all this, or even the 
 former, leaving the toasts, the benefit conferred on 
 our dear country would be cheaply purchased at more 
 than one India* given as a return for it ! It would 
 reduce by one half the outlay on strong drink in 
 Britain ; that, worse than wasted, half j exceeding in 
 amount by some millions the total revenue of India, 
 exceeding five years of British interests in it, and 
 being the instrumental cause, directly and indirectly, 
 of much more than one half of the lamentable 
 and costly amount of crime which disgraces our 
 
 of the Himalayas — labour that no whiskey-drinking Highlander could, 
 within many degrees, perform. The " something to drink " of the former 
 is obtained from the rills on the mountain sides. Alcohol, in fermented 
 or distilled forms, most of them scarcely know the taste of. 
 
 * Appendix N. 
 
 + The consumption of alcoholic liquors in Britain is nowhere I believe 
 estimated under a cost of 50,000,000?. annually, and it is said to cause a 
 loss of time and health costing nearly as much more ; besides the greater 
 part of the charges attendant on crime and its punishment ! 
 
198 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 country !— a truth which could be reduced to a de- 
 monstration were this the place for doing so '.. 
 
 ON' THE HOPEFUL ENCOUEAGEMENT OF BKITISH 
 SOLDIEES SBEVING IN INDIA. 
 
 It is not without grave consideration this subject is 
 approached. It is the character of the ground which 
 must be trodden in treating it with any measure of 
 faithfulness which has alone prevented an urging of 
 the following appeal many years ago. 
 The posi- So long as the British force in India was kept at 
 
 tion and remu- ,ii ,ii-i in i 
 
 neration of the the iowest scale whicli appeared sate, and was not 
 in India a often in the field, and was reinforced gradually both 
 benous queer ^^ recruiting on the part of the Company as far as 
 they were able to induce 'men to accept of their 
 service, and by only one or two of her Majesty's 
 regiments going out at a time to take their turn of 
 service there ; and also so long as communication 
 with England was comparatively tardy and expen- 
 sive, it was possible that the existing system should 
 continue for some years to come, without precipi- 
 tating that inquiry which is alone necessary to con- 
 vince every high-minded statesman and every wary 
 politician of its very questionable character. But 
 when the bulk of the British army has now been 
 thrown into India, when education is making pro- 
 gress at home (though too slowly) amongst the poor, 
 when the press of the people is having its attention 
 drawn to the heroic deeds and sufferings of the soldier 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 199 
 
 of all ranks ; and when the electric telegraph* has 
 brought the recesses of the country into contact with 
 the Presidencies, and promises, before long, to bring 
 these as to news into juxta-position with London, it 
 is as morally impossible that the position of the 
 soldier should long remain what it is as it would be 
 morally indefensible. 
 
 While it is the claims of the whole European sol- The claims 
 diery of the ranks, serving in India, both those of her soldier the 
 Majesty's service and those of the East India Com- the officer's 
 pany's, which are here advocated ; while it is not anomalous!' ^ 
 proposed to take a,ny such liberty as to discuss the 
 claims of men of equal and superior rank and 
 influence to the author ; it is nevertheless difficult to 
 deal with the case of the former without a remark 
 upon the anomalous position of the latter. If the 
 force of custom and of established order is of 
 inestimable value in giving permanency to that 
 which is right, it is scarcely less powerful in main- 
 taining that which is often absurdly wrong. India 
 is a dependency of the Crown in trust for the benefit 
 of the people of England and of the natives of that 
 continent. The Crown feels itself bound to admi- 
 nister the reciprocated benefits impartially, but to 
 such a length has it carried this conscientious desire 
 that it has dealt hardly with the less influential of 
 its own immediate servants. Not satisfied with a 
 
 * It is not possible, when naming the Indian telegraph, for one who 
 well knows the vigilance and perseverance requisite for carrying out novel 
 undertakings in the climate and with the natives of India, not to pay a 
 tribute of admiration to the extraordinary rapidity and success, and scien- 
 tific ingenuity with which Sir William O'Shaughnessy has laid all India 
 under ties of obligation to him, more lasting even than the fen-eous bands 
 which are of thorn at once the instrument and type. 
 
200 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 most proper and constitutional forbearance from 
 converting the Indian services into a magazine of 
 imperial patronage, it has actually, while its own 
 servants have been ordered out, — while their presence 
 in India has been required for the security of the 
 country, allowed them to remain in the following 
 anomalous position. 
 
 An ofificer ordered out from the Horse Gruards may 
 have, and many a one has, remained twenty-two years 
 in India in the onerous charge of European troops, and 
 having thus spent the best of his strength in the 
 protection of the country and its government, he is 
 permitted to leave it without even the thankful and 
 rightful acknowledgment of his services in the form 
 of an adequate pension out of its revenues, or even 
 any pension from them whatever. Yet he meets 
 there another oflScer in charge of native troops, who 
 at the end of a similar term retires with a reasonable 
 and handsome pension. 
 
 A long expatriation in the service of India, in 
 which every year may generally be reckoned as two 
 in an officer's constitution, in the one case terminates 
 unrequited, in the other fairly remunerated. Yet the 
 services of the former, to say the least, have not been 
 a whit inferior to those of the latter. Whence is 
 this ? simply through the accident of the one having 
 started from the Horse-Guards and the other from 
 the India House ! From the commencement of 
 sublunary rule men have been familiar with that 
 wilfulness of patronage which ofttimes gives lucrative 
 em.ployment to inferior men ; but who ever heard of 
 men of equal rank and merit, of similar occupations, of 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIEE. 201 
 
 like duration of service, and both serving in the same 
 field, finding themselves at the end of their career in 
 opposite positions as to requital ? 
 
 Grrand estimates are made of the value of India, Miutary 
 
 claims on 
 
 which some describe as the richest jewel in the iniiia. 
 Crown of England. Let us accept the figure. Few 
 have endeavoured more than the writer, by practical 
 efforts and ratiocination, to prosecute the inquiry 
 with such care as to arrive at some definite conclu- 
 sions as to the resources of India and the means for 
 drawing them forth. Her resources no doubt are 
 great, and it is high time that efforts should_ be made 
 for the development of them. But however men 
 may differ as to the means by which this may best 
 be effected, upon two points all must be agreed : 
 firstly, that internal peace and security are the basis on 
 which alone can be rested any attempts towards it ; 
 and secondly, that that peace and security must have 
 for their main foundation the presence of a large body 
 of British troops. If then the resources of India are 
 indeed great ; if she has any right to the high 
 pretensions accorded to her of being of first value to 
 this great empire ; let her, before assuming so much, 
 at least pay what is due to her protectors, and let 
 her recognize the fact that in all equity theirs stand 
 as the first claim upon her resources. Let her 
 hereafter reqiiite, as far as money will do it, brave 
 survivors of all ranks who, having spent their best 
 years in serving her, would fain return to their 
 homes to rest from toil, upon the pensions she has 
 always owed but never paid them ! To the presence 
 and merits of the British soldier she owes her pre- 
 
202 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 The natiTe servatioii from anarchy and ruin. To them also 
 
 owes to the i i c^ • i i i • i 
 
 British soldier does every sleek efleminate baboo owe nis personal 
 and opportu- Safety and to him blissful opportunities of gathering 
 
 nityofwealth. , l,-l I,- i, a j. 
 
 riches year by year ; while his brave protectors are 
 accumulating, — not wealth, but disease ! — are not 
 adding to their substance, not fattening like him in 
 purse and in person,* but wasting away ; many of 
 them leaking out their very blood ; when not from 
 wounds in the field, from their bowels in dysentery ! 
 It would be no heavy charge on the baboos of the 
 Presidencies had they alone to provide all that is yet 
 required to render service in India acceptable to the 
 British soldier. Every such requital put together 
 would not increase the military charges to an extent 
 amounting to five, probably not to two, per cent, on 
 the present revenue of India. The politician who 
 has given the question that deliberate investigation 
 which has been attempted in the preceding and fol- 
 lowing pages, and who is yet of opinion that the 
 revenues of India cannot be made chargeable with 
 these the first claims upon them, does virtually place 
 himself, most assuredly, amongst those who pro- 
 nounce the possession of India to be no blessing, 
 but a curse to the people of England at large. But 
 the right, though loyally unclaimed, is in its very 
 nature absolute, and India is bound in honesty and 
 gratitude to acknowledge it. 
 
 It is not however the cause of the well-informed, 
 the exalted, and the free, that a private individual can 
 venture to advocate. If a reference has been made 
 
 A baboo's growth in wealth is generally indicated by an increasing 
 rotundity of person. 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 203 
 
 to the position of the commissioned officer it is because, 
 having some points of similarity with the soldier's, 
 were all reference to it abstained from, the indubitable 
 claims of the former might be instanced in a high 
 tone, but by no means fairly, as a reason for ignoring 
 the claims of the latter. 
 
 Our subject then is that hopeful encouragement of Kesponsibi- 
 the British soldier, serving in the ranks in India, nation., 
 which will, with the measures proposed under the 
 preceding heads, ensure such an improvement in 
 his moral habits, his health, his contentment, and 
 worldly happiness, at the least, as will prove an 
 inestimable blessing to himself and his friends ; and 
 remove a reproach from the nation which gave him 
 birth, and which is answerable to his Maker, and in 
 the sight of humanity, for the influence of its treat- 
 ment upon him. 
 
 Before entering upon this subject the question pre- The intro- 
 sents itself at the outset — What is to be the numerical ricans early re- 
 strength of the British force maintained in India ? Thi^hiy pou- 
 Some Indian statesmen have spoken of eighty or a 
 hundred thousand ! To any one who has made himself 
 acquainted with the real condition of the soldier in 
 India, especially his mental, it must afford no small 
 satisfaction to observe that a more moderate force of 
 European troops is now spoken of as that necessary 
 to be maintained in the country. Everything con- 
 nected with that force has ever appeared to me the 
 saddest subject, but one,* connected with the tenure 
 of India ; and has led me to contemplate a large 
 introduction of Africans for a tropical soldiery as on 
 
 * A]ipeuJix L 
 
 tic measure. 
 
204 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 this, and otlier accounts, a most desirable measure. 
 So fixed was this impression, that on the arrival of 
 the first notice of the outbreal<, I could no't refrain 
 from expressing it in a letter to the Court of 
 Directors. 
 
 It was gratifying to observe that shortly after- 
 wards, the introduction of Africans was advocated 
 in the columns of the ' Times ' by an able military 
 correspondent, who appears to have also well con- 
 sidered the question, and with a professional ability 
 to which I could not pretend. To avoid a lavish 
 expenditure of British life, aggravated by moral 
 degradation of the victims, and to impress the natives 
 with the fact that it is vain for them to rest their 
 hopes on the sickliness of Europeans, by showing 
 them that England had abundant ethnic resources 
 elsewhere, and superior to those of Hindoostan, were 
 the objects which in my own case had prompted the 
 thought.* 
 Broad dis- Alike in justice and in policy, the broadest dis- 
 tween miii- tiuction should be made between military service 
 
 tary service in.-p,. i-t-iit tit 
 
 India andeise- m India, and m Jingland or any healthy colony, 
 properly so called. In India the casualties amongst 
 the troops have during peace amounted per annum 
 to at least 1000 in every 10,000 ! In England and 
 her healthy colonies they have ranged from about 
 90 to a little above 200 ; while the latter propor- 
 tion, being more than double that in the adult 
 population of this country generally, has with 
 good reason raised a cry of astonishment, although 
 amounting to only one-fifth of the casualties in 
 
 * Appendix K. 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAaEMENT OP THE SOLDIEE. 205 
 
 the European army in India in ordinary times of 
 peace ! 
 
 In India extensive war has occurred eight or ten 
 times in the last forty years with casualties exceeding 
 the rate oi fifty per cent, per annum ! In Europe it 
 has occurred but once during that period ; and though 
 the mortality, that in the Crimea, was unparalleled, 
 it fell short of the rate in most Indian campaigns. 
 
 In India the climate during the quiet times of 
 peace imprisons the soldier completely, for three 
 quarters of the year, and causes, unceasingly, more 
 or less of bodily distress and mental depression. In 
 England and her colonies the soldier experiences no 
 such confinement, distress and depression, excepting 
 where he has made himself a criminal ; and it is 
 then temporary only, not perennial 
 
 In India the soldier is surrounded by a population 
 with whom he can hold but little intercourse, and 
 enjoy no kind of sympathy or friendly association ; 
 while the burial ground is the public place of his con- 
 stant resort over the funeral of his comrades, and the 
 ' Dead march in Saul ' the gloomy music ever ringing 
 in his ears. In England and her colonies* he is sur- 
 rounded by fellow men having the same fair com- 
 plexion of body and mind, the same language and 
 tastes, and the same hopes for time and eternity, with 
 himself. He is free to enjoy the open air under a 
 genial sky, playing at healthy athletic games with his 
 comrades on the bowling-green or cricket-ground, 
 enlivened with merry tunes by some fiddler, in place 
 of following all those comrades one by one, perhaps 
 
 * India is not a colony, and never can become one. 
 
206 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 within the year, to sultry graves and to the depress- 
 ing music of death ; and with the expectation always 
 before him of being himself followed ere long in turn ! 
 Lastly, and not least ; if he is a parent in India, 
 his children, if not hybrids, have hitherto nearly 
 all perished before his eyes in their infancy or early 
 years ; whereas in England and her colonies the 
 soldier's children being born and bred in climates 
 congenial to them, are no such cause of heart-rending- 
 anxiety as they invariably are in India, to the parent 
 whose natural affection has not been cruelly blunted 
 by avoidable bereavements which his loyal subordina- 
 tion constrains him patiently to endure ! 
 
 From such a comparison as this, which does not 
 Service in indeed represent the whole strength of the contrast, 
 
 India should .. . . 
 
 bo free. it IS maniiest that the soldier expatriated to India is 
 
 to be viewed as altogether in an exceptional position. 
 Our constitutional principles, arid political rights, 
 place it beyond controversy that employment in 
 India ought to be made as attractive to every man 
 whose services are required there, as is service at 
 home, or in a colony. So that his service, like that 
 of his superior's, might be at all times the willing 
 service of a free man, not the constrained service of a 
 bondsman who had allowed his fetters to be slipped 
 on him while he was in the dark* As to any charges 
 this might entail upon the revenues of India, even 
 though it might be shown that they would be counter- 
 balanced by the pecuniary saving resulting from the 
 larger proportion of men left effective and of lives 
 preserved, that would be a mean unrighteous ground 
 
 * A])pondix L. 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 207 
 
 to take ! If the dominion of Britain is, as politicians 
 affirm, a blessing to India, it behoves her to pay the 
 due price for that blessing. What ! is she to be 
 blessed by the protection of Englishmen, and those 
 Englishmen to be ruined, and their children to perish, 
 in return for the protection they afford her ! 
 
 It is said that India is of inestimable value to Eng- au classes 
 
 Ti r ^ 1-T111 • of Britainhave 
 
 lish parents of the upper and middle classes, as offering theu- claims on 
 a handsome provision for their sons. But do these or 
 the sons of the poorer classes form the great numerical 
 majority of Britons in India ? Did the ancestors of 
 the latter play a whit less active and self-sacrificing 
 part in gaining possession of the country than 
 those of the former ? Upon what rightful ground inequitable 
 then should India be the making of the one, and the present 
 beyond all question the marring of the other? 
 Who gave, or had any constitutional right to give, 
 India to the upper and middle classes for them to 
 serve themselves of it — to appropriate to the advan- 
 tage of their own classes exclusively the beneficial 
 interests Britain may have in the connexion with 
 her ? If the British Constitution is not a mockery, 
 and the rights conferred by it a delusion, can any or 
 all the estates of the realm, without doing violence 
 to its whole spirit and authority, confer on these 
 classes any rightful power, to make use of the hum- 
 bler classes of their countrymen — numerically the 
 nation — as the cat's-paw to be destroyed in obtaining 
 chestnuts for them out of the furnace of India ? 
 Whence in common reason and justice does it happen, 
 that while a cadetship to India has such value that 
 the lady-mother, seeking one for her son, has to haunt 
 
208 BRITISH AEMY IF INDIA. 
 
 the India House from day to day and practise all the 
 arts of pathetic imploration in that pantheon, until 
 the blessing is bestowed by one of the dignities 
 enshrined there, a rank-and-fileship is not only value- 
 less, but of such negative value, that in the case of 
 the village mother the tables are turned ; that it is 
 not she at the Director's door, but the Company's 
 Serjeant at hers, who has to practise all the wiles of 
 seductive persuasion with a rank-and-fileship ready 
 in his hand in the form of smart money ? Whence 
 is it that while the one mother is all anxiety lest her 
 son should fail of a cadetship to India, the other 
 mother is " all of a tremble " lest hers should accept 
 a rank-and-file one ? No such thing is here claimed 
 as that the latter should stand on an equal footing 
 with the former — no impossibilities, no levelling. 
 No leveiKns, On the Contrary, we contend for that just recognition 
 mission of of the claims of all, which alone can ensure perma- 
 
 claims sought. - . _ i i i 
 
 nency to that gradative order — to those broad steps 
 in the social structure which are needful for its 
 stability, and of which the everlasting pyramids of 
 Egypt are the type — types set up, as under a blind im- 
 pulse, by her despots — as if, by contrast, to mark and 
 to mock the misproportions of political systems like 
 their own, and of those convulsive products of reaction 
 no less, which are their proportionate reciprocals, 
 and to stand as the enduring prototypes of the con- 
 stitution of Britain, in which every order, from the 
 extended base to her crowning top stone, was to have 
 its rightful existence, importance, position, dimen- 
 sion, and solidity ! We ask for no such unreasonable 
 absurdity as that the remuneration of the uneducated 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 209 
 
 and unrefined should equal that of the educated and 
 refined ; but we do ask that they shall be propor- 
 tionate — that life in India shall be as acceptable to 
 the one as to the other, in comparison with what 
 each leaves behind him in England. Surely when 
 we consider what is the cottage life here, with its 
 bread and cheese, and alternations of hard labour, 
 and of hungry inaction, this is not much to require ! 
 
 But it is said by some that life in India is desirable Volunteering 
 and attractive to the soldier, and that this is proved proof of the 
 
 Q ++1*0 fi Ti V ATI P SS 
 
 by the fact that upon a regiment's having completed of life there, 
 its time there the soldiers very generally volunteer to 
 remain in other corps in preference to returning to 
 England. No doubt, after many years of such lives 
 as soldiers lead in India, few that are prudent will 
 venture upon what England then offers them. The 
 impressions of a colder climate, though less felt by 
 those who are in circumstances to watch each deviation 
 from health, than might, without a close observation 
 of the cause, be anticipated, are for a long time very 
 trying to the soldier, whose skin and Hver are in general 
 in a much more exhausted state than theirs, and who 
 has none of those protective resources on retiring, 
 which his superiors can command. It takes some years 
 of cherishing care, such as poor men cannot have, be- 
 fore the benefit of a bracing chmate is felt. Without 
 the command of such care a man had better remain an 
 exotic in India, with his sluggish liver and skin kept 
 in action artificially by heat. The ofiicer returning 
 can look forward, however small his means, to, at all 
 events, a warm bed and fireside in some small home 
 or lodging, in which he can snuggle, while the 
 
 p 
 
210 BRITISH AEMT IN INDIA. 
 
 wind is howling without. The soldier discharged 
 after a ten years' service, if he returns to England, 
 has to be thankful if he can find occupation which 
 will require him to be out with his cart horses before 
 day-break in the snow. An occupation to which he 
 looked back with pining recollections when first he 
 went out (which he so often expresses), he now, after 
 years of inaction, lassitude, and exhaustion, looks 
 forward to with dread. Men who repeatedly in 
 hospitals have had such extensive dealings with the 
 Potentate of the lymphatics, Mekcuet, insinuating 
 himself in his form oimild sublimit^/* into their every 
 tissue, that their spirits have ofttimes been on the 
 point of borrowing from the god his wings, and 
 leaving their earthly tenements to his undisputed 
 possession, must feel themselves no longer simple 
 Englishmen, but hydrarguretted calcinations of English- 
 men. Every surgeon of an European corps in India 
 must know that the men after a few years are quite 
 unfitted to struggle with life in a cold climate,-|- sup- 
 porting themselves. 
 
 Furthermore the adage, "use is second nature," 
 applies to no habits more forcibly than to those of 
 inaction and confinement within doors, when once 
 they are thoroughly confirmed. It is true that, in 
 
 * The " mild sublimate,'' or chloride of mercury — calomel. 
 
 t It is not long since I met a soldier who showed me his medal for good 
 service, and discharge order, and who- stated that he had heen ten years in 
 the Company's service, and had returned within the year; and he added 
 that he had received some months of advanced pay on his discharge, but that 
 he was now in such straits he feared he would be compelled to sell his 
 medal ; that he had been so ill in India, especially in Burmah, that he was 
 quite unable to do work here which would support him, as stronger men 
 had the preference. It would have been better for him to have remained 
 in India at all hazards. 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIEE. 211 
 
 India, a large proportion of the soldiers chafe, and 
 drink themselves to death, under a condition so 
 opposed to the habits of out-door life and labour in 
 which they had been reared. But the very fact of 
 some men outliving the feelings entertained by nearly 
 all for a time, proves the establishment in their case 
 of that mental habituation which amounts often to an 
 entire change of nature, but proves nothing to the 
 present issue. If it were true that soldiers on be- 
 coming personally acquainted with life in India give 
 it the preference over a return to England, then 
 might the recruiting Serjeants be, without apprehen- 
 sion, provided with a persuasive argument of the 
 greatest force — that men disappointed with their lot 
 after a year's trial would be replaced again at their 
 homes in England. But do not our Indian authorities 
 know perfectly well that such an engagement would 
 lead to the return of three-fourths of the soldiery ? 
 If the Government cannot venture to make any such 
 an engagement, can it be truthfully said that the 
 contract on the soldier's part was made voluntarily 
 and with his eyes open ? 
 
 It will be found that an additional charge upon the The expense 
 
 11 1 .rj. . . requisite small 
 
 revenues oi India, absolutely trifling m comparison compared with 
 with the urgency and solemnity of the duty, would 
 suffice to supply the recruiting serjeants with attrac- 
 tive truths which would draw an abundant supply of 
 men after every repulsive truth had also been plainly 
 and fairly put before them; as in all honesty it 
 ought. Thus they would find the service equal to 
 their expectations, and if not in all cases satisfied, be, 
 at least, no more mortified at their experience of it 
 
 p 2 
 
212 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 than are their commissioned superiors who, though 
 free to retire at any time, upon the whole find reason 
 to remain in the country. 
 
 It is even probable that the measures necessary for 
 this righteous consummation would lead in the end 
 to no charge at all upon the public revenue ; nay, it 
 would conduce to the happiness and contentment of 
 the men, and consequently to their efficiency and the 
 prolongation of their lives, to an extent which might 
 more than repay the apparent charge, and might 
 effect a considerable annual saving. But if instead 
 of the unimportant pecuniary charge, which the 
 necessary measures would at the most involve, their 
 costliness were such as to press with serious weight 
 on the revenues of India, it ought to be borne as a 
 necessary tribute to Justice and to honour, or the 
 tenure of the country ought most assuredly to be 
 relinquished, 
 of our ^"^^"^ The ignorance and impoverished condition of our 
 fefte^^^nf peasantry are not very creditable to the social state 
 of a country into whose lap Providence has poured 
 the riches of the world ; but, that advantage should be 
 taken of their want of knowledge, credulity, adversity, 
 and sensuality, to ply them with all manner of fictions 
 and the beer-pot to enter upon a life the discomfort 
 and hopelessness of which they afterwards constantly 
 endeavour to drown in intemperance, ill becomes the 
 country which has assumed to be the exemplar of 
 freedom and honour, and the protectress of injured 
 races! In this matter England may well take 
 up the words, put by inspiration into other 
 mouths, and exclaim : " thou hast set me to keep 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 213 
 
 another's vineyard, mine own vineyard have I not 
 kept." 
 
 "Were a similar course adopted in Africa or upon 
 any other ethnic coast, of inducing natives of a 
 tropical climate, by means of utterly false representa- 
 tions and libations of alcohol, to accept conditions 
 binding them to serve as coolies in some bitterly cold 
 one, where they and their children rapidly perished, 
 may we not confidently hope that Exeter Hall would 
 ring with denunciations of the practice ? Yet there 
 are few to examine into, and question the propriety of, 
 doings in England, of which this is but an imperfect 
 picture ! Is it, as the roguish serenaders in our streets 
 appear to have discovered, that a goodly supply of 
 plumbago and grease are needful as an emolhent for 
 the British heart ; or that there is some occult 
 psycho-physical affinity, some elective attraction be- 
 tween British philanthropy and a black complexion ? 
 
 Do the people of England know the amount, and Grievous mo- 
 
 ,, f. ,^ IT , 1 , . , ral condition of 
 
 the causes, oi the appalhng drunkenness which pre- the soldiery iu 
 vails in British regiments in India as soon as peace 
 returns, and patriotism and prowess cease their sway ? 
 Do they know that men in despair are constantly 
 committing serious crimes,* that they may be 
 transported even as felons out of the country — that 
 one instance, if not more, has occurred of the murder 
 of a native for that object alone ; that they have gone 
 so far as to assault their officers, and that repeatedly, 
 that they might get themselves removed from India 
 on any terms ; that an illicit connexion with black 
 women is absolutely preferable to marriage with 
 
 * Appendix M. 
 
214 
 
 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 fellow country-women to all who have not become 
 callous to the fate of a legitimate offspring by the 
 latter ; that to the feeling parent, who is not under 
 the protection of strong religious impressions, the 
 pining away of his children is a foremost one amongst 
 the many incentives to seek oblivion in intemperance ; 
 that the mere sense of having been thoroughly taken 
 in by the recruiting serjeant rankles in the minds of 
 many ?* Let inquiry be made in a candid spirit, and 
 these and many other facts will be estabHshed, which 
 (as a banker would say) form heavy items standing 
 at the debit of the tenure of India ! 
 •• enerai*^or^ '^^® reader will find in the Appendix f a copy of 
 der " against ^]ja,t notable documeut, speaking volumes as to the 
 
 mutinous con- ' ■■- o 
 
 duct. mental condition of the soldiery — the " general order" 
 
 which an excellent nobleman considered it necessary, 
 when Commander-in-Chief in India, to issue, in order 
 to suppress the growing crime of assault on officers 
 with the view to transportation, in which the perpe- 
 trators are promised death as their reward, and their 
 minds relieved of the illusion of hoping to find, in 
 transportation for life as felons, a preferable alter- 
 native to vegetating hopelessly and sickly like 
 endive, gloomily immured in India. The " order " 
 may have been quite right and necessary, but it 
 involved in it the severest condemnation of the 
 system which, as a rank soil, could only bring forth 
 evil fruit. Men, who with their eyes open enter the 
 ranks in India, are too commonly the damaged 
 characters at home, which the system having nothing 
 reformatory in it, but the contrary, cannot reclaim, 
 
 * Appendix N. t Appendix M. 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER/ 2 1 5 
 
 but must render lost for ever there : while the great 
 bulk who go out knowing nothing true of the life they 
 are undertaking, nay having their minds filled with 
 false impressions, are, for the most part, no worse men 
 than the generality of their countrymen of all ranks ; 
 but in proportion as they have active and sanguine 
 temperaments do they also become ruined by the 
 system — by the hopelessness and disappointment it 
 involves them in. Let not any who, favoured by riori^^fThe 
 birth, education, and outward advantages, feel not ^^^p^i^. 
 the evil of their own hearts ; who consider not that *'"^ position. 
 the respectability of their character is mainly due 
 to providential circumstances ; who never ask them- 
 selves the humbling question, " what hast thou that 
 thou didst not receive ?" be too ready to apply hard 
 epithets to these reckless ones of either class. Is it 
 becoming that men who in the field exhibit prompt 
 obedience and devoted valour, who are ready at any 
 moment to risk their own lives to save their officers', 
 should be spoken of only in the most opprobrious terms, 
 when, the excitement of war being over, the blank 
 hopelessness of their position, staring them in the 
 face, drives them into dissipation and too often into 
 crime ? The man, whatever his rank, who is least 
 disposed to feel for, and meliorate, their condition, 
 and most ready to revile them indiscriminately, may 
 rest assured there is, in this his present disposition, 
 too much evidence that had he been as adversely 
 trained and placed as they, he might have been 
 found not a whit better in moral rectitude, patience, 
 and self-command than any of them. 
 
 What is to be said of the following extraordinary 
 
216 BRITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 oversight in the public mind ; for it can be nothing 
 Extraordinary else than an Oversight? A soldier, in the Crimea, 
 
 inconsistency 
 
 in British grounded his arms and refused to serve any longer. 
 This was unquestionably a military offence meriting 
 the severest punishment which in these days of 
 reasoning humanity could with propriety be inflicted. 
 He was sentenced to transportation as a felon. If a 
 soldier ordered to India, dreading the life there, were 
 to follow that example, he would, having made himself 
 a felon to escape being sent to a tropical climate, be the 
 only man in the regiment whom the public would 
 from that moment shrink from transporting to 
 one ! All his former comrades would continue to be 
 ordered there without any adequate or acceptable 
 inducement, while he and his new compeers, burglars, 
 garotters, &c., would, if transported at all, have the 
 finest climates in the world selected for them ! And 
 any one who, with the author, should argue that the 
 dangers of a tropical climate offer natural instru- 
 ments of punishment especially suited to deter men 
 from the commission of heinous offences, and under a 
 rightly managed system to be instrumental to the 
 reformation of those transported to them, would run 
 the risk of being charged with inhumanity !* Mar- 
 vellous inconsistency ! 
 
 In England, when a man is condemned to death 
 society will, if he is not reprieved, as a matter of 
 course, and with scarce a month's notice, subject him 
 
 to the extremity of mental alarm and bodily injury 
 
 it will hang him outright. If he is reprieved, it will in- 
 
 ' It la not, of course, meant to be suggested that felons should be sent 
 to India. 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOUBAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIEE. 217 
 
 stantly shrink from subjecting him to the minor alarm 
 and injury of a transportation to a tropical climate. 
 At the same time it will not hesitate to inflict on loyal 
 subjects a transportation practically similar to sending 
 felons to the Tropics, in being accompanied with a 
 climatic imprisonment equally and necessarily abso- 
 lute in both cases, in being equally irrevocable for 
 many years, and in terminating for the most part in 
 death ; but dissimilar, in that it could not be said of 
 the felon that the conditions on his part were not 
 voluntary if he chose to commit the crime in the face 
 of the tropical penalty, of the serious nature of which he 
 would of course have been carefully apprized before 
 hand, by authorities whose olyect it was to deter him 
 from getting sent out. Whereas it cannot be said of the 
 recruit that the conditions on his part are voluntary, 
 when the serjeant, so far from taking any pains to 
 apprize him of the true charactei- of the tropical life 
 he was about to incur, and of its real hopes and pro- 
 spects, does his best to sophisticate him by his state- 
 ments, and to weaken his judgment by the beer-pot ! 
 
 Whatever may be the imagined value of India to j,ie^| to 
 England,* it is beyond a question true, that that "^g™""^^ 
 value interests at present the minority only. With 
 respect to the bulk of the nation, from whom the 
 common soldiers are drawn, what prayer is there that 
 poor parents throughout the land have to offer up 
 with greater fervour than that India might become 
 early qualified to take care of herself, or her guardian- 
 ship be transferred to other hands? Let any one 
 who will question this ascertain the feelings of most 
 
 * Appendix 0. 
 
218 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 of those parents who have had sons in India ; or let 
 him go out there, and when the war shall be over, 
 and the soldier's honour, therefore, shall not interfere 
 with it, let him simply ojBfer to purchase the discharge 
 and bring back every man who is anxious to leave 
 the country. His purse would soon convince him of 
 the truth of the position he had questioned. Were he 
 a millionaire and true to his word, he would reduce 
 regiments which had not been long in the country to 
 " skeletons," by drawing away nearly all their men. 
 Unsound ar- To argue that the great bulk of the soldiery are 
 |)"otilJg tte unreasonable, and unworthy of consideration, because 
 their'^conducfc ^ Certain proportion of them are so far superior to the 
 average of men, in contentment, endurance, and self- 
 control, as to influence the mass sufficiently to main- 
 tain order and keep the system from breaking down 
 altogether, and because the service offers a certain 
 number of posts for such men in the " warrant staff," 
 which are " prizes any steady man may in time 
 secure," is to argue neither soundly nor fairly. 
 
 It is to argue unsoundly, because you have no 
 right to expect more from a body of men, under 
 any given circumstances, than you find by long ex- 
 perience to be the moral result of those circumstances 
 acting upon the average of men ; especially when 
 the men are those of your own voluntary seeking. 
 If you offer terms acceptable only to hoodwinked 
 men, or to men of damaged character, it is not rea- 
 sonable that you should lose consideration for and 
 condemn those whom you obtain on such terms, 
 because they do not prove as satisfied and merito- 
 rious as you would like. It is to argue unfairly, also, 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOUBAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 219 
 
 because it is the very rarity itself of steadiness whicli 
 your system begets whicb leaves to each " deserving 
 man " the prize of becoming a " warrant officer " in 
 process of time ; because it is the terms you offer 
 to all, and not to a few only, upon which depends 
 your right to faithful and satisfactory service from the 
 whole body. 
 
 Military service in the ranks in India can never be j„gt^j^^ ^e 
 in a just and safe position until its fundamental con- "^^^ ^°l 
 dition shall be an engagement, in the name of India, "°^ ™ ^'^''■ 
 that the recruit shall be replaced at the home from 
 which he was invited out, should he at the end of a 
 year or two's trial find the service unacceptable or dis- 
 appointing to him. Until this is conceded it is mock- 
 ery, and something worse, to tell him that he entered 
 upon the engagement voluntarily with his eyes open. 
 With his eyes open ! Did you, or could you, give 
 him any correct notion of the life he was invited 
 to enter upon ? Had he been placed, even for one 
 whole day, in the atmosphere of a forcing-house 
 amongst pines and cactuses, and forewarned that 
 that at least would be the temperature in which he 
 would have to live night and day more than half the 
 year? Had he been placed with his head before 
 some open furnace, covered withal by such a head- 
 dress as you have as yet provided for him, and just 
 at the distance where a thermometer would rise, 
 from the radiance alone, to the same point that it 
 does in the sun in India ; and was he kept there for 
 one day only, and then informed that that was a 
 specimen, and an imperfect one, of the solar action 
 he would be subjected to day by day while in the 
 
220 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 field ? "Was he led tlirougK the gloomy wards of a 
 hospital, with cases of dysentery and cholera on the 
 right hand and on the left, and then informed from 
 statistical tables of the exact chance he woud have of 
 occupying one of those beds — how many times tem- 
 porarily, and when fatally ? Was he informed that, 
 according to the well-established chances of life in 
 the ranks in India, he must not flatter himself that, 
 after the ten years he was being bound for were ter- 
 minated, his reasonable prospect would be a wending 
 homeward to his native village whistling the tune of 
 " Home, sweet Home ! " for that, in all probability, he 
 would before that time have been carried to his long 
 home by martial steps treading to the tune of " The 
 Dead March in Saul ! " 
 othei-wise the Unless all this information at the least has been 
 
 bondage worse 
 
 than African afforded him, let it not be pretended that, after 
 having rightly understood the nature of his engage- 
 ment, he has entered upon it voluntarily. Since 
 this is not possible — since the life he undertakes can 
 not be fairly placed before him — since from the na- 
 ture of the case the peasant of England must, in 
 going out to India, proceed there very much in the 
 dark- — it is manifest that to engage him in England 
 to an absolute term of service in the Tropics becomes 
 a one-sided bond. Let it ever be borne in mind that 
 he is transported to a hostile climate, with unavoid- 
 able imprisonment during peace and destructive ex- 
 posure to it during war ; that his case bears no 
 parallel to that of coolies taken from one tropical 
 climate to another at least as favouable to them, with 
 healthful industry in the fields of cultivation, not 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOUEAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 221 
 
 destructive exposure in those of war. Let it also be 
 borne in mind that the charges attendant upon his 
 expatriation were incurred not with any view to his 
 benefit, but to serve the objects of his employers 
 alone. To require him to refund those charges, or 
 any part of them, before he can release himself from 
 an engagement to serve in such a climate, whether 
 entered upon in blindness or not, while he is not 
 afforded a pay from which it is possible he could 
 ever save the means, is to place him in a state of ab- 
 solute bondage many degrees worse than African 
 slavery, bating the middle passage, as it existed 
 under the generality of British planters in the West 
 Indies. Many degrees worse, inasmuch as the African 
 is not conveyed to Siberia, Hudson's Bay, or some 
 other clime as hostile to him as India to the poor 
 Briton, but to one quite as congenial as his own;* 
 — inasmuch as, under British planters at least, the 
 average duration of the slave's Hfe in the West 
 Indies far surpassed that of the British soldier in 
 India ; — inasmuch as the children of the African did 
 not, one by one, sicken and die in their parents' 
 arms, like all, but illegitimate hybrids, in India ; but 
 grew up around them in health, and, for the most 
 part, well treated ; — inasmuch as the climate, and ser- 
 vice, the African was transported to did not, either 
 imprison him throughout his life in a state of inac- 
 tion, tolerable it might have proved to him but 
 
 * It is not to justify African slavery that this unanswerable comparison 
 is instituted, for a more zealous opponent to slavery does not exist than 
 the writer ; but he would feel it to be a maudlin and insincere emotion, 
 were it not consistent ; were it not directed, at least as much against bonds 
 upon white limbs in the East, as against bonds ujon black in the West. 
 
222 BRITISH A.EMY IN INDIA. 
 
 intolerable to the muscle-vibrating Briton, or sub- 
 ject bim when in tbe field to an exposure reducing 
 from sickness alone, his chance of life to a few 
 months' duration ; — inasmuch as the number per 
 cent, of slaves flogged, and the suffering from each 
 flogging, could not have amoimted to a tithe of the 
 cases amongst soldiers of the two diseases, dysentery 
 and cholera alone, or of the agony which in a few 
 hours transforms a robust man into a corpse from 
 simple torture ! Should any one protest against this 
 comparison on account of the greater indignity of 
 slavery and the lash, he is reminded that the soldier 
 is not altogether exempt from a liability to the latter 
 indignity, as the author too well remembers ;* and as 
 to the former, it is in name only that its absolute 
 subjection differs from his, so long as an engagement, 
 entered upon not only in unavoidable ignorance but 
 under a practised deception, shall place him for 
 many years in irrevocable bondage in the climate of 
 India ! 
 Argument To arguc that the condition of the labourer in 
 
 irom the po- '-'^ 
 
 veity of the England is so abject, that service in India, such 
 tourer, its as it is, ought to be preferable to him, would not 
 
 worth. / o J. ^ 7 
 
 only be presumptuous, exhibit little of genero- 
 sity or patriotism, and reflect severely upon our 
 social state, but it would prove too much. It 
 proves the soldier's life in India to be sad indeed, 
 if it cannot be fairly laid before men in so de- 
 pressed a condition lest they should decline to 
 enter upon it — if after they have gone out, the 
 option cannot be safely afforded them of returning 
 
 * Appendix N. 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 223 
 
 to England should they, after a fair trial of the 
 service, prefer life at home though so " abject." In 
 proportion as the peasant's life in England is one of 
 trying depression, must his expatriation to India he 
 deplorable for him, since disappointment at the 
 change drives so large a proportion of the soldiers 
 into a reckless indifference to life, intemperance, 
 and despair ! 
 
 The ignorance and the appetite of the clown, plied 
 by the wiles and the beer-pot of the recruiting Ser- 
 jeant, together with the extreme irksomeness of unre- 
 mitting toil to some of better powers, might possibly 
 prolong for a time a supply of men for India ; and the 
 loyalty of discipline, so perfect and so admirable in 
 the British army, might possibly perpetuate a re- 
 spectful endurance of a helpless life, convenient 
 enough to those, if any there are, who may heedlessly 
 regard the soldier, much as they do cattle, — as an 
 animal without a mind or soul, to be sought for at 
 the lowest possible rate, and cherished only upon 
 principles of economy; but, to take the lowest 
 ground, such a state of things -cannot be other- 
 wise than dangerous. Glaring anomalies, to use the 
 mildest term, cannot last for ever. Each British 
 soldier in India secures the command of 500/. per 
 annum of revenue to the government, and to India 
 does his part in saving her from anarchy of the 
 worst kind. Did he cost the double of what he does 
 he would be the most productive of labourers, — the 
 cheapest of agents. 
 
 His position, hke that of his "commissioned" jJ^'^Zit- 
 and " covenanted " superiors, is altogether ex- ^^^ ^''<='^p- 
 
224 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 ceptional. The case of the soldier entering the 
 army here to defend its shores, and those of its colo- 
 nies properly so called, its congenial climes peopled 
 with his own race, is, we repeat, and should be seen 
 to he, totally different from an expatriation for the 
 defence of the great Tropical dependency — India. 
 Is it not manifest that India should he called iipon to 
 make life in her swarthy bosom as nearly as is pos- 
 sible as attractive to the soldier as it is in New Zea- 
 land or Canada ? Now the difference in the pay and 
 prospects of the soldier in India does no such thing. 
 During the excitement of war, enlistment may pos- 
 sibly be spontaneous. Pugnacious spirits will rush 
 through fire and water to take a part in conflicts. 
 But in the quieter times of peace, it is beyond a 
 question that the liability to serve in India proves 
 a daily increasing drawback to enlistment into Her 
 Majesty's Army ; and that it may be expected, as 
 communication with the country is shortened, to 
 prove a serious obstacle to it — an obstacle which may 
 become insurmountable when, in addition to this, 
 public opinion is directed, as sooner or later it must 
 be, to the unutterably dishonourable* arts practised 
 to induce the simple clown to enlist ; arts which if 
 similar could be practised towards the sons of the 
 gentry, for any public object, would indeed raise a 
 storm from one end of the kingdom to the other ! 
 The simple Now for all this humiliating amount of evil, the 
 
 remedy for the _ _ *-" ' 
 
 humiliating simple remedy is to make India chargeable in the 
 first instance with the measures necessary for render- 
 ing her non-commissioned defenders as happy and 
 
 • Ajipenclix N. 
 
dia. 
 
 HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 225 
 
 contented as her commissioned. Few will then de- Freedom : 
 sire to avail themselves of the right, which the legis- service in lu- 
 lature ought to have required of the holders of India, 
 from the first, as the fundamental condition of service 
 in that climate — as the Magna Charta of those enter- 
 ing it — as the touchstone of their freedom — as their 
 sole guarantee against lapsing into a bondage as 
 abject, and much more grievous than West Indian 
 slavery — a right, respecting which it is none too 
 strong to affirm, that every day during which it is 
 deferred is a day of disgrace to our pretensions, as 
 a freedom-loving, and freedom-protecting people — 
 namely the option of leaving India, excepting, of 
 course, during war, if, after experience, service in 
 that climate shall prove an unacceptable constraint. 
 
 Should the number of those availing themselves of 
 the right exceed a very small proportion of those 
 selected for the service in England, it would simply 
 prove that the service is not duly inviting to Eng- 
 lishmen — that the terms it offers must be improved 
 To say that India cannot afford it, is to pronounce 
 her bankrupt. To entrap our countrymen into serv- 
 ing her as bondsmen is something worse than would 
 be a like act on the part of a white-lead, or arsenic 
 manufacturer, who should entice operatives intohi s 
 mill, and detain them there by force, to serve him 
 upon terms unacceptable to them, and for the very 
 pretty reason, real or pretended, that he could not 
 afford to pay them better ! Of the two cases his 
 would be the less unjustifiable, inasmuch as his 
 employment would not be destructive to their 
 children as well as to themselves. 
 
 Q 
 
226 BRITISH ARMT IN INDIA. 
 
 Its cost but But the truth is that to do all that is necessary for 
 ^""^ ' changing the aspect of the service altogether, and 
 
 rendering it acceptable to the soldier in every "way, 
 would not absorb three, perhaps not one per cent, more 
 of the public revenue of India. The reader who will 
 look through the Appendix, will not think the author 
 indifferent to the claims of India. He might per- 
 haps be able to prove that he has worked, as many 
 hours as some eloquent declaimers have talked, about 
 developing the resources of India and meliorating the 
 condition of the natives. Yet with all feeling for them, 
 especially for the low caste men of India, the workers, 
 increased by many friendly recollections of them, it 
 is impossible for him not to wish that some of the 
 concern felt for the landholders and ryots of India, 
 and of the eloquence expended on their behalf, were 
 transferred to the claims of the fine fellows whose 
 presence there alone keeps those proteges of British 
 philethnicy, from robbing, mutilating, and murdering 
 their fellows of neighbouring villages ! 
 
 For the " hopeful encouragement" of the soldier serv- 
 ing in India, each and every point dwelt upon under 
 the former heads demands an earnest attention in 
 the first instance, but in addition to these provisions 
 for the protection of his body, for the occupation of his 
 mind, and the solace of his parental feelings, he must 
 have a future for him to look forward to, held up 
 before his view. 
 
 Were it possible to station the whole of the British 
 force in India on hill elevations, and to keep them 
 there permanently, the objects of a large part of our 
 requirements would be fulfilled. Even though the 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 227 
 
 service were not in other respects rendered more 
 promising than it is, very few men, probably not one 
 in a hundred, would then avail themselves of the 
 power to return to labour in England, from a healthy 
 and easy life amongst their comrades in the Hima- 
 layas or Neilgherries ; although that right ought, 
 most certainly, to exist, and to be available when- 
 ever the arrival of recruits would permit men to 
 retire without lowering the numerical standard of a 
 regiment. 
 
 But though the whole European force could not One-tMrdof 
 of course be afforded a climatic advantage which force may be 
 would totally alter the character of service in India, ^ ^ ^ ^- 
 which would change what is a living death to some, 
 and a dying life to others, into as enjoyable an ex- 
 istence as their sublunary condition admitted of, yet 
 sufficient evidence has surely been produced, espe- 
 cially by Mr. Martin, to induce the government to 
 decide upon stationing one-third of such force on 
 hill elevations. 
 
 If men arrived at that privilege by a previous resi- 
 dence during a certain period in the plains, so hopeful 
 a prospect would act beneficially upon the whole 
 body. It would, with the other provisions set forth 
 under the former heads, tend to keep them more 
 temperate and contented than it is possible they 
 should be at present. But to complete the fulfilment 
 of India's obligations to her protectors, and to render 
 the future duly hopeful to them, a suitable provision 
 for their declining years must be held out to them. 
 If to every man who had served twenty years in 
 India a pension of not less than forty or fifty pounds 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 40,000 effec- ^ yg^r were secured, a force of forty thousand men in 
 
 tive men *^ ' ^ 
 
 might suffice, the improved spirits and health of an army so well 
 protected and hopefully circumstanced might prove 
 ample for the whole of India, especially when the 
 main lines of railway were completed. They would, 
 in fact, he more effective than double the number of 
 men tortured by solar heat in the field from imper- 
 fect protection, after enduring a barrack life, with 
 their bodies parboiled and their minds gloomy, with- 
 out occupation, and without a future in prospect for 
 themselves or their children. It is the rapid melting 
 away of an European army in the field in India 
 which renders so large an apparent force and such 
 great reserves necessary. 
 Pension pro- But Supposing fifty thousand men to be the force 
 kept up, the number of survivors at the end of twenty 
 years who sought the pension in preference to re- 
 maining in the hills, could not exceed two thousand, 
 or at most two thousand five hundred. A pension of 
 forty pounds to each of these, with a suitable addition 
 to those amongst them who were non-commissioned 
 officers, would only amount to a gross total of, say, 
 150,000/. a year, supposing the average of them en- 
 joyed it as much as twenty years ; while it would fill 
 with hope and contentment fifty thousand breasts ! * 
 
 It is not uncommon to hear the " heavy expenses " 
 of the European force in India spoken of in a tone 
 which the complainers would themselves perceive to 
 be utterly unreasonable would they but take the 
 trouble to view the question in its proper light. 
 Were a shipowner, who had charged himself with 
 
 * ApjieucUx P. 
 
HOPEFUL EXCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 22,9 
 
 conveying emigrants across the ocean, to commence 
 drawing a comparison between the walls of the cot- 
 tages they had to be contented with in England, and 
 the greater costliness of the walls of trusty ships ; 
 and were he consequently to employ frail vessels 
 which caused the loss of many lives, he would not, in 
 neglecting to provide the utmost protection against 
 the aqueous element by which his emigrant passen- 
 gers were surrounded, be acting a part in anywise 
 niore unreasonable than they who, comparing the 
 expenses of a man as a labourer or as a soldier in 
 England with what he costs in India, would dole out 
 with a niggard hand the rupees necessary for pro- 
 tecting him completely against the calorific element 
 into which he had been enticed and immersed to 
 serve other interests — European and Native, not his 
 own. 
 
 As to the interests the natives have in the presence ^he British 
 of the British soldier, however much a jealousy for ^arf"^ o^the 
 class privileges, folly, bigotry, and other causes may ^^g^^°* ^^' 
 have rendered many of them blind to the fact, there 
 cannot be a question that the comparative security 
 with which " zumeendars " and " shroffs," throughout 
 India, have rested upon their pillows during the pre- 
 sent century has been due to that presence. The opu- 
 lent baboos of the Presidencies, the progressive fill- 
 ing out of whose cellular tissue with sebaceous deposits 
 may be taken as the symbol and measure of the pro- 
 gressive filling up of their cellars with Company's 
 tissue and bullion deposits, would view with quaking 
 hearts the departure of the last British soldier from 
 India. They know very well that it would be the 
 
230 BEITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 signal for the descent upon them of armed bands 
 from the interior, compared with whose tenderest 
 mercies the ferocity of their own Bengal tiger would 
 be gentleness itself ; that, to have the dagger of Ehud 
 buried in their obese persons would be more con- 
 siderate treatment than they could h-ope for froni 
 beings whose minds, filled to the brim with thoughts 
 of rapine, had no space left for any other ; and who 
 could not give them credit for having surrendered 
 their last hoard until torture had done its worst upon 
 their bodies. 
 
 When we consider how great is the interest which 
 these gentlemen have in the presence of a British 
 army, how they owe to it everything they have in 
 life and their lives besides, how great is their col- 
 lective wealth, and how admirable and unparalleled 
 their munificence (which contrasts remarkably with 
 the tenacity of many a professor of a more self-deny- 
 ing faith), it is fair to presume that they would be 
 happy to see devised some fiscal measure by which 
 their class might bear a more reasonable share than 
 it does of the charges of an army under whose wing 
 they are thus protected and cherished, 
 beuer ^^^°d '^^^ ^^^^ comparison instituted between the ex- 
 tisrsSdi^"" P®^^®®' P^y ^'^^ pension of the British soldier in India, 
 and of the sepoy, would show the latter to be out of 
 all equitable proportion higher than the former. In 
 the first place, every expense connected with the 
 conveyance of the soldier to India and his protection 
 there from the effects of a climate in which he is an 
 exotic, has of course to be deducted. Compare then 
 his bare pay (from which there are serious deduc- 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 231 
 
 tions) and rations witti the sepoy's. The latter is 
 fully three times that of able-bodied coolies or la- 
 bourers in India, who are hired everywhere by 
 natives for two or three rupees a month. Hence the 
 sepoy can save an additional income to his pension, 
 which, expended in his native country, will enable 
 him to support a family in much comfort. Whereas 
 the British soldier's pay and rations in India, far from 
 amounting to three times an able bodied labourer's 
 wages in England, scarcely equal them, low as they 
 are ; yet if his military merits are but equal * to the 
 sepoy's, he is not placed in an equal position with 
 him, unless he has the means afforded hint for laying 
 by an income which would provide equal comfort for 
 him in his native country. If the pensions of the 
 two are compared, the disproportion will be found 
 greater still. The sepoy in his native climate has a 
 reasonable prospect of living to enjoy a pension, 
 which is in itself a handsome retiring provision 
 with Indian wants and Indian prices. The British 
 soldier's chance is to be dead some years before he 
 could claim any pension ; and it would not place him 
 in England in a position admitting of any compari- 
 son with the retired sepoy's. 
 
 When therefore all these considerations are duly 
 weighed, it cannot but appear no great matter to 
 claim for the soldier, the best of whose days and con- 
 stitution have been expended in India, a pension 
 of 50^. a year, amounting annually to the small 
 aggregate charge of 150,000^. or so, on the revenues 
 
 * Recent events would prove them of tenfold worth, even could the 
 fidelity of the latter be implicitly relied on. 
 
232 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 of India, especially wten it is borne in mind that tbe 
 anomalous possession of that dependency is either in 
 itself utterly unjustifiable, or, so far as British. rights 
 in it are concerned, is upon all constitutional prin- 
 ciple, to be held for the equal benefit of all classes. 
 Any other view is one of rapacity, opposed to the 
 spirit of our constitution. A British parliament, 
 which justifies its present constitution upon the 
 ground that it represents as effectually the interests 
 of all classes as if the suffrages on which it rests were 
 more general, can take no other view than this ; for 
 it is manifest that upon an extension of the suffrage 
 to the classes whence the soldiers are drawn, that 
 which is now a constitutional right would become 
 law. 
 ^^^Eecapituia- Jq conclusion ; to recapitulate. It cannot be too 
 strongly impressed upon the mind, that whatever 
 may be the state and terms of enlistment and the 
 remuneration of the British soldier serving in Eu- 
 rope, or in our colonies, properly so called, service in 
 India should be held to be altogether exceptional. 
 It is not possible that the recruit should obtain be- 
 forehand any correct knowledge of life in India, nor 
 can he, or the soldier ordered out, be contented, or 
 have reason for contentment there, unless the depres- 
 sive effects of so hostile and imprisoning a climate 
 are counteracted by cherishing treatment and en- 
 The service couraging prospects. Tempered by their beneficial 
 
 might tie re- . ^ . ,. . ,. "^ 
 
 formatory. intluence, military discipline would make service in 
 India eminently reformatory of those whom circum- 
 stances, and a feeble morality, may have rendered lost 
 to society and driven out to India ; and no less protec- 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOUEAGEMEKT OP THE SOLDIEE. 233 
 
 tive of the morals of the larger number who have 
 been tempted to enlist at a time of confiding simpli- 
 city and of temporary need. It may even operate as 
 an instrument in aid of that teaching which assures 
 them that " religion has the promise of the life that 
 now is as well as that which is to come." Just and 
 generous towards them in things temporal, its ten- 
 ' dency must be to soften their hearts towards things 
 spiritual. 
 
 Of those who know the soldier in India only as the /^,^.^ soldier s 
 
 •' nabits caused 
 
 subject of unhappy influences, in incessant strife with tyh'^ position 
 himself and his circumstances, and in frequent strife 
 with good order and his officers, ever searching after 
 oblivion in intemperance, and the scandal of Christi- 
 anity among the heathen, there may be few who can 
 bring themselves to view all this moral difference 
 which exists between him and his more fortunate 
 superiors as mainly the effect of his untoward posi- 
 tion, and, in a certain sense, as the measure of it. 
 Yet such beyond doubt it is. Say not until a trial, 
 complete in all particulars, has been persevered in 
 and failed, that he might not, like some of his supe- 
 riors, have proved as unflinching an exemplar of 
 Christian morality in peace, as of soldier-like valour 
 in war ! 
 
 While volumes have been written to advocate au interests, 
 
 but his, have 
 
 what have been called British interests in connexion ^^^^ advo- 
 with India — the interests of the Company and their 
 nominees on the one hand, and of merchants and 
 manufacturers on the other ; and while pamphlets 
 have been showered, thick as leaves in Yalom- 
 brosa, to advocate the cause of the natives against 
 
 cates. 
 
234 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 the Company, — while all these interests have been 
 most ably defended by every sound fact and argu- 
 ment which could be collated, and by a great many 
 more besides, — there is one very important interest 
 which has at least equal rights to any of thesd', but in 
 support of whose claims on India not a single volume 
 has yet been written. It is that of the people, nume- 
 rical, of England — of all those classes who are called 
 upon to supply the soldiery, without whose presence 
 and aid every other British interest in India would 
 undergo a rapid tropical evaporation, and every native 
 interest, save those of marauders, a sanguineous liqui- 
 dation. British rule in India as it might be, and 
 even as it is, is a blessing to its people. It may be a 
 blessing also to the educated classes of England, 
 if they like, weighing blessings by bullion, to think 
 it so ; but as yet it is no blessing, but verily a curse, 
 to the people of England at large. The utmost that 
 can at present be said of it, is, that it absorbs a portion 
 of the pojDulation temporarily in want and not able to 
 get out to a healthy colony — absorbs them much as 
 the sea does the population of a foundering ship, the 
 absorbing element being water in the one case, heat 
 in the other. 
 
 It would be distressing beyond measure, and not a 
 little alarming, were it impossible to satisfy claims so 
 equitable in themselves and of such pressing import- 
 ance as those here advocated, since it would point to 
 the only proper alternative — an early abandonment 
 of the country ; but happily the measures necessary 
 in order to place the British soldier and his offspring 
 in India in the position which is their due, are not 
 
HOPEFUL ENCOURAGEMENT OP THE SOLDIER. 235 
 
 such as would exhaust either the intellect or the 
 means at the command of the State. 
 
 In the first place, the Clothing, Housing, Locating, The first duty. 
 and Recreative Employment of the Soldiery, having 
 received a thorough and scientific investigation by a 
 suitable number of qualified minds conscientiously 
 selected for the duty, no pitiful question of expence 
 should be allowed to interfere with the determination 
 to render them as beneficial as was possible. 
 
 In the second place, the legitimate children of the The second, 
 soldiers should be cherished and reared in a healthy 
 climate by the Grovernment, as has under a former 
 head * been fully and plainly set forth. 
 
 In the third place, after a service of twenty years. The third, 
 jointly in the Plains and Hills, they should be en- 
 titled to a pension of 40^. or 50Z. per annum. A 
 common labourer's and porter's wages in England 
 varies from a pitiful 25Z. a year in the country to 50^. 
 in towns, and a mechanic's from 70Z. to 100/. a year a comparison 
 or more. Surely then men drawn from these several " p^'^^""'^- 
 classes are entitled, if they survive long service in 
 India, to the above pension, since officers, when 
 entitled to theirs, have commonly reached their ma- 
 jority and enjoy a pension of 270Z. or, fully double 
 the salary which a young man of education, even of 
 average university education, can hope to receive as 
 a tutor, professional assistant, &c., or in the church 
 as a curate ; while, if the officer remains a few more 
 years in the service, his pension mounts up to much 
 more than that. The pension of 1000/. per annum 
 which the civilian receives is twenty times what is 
 
 * Page 171. 
 
236 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA, 
 
 here sought for the soldier ; whereas the generality of 
 civilians, even as now appointed by merit, would, 
 without the aid of capital or interest, have found it 
 difficult, in their early prime, to secure any perma- 
 nent occupation yielding a salary of more than 200Z. 
 a year, only equal to eight times the miserable pay of 
 a Suffolk labourer, four times the pound a week of a 
 London porter, or double the wages of a London me- 
 chanic of any skill. That there are some of these 
 educated classes, civil and military, who combine with 
 real merit the talent of making their way to fortune 
 at once, which would have availed them had they 
 not entered the service, is true ; but it is equally 
 true of many a soldier, could he but have escaped 
 his position and started anew in life. If it be con- 
 tended that a large part of the civilian's pension 
 is the fruit of stoppages from his pay, the friend of 
 the soldier may reply that he will be well satisfied 
 bya similar arrangement of a pension " stop'd " out of 
 pay made so handsome as to admit of it, and to leave 
 at the same time a proportional current affluence. It 
 is not with any the smallest intention of criticising 
 their amount, as if they were not fairly earned by 
 long and faithful services to India, that a reference is 
 here made to the pensions of the civil and military 
 services ; but solely with the view of showing, by a 
 fair comparison of the money-value of the time of 
 men of each class, how very moderate is the pension 
 here claimed for the soldier ; since it does not exceed 
 the mean of the wages of the several classes from which 
 he is drawn, while a major's pension is double and a 
 civilian's at least five times the salary which could 
 
fence. 
 
 HOPEFUL BNCODRAGEMENT OF THE SOLDIER. 237 
 
 have been calculated upon from employments open 
 to men of education unaided by interest or capital. 
 If the soldier has been here supposed to enjoy the ad- 
 vantage of serving during a portion of his time in 
 the hills, so would also a portion of the officers, while 
 the rest have the great privilege of a furlough to 
 Europe after ten years' service, or at any time in the 
 case of sickness, during which they receive pay quite 
 adequate to their support. 
 
 An army of Britons maintained in tropical India India has no 
 
 „ . , , . right to expect 
 
 must 01 necessity be costly. India has no right to ex- cheap dc- 
 pect, any more than individual employers of English- 
 men, that she is to command their unequalled ser- 
 vices at any but a proportional cost ; especially since, 
 in enticing them from the pure and wholesome 
 bosom of their mother country, she, their stepdame, 
 has no better rest to offer them, excepting in certain 
 spots, but on her huge brown carcass, steaming with 
 heat, fretting with " prickly-heat," infested with pa- 
 rasitic insects, and oozing noxious vapours at every 
 pore ! 
 
 Costly to India as a large British force must neces- 
 sarily be, it is the most profitable investment she has 
 ever made, and it is not at present quite costly 
 enough to satisfy the demands of justice and sound 
 policy. The outlay upon it is stopped short of the 
 last tithe or two requisite. The main charges which 
 more immediately concern the interest of the Gro- 
 vernment, but do not conduce to the happiness or 
 contentment of the soldier, are incurred, but the 
 small increase necessary to ensure these most impor- 
 tant ends remains yet to be added. It is this addition 
 
238 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 which will make all the difference possible in the 
 social position of the soldier, and in his hopes and 
 therefore habits. It will make all the difference 
 between his existence being one of bondage the most 
 abject and hopeless, however much longer loyalty 
 and discipline might cause the majority to struggle 
 against and drown in liquor the sense of it, — or one 
 of free and willing service at all times, such as 
 England should alone permit her sons to be bound to 
 in any tropical clime. 
 An acknow- If India is to remain a dependency of Bne-land, — 
 
 ledgment of . ^, ^ "^ i i 
 
 the right, or a blcssing many think — a burden some, — let her 
 
 its alternative. f i • 
 
 revenues be chargeable, as a nrst claim upon them, 
 to the extent necessary to render the protection of 
 her a willing service at all times on the part of the 
 humblest of her gallant defenders, and thus to ensure 
 also the services of well-disposed men. To continue 
 to withhold this right, would be to proclaim by acts, 
 more forcibly than any democratic orator could by 
 words, the necessity of that extension of our parlia- 
 mentary franchise to the classes from whom they 
 are drawn, which would very soon ensure for the non- 
 commissioned protectors of India this their birth- 
 right as freemen, and the rightful charge upon her 
 revenues which it involves. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 ( A. and B. ) 
 
 Notes to tliese letters have been deferred, and fall under advanced 
 letters in the latter part of the Work. 
 
 (C— Page 98.) 
 
 It is true that in the Crimean and former wars frequent com- Complaints of 
 
 plaints were made of the wei'flAf of the soldier's head-dress ; even of J}^*^ weight of 
 111 • 1 • 1 iTTi • ^^'^ liead- 
 
 the shako weighmg but a pound. v\'hen we consider what was dress. 
 
 the common weight of the casque and helmets, both of ancient 
 times, and of the days of heavy armour in the middle ages, when 
 men were encumbered with so heavy a body-dress in addition to 
 the head ; or when we turn to native women and children running 
 for many hours, day by day without intermission, with a weight 
 exceeding that of twenty shakos on their heads (I have occasion- 
 ally seen lads carrying eight " goomma " bricks, a cubic foot, 
 weighing 100 shakos !) ; to suppose that the oppression caused by 
 one shako was due simply to its weight, would imply that its 
 wearer had degenerated into the feeblest of human beings. The 
 oppression is doubtless occasioned by the pressure round the 
 brows, of a hard inelastic and impervious substance clipping and 
 heating them ; and by confined heat and perspiration ; there 
 being no ventilation, or at best a mere semblance of it. My 
 own solar hat in India weighed certainly above two pounds, and 
 was often worn for many consecutive hours. There cannot be a 
 doubt that the oppressiveness of the ordiirary head-dress of the 
 soldier is not due to its weight, as is imagined ; but to its im- 
 perfect poising, its pressure and its want of porosity. It is ab- 
 surd to suppose that the soldier cannot learn to carry a hat of a 
 weight to which any healthy girl might readily be accustomed ; 
 and not a twentieth of what many a girl, both here and in India, 
 carries easily for many hours a day. 
 
240 
 
 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Mistaken ad- 
 vice respect- 
 ing exposure. 
 
 ( D.— Page 127. ) 
 
 " Let it be the fashion to be English. It is a fallacy to sup- 
 pose that the climate compels to be otherwise. Let the young 
 man never enter a palkee, but go about on the back of his poney. 
 Let him not fear the sun— it may tan his cheeks but it will not 
 hurt him. It is your effeminate gentlefolks who live in dark 
 houses artificially cooled, with a dozen Hindoos at work with 
 fans and flappers to beat the fliies off them, who suffer by expo- 
 sure ; not the hardy young Englishman who, if not intemperate, 
 soon becomes acclimated ; and the more readily so the less he 
 regards the sunshine, which is healthy enough in modera- 
 tion." 
 
 This is the advice of a most gallant and able officer, Brigadier 
 Jacob, whose personal experience has no doubt confirmed it 
 hitherto. He therefore possesses the semi-tropical constitution 
 referred to in page 40 in the body of the work. That in the 
 Presidency of Bombay, so many stations of which are maritime 
 or within the influence of a marine atmosphere, while others on 
 table-lands are materially affected by their elevation, and that 
 in Madras to a certain extent, for the same .reason, exposure to 
 the sun is not deleterious to an equal degree to what it is in the 
 more continental Presidency of Bengal, is no doubt true ; but 
 that on land in any part of the Tropics the natives of our climes 
 can habitually expose themselves is a fallacy it is most dangerous 
 to propagate. Just as a man recently irom Europe can endure 
 exposure, not without danger but with less suffering and danger 
 than the same man after some years residence in India, so also 
 is it true almost without an exception that in proportion as that 
 man is able to keep up his English tone by surrounding himself 
 as nearly as he can with an English climate, will he, when the 
 necessity arises, be best able to endure exposure. To the truth 
 of this fact every physiologist of experience in India will bear 
 testimony. It is indeed a truth not necessarily resting for its evi- 
 dence on tropical experience, but predicable upon physiological 
 law. The more nearly the animal body is in its normal 
 state, the better is it able to endure extremes of either heat 
 or cold. To treat as effeminate an avoidance of the sun of 
 India, and to recommend men to harden themselves to it by 
 exposure, is even something less prudent than to urge men 
 
APPENDIX. 241 
 
 proceeding to Russia or Hudson's Bay to go about unprotected by 
 suitable covering and not effeminately to fear the cold. In our 
 own country, even our soldiers would not be rendered hardier, 
 but much the contrary, if they mounted guard in snowy winter 
 nights in a light summer dress. It is a curious fact that, on first 
 emigrating to Canada, Englishmen feel the cold much less than 
 afterwards ; less even than those born there. In the opposite ex- 
 treme, in the Tropics, the case is much stronger. The man who 
 habitually exposes himself may rely upon it that, whatever may 
 be the apparent impunity with which he does so, he is weakening 
 his constitution, and laying for himself the foundation of visceral 
 disease. 
 
 But where is the need for so much argumentation ? Do not 
 the records of the wilfulness of stem commanding officers show 
 in the fatal results how grievously they have erred in imagining 
 they could harden their soldiers in India by sufficient exposure ? 
 In the preceding pages instances of this have been adduced 
 occurring many years ago. Within a few years a notable case 
 has occurred, which occupied the attention of the whole press 
 in India, and was rightly and strongly denounced by it. 
 An officer commanding one of H. M. regiments in India 
 thought ro acclimate his men by marching and drilling them in 
 the forenoon ; but the result very soon belied his expectations. 
 The sickness and mortality induced were such as to attract 
 the attention of the government. It was natural that the officer 
 himself should lay the disaster upon the unhealthiness of the 
 barracks. But these, though faulty enough, as has been stated 
 in the preceding pages, had been previously long occupied by 
 different corps which did not suffer in like manner. 
 
 In the unavoidable exposure of the troops now in the field 
 there is too abundant evidence that exposure to an Indian sun 
 is in every degree more or less injurious, and that as a rule, they 
 endure it on an emergency best who have most carefully avoided 
 its influence, either by keeping habitually under shelter, except- 
 ing when it was low, or by clothing themselves in the best way 
 they could against the power of its rays. 
 
242 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 ( E. — Locating of Troops. Page 154. ) 
 
 Interesting f jjg dimate of the Himalaya Provinces (though the subject has 
 the cUmate of lost the novelty it possessed when the Essay, from which the fol- 
 the Hills, lowing are extracts, was written at Simla in 1824) has acquired 
 an increasing interest and importance now that it has become 
 not unfrequently the refuge of the government, and of a portion 
 of the European troops ; and this interest and importance will 
 greatly increase should the bulk of these forces be hereafter 
 quartered under its benign influence. If the matter of that Essay 
 has been in a measure merged in the more recent writings of 
 those who from time to time have recorded the results of their 
 own and others' observations through the large amount of experi- 
 ence, which has since been afforded, it is believed there will yet 
 be found in the original form, in which certain leading views 
 connected with the eifect of a mountain climate on the human 
 body were put forth, an interest which may repay the perusal of 
 these extracts. With respect to one point — dampness ; if the 
 theoretical view on which, in the absence ofall the subsequent ex- 
 perience, an opinion had to be grounded, may appear to have 
 placed the effect of mists and rain on lofty mountain heights in 
 too favourable a light, as being much less humid and injurious 
 than rain and fogs on the plain surface of the earth, I would beg 
 the reader to bear in mind, that the convenience of vicinity to the 
 plains has led to the selection of elevations the climate of which 
 is by no means purely mountainous. Even Simla, which in a 
 direct line is perhaps twenty miles from the plains, has to bear 
 much of the brunt of the monsoon, charged with vapour exhaled 
 from the hot and watery world below. Darjeling overhanging 
 Bengal, and Nyne Tal overhanging Rohilkund, are doubtless 
 most faulty in this respect. They and their mountain fellows 
 in line, right and left, receive the brunt, and are the first preci- 
 pitants of torrents which would never have risen as vapour 
 from a cool mountain surface into its rare circumambient atmos- 
 phere. Each rank, behind, catches and brings down vapours that 
 burst through them, until, at a certain distance, we have fully 
 exemplified in nature the truth theoretically maintained in this 
 Essay, that a lofty mountain air, even when opaque with mist, can- 
 not have a like suppressive effect on the skin with an atmosphere 
 of an equal, apparent, opacity on the earth's low level. 
 
APPENDIX. 243 
 
 ExTEACTS from an Essay on the Climate of the Hill Pkovinces 
 (of the Himalayas), and its connexion with Pathology.* 
 
 " Oftentimes reflecting on the great difference in the proper- 
 ties of the atmosphere of these elevations, and that on the plain 
 surface of the earth, and the necessary effect of a change to the 
 former on the human constitution, certain pathological views 
 have presented themselves to me, which, if just, must be of some 
 importance. Of their truth, the arguments contained in the 
 following pages will, I trust, induce conviction in the minds of 
 those who favour them with a perusal. They have been cor- 
 roborated by such experience and observation as my own resi- 
 dence has afforded, and by such information as I have been 
 able to acquire. Another inducement arises from the fact, 
 that, although nine years have elapsed, since the British pro- 
 tection has been extended to these States, their clifhate has 
 gained as yet little of the celebrity it merits. More than 
 merely occasional reports is necessary, to give rise to full con- 
 viction in the public mind of the certainty of facts, not a little 
 extraordinary in themselves. 
 
 " Much prejudice and uncertainty not unreasonably exist 
 on this subject ; the minute attention requisite to explain all 
 facts connected with it, and to remove all causes liable to 
 create deception, not having as yet been afforded. 
 
 " The evidence necessary is, either that of an extensive ex- 
 periment, or of strict pathological reasoning on the question. 
 Neither has hitherto been afforded. It is on the latter evi- 
 dence chiefly, that an institution of this nature would be com- 
 menced, since the former evidence, namely that of an extensive 
 and well conducted experiment, must itself be the result of the 
 institution in question. 
 
 " There are many reasons, sufficient to account for this 
 climate's having obtained but little of the celebrity it merits. 
 It is not easy, without actual experience, or a study of the 
 philosophy of the atmosphere, to be impressed with a firm con- 
 viction, that places nearly of the same latitude can differ very 
 greatly in climate ; and that the summits of hills can possess 
 very equable climates ; although a person may not doubt of the 
 
 * Written at Simla, in tlie only liouse then existing there, and published 
 in Calcutta, in 1824. 
 
 e2 
 
244 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 summits of lofty mountains being covered with perpetual snow. 
 Hence the climate of the hills is often confounded with that of 
 the adjoining valleys, and hence it is even supposed by some to 
 be subject to sudden extremes of heat and cold. From the known 
 unhealthiness of the neighbouring jungly Terais, and from the 
 reported luxuriance of the wood on the hills, doubts naturally 
 arise as to the purity of the air. Added to these are very 
 general suspicions of its being unhealthy from dampness. Dis- 
 trust has also arisen from too low situations (not higher than 
 3000 or 4000 feet) having been chosen for residence by invahds. 
 All these groundless apprehensions will, I trust, ere long be en- 
 tirely removed. 
 Moimtain " Although the climate of mountainous summits, owing to 
 summitainEu- pg(.^liarit;ies in the barometric properties of their atmosphere, 
 ing. has of late years commanded the attention of philosophers, 
 
 the effects of such climates on the human constitution have 
 hitherto scarcely attracted the inquiries of the physician. This 
 is not to be wondered at, since the climate of mountainous sum- 
 mits in Europe, where alone such inquiries could hitherto have 
 been expected, must have afforded, owing to its inclemency, 
 little prospect of interest to the physician ; especially as the 
 diseases prevalent in those latitudes are not in general such as 
 to be benefited by the properties of the climate of mountains. 
 In India, however, it is far otherwise. The inclemency here 
 is not as in Europe in the climate of the hills, but in that of 
 the plains ; and it will be my endeavour to prove clearly, that 
 the peculiarities of the air of the former are well calculated to 
 remove the injurious effects arising from the latter. .... 
 
 "Before entering on this question, I will venture to state, 
 that most of the diseases in India, namely, those arising from 
 heat, are chiefly, if not entirely, induced through injury of the 
 functions of the skin. The truth of this will become manifest 
 by considering, that there are no means by which the interior 
 of the body can be affected from without, but through the 
 medium of the skin — -either that of the surface, or of the lungs ; 
 that the skin is endowed with various functions, which while 
 vigorous, entirely preserve the internal parts from atmospheric 
 injuries ;* and therefore that the internal parts cannot suffer 
 
 * In evidence of the truth of this statement I will instance the following 
 fact, than which nothing can more strongly corroborate it. It is well 
 
APPENDIX. 245 
 
 from the effects of heat, till the functions of the skin are either 
 suddenly or gradually deranged. It will be proper therefore, 
 in the first place to inquire into the changes, effected by heat, 
 in the functions of this membrane. Some effects of climate 
 on the functions of the skin are too manifest to escape the 
 notice of any individual ; but there are several, which being 
 more intricate, though not less important, have commonly 
 passed unobserved " 
 
 "In Britain, where the air is generally in the former state, 
 viz., cold, somewhat damp, and of full weight, the removal of 
 heat must be effected in a great measure by direct conduction. 
 And as these states of the air exist during the greater part of 
 the year, much heat is generated in the body, in order to supply 
 so rapid an abstraction by conduction. 
 
 " On visiting India, the action of the -skin is quickly altered. Effectof aTro- 
 The sudden change in its functions, and the stimulus of heat, on the skin, 
 are among the chief dangers to which a person on first arriving 
 is exposed. 
 
 " The temperature of the air during a great part of the year, 
 being but a few degrees under that of the body, little heat can 
 now be removed by conduction. The internal heat accumu- 
 lates, and would soon give rise to fatal disease ; but that its 
 stimulus rapidly excites an active perspiration, which, in evapo- 
 rating, absorbs much of the heat that excited it ; and the heat 
 and dryness of the air greatly increase this evaporation ; so 
 that the quantity of fluid exhaled from the surface in a healthy 
 person who has lately arrived in the country is very great. 
 For some time the excited skin has strength to supply the ex- 
 halation required, and during this time the heat being thus mo- 
 derated, is not much complained of. Excitement so unnatural 
 cannot long be endured by many ; nor can such unaccustomed 
 action be long supported. The functions of the skin become 
 gradually weakened, and in some cases ultimately exhausted. 
 
 known to philosophers, that certain gentlemen, desirous of ascertaining 
 what degree of heated air could temporarily he borne, had the resolution to 
 enter a chamber, or oven, the air in which was heated to a temperature far 
 above that of boiling water ; and that they remained in this atmosphere for a 
 considerable time with impunity. Here the power of the cutaneous func- 
 tions was strikingly evinced. They guarded, for a time, the skin and 
 vitals from a degree of heat, which otherwise would have even altered their 
 structure, coagulating or producing incipient decomposition in all the 
 soft parts. 
 
246 BRITISH ARMy IN INDIA. 
 
 "The first channel for the egress of heat, conduction, carries 
 ofi" little heat in India, during the greater part of the year. 
 When the second channel for its egress — active perspiration — 
 is much weakend by exhaustion, heat internally accumulates, 
 oftentimes increased by diet too free in animal and vinous 
 stumuli. 
 and through it "Several internal functions, those of the liver and stomach 
 gans^' ^ especially, are at first excited, then ultimately exhausted, partly 
 
 through their sympathy with affected skin, and partly by the 
 stimulus of accumulated heat. Hence diseases, varying with 
 circumstances* and predisposition, are induced and renewed by 
 
 a continuing cause " 
 
 " We have then to inquire into the properties of a climate, 
 calculated for the restoration of the injured functions, and the 
 removal therefore of diseases incurred by a residence in Hindos- 
 tan. Functions which have long been overpowered by the 
 action of stimuli, cannot, by the continuance of stimuli, be 
 forced into healthy action. Neither the stimulus therefore of 
 heat nor of cold can force those of the exhausted skin to their 
 proper action, for the former has already enfeebled, and the 
 latter may paralyze the nearly exhausted vessels. 
 
 " It is no doubt true, that the severity of a British winter is 
 oftentimes less felt at first by persons just returned from long 
 residence in India, than by those who have always resided in 
 Britain. It would be absurd to attribute this to superior vigour 
 in the former. May not the following be the true explanation ? 
 That there are two kinds of insensibility to cold. The one 
 resulting from hardiness, the consequence of frequent exposure 
 in a vigorous constitution, by which the whole system becomes, 
 through habit, insusceptible of feeling and suffering from cold. 
 The other arising from exhaustion of that cutaneous sensibility, 
 which urges a person in health (though not perhaps hardy) to 
 guard by exercise, or by artificial means, against greater cold 
 than the constitution is habituated to. Hence it is probable 
 many persons on returning from India, are indifferent towards 
 an extreme degree of cold, which is at the same time injuring 
 them. 
 
 * Exposure, excesses, and miasmata, which last, though they may 
 operate alone, are rendered far worse in their action when occurring with 
 functions previously diseased. 
 
APPENDIX. 247 
 
 "The restoration of these functions must be effected by Properties 
 
 T •,• ,1 . 1 p -i • • -i,! i J? of a restorative 
 
 soliciting the cutaneous vessels, tor it is impossible to force climate, 
 them, to regain their healthy action, — I. By carefully avoiding 
 the stimulus of extreme heat or cold. II. By lessening, if pos- 
 sible, those powers, which tend directly to check their action. 
 
 " I. To the end that extremes may be avoided, it is highly 
 advisable that a mild and regular climate be visited in the 
 summer, in order that by its gradual and regular approach a 
 mild winter may be found salutary to functions partly renovated. 
 
 " II. The great utility of lessening those powers, which, though Barometric 
 
 ~ ./ o r 7 ' o pressure ■ its 
 
 natural in a healthy state, materially oppress the action of the effects on the 
 enfeebled vessels, will be rendered manifest by a clear but brief ^'^°- 
 inquiry into their nature and force. The chief power which 
 moderates the perspiration in health, but must check it in a dis- 
 eased state of the skin, is the pressure of the air. This great 
 force, at the level of the sea, is nearly equal to fifteen pounds on 
 every square inch of the skin, and its tendency to prevent exha- 
 lation from the surface may be judged of by the fact, that, if 
 the whole atmospheric pressure were removed, the vessels of the 
 skin would immediately give way, and all the animal fluids 
 would evaporate away, leaving the shrivelled body drier than a 
 mummy. Now, although an entire removal of pressure would, 
 on many accounts, prove instantly fatal, yet it will be readily 
 understood, that the other extreme of great pressure, though 
 natural in health, may be too much for a feeble constitution and 
 exhausted skin. Were not this reasoning sujSicient to confirm 
 the fact, experience would bring conviction of the truth of it 
 By a partial removal of this oppressing power, the skin is, as it 
 were, solicited to resume a free action. Hence perhaps the 
 exhilarating and free sensation, independently of coolness, 
 enjoyed on ascending from low situations to a moderate height 
 in all countries, commonly, but incorrectly, attributed to greater 
 purity of the air. The other opponent force to the perspiratory 
 action is moisture in the air. This prevents the action, not so 
 much by pressure, as the former does, but by pre-occupying 
 the interstices of the air, and thus resisting the evaporation. 
 Moisture has much greater effect in obstructing the action of 
 the skin, when the air is dense and heavy, as on the level 
 surface of the earth, than when rarefied. For, since dense air 
 can hold more water in solution than rare air, before it becomes 
 
248 BBITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 damp {i. e. oversaturated), it must be far more loaded with 
 moisture, than damp rarefied air. 
 Fogs on high " Hence fogs or mist in elevated situations produce much less 
 oppressive ^^^ oppression and deposit much less moisture, than in low situa- 
 than below. tions ; a fact which is unquestionably and necessarily true ; 
 either on the theory of the diminished solvent power of the air, 
 owing to its rarefaction, or on that of the great rarity of the 
 vapour, arising from the superincumbent column of vapour 
 being much less in quantity than at the plain surface of the 
 earth. The true theory perhaps includes a combination of the 
 two. The/ac<, however, is certain. This absence of oppres- 
 sion also arises in great measure form' the fact that damp 
 rarefied air (though its interstices are occupied by as much 
 vapour as the temperature will admit of) allows, owing to its 
 lessened density, of a ready expansion of the perspired fluid 
 from the warm surface. 
 
 "It is a fact of some importance, that the mists which must 
 occasionally be met with in those situations, where the ad- 
 vantages of moderately rarefied air can be experienced, have 
 not the oppressing efi"ects of fogs in heavy air. 
 
 " It follows, therefore, from what has been above said, that 
 the same measures required for obviating great atmospheric 
 pressure, lessen also the effects arising from dampness ; for the 
 oppression arising from moisture, and that from atmospheric 
 weight, are both diminished at the same time by elevation. 
 
 " The conclusion, which results from the inquiry into the 
 properties of a climate, calculated for the removal of diseases in 
 European constitutions, incurred by a residence in Hindostan, 
 is plainly this — that a temperate and regular climate should be 
 visited in a situation sufficiently elevated for the atmosphere to 
 be rarefied, and its pressure moderated. 
 Advantage « 'pjjg former of these requisites is met with in many parts of 
 over Emopean Europe, and were the distance from India less, these advantages 
 heights"' °^ climate would in general be sufiicient ; but the latter requisite, 
 which is of no small importance, cannot be possessed in Europe. 
 In countries where the climate of the plains is temperate, that of 
 mountains of adequate loftiness is very rigorous. The incle- 
 mency of mountainous heights in Europe altogether precludes 
 the advantages which would arise from the levity of their 
 atmosphere. 
 
APPENDIX. 249 
 
 "It is not to be regretted that Europe does not present 
 climes, possessed of all the requisite properties, for they are 
 afforded at a small distance. In these mountainous districts 
 are numerous spots possessing all the advantages in question. 
 
 " First, — As to climate. At altitudes between six thousand Equability 
 five hundred and seven thousand feet, climates will be met with ^ou^ta^^ "" 
 approaching very nearly to that of the temperate parts of 
 Europe. The temperature of these elevated situations possesses 
 also- the great advantage of being more equable than that of the 
 plains, the annual variations being less. It may be admitted 
 as established, with regard to the climate of mountains, that 
 much less difference exists between the seasons than at the 
 plain surface of the earth. This may be shown to be evident 
 on various accounts, among which are the following : — The 
 atmosphere, it is well known, does not derive its heat directly 
 from the sun's rays, for very few of them are intercepted in 
 their passage, by it — most reach the earth. Hence during the 
 hot season the rays are accumulated on the plain surface of the 
 earth, or in valleys ; and from their concentration they keep 
 the incumbent air at a forced temperature ; and also are radi- 
 ated and reflected to all contiguous bodies in great intensity. 
 But in the cold weather, when the rays travel obliquely to the 
 earth, many more are intercepted in their passage through the 
 upper regions of the atmosphere, the greater part still however 
 reaching the earth. From the obliquity and lessened intensity 
 of the rays that fall upon the earth, far less accumulation of 
 heat occurs beyond the Tropics at that season. Hence the 
 reason of the great difference near the earth's surface between 
 the seasons. On the other hand, on the summit and sides of 
 mountains, little accumulation of heat takes place at any 
 season. The sun's rays, falling on very inclined planes, have 
 little intensity from their being spread over a great surface, 
 and from many for the same reason being reflected off to the 
 valleys. Lastly, — A very small portion of the earth's surface 
 being occupied by lofty mountains, it is plain that the rays, 
 which fall on them, can but little affect the general temperature 
 of the widely extended mass of atmosphere of the same altitude 
 which surrounds and is continually passing over them ; and the 
 absolute quantity of heat in the atmosphere being chiefly derived 
 from the earth's surface, is not, at a distance from the surface, 
 
250 BBITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 liable to so great or so sudden variations. The permanent 
 lowness in the temperature of the high regions of atmosphere 
 has been well shown by Sir H. Davy to arise chiefly from the 
 increase of cafodty for heat, the consequence of rarefaction. 
 Eemarkable " The difference between the summer and winter is less, as the 
 equability^of ^j^jg^jj^g fj-om the plain surface of the earth increases. Hence 
 Hill climates, at those heights, where the summer is far colder than that of 
 neighbouring plains, the winter, though of course colder than 
 below, is by no means cold in proportion. This statement, of 
 which the above is the theory, will be proved by the following 
 comparison of the extremes of last year (one of perhaps less 
 variation than common) near London, and of the extreme tem- 
 perature of this year at Kurnal (about a degree south of the 
 hills), noticed in January by myself, and in July by a gentleman 
 resident there, with the extreme of this year also at Kot Gurh 
 in the hills (altitude 6660 feet), the hottest season being now 
 passed, observed in January by Lieutenant Gerard and in June 
 by myself. 
 
 1823 — mar London. Fdhts. Scale. 
 
 Lowest in January 4° 
 
 Highest in May 78 
 
 Extreme difference of the year — 74° 
 
 1824 — Kurnal. 
 
 Lowest (observed) in January 31 
 
 Highest in July 122 
 
 Extreme difference of the year 91 
 
 1824r— Kot Ourh (altitude of 6660/eei). 
 
 Lowest in January ... 23 
 
 Highest in June 82 
 
 Extreme difference of the year — 59 
 
 " It is true the temperature of the air at Kot Gurh and similar 
 elevations is at times above 82°, and it appears to have risen 
 once last year to 89°, according to the tables of Lieut. Gerard. 
 The same occurs at times in England, but the thermometer at 
 the former elevation has not been noticed during several years 
 below 22°, whereas in England it often falls below Zero of 
 Fahts. scale ; and it has been observed at Hurdwar (in the 
 plains), a few miles north of Kurnal, at only 26°, giving to each 
 place greater annual extremes than the above, which may 
 therefore be considered a fair general comparison. 
 
APPENDIX. 251 
 
 " The equality "in temperature for a long period is very 
 striking in this climate. For the space of a month the extreme 
 diurnal change in the open air is often under 15 degrees, and 
 often under 5 degrees for many consecutive days and nights. 
 The air at these elevations has not only a temperature for 
 many months very mild, and at all times more equable than 
 that of the plains, but it also is very pure. 
 
 " From the universal declivity of the surface, all superfluous and purity of 
 rain runs off to the valleys as it falls, whence it is quickly 
 carried to the plains. The soil, lying on the rock, is dry ; 
 hence little evaporation takes place from the ground, and hence 
 the air during rains is not, as in the plains, constantly saturated 
 with watery exhalations. Hence also vegetation, though lux- 
 uriant, is not rank. There is no sudden destruction and putre- 
 faction of vegetables from excess of moisture on the one hand, 
 nor a rapid transition of their elements into revegetation by 
 excess of heat on the other. During such hurried and incom- 
 plete vegetation of succulent weeds, many elements are perhaps 
 lost* which assume in combination the forms of various gases. 
 These, if inhaled in a concentrated state, prove fatal, and, 
 indeed, under any circumstances, are highly injurious. 
 
 " Owing to the nature and declivity of the soil and other 
 causes already mentioned, the air of these hills is never so far 
 replete with moisture, and does not even in the rains, when 
 occasionally misty, deposit such humidity on clothes and fur- 
 niture as in the plains.t Neither is it ever exhausting from 
 dryness. It is not at any time rendered arid from excess of 
 heat, as during the hot season below.J In respect of climate, 
 therefore, this atmosphere has every advantage : it is mild, 
 equable both in its heat and moisture, and of unusual purity. 
 In winter also, though at times keen and bracing, it will 
 not prove cold in proportion to the temperature of the summer. 
 
 " Secondly, — The great superiority of this atmosphere is its 
 levity and its diminished pressure. At these altitudes of six 
 
 * The nature of the climates in which miasmata are most abundantly 
 o-enerated, and of the vegetation from which they appear to arise, will, I 
 think, authorize such an explanation. At all events, the truth pf the 
 preceding statement itself is unquestionable. 
 
 t \ These facts I have also ascertained by repeated hygrometric obser- 
 vations, sufficient to prove the truth of these statements. 
 
252 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 At Simla, thousand five hundred or seven thousand feet, the weight of the 
 trie' pressure Superincumbent atmosphere is diminished by one-fifth at least. 
 
 reduced by j^ weight of three pounds is removed from every square inch of 
 oue-flftli at *= r. 1 T- T • 1 ... , 
 
 least. Tiie ef- the Surface of the skm. It is then necessary to inquire into the 
 feet of this. efiect of such an important change on the body. 
 
 "1. As to the functions of the skin. The beneficial efiects 
 of diminished pressure in their derangements I have already 
 pointed out. In these situations, where one-fifth of the whole 
 pressure from the surface of the body is removed, how suitable must 
 a residence be to Indian invalids generally, for the derangements 
 in question are common to all, injury or exhaustion of the skin 
 being attendant on all the diseases of India ! How desirable to 
 ail invalid must be the easy change irom that climate, in which 
 the functions of the skin and viscera, already weakened by the 
 stimulus of excessive heat, are by its continuance sufiering insu- 
 perable exhaustion under too great atmospheric pressure, to a 
 climate, in which not only is all such stimulus removed, but 
 pressure — the great opponent force to their action — -moderated ! 
 In short, as it were from a state of compulsion to one of solici- 
 tation ! 
 
 " 2. The efifect of diminished pressure on the organs and 
 circulation. Upon a reduction of the external pressure, the 
 solids, all of which are more or less elastic, except the bones, ex- 
 pand, the solids and liquids are less severely pressed against 
 and into each other, and the circulation is freer. By these 
 means internal parts, if formerly in a state of irritation, oppres- 
 sion, or congestion, are relieved " 
 
 "For the removal therefore of derangements of the more 
 important viscera, the peculiarities of this climate are especially 
 adapted. By its temperate coolness it conducts ofi" with suffi- 
 cient quickness superfluous heat, so as to prevent accumulation 
 and irritation ; and its equability both in temperature and 
 moisture guard against any sudden chilling or paralyzing 
 effects. By its gradual and regular approach the cold season 
 will, it may be presumed, have in most cases a bracing effect, 
 giving tone to the cutaneous vessels, whereas, were it very rigo- 
 rous and variable, as in Britain, it might have a contrary 
 effect. 
 
 " The moderate rarity and levity of this atmosphere are 
 especially favourable. By these states of the air encouraging a 
 
APPENDIX. 253 
 
 return of proper action in all the cutaneous functions, through 
 their intimate sympathy, those of the viscera will be indirectly 
 benefited ; and by their inducing a free circulation in, and flow 
 of the blood to superficial parts, the viscera will in a direct 
 manner be relieved from its internal redundance and irritation. 
 
 "Next to these parts the brain is that most frequently in- Its effect on 
 jured ; its sufi'erings indeed are generally complicated with 
 theirs. In all cases of cerebral irritation or plethora, whether 
 from fever, visceral disease, apoplexy, or the direct influence 
 of the solar rays, as in a stroke of the sun, the same causes 
 generally operate in India, viz., acute sympathy with the skin 
 and viscera, and accumulation of heat. The connexion between 
 these parts and the brain is so inseparable, that a climate, 
 which is admirably adapted to the restoration of their functions, 
 must on this account alone act very beneficially on the cerebral 
 functions. Hence a climate mild, equable, and regular in its 
 seasons is in all cases desirable for afi"ections of the brain. 
 
 " The diminished pressure of this atmosphere, owing to the 
 peculiar structure of the head, must add great additional efficacy 
 to this climate in its affections. The brain being the only part 
 contained within a firm covering of unalterable dimensions, an 
 increase or diminution of atmospheric pressure on the head 
 itself can have little or no direct effect on its contents ; but 
 on a removal of a considerable pressure from the rest of the 
 body, a general expansion of the elastic solids must take place ; 
 their dimensions are increased, while the head remains un- 
 altered. This increase of dimension in the body must partly be 
 supplied by fluids, gravitating from the head, and urged down- 
 wards by the elasticity of its contents ; and hence the quantity 
 of fluid circulating in the brain is lessened.* This change, 
 
 * That a diminution of one-fifth of the atmospheric pressure must have 
 considerahle etfeot in lessening the determination of blood to the brain, 
 may be judged of by the fact, that on a further removal of one and a 
 half-fifth more (i. e. diminishing the weight of the air by one-half), even 
 considerable suffering and severe headache is produced, and it is said that 
 at greater heights blood oozes from the nose and ears. It may at first 
 appear curious that nearly similar symptoms are induced by an opposite 
 cause. By subjection to great and unaccustomed pressure, as in a diving- 
 bell, headache and flowing of blood from the nose and ears is often pro- 
 duced. From this similarity of symptoms I have heard it urged as an 
 objection to these elevated situations, that from diminished pressure a 
 fulness in the head and its consequences are likely to ensue. Careful 
 
254 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 though not mensurable from its being divided throughout the 
 body, undoubtedly occurs, and must of necessity have an impor- 
 tant effect in diminishing the fullness of the cerebral vessels, 
 and therefore the oppression or irritation. Most of our effica- 
 cious remedies for these very numerous and frequent affections 
 of the brain have this end in view. How advantageous then 
 must that climate be, where natural causes gently but continu- 
 ally operate most favourably for their removal ! 
 
 " In concluding this subject, it is of importance to observe, 
 that in order to secure all the benefits of climate above specified, 
 it is highly necessary the situation chosen for residence be not 
 of less altitude than six thousand five hundred feet, as otherwise 
 much of the benefit afforded by these climes will be lost. As it 
 is very desirable the minds of all invalids should be impressed 
 with the importance of this, that they may derive all the advan- 
 tages of a temperate and rarefied atmosphere, I present the 
 
 reflection will soon evince the incorrectness of such a supposition. In the 
 case of greatly increased pressure all the soft parts are somewhat diminished 
 in volume, hut not the head. Hence by the general compression more 
 blood than natural is forced into the head, of which the necessary conse- 
 quence is headache from plethora ; also by the increase of blood in the 
 head, and the irritation consequent upon it, the small vessels are dis- 
 tended till the weakest give way, and blood flows forth, as for instance, 
 from the extreme vessels of the nose and ears, which are covered vrith 
 very delicate membranes. On the other hand, when the pressure is 
 diminished, the manifest inference is that the effects must be directly 
 opposite ; and this may be plainly shown thus : — at great altitudes the 
 quantity of blood sent to the head is suddenly diminished, which together 
 with its not being properly oxygenated (owing to imperfect respiration in 
 such rarefied air) gives rise to severe nervous headache. Such headaches are 
 often relieved ly laying the head low, and thus favouring the flow of blood 
 to the brain — a measure which would aggravate the headache from plethora ; 
 also on this great removal of pressure the most delicate extreme vessels 
 {viz. those of the nose and ears) give way, and blood flows out, not from 
 increased internal force, as above, arising from irritation and plethora in the 
 brain, but from diminished external force. It is plain when vessels contain 
 a fluid, the elasticity of the gases in which exceeds the strength of their 
 coats, but is kept down by external pressure, that either by increasing 
 sufficiently the internal force of the fluid, or hy lessening the external force, 
 the weakest of such vessels will give way, and the fluids be efiused. I 
 have been induced to enter into such a length, lest the symptoms attend- 
 ing imprudent visits to very extreme heights being misunderstood, the 
 very salubrious climate at the moderate altitude of 7,000 feet should be 
 suspected of increasing that irritation and fulness in the brain, which it is 
 especially calculated to lessen. 
 
APPENDIX. 255 
 
 following extremes of July this year, noticed at Sabathoo by 
 J. Gerard, Esq., Surgeon, and at Simla by myself: — 
 
 Sabathoo, altitude 4,200 feet. Simla, altitude 7,200 feet. 
 
 Highest, 78° to 89''lExtremes of temperature (Highest, 61° to 74^° 
 Lowest, 65 to 78 ( during Jtily, 1824. (Lowest, 56 to 65 
 
 " Ou the 24th of June the thermometer rose to 96° at Saba- 
 thoo, whereas it was not at that time above 81° at the highest 
 at Simla. From this statement the superiority of the latter 
 altitude, both as to mildness and equability, is sufficiently evi- 
 dent, and in regard to levity its atmosphere is greatly superior. 
 
 "If the preceding Dissertation has been conducted with 
 correct and sufficient reasoning ; if the nature of disease in- 
 curred by a residence in India has been justly considered ; if 
 the qualities which must render a climate well calculated for 
 the restoration of invalids have been properly investigated ; and 
 lastly, if on careful examination the climate of many lofty situ- 
 ations in the Hill-Provinces has been shown to possess all the 
 requisite qualities, sufficient has surely been exhibited to justify 
 a hope that the knowledge of such truths becoming general, 
 many invalids may hereafter be directed to this interesting 
 country, where a most salubrious climate is affi)rded, in some 
 properties unequalled, and accessible to all from its situation on 
 the confines of Hindostan." 
 
 (F.— Page 164.) 
 
 Though having little direct connexion with the main subject of Fiscal ques- 
 this volume, the following papers relate to questions of especial ^°^ °^i^^r- 
 importance and interest at the present time. The facts and tance. 
 arguments have all the force they had when first published — 
 equally inviting attention now as then. To the fiscal and eco- 
 nomical views the reader's attention is particularly requested. 
 If they are sound, may it not be contended that if the Govern- 
 ment is determined upon, or involved in, permanent settlements, it 
 would be wise as well as perfectly equitable, in districts in which, 
 from an increased expenditure purposed on its part, or from other 
 causes, a rise in prices is to be expected, that the denomination 
 of the contract should be modified — that estimating the revenue 
 in maunds of wheat, &c., at the present low prices, the condition 
 should be that the Government may claim the rent either in 
 
256 BBITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 money at the fixed rate, or in the specified number of maunds 
 of grain ? When, through the effect of canals, railways, or an 
 increased local expenditure, the price of produce rose greatly, 
 as it often would to double its former amount, the Government, 
 without taking any larger share of the produce, might then 
 fairly claim a proportional money increase. If no such provi- 
 sion has yet been made, it would surely be well that the step 
 should be taken now, when an advance of prices may be ex- 
 pected from the above causes in so many districts ; since, though 
 the claim might appear equitable without such provision, it 
 could be made with a far better grace vpith it in possession, 
 before the rise had commenced. 
 
 On the Eesources and Industeiai. State of India. Extracted 
 from the Asiatic Journal for October, 1835.* 
 
 " A former paper f on the subject of the natural resources of 
 India closed with an intimation that an inquiry would be made 
 into various departments of labour in that country, by which 
 would be established the fact that little or none of the economy 
 and ingenuity, the natives have credit for, is to be met with in 
 the processes in use in their several arts. 
 State of agri- " Agriculture, the widest and most important field of Indian 
 cultme m In- labour, may be first subjected to such an inquiry as the limits of 
 this paper will admit of, which will compel the writer to confine 
 his observations to the chief processes of husbandry. The first 
 of these is the preservation and renewal of the soil. It is well 
 that the fertilising power of the climate is so great in India, as 
 to cause land, the soil of which is wholly neglected, to yield 
 crops which repay the labourer's toil. Such is the neglect of 
 the people, that most lands do little more in reality than 
 support the families connected with them ; while vast tracts, 
 solely upon this account, are out of cultivation ; and of others, 
 not the surface soil alone, but the land itself, is destroyed by 
 rain, which, had the level of the land been preserved, might 
 have been kept from acquiring destructive velocity, until con- 
 ducted off by suitable channels. 
 
 ' The following facts, arguments, and views have now, in 1858, what- 
 ever force they possessed in 1835. Time indeed will be found to have 
 confirmed it. 
 
 t In which the proportion of the produce available and taken as rent, 
 and the distribution of the population, were discussed, and in which it was 
 shown that the Government rents could not in general much exceed 10 per 
 cent, of the gross produce. 
 
APPENDIX. 257 
 
 " The consequence of this neglect of preservative measures 
 is everywhere manifested. In Upper India, all the lands are 
 scoured ; their alluvium is annually carried away by torrents, 
 whose collective body forms the vast waters of the Ganges, 
 in the rainy season loaded with the best riches of the country. 
 Of these, enough are bestowed upon certain low lands in 
 Bengal, in a deposit of excellent soil, to tell of the value of the 
 far larger portion carried off to the ocean. Few, perhaps, who 
 look upon that volume of turbid waters, reflect that they are 
 rendered yellow by treasure, more valuable far than the gold 
 of the richest stream ; that, did they bring down to the sea 
 instead, an annual tribute of the precious metals, exceeding all 
 that is drawn yearly from the mines of Peru, its worth would be 
 small in comparison with the spoils they are allowed to collect 
 from Upper India by an infatuated people, who appear never 
 to have possessed energy for resisting this, or any other species 
 of plunder. It is not supposed, indeed, that all removal of the 
 alluvium could be prevented ; but it cannot be doubted that 
 much of the land under cultivation might be protected by a 
 more complete system of the field embankments already 
 employed where the necessity is too urgent for them to be 
 neglected. Easily as the embanking such lands might be 
 effected, the people find the other occupations of husbandry too 
 engrossing of their time to permit them to attend to this. At 
 the same time the undertaking appears to be too expensive ; and 
 the cost of the work is always pleaded in excuse of the neglect 
 of it What does all this indicate, but some extensive mis- 
 management of labour, in a country where there are hands 
 enough, if well employed, to carry into effect every work 
 of improvement that the most enterprising nation could 
 desire ? 
 
 " 'Where the preservation of the soil is so generally neglected. The ronewal 
 it is not surprising that little attention is bestowed upon its 
 renewal. Hence, the manuring of land is practised on so small 
 a scale, and in so few places, that it can scarcely be said to 
 exist. Refuse matters, which might form the basis of manure 
 beds, are consumed as fuel ; and no straw can be spared for the 
 purpose by the half-starved cattle. The scanty supply of arti- 
 ficial food is one reason of this. Another cause is the multitude 
 of the cattle, rendered necessary by an universal waste of 
 
 of the soil ^wi 
 leeted. 
 
258 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 their power, which has to be compensated for by numbers.* 
 Under a powerful sun and an arid wind the soil of all the 
 higher lands is either bound into an almost stony hardness, 
 or reduced to loose sand, according as its aluminous or siliceous 
 particles abound ; whereas a mould, rich in the organic matter 
 it is at present annually deprived of, would have the firm 
 cohesion of its parts prevented in the one case, and its substance 
 become retentive of moisture in the other. 
 Ploughing " Ploughing does now express an operation upon the soil in 
 India. England, which the Indian husbandman has no knowledge of. 
 
 He knows not how multifarious and complete a work the parts 
 of a plough properly constructed may be made to perform. 
 His idea of ploughing embraces not the uplifting, inverting, 
 and at the same time shivering throughout, of the soil, which 
 the modern English plough so admirably performs. Small as 
 is the depth, to which the native plough acts upon the soil, it 
 fails of effecting, even upon that portion, a suitable division of 
 the parts. Nor do the four ploughings, allowed before each 
 sowing, suffice to prepare the land ; not less than eight and often 
 a dozen are practised, and the land remains ill-divided still. The 
 land side of the pitiful furrow is as much broken by the plough 
 as the other. The plough has no firm surface to re-act against, 
 and cannot throw the soil over, nor eficct that peculiar crushing 
 of it which the English plough performs, and in default of which 
 the Indian husbandman has to dodge down the loose clods upon 
 his land, by repeatedly traversing it with his plough. It hence 
 happens that the expense of ploughing in India, estimated in 
 prices of the produce, is greater than that of ploughing in 
 England ; and it consumes much more than double the labour ! 
 So false is the economy of working with a rude instrument. It 
 may well be termed expensive simplicity. The plough consists 
 of too few parts to do the work, though they should have the 
 best form given them ; but they are formed apparently with no 
 knowledge of the peculiar principles concerned. The English 
 plough is not, indeed, an instrument suited to the feeble 
 strength of the ill-fed cattle of India ; but its form might be so 
 modified, in the wrest and mould-board especially, as to render 
 
 * The ruminant ox, too, whose manure is of much less worth, is bred, 
 chiefly on account of the needless roughness of the work in the field and on 
 the road, instead of the horse species whose manure is so valuable. 
 
APPENDIX, 259 
 
 it an invaluable acquisition to Indian agriculture. By diminish- 
 ing the labour employed, it would diminish the consumption of 
 the produce reserved to command this labour. More produce 
 would then be available for rent, and the rent ought to be 
 raised accordingly ; but returned to the people in working their 
 civilization. Great, in saving labour, as would be the direct benefit 
 resulting from the introduction of a plough suited to the means of 
 the people, there would be added a resulting benefit of no small 
 amount, when, by bringing to the surface a deeper stratum, the 
 powers of a double quantity of soil were commanded, and the crops 
 rendered heavier and more certain. Thus, also, it is probable, 
 the expenses of irrigation would be diminished. Less of the water 
 difiiised over the surface would be lost by evaporation, than at 
 present. Absorbed by the earth of a deeper ploughing, it 
 would be retained until drawn gradually upwards by the sun's 
 rays ; during which time it would nourish the plant as effectually 
 as the larger quantity lying in the surface soil, so much of 
 which is lost at present by exhalation, through the free action of 
 the air and sun. 
 
 " Defectively as the important operation of ploughing is con- Imgation, its 
 ducted in India, that of irrigation will be found still more ernlndia. 
 defective. In Upper India the cost is such as must appear 
 incredible to those who are uninformed on the subject. It will 
 be found to range, in all parts of Hindostan watered by wells, 
 from about 8s. to 11. 10s. the acre per annum, according to 
 local circumstances, and the nature of the crop. This, in a 
 country where grain produce bears less than one-fourth of its 
 price in England ! Owing to the expense of the process many 
 tracts of land cannot be watered, and consequently yield only 
 one, and that the uncertain and coarse crop of the rainy season. 
 Few lands are adequately supplied with water, which, in a 
 tropical climate, in such a soil as that of India especially, 
 appears to give unlimited fertility to the land. The writer will 
 here take the opportunity of remarking that the expense of 
 irrigating many of the best lands places in an absurd light the 
 notion that one-third of the crop is, or can be, on an average, 
 the amount yielded up for the government rent. There are 
 vast tracts of the best land, in provinces where the settlements 
 are not permanent, yielding two rupees per bigah of revenue, 
 the expense, of irrigating which is four rupees. If the former 
 represented the value of one-third of the produce, the latter 
 
 s 2 
 
2(50 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 must be that of two- thirds. Thus, between the government and 
 one single operation of husbandry, would be swallowed up the 
 whole crop ! The ploughmg, already shown to be so expensive, 
 would have to be performed for nothing ; nothing would remain 
 for seed-corn, or harrowing, for reaping, or threshing ; and 
 nothing for the support of the people during the rest of the year ! 
 But there are many other lands, the expense of irrigating which 
 is not less than four times the rent, and in some it is eight times. 
 Cotton and " Connected with this process is a curious fact, pointing out 
 other produce ^q small local value of all the commercial plant of India, in 
 
 not irrigated. . • i i c i • c i rni 
 
 comparison with that ot the gram-crops oi the country. 1 he 
 
 prices of indigo and cotton do not admit, in general, of their 
 
 respective plants being watered. The process is too expensive 
 
 to be borne by them. Hence, for the former, the low lands of 
 
 Bengal are preferred, although the plant upon them is ever 
 
 liable to be destroyed by inundation ; and the latter is entrusted 
 
 for its watering to the uncertain showers of the rainy season in 
 
 the Upper Provinces. 
 
 Irrigation by " Of the various methods by which irrigation is practised in 
 
 wells; its cost, jjj^jg,, nearly all are attended with so great a waste of labour 
 
 that the cultivation could not bear the expense were not the 
 
 labourers habituated to the fewest wants of life. The method 
 
 in most extensive use may be selected for exemplifying the truth 
 
 of this. In the method alluded to, the power of bullocks is 
 
 employed. Two bullocks and two men are occupied at one 
 
 well or reservoir, and it will be found that upon an average they 
 
 do not raise a greater quantity of water than 5000 pounds one 
 
 foot high per minute. The bag it is raised in contains usually 
 
 from 250 to 300 pounds, and is raised from a depth of from 
 
 30 to 50 feet in from two to three minutes. A pair of bullocks, 
 
 such as are employed by the ryots, cannot work at this rate 
 
 more than half the day. Now, the labour of one Englishman 
 
 has been estimated so high as 6000 pounds raised one foot high 
 
 per minute ; allowing this to be too high, and that in general 
 
 it cannot be rated higher than 5000 pounds raised one foot 
 
 per minute, the man working only six hours, it does still appear 
 
 that the work of the two bullocks and two men in India cannot 
 
 be valued above that which an Englishman can perform when 
 
 his labour is most advantageously applied. It would be absurd 
 
 to estimate the power of a pair of the feeblest bullocks at less 
 
 than that of three men ; so that there is here a triple loss of 
 
APPENDIX. 261 
 
 power, to which is to be added the total loss of the power of the 
 men employed with the bullocks, since their strength is not 
 engaged in the work. Were not their wants as contracted as 
 their ingenuity, the expense of iabour here noticed would be 
 attended with a consumption of a large part of the crop. Until 
 the processes for raising water for irrigation shall be improved 
 in India, a great improvement in the condition of the labourers 
 cannot be hoped for. It already costs 8d. in India to raise 
 1000 cubic feet of water 30 feet high, which is prodigiously 
 more expensive than the raising of water by steam power in 
 England, and nearly as much so as it would prove were human 
 labour employed on the work at its present rate in England. 
 
 " The reader will not be detained by a mechanical examination 
 of the several methods in use in India. Any person, disposed 
 to afford them such an examination, will find in most of them 
 errors against right principles abundantly numerous to account 
 for the defective result. There is one instrument, the general 
 principle of which is perhaps the best that could be employed. 
 Tiic instrument alluded to is that which has been confounded 
 with the Persian wheel, and in which the water is raised by an 
 endless chain of buckets. But the invention has never been 
 completed. Even in Holland and in the German mines, where 
 it has been employed, the delivery of the water from the buckets 
 does not appear to have been effected in the best manner. In 
 India its action is impeded by construction so rude, as to deprive 
 it of all the advantage it ought to have over the simpler methods, 
 worse in their principle. 
 
 " Such is the state of the chief processes in Indian agriculture. 
 An examination in detail of the minor operations, though for 
 the most part equally faulty, is not requisite to establish a point 
 sufficiently proved, that the oppression under which Indian 
 agriculture really lies is a system of labour generally misapplied. 
 The writer will presume that he need not occupy the reader's 
 attention by an examination of the several mechanical and 
 chemical arts of India. He has, on former occasions, treated 
 the subject, and may now briefly remark, that in the whole Extravagance, 
 circle of them he could hardly point out one in which labour is results' in "the 
 not greatly misapplied. What then is all this universal waste poverty of the 
 of labour but extravagance of the worst kind ? The people of 
 India arc, indeed, to all appearance, a very parsimonious people. 
 Theirs is extravagance without enjoyment. The luxurious man 
 
 people. 
 
262 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 wastes labour in the form of its products, but he has the enjoy- 
 ment of these products. The native of India wastes labour 
 without production. His terminal condition is no better than 
 the former's, while his intermediate state as to enjoyment is 
 worse. His is not, indeed, luxurious, but it is parsimonious 
 extravagance. It is not a wasteful consumption of things pro- 
 duced, but of the labour which might produce them. What is 
 true of each individual is true of the whole country. The 
 things of wealth are not truly enjoyed ; but the expense of them 
 is incurred. The labour of the country is expended, but 
 expended unproductively. That very system of labour through- 
 out India, which wears so seductive an aspect of economy and 
 simplicity, is in reality extravagantly wastefiil of means, and is 
 the main cause of the poverty of the people. General poverty 
 is the natural result of such general extravagance, whether that 
 extravagance be accompanied by enjoyment or not. 
 Greatness of " From all that has been said flows evidence which renders 
 the natural re- unnecessary any detailed inquiry to establish the fact, that the 
 £lja ' natural resources of India are prodigiously great. Whence does 
 
 it arise that such extravagance of means does not cause an 
 utter impoverishment of the people, but from the boundless natu- 
 ral resources of the country, which not only supports such a 
 system of extravagance, but yields them some funds with which 
 to pay the revenue of the state ? 
 What are the "The question now presents itself — By what means can a 
 mstiuments great work of improvement be wrought in the system of labour 
 improvements in India, of agricultural labour especially ? The agency, it is 
 m nc la . ^^ ^j^ agreed, must be European. The parties then are private 
 
 individuals and the government. The writer believes that 
 much might be done by gratuitous efforts on the part of the 
 former, whether settlers or members of the service. If such 
 efforts were general, natives would be found in many places 
 willing to adopt improvements, the benefit of which had been 
 made evident to them. Members of the service, if prepared for 
 the work, and not readily disheartened by the apathy of the 
 people, would find in it a highly gratifying and useful occupa- 
 tion for their leisure hours, and settlers in India might spare 
 some, though in general less, time to the purpose. The current 
 expectations of politicians appear to assign to these last the 
 drawing forth the resources of India and the civilization of the 
 people, not by gratuitous efforts but in the search of gain. By 
 
APPENDIX. 263 
 
 whichever means effected, the writer would rejoice to witness the 
 success, and is of opinion that the utmost encouragement ought 
 to be afforded to enterprizing settlers by the government ; but 
 he is unable, from any experience or opportunities of observa- 
 tion he has possessed (and they have not been small), to enter- 
 tain the hope that capitalists, unassisted by the government, will 
 
 find much gain from such undertakings in India.* Exorbitant Individualset- 
 », , . ,. rr 1 ^ 1 .11 tlers Can eifect 
 
 prohts, such as mdigo once afforded, can alone counterbalance uttie. 
 
 the losses inevitable, at all times and in all places, from the 
 fraud and negligence of the people. The system of labour in 
 India must undergo a wide improvement before the people will 
 work productively as hired labourers, or before they will do work 
 by contract without advances of money ; and of such advances, 
 a large part is almost invariably lost. The peculiar advantages 
 possessed by Bengal, for the production of silk and indigo, 
 make these, to a certain extent, an exception ; but, in general, 
 little gain is to be expected on the part of Europeans, from un- 
 dertakings dependent upon field-labour in India, whether it be 
 hired or working upon contract. In all such cases, the appa- 
 rently low price of labour is a fictitious advantage, as almost 
 every individual who has relied upon it has found to his cost. 
 There are other difiiculties also, scarcely less formidable, in the 
 way of settlers in the interior of the country, which it is not the 
 purpose of the writer here to touch upon.f 
 
 It has long become manifest to him, that the only party which In India the 
 can, with benefit to itself, undertake the great work of improving impn^ement' 
 the agriculture and arts of India, and of facihtating the means of is the Govem- 
 transportj throughout the country, is the Government. There are commander of 
 many persons not unwilling to admit that it would be the duty of ^^'^ "^^t' ^^ 
 
 lIlCrG£lS6 
 
 the Government, if the funds were forthcoming, but who contend 
 
 that it does not lie in the power of the Government to do any Ohjectiona 
 
 great work of improvement in India, owing to its straitened ^J^^ ans'wer^to 
 
 means ; and others oppose as an objection the lavish expendi- them. 
 
 ture said to attend all works constructed by a Government. In 
 
 examining into the weight of these objections, the writer is led 
 
 to ask a question which may imply an opinion apparently para- 
 
 * t This anticipation is proved correct in the need of guarantees, for 
 railways. Permanent works for irrigation on an extensive scale, may per- 
 haps form an exception, and answer to shareholders without guarantees ; but, 
 both for the 2>eople and the State they ought to he the prcrperty of tlie latter. 
 
 t The author now does so, unreservedly, in the sequel. 
 
264 BKITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 doxical, but which he fears the event will prove correct ; namely, 
 whether it is possible for the Government of India to make any 
 rapid accumulations of money through retrenchment, to however 
 large an extent, in its expenses ? In India, where the adjusting 
 powers which might be supposed to operate in England do not 
 exist, it is unintelligible how local revenue should fail to decline 
 with local retrenchments, unless the funds arising from such 
 retrenchments are returned to each district yielding them, in 
 Government expenditure of some other kind, such as the construction of 
 only'^be rea- works of public utility. If the 'revenue were taken in kind, if 
 Uzed by pre- the Government could make any use of the stores of grain, &c., 
 tui-e on im- then, indeed, these might annually be collected, whether stocked 
 provements. jjj granaries afterwards or lavished among its servants. The cul- 
 tivator would in no way be concerned in the use made of revenue 
 taken in kind. Whatever might be done with it, his ability to 
 yield up an equal quantity next year would remain the same. 
 But it is not produce that the Government will receive. The 
 cultivator has another duty, besides the raising of the produce, 
 to perform ; he has to sell it ; and to whom can he sell it but to 
 the consumers of the rent ? The produce in question is the 
 rent, and they who consume it must be consumers of the rent. 
 To say that it is paid for by any other persons, is to imagine it 
 at once to be rent and not rent : it is to raise up an imaginary 
 class of customers who have no existence. The customers who buy 
 the rent-produce (or, which is the same thing, employ those who 
 consume it) are all the persons who receive the means from the 
 Government. The same money circulates annually as the token 
 of the connexion between the three parties — the Government, the 
 parties it employs, and the landholders. If the Government 
 diminish its expenditure among those it employs, these again 
 have less to expend, directly or indirectly, among the land- 
 holders. The price of produce then must fall. The same quan- 
 tity of rent-produce brings less money, and less rent can be paid 
 to the Government. 
 
 " This seems to be the inevitable consequence in India of 
 diminished expenditure. It is true, that could the production 
 of exportahle produce be increased at the same time, and the 
 promised surplus from retrenchments be converted into this pro- 
 duce and exported, the revenue might perhaps be kept up ; for 
 this would in reality be no money-retrenchment, but merely a 
 
APPENDIX. 265 
 
 transfer of outlay from the payment of one kind of labourers, 
 the servants of the state, to another kind, those preparing pro- 
 duce for exportation. But the remittances in produce cannot 
 be so rapidly increased, and if they were, the prices of produce 
 would for a time fall so much in Europe as to check purchases, 
 and production, in India. Again : money carried away from a 
 distant province to pay off a debt at the presidency, does not 
 return to purchase produce in the district in the same way that 
 most of that from local salaries and wages does. The former 
 has to make a long and circuitous route, during which it be- 
 comes greatly diminished before it can, if ever, return to the 
 district which yielded it. The money is long in coming back 
 to the produce of which it is the token ; and, as will presently 
 be shown, the produce in India cannot, instead, follow the 
 token so far. In any given district, then, in which expen- 
 diture is greatly lessened, it appears inevitable that the re- 
 venue must fall off; any considerable diminution of local ex- 
 penditure in India appears to amount, while the means of trans- 
 portation are so bad, to a virtual abandonment of part of the 
 revenue of the district. 
 
 " The object, then, of the writer is to show, that, to whatever Local works 
 extent the revenues of any district shall have declined, conse- government in 
 quent to the diminution of expenditure in it,* to just such an li^lia- 
 extent, whether great or small, might outlay have been made 
 on works of public benefit, in every such district, at no cost to 
 the government ; what might be laid out thus, being otherwise 
 lost by a fall of revenue. The government, by endeavouring 
 to carry away its savings, being no richer than if it had liberally 
 laid out with one hand what, in its wisdom, it had saved by the 
 other. 
 
 " It would appear, that a public debt in India can only be 
 paid off very gradually in the present state of the country, 
 however great may be the promised surplus from retrenchments. 
 It may be possible, indeed, to do it more rapidly, but it will 
 cause a serious decline in the revenue ; for the revenue if kept 
 up, will press much more heavily on the people. If any one 
 doubts this, let him explain how it is possible to carry away 
 
 * It is remarkable to how great an extent the revenue of Bundelkund, 
 and some other districts, falls short of what it was in ancient times ; mani- 
 festly, the author would say, from this very cause. 
 
266 
 
 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 the revenue-money of a district without causing a fall of prices 
 in the district, and with it a fall in the value of the revenue- 
 produce. It is no other than an aggravation of the evil, which 
 in a former paper was shown to occasion so scanty returns of 
 revenue from certain districts. The coining of money in the 
 neighbourhood would avail nothing ; it would not at all enable 
 the landholders to command money, when the real purchasers 
 of the produce were transferred elsewhere. Whithersoever the 
 revenue-money is carried, thither must the produce, of which it 
 is the token, follow it ; or if it goes so far, that the latter can- 
 not follow it, the former will henceforth, like a shadow, cease. 
 The mind may be so confused by contemplating the dealings of 
 the different industrious classes with each other, and with the 
 raisers of produce, as to lose sight of this connexion ; but the 
 connexion nevertheless will remain the same, and with a result 
 disappointing to any statesman who should lose sight of it. 
 The effect of " The importance of not overlooking the thing signified, 
 fromTSiatoict ^l^^n employing its sign, — of not forgetting the revenue-pro- 
 ite rent. duce, when dealing about the revenue-money, is immense, 
 
 where, as in India, so much of the revenue of a province is 
 sometimes carried out of it.* Thus, it is true, that roads can 
 hardly be so bad as materially to affect the expense of carrying 
 money or bills out of a district. A hundred well-made money- 
 carts require, at the most, 200 pair of oxen, which will convey 
 away fifty lacs of rupees at no great expense ; and by the 
 
 * In here speaking of money, as the sign of the rent-produce, the writer 
 will not, he hopes, be suspected of falling into the exploded error of sup- 
 posing that money is of no other worth than as a sign and measure of 
 value. Inasmuch as a rupee may he supposed to have cost as much of 
 lahour and capital (i.e. reserved labour) to produce it, as a rupee's worth 
 of grain ; and as it will readily command as much of any commodity as the 
 latter, the two are of equal worth, of course. In the present question, 
 however, we are not concerned with the intrinsic value of the money, which 
 might he great or small. It might have a fictitious value, as paper-money. 
 The present business of the writer is to remind the reader, that money, in 
 the case in question, is only the representative, or, sign of the rent ; for 
 what the land yields annually is produce, not money. The money (though 
 it may be changed for other money) cannot be renewed. It must circulate 
 annually between the parties concerned, and therefore must be kept, as 
 near as possible, to the source of the pvoduoe ; every step it recedes from 
 the source being attended with loss to the government, in exact proportion 
 to the difficulty with which the produce is conveyed after it. 
 
APPENDIX. 267 
 
 statesman who shall mistake the token for the thing, it may 
 therefore be thought of little consequence to the government 
 that the province is without roads, or that what are called its 
 roads are its least passable parts ; but he who shall view his 
 object through a correct statistical eye-piece, will see far off 
 innumerable hackeries and bullocks, with an army of drivers, 
 creeping over all parts of the province, and striving to follow 
 the money, with thousands of tons of produce, over mechanical 
 obstacles almost insuperable. He will see fifty carts, with their 
 drivers and cattle, detained a week by the side of a brook, until 
 it shall subside so as to be fordable ; others, even in the best 
 season, delayed by sloughs. He will cast his sight over those 
 parts of the province where wheeled vehicles cannot move. 
 There he will see droves of bullocks, loaded with grain, employ- 
 ing often a man a-piece to urge them on their weary way. He 
 will know that this is the real movement of the revenue out of 
 the district : that the other — that of the money — was merely the 
 sign of this movement. Thus fixing his sight, not on the sign, 
 but on the thing signified, he will perceive that the party to 
 whom the revenue belongs, and who is pleased to carry it away xhe party 
 from the province, is the one of all others whose interests are '"°^* interest- 
 most afifected by this excessive difficulty in the transportation of ting means of 
 the produce* He will not doubt that the quantity annually con- transport, 
 sumed in this laborious removal of the remainder, would, being 
 saved by a well-made canal,-|" yield, though there should be no 
 toll upon it, an usurious interest on the capital laid out ; for he 
 would anticipate with confidence an improvement in the re- 
 sources of the province, which would bring the poorest up to the 
 present condition of the richest part of it. On the other hand, 
 he will know that if, after the produce has followed its token as 
 far as it can over the present obstacles, an attempt is made to 
 carry this token still further, the connexion between the two 
 will give way ; the token may be forced away to the presidency, 
 this year, instead of being expended in the neighbouring pro- 
 vince ; but the produce cannot follow it. Whatever revenue 
 
 * At the very time this paper was in manuscript in Calcutta, in 1834, 
 one of the ablest acting governors Bengal has possessed, remarked in the 
 author's hearing that the Government had little interest in roads. " Roads !" 
 he said, " what has the Government to do with roads ? If the people want 
 roads let them make them." 
 
 t Or tramway, or perhaps even railway. 
 
268 BRITISH AKMY IN INDIA. 
 
 had not been carried away is all that it will fetch ; and this, or 
 little more, will, in time, be all the revenue forthcoming. From 
 all such observations, it will become plain to him, that the remit- 
 tance of revenue to a distance from its source ought to be deferred 
 until the means for the transportation of produce are complete. 
 Importance In the first instance, a large canal, running the whole length 
 of canals. ^^ ^j^g Dooab,* and others branching off to the verge of the 
 Jumna, opposite Agra and Delhi, might be made by the revenue 
 saved by retrenchments, but in danger of being swamped by 
 economy ; so that these canals might, in reality, cost perhaps 
 nothing. The same might be said of a canal through Rohilkund, 
 and one through Bundelkund. The difficulties, excessive delay, 
 and danger, of the navigation of the rivers above Allahabad, are 
 so great, that it would be well if the traffic could all be trans- 
 ferred to canals. It might not be advisable to attempt to carry 
 the navigation of canals into such impetuous and shifting rivers 
 as those of India ; and this would be of no moment, as, in any 
 case, boats of a different form would be required for the naviga- 
 tion of canals from those upon the rivers ; and the canals might 
 terminate in basins on the verge of the rivers, in suitable places ; 
 so that the canal and river-boats might have their contents re- 
 moved readily from one to the other. No other connexion with 
 rivers would be needed, than channels enough to insure the supply 
 of water at the heads of the canals, and outlets for superfluous 
 water in their course. The former should proceed from such 
 parts of rivers as maintained a permanent course, and should be 
 cut through a bank naturally hard and durable. The latter, for 
 some distance from the canals, it would be requisite to make of 
 masonry, and with gently-inclined shoots. It is by quickly-run- 
 ning water only, that land in India is so rapidly cut into ravines. 
 By allowing it nowhere in a canal a current of more than a mile 
 or a mile and a half an hour, and guarding the channel of each 
 waste-way as above, there is no part of the plain country of India, 
 not liable to inundation, through which canals might not be car- 
 ried with ordinary judgment. 
 Koads. " Next to canals, roads are most needed in India. Short, well- 
 
 made roads, connecting canals with the country on either side, 
 would confer the benefit of the former to the whole of the pro- 
 
 * Projected and completed now with great ability by Sir Proby Cautley, 
 and with these anticipated results. 
 
APPENDIX. 269 
 
 vinces they traversed. But land-carriage, of the best kind, from 
 great distances, is so expensive for bulky produce, of which the 
 chief wealth of the country is composed, and roads are made 
 with so great difficulty in India, and require such incessant re- 
 pair, that canals ought to be preferred wherever it is possible to 
 make them, though at any apparently heavy expense. At the 
 same time, where canals cannot be more advantageously used, 
 no obstacles ought to be allowed to stand in the way of the con- 
 struction of roads. 
 
 " Digging and embanking are among the few operations in 
 which the cheapness of Indian labour does manifest itself. The Canals jointly 
 quantity of labour misapplied every season in the process of ir- °^^ mgatiou 
 rigation in the Dooab alone would suffice to dig from one end to tion. 
 the other of that province a canal of the largest size. The pen- 
 ning-up of the water of canals, by means of locks every few 
 miles, according to the descent of the country, which would be 
 necessary for navigation, would form heads elevated above each 
 fall of the country, from which water might be drawn off, ovo- 
 the lands around, so as to irrigate them spontaneously, with the 
 trifling aid of water-courses. The dispensing with the necessity 
 of raising the water at all would add greatly to the value of all 
 the lands so benefited. The quantity required in the more arid 
 parts of the country cannot be raised a few feet at a less 
 expense than the whole rent of any but lands of the first 
 quality. Such canals could only afford water, of course, to 
 the country within two or three miles of the banks ; but this 
 would be an extensive and greatly enriched tract throughout 
 their course. Lands more distant from canals might, in some 
 cases of late crops, be watered by means of windmills, upon 
 wells and tanks ; and on the banks of the great rivers, in 
 many places, the force of the stream might, with the utmost ad- 
 vantage, be employed to raise water out of the river, by acting 
 upon floating mills. Upon a sufficient number of mills of each 
 sort being set up by the government, to serve as models for the 
 people around, and to demonstrate to them the advantage to be 
 expected from their use, the landholders, upon being satisfied 
 that they would answer might easily be induced to have re- 
 course to them, provided the construction of them were suffi- 
 ciently simple, and a readiness to instruct the people in the 
 making of them manifested by the government. They even ex- 
 
swered. 
 
 270 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 press the greatest readiness to pay the price of any instruments 
 made for them which should answer ; and this is the utmost en- 
 terprize that can be expected of a native landholder. There 
 are numerous other improvements in the agriculture and arts of 
 the country, which the government might thus be instrumental 
 in introducing, and which would become productive of incalcu- 
 lable benefit, not less to the government than to the people. 
 Further ob- " With regard to the objection, that funds are always wasted in 
 jections an- works conducted by a government ; the writer may observe, that 
 this is by no means true, where a government c^n employ super- 
 intending officers of the first ability, and of high principle, such 
 as that of India has at command from other departments, and 
 where, in many cases, establishments and materials, not other- 
 wise employed, would be available. But the objection itself is 
 not sound, where the government is the only party who could 
 recover funds so laid out for the good of a province, by raising 
 the taxation, as the money became diffused. There is no pro- 
 vince which could not easily supply the labourers, and the pro- 
 duce for their support. As the government created a demand 
 for the produce, its price would rise, and more would be raised 
 to meet the demand ; and these together would create a rise in 
 the revenue of the district, just in the same manner as land 
 around one of the larger stations, though by nature no better, is 
 made to yield much more produce, and can be assessed at 
 double, often quadruple, the rate it can bear in the heart of the 
 country. Every district contains abundant means for such 
 works, if the people were but judiciously distributed. Owing to 
 the revenue-produce having to be conveyed out of a district in 
 which there are neither roads nor canals, but trenches, which 
 employed as roads would often answer almost as well as canals, 
 the depreciation of produce is so great, that even the best lands 
 are ill-cultivated. In many places, as already noticed, produce 
 can only be carried on the backs of bullocks, and by way of em- 
 ployment, there will be a man to each. Oftentimes, men are 
 employed in work which ought to be performed by cattle ; and 
 any one acquainted with the state of such districts must know 
 that, crowded together for want of employment, no small portion 
 of the people sit at the homes of their friends half the year, 
 doing little or nothing. With such abundant means as are now 
 misemployed in each district, any works might be executed ; 
 
APPENDIX. 271 
 
 but they never will spontaneously by a people so improvident 
 and vranting in energy. What in England were best done by 
 joint-stock associations, in India, if done at all, must be executed 
 by the government. Where the government has the power of 
 recovering the sums it expends in a district by raising the taxa- 
 tion afterwards, where these sums could be made with certainty 
 to flow back into the public treasury, the government would 
 merely have to act the part of a beneficent agent, directing the 
 people towards the most advantageous employment of their 
 labour. Any person who doubts whether the funds expended 
 could be made to return, can have little insight into the causes 
 of the present impoverishment of the people, and into the natural 
 resources of the country. 
 
 " Where the land-revenue has been permanently settled, the Permanent 
 means of working the good of the people are more limited, un- re venue settie- 
 
 • T 1 1 1 • 1 1 1 c 1 c- "lents, a hm- 
 
 less, indeed, they be rightly taxed for the express purpose or dianoe to im- 
 carrying into execution works of benefit to themselves. A per- provement. 
 manent revenue-settlement in Upper India would be a measure 
 deeply to be regretted.* Any improvements in the condition of 
 the landholders of Bengal, in general, is to be traced, not to the 
 settlement of the revenue, but to the stimulus of commercial ad- 
 vances to a prodigious amount.! By a permanent revenue settle- 
 ment, a gratuitous sacrifice, with no substantial benefit to the 
 people, is made of the resources at the command of the govern- 
 ment, for working out the problem of Indian improvement 
 within any reasonable period. Instead of stimulating them 
 to improve their husbandry, it cannot fail of an opposite effect 
 upon a people of the native temperament. But its worst 
 feature is, that it involves in it the yielding up of the only, 
 and the great, instrument in the hands of the government, 
 by which it could work that change in the distribution and pro- 
 ductiveness of agricultural labour in India, which must be 
 effected before the people can make any great advancement 
 towards a state of prosperity, and our tenure of the country can 
 rest upon any secure foundation. Among a people of so little 
 general enterprize as the natives of India, the greater part of the 
 public revenue ought to be, as indeed it is, drawn directly from 
 
 * Such is still the Author's conviction, though that measure has been now 
 carried into effect. 
 
 t Owing to its peculiar advantages in the growth of indigo. 
 
272 BEITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 the soil ; neither the transfer of taxation from the land to the 
 products of commerce and maimfacturing industry, as by some 
 urgently recommended, nor a diminution of taxation, as by others 
 contended for, would afford any substantial relief to the people 
 now, supposing either were practicable ; and ultimately they 
 would rather depress their condition, by lessening the expendi- 
 ture of the government. The current opinion, that the natives 
 of India are too obstinately prejudiced in favour of their ancient 
 habits; to alter them if required, is by no means correct. Their 
 prejudices (their religious superstitions excepted) do not greatly 
 exceed those of any other ignorant people. With them it is 
 more indifference than obstinacy. They are habituated to seek 
 comfort in inaction, and to confine their wants to the primary 
 necessaries of life. Hence a general want of enterprize prevails. 
 So far from being an obstinate, they are a remarkably tractable 
 people. It is upon this valuable quality in their character the 
 writer would ground the hope of their labour being rendered 
 more productive. Sy acting upon the ready tractahility of the 
 natives measures of improvement must first be brought about. 
 Good-will, on their part, and a sense of dependence on the go- 
 vernment, would certainly follow upon the success of such mea- 
 sures being made manifest to them. Such a policy as has been 
 recommended, the writer believes, could not fail, in time, of 
 adding prodigiously to the revenues of the state, and at the same 
 time to the comfort of the people. 
 The gieatand " In her Eastern conquests, Britain has assumed, unasked, the 
 self-imposed position and responsibilities of the political guardianship of India, 
 
 TG SID Oil SI Dill- i. cj 1 ' 
 
 ties of Britain I the duties of which, being those of highly- civilized rulers towards 
 a half-civilized peopled, are far more extensive than the func- 
 tions of any European government. Although the word " go- 
 vernment " may be the only term applicable to the supreme 
 power in each case, it must not be supposed that, by employing 
 the same term, the greater moral responsibilities of that of India 
 can be escaped. The interests of the government, as well as of 
 the people, do indeed call for the commencement of a system of 
 suitable interference and paternal guidance, on its part, in which 
 no measures need be had recourse to at all offensive to the 
 people. On the contrary, the very measures suited to the objects 
 in view would have an air of benevolence on the part of the 
 government, at present incredible by the people, and would by 
 
APPENDIX. 273 
 
 degrees transform a fearful disaffection in the hearts of millions 
 into a self-interested and loyal attachment to the government, 
 desirable for the security and happiness of all ! As the agricul- 
 ture of the country became relieved of a large part of the crowd 
 resting upon it, a portion should receive instruction in the various 
 useful arts of hfe, while a portion of them, and that not a small 
 one, together with their sustenance (no longer needing their aid 
 in raising it), might, then, most justly, be claimed by a govern- 
 ment so beneficent, as the means of strengthening its arm in the 
 country, and of supplying produce for paying its charges with- 
 out. With their fertility increased, the heaviest of the expenses 
 of cultivation reduced, and the readiest means afforded for the 
 exportation of their produce, the rent of the distant provinces of 
 the country might, after leaving to the landholders half of the 
 benefits, be raised to an amount almost incredible at present 
 What are now among the poorest parts of the country, would be- 
 come the richest, and could not fail of yielding many times the 
 rent now obtained from them. 
 
 " The period of retrenchment in the public expenses is remark- 
 ably favourable for commencing great works, especially such as 
 will facilitate the transportation of produce ; for, in order to re- 
 cover the funds expended, the taxation need not then be raised ; 
 since what would have been lost by the revenue declining from 
 retrenchment, without other local expenditure, is saved by ex- 
 penditure on such works, which is sure to keep the revenue up 
 to its full standard. Such appears to be the legitimate purpose 
 to which to devote, at present, funds resulting from retrench- 
 ments. To employ them towards liquidating the debt of India, 
 payable at a vast distance from the source of much of them, and 
 thus to divert them from the prior object of enabling the produce 
 of the provinces to follow its money-representative, and of increas- 
 ing the quantity of produce, does not appear expedient. It is 
 like attempting with seed-corn to satisfy a demand, which would 
 prove trifling after the harvest. 
 
 " It is to be feared that, at present, no considerable part of the 
 revenues of India is likely to be devoted to the purposes recom- 
 mended. So long, however, as the government shall not again, 
 like an Indian devotee, tie its own hands up with a permanent 
 settlement in Western India,* the means will still remain in its 
 
 * That settlement has been made in several districts. It is to he hoped 
 it will not be extended throughout India. 
 
 T 
 
274 BEITISH ARMT IN INDIA. 
 
 power for commencing that movement, to which alone we can 
 look for any advancement of the people towards a state of pros- 
 perity, and any increase in the revenues of the government : — 
 not a movement, indeed, of armies for the territorial enlarge- 
 ment of British India, but of mind for the enlargement of her 
 resources : — not an increase of superficies, but of solidity : — not 
 an acquisition of more land, but a deeper cultivation of that we 
 possess ; a drawing of more produce from the surface of India 
 and more minerals from its bowels : — not a heaping of people 
 upon people, but a judicious distribution of those we have ; a 
 transfer of millions at present jammed in the agrarian crowd to 
 all other pursuits of civilized men ; a portion of them to the 
 service of the state." 
 
 The Laws of Economical Science in Europe inapplicable to 
 THE Mental Constitution, Habits, and Tastes of the People 
 OF India. 
 
 " The responsibility of a Statesman is not requisite for inducing 
 any reflecting person, at the present moment^ to contemplate 
 the amount of good, which has been wrought in India, under 
 the Government granted her by the late Charter ; and the pros- 
 pects she has of being able to meet the increased demands upon 
 her by the provisions of the new. 
 Slow pro- " He is no sincere friend of the government of India who, 
 knowledge^ Si founding his remarks upon former days, would tender to it, 
 India. either a retrospective flattery, or prospective hopes. He must 
 
 be a bold Statesman who could affirm that India has made an 
 advancement in useful knowledge, and temporal prosperity, at 
 all commensurate with England's moral and pecuniary obliga- 
 tions, and ability to assist her. And he an ingenious one, 
 indeed, whose art has such attenuative power as, with the handful 
 of literary spangles about the metropolis, of India and the sister 
 Presidencies, to gild over the mass of leaden torpor and igno- 
 rance, which lies, at this moment, as heavy over the whole 
 country as ever. 
 
 "The benefits, reciprocating between Great Britain and 
 India, fall very far short of their mutual obligations. 
 
 "The former, having assumed the position and responsibilities 
 of a political guardian to the latter, was bound to have afforded 
 
APPENDIX. 275 
 
 her a course of instruction, such as would, at the least, have 
 whispered of the lofty attainments of her tutor. And in return 
 for such a connexion, India might have been enabled to pur- 
 chase, annually, from Britain, an amount of manufactures four- 
 fold that at present imported ; and to afford, without distress to 
 her people, sufficiently rewarded employment, for the thousands 
 of Englishmen, whose services the state must command for 
 effecting the vast improvements ia its power. 
 
 " The system of non-interference with the pursuits of the people, 
 so rigidly maintained hitherto, has been attended on their 
 part by as rigid a refraining from all improvement ; and the 
 abundant examples afforded them of the advantages of civiliza- 
 tion, have been almost as unproductive of good. 
 
 " It was to be expected, that politicians, who are disciples in 
 the modern school of economists, and students of the motives 
 now actuating men in Europe, in the concerns of life, should 
 calculate upon the presence of the same motives in India ; and 
 expect that people to make advancement in civilization, and of Civilized cx- 
 consequence in prosperity, through the influence of example effect " 
 and opportunity alone. It was to be expected, that they 
 should pronounce ' a man's self-interest ' — ' his emulation ' 
 — ' his desire of improving his condition ' — ' his love of enjoy- 
 ment ' — ' his wants ' — ' tastes,' in short, his natural desire 
 of attaining to the ' greatest happiness,' to be imperious mo- 
 tives, which must force the natives to burst the ties of prejudice, 
 and, rising from their apathy, to press forward to a state of 
 reasonable existence ; upon their being afforded evidence, ex- 
 emplifying the vast increase of moral and domestic happiness, 
 which civilization brings forth to the nations wooing her. 
 
 " It was to be expected that many also in India would be fas- 
 cinated by doctrines promising so much at so little cost — by the 
 satisfactory notion, that, in proportion as they multiplied their 
 own enjoyments, they were doing good by the force of their 
 comfortable example ; and that others should suppose, that, 
 by bringing the products of the industry of England into the 
 market of India, they would excite new tastes and a desire of 
 improvement among the natives, acquiring wealth themselves 
 the while. 
 
 " If it shall be proved that all these hopes are fallacious, being 
 founded on an erroneous estimate of the native character, let 
 
 T 2 
 
276 BEITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 not the reader doubt that many, whose duties have led them to 
 a daily intercourse with natives for twenty years, labour under 
 this ignorance ; nor let surprise at this excite him to propor- 
 tionate censure, until a reasonable allowance has been made 
 for the difficulty they experience in drawing aside the veil 
 which native duplicity unremittingly places, and reduplicates 
 around men in office. Truths, frankly admitted to a private 
 individual, the utmost shrewdness on the part of the former 
 often fails to discover. With every allowance, however, on this 
 account, there is no small ignorance of the native character still 
 to be accounted for, and to be regretted. 
 
 " Whether it has resulted from principle, from a persuasion 
 founded as above, or from neglect, it must be admitted that, 
 while the people of England have been subjected to legislative 
 interference which, in various ways, controlled or modified, 
 not their pursuits only, but their social, domestic and personal 
 habits even — the people of India have been hitherto unincum- 
 bered by any interference ; excepting some very cautious in- 
 terference in the way of education, and any amount requisite 
 for fiscal and political purposes. 
 The state of "With the exception of the scanty fruits of the very limited 
 ral stationary interference in the way of education afforded them, the natives 
 of India have assuredly undergone in no one respect any the 
 least improvement. The little that has been effected has 
 resulted from what little interference has been practised to- 
 wards them. The general impression of the natives, and in- 
 deed of many observant Europeans, appears to be, that the 
 extension of the British Eule over the Provinces, and espe- 
 cially of its system of judicature, has induced, not only no 
 moral improvement in the people, but even that some demorali- 
 zation has resulted from it. It is conceded, that the natives 
 in general are sorry judges in questions of morality, and that 
 any demoralization is questionable, since the diminution of a 
 non-entity is impossible. But no candid person, qualified to 
 form a judgment, will affirm, that any moral improvement is 
 traceable among the people of India generally, beyond the 
 limits of the influence of a few Missionaries. In their habits, 
 the writer will affirm there is none whatever — neither in their 
 tastes. In their arts, it has been already shown they are rather 
 retrograding than otherwise. 
 
APPENDIX. 277 
 
 "The generalizing spirit of modern philosophy, — of that per- Economical 
 tion especially which has been termed Political Economy, and inlppHcable to 
 honoured by the title of a Science, — has tended in no small l'^'^^''- 
 degree to involve India's question in perplexity. So fascinating 
 prove its doctrines, so imperative its laws, as to close the sight 
 of many a politician to the sad realities of India, to the moun- 
 tains of facts opposed to them ; from which turning aside, he 
 builds his castle on a molehill ; upon the case of the few hun- 
 dreds in Calcutta whose " prejudices are plainly giving way" 
 after all the " motives" of the economist, and all the example 
 of Europeans ought to have been working good for a century. 
 Do such persons forget, that in every large community there 
 may be expected some, from a spirit of singularity, some from 
 a love of novelty, and some few from superior intelligence, 
 ready to desert the customs of the multitude ? And is it upon 
 this small number, not yet filled up to the proportion in other 
 countries, they rest their hopes that, without any other appli- 
 ances, the whole mass will, within any period of human calcula- 
 tion, be aroused from their torpor, and occupy themselves in 
 the rational pursuits of intelligent men ? Let not the writer be 
 accused of undervaluing the study of the most interesting, and 
 important — of any, but divine subjects — those treated of in 
 ' Political JEconomy.' He must be allowed, however, to main- 
 tain the opinion, that, in the present state of our knowledge, it 
 would be well to designate it the study, rather than the science 
 of Political Economy. If it be called a science, it must be given 
 laws ; and to the mind of every statesman the term law conveys 
 the impression of all that is absolute and irresistible ; whereas 
 the very foundations upon which this study is grounded are 
 ever liable to change, even in the same land ; and they differ in 
 every differing soil. 
 
 " In the same people and climate the motives for human 
 action upon which this study is built, are so liable to change, 
 that what may be predicated of one generation of men, often 
 cannot of another. But of countries, climates, and people, 
 differing from each other in a degree as vast as is the geogra- 
 phical distance of India, from England, little can be affirmed 
 in common. 
 
 "It is very possible to show that, what to an Englishman Contrast be- 
 would be a motive for exertion, is a motive to the Indian for t^een English 
 
278 
 
 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 and Indian sleeping — that, what the former would propose as an interest- 
 temperament. .^^ amusement for the leisure of the day, is put off by the 
 latter as a burdensome duty to an indefinite 'to-morrow,' — 
 that, what the former values as the first of earthly comforts, 
 worthy of soul-wearying efforts for their attainment, are viewed 
 by the latter with a calm indifference, as undeserving of a 
 thought — that while ' to better his condition' is an ever power- 
 ful motive to an Englishman, infatuating hundreds, for a vision- 
 ary prospect, into entering on a life of excitement and disease, 
 while it is inducing hundreds to traverse the world for wealth — 
 wealth is very rarely sought by the native with the ultimate 
 object of improving his condition. 
 
 " The following picture of the family of a Hindoo, whose 
 industry and wealth give him a high place of usefulness in the 
 native community, may be taken as a very fair standard for 
 comparing the habit of industry, wants, tastes, desire of im- 
 provement, &c., of the two nations ; or the motives which 
 determine man to produce and enjoy wealth in England and 
 India. 
 
 " A Hindoo, whose income is on the advance, does, at the 
 most, add a little ghee to his meal of pease, and change his 
 body-dress for one of finer texture. As far as his means 
 permit, he supports even distant relations ; sometimes allowing 
 his dependents to increase to a large number ; unless the pros- 
 pect of wealth and of its security tempt him to hoard. 
 
 " Let full justice be done to a remnant of the best feelings of 
 Patriarchal times, when every member had a claim on his tribe 
 — feelings affording a moral lesson to the increasing pride and 
 selfishness of domestic society in England. Upon an inquiry, 
 however, into the motives in operation, the truth will afford 
 some explanation of this paradox in the morality of the two 
 nations. 
 
 " The Native has a far less personal use for his money than 
 an Englishman, beyond a very humble subsistence. Hence his 
 indifference, if a servant, at a threatened discharge. Hence 
 also the difficulty of persuading him to leave his own neigh- 
 bourhood. It is on this account that recruiting in the Native 
 Regular Army is attended with difficulty, where, as in the 
 Company's territory, the people can obtain the means of subsis- 
 tence at home ; while the applicants for service in the Provincial 
 
 Native hos- 
 pitality. 
 
 Its causes. 
 
APPENDIX. 279 
 
 Corps often greatly exceed the vacancies ; although the pay 
 and respectability of the former are much superior. A native, 
 whose income can do more than sustain him in his accustomed 
 style, has little motive for withholding support from connexions, 
 for whom he can feel but little attachment With his increasing 
 means the number of idlers among his relatives increases. He 
 will often allow an able-bodied fellow to hang upon him for 
 months ; a man, for whom his affection is in reality so slight, 
 that, for an inducement of the smallest scale, he would, too 
 often, alas, be guilty of his death ! Frequently, though his 
 desire to hoard is great, he is alone prevented by fear, lest his 
 wealth, exciting their cupidity, he should be poisoned by these 
 very relations. So indifferent is he about ' improving his con- 
 dition,' that, instead of expending his gains as he acquires 
 them, for this purpose, he supports the very parties from whom 
 he is sometimes in fear of his life ; and the life of any of whom, 
 excepting perhaps his own child, he would sacrifice for a trifle. 
 The whole tribe lives together, with a lota,* kuttora, dhotee, and 
 Jialf a seer of atta a-piece, but without a thought. This is no 
 rare case ; it is most common. It is the case of most natives of 
 substance who are not hoarders. 
 
 " Where the parties are not so lawless, and the prospect of 
 hoarding is greater, as in the case of Sepoys and in towns, the 
 only strong motive of the native for the acquirement of money 
 has its play. 
 
 "The steady, persevering industry of the Shroff, Bunniah, 
 and Mahajun, may then be observed. But its fruits can scarcely 
 be perceived, except perhaps in the 8uwarree,f — in a gay palkee, wealth not 
 with a small retinue of chobdars,\ for show and protection. Their acquired for 
 wealth is acquired to be hoarded, until accumulated to an joymeut. 
 amount corresponding with their ambition. 
 
 " A portion is then squandered in a marriage or other cere- 
 mony, rupees being thrown in thousands to the populace indis- 
 criminately, which the Englishman would have long since 
 thrown into' circulation among the industrious of the community, 
 while he added their products to the comfort of his family, but 
 which the hoarder had no reasonable way of employing. The 
 
 * A brass pot, and dish, a body cloth, and a pound of meal. 
 t Equipage. 
 X Club-be;irers. 
 
280 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 rest of his wealth, if not left to a family, is equally unpro- 
 ductive ; immured, first for years in a chest, and then for ever 
 in a ghat or temple — where, in-eclaimable for any purpose of 
 adequate use, it serves only to gratify the hoarder's religious 
 ambition. Such is the condition in mind and body of the supe- 
 rior orders of the whole Hindoo population, even in Calcutta 
 itself; where the exception, of not one in the hundred, but 
 marks the general rule. A relaxation of prejudices, and a 
 modification of customs is to be observed in a number just suffi- 
 cient to encourage the philanthropic statesman to the utmost 
 exertion. They fail in their compliment to the judgment, taste, 
 and readiness to improve, in this people, who speak with admi- 
 ration of certain natives of respectability having availed them- 
 selves, at last, of the opportunities afforded by European enter- 
 prize, and begun to purchase some of the instruments of comfort, 
 invariably required by gentlemen in civilized life. The writer 
 can only find cause for unceasing surprise, that a people, of 
 intellectual powers, equal to those of the generality of mankind, 
 should be so far behind all other people in appreciating the ex- 
 cellence of all the products of English skill, which any intelligent 
 savage, even, would value and desire. 
 „ " So erroneous have been the opinions circulated fegarding the 
 
 specting the native character, and so illusive the reliance on ' The general 
 British^manu- '^^^ °^ human action ;' ' The universal desire of man to improve 
 factureg. his condition ;' ' His desire of enjoyment,' &c. &c., as to lead to 
 
 the exportation to India of vast quantities of the products of 
 civilized labour, in the form of prepared metals and manufactures, 
 with the confident hope, that the natives would purchase them 
 readily. The result proved that, with the exception of cotton 
 goods, sheet copper, and some iron and zinc, no demand worthy 
 of notice could be excited even by sales at a ruinous discount on 
 prime cost Nor have twenty years' persevering enterprize, on the 
 part of English merchants, established any satisfactory demand 
 of other manufactures ; nothing amounting to one-tenth part of 
 what such a population ought readily to take. The extent to 
 which the delusions prevailed, will be proved by a reference to the 
 speeches of some of the leading members of the trading community 
 of England, at public meetings in London, and some of the com- 
 mercial tovras. Before the Charter of 1814, one person is 
 found to hold out an unlimited demand for glass, window-glass 
 
APPENDIX. 281 
 
 especially; as soon as the obstacles to its introduction were 
 removed. About ten years after, a city politician at a London 
 meeting, exhorted his fellow dealers not to contract their trading 
 in blankets, for that the demand, as soon as the barriers were 
 thrown down, and British goods could find their way into the 
 heart of India, would no doubt become enormous, ' for,' said he, 
 ' if we allow only one of the cheapest 16-shilling blankets a-piece 
 for each adult in India, the demand will exceed our utmost 
 efforts of supply.' 
 
 "So long has this delusion lasted, against the inflexible evidence 
 of glutted and falling markets, that, at the approach of the next 
 Charter, Mr. Felkin of Nottingham addressed all .persons inte- 
 rested in the bobbin net trade in these words : ' I would here 
 observe that as no one can say bobbin net may not, in the event 
 of this monopoly (The East India Company's; ceasing to stand 
 in the way of its free export and sale, be generally adopted in 
 India, and China, so it is a matter of easy demonstration, that 
 if only every woman at the head of every family in India (saying 
 nothing of China) were to use but one square of bobbin net a 
 year, the whole of the existing machinery of the trade, full- 
 handed, and worked eighteen hours a day, would scarcely pro- 
 duce a supply sufficient for that market.' 
 
 "Again at the renewal of the last Charter in 1853, and up 
 to the present hour, many like anticipations have been ex- 
 pressed. 
 
 " The above are selected, as the opinions of men, influential 
 in their respective lines of business, while many similar might 
 be selected, were it necessary, in proof of the extent to which 
 misconception on such important questions prevails in the minds 
 of the people of England. Did not such opinions foster a 
 lamentable delusion, and lead to the extension of machinery, 
 under the vain prospect of a demand, which will never spon- 
 taneously arise on the part of that people, they would be truly 
 ludicrous to those who have been eye-witnesses of the habits and 
 condition of the natives. Who but must smile at imagining 
 one of these many Hindoo mothers of families — her sable neck 
 adorned with a flowing collar of English bobbin net ; and her 
 head with a basket of recent cow-dung to be kneaded into fire- 
 cakes with fingers which our glovers of ^Voodstock would protect 
 with their softest kid-skin ! or at fancying her husband, who can 
 
282 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 barely allow himself a coarse horse blanket at 10 annas, wrapt 
 in one of English lambs-wool costing 10 rupees — a sum collec- 
 tive, he perhaps never possessed in his life ? Nay, it would be a 
 strange occurrence for a wealthy Native, a few in Calcutta ex- 
 cepted, to allow himself any so costly a covering in bed. While 
 out, he will draw over his shoulders a shawl valued at 500 
 rupees : on his cot he will cover himself with a common chintz 
 Russaie, at a cost of one or two rupees. 
 
 " In addition to the illusions excited by the attempt to apply to 
 India the laws of Political Economy founded on human motives 
 as they are exhibited in Europe, and by very incorrect informa- 
 tion, on the parts of authors and orators, on Indian matters, may 
 be placed the promising demand, rapid at first, now slowly pro- 
 gressing, for cotton goods and sheet copper, which led to the 
 impression in England, that, if an abundant and cheap supply of 
 other manufactures were always in the market, the Natives 
 would certainly and rapidly acquire a taste for the comforts of 
 civilized life. Many years of vain efibrts proved, that some other 
 The causes causes were overlooked in the anticipation. Excessive extortion 
 of slow pro- on the part of the Company for revenue has of late years been 
 verty in India, cited as this cause, which, by impoverishing, has deprived them 
 of the means of gratifying or acquiring a taste for the comforts 
 of civilized life, and of becoming good customers to England. 
 That the quantity of the agriculturist's produce taken as revenue 
 (though little, the writer believes, if at all above, from 10 to 15 
 per cent, of the gross produce, after deducting the commercial 
 plant), proves a heavy burden to the people, and that they are 
 in general lamentably poor, are facts which it would be very im- 
 prudent to deny ; but the assessment itself is not the main cause 
 of their poverty, nor is their present poverty the chief obstacle to 
 their acquiring the habits of civilized life. 
 
 " It is not poverty in means, but poverty in taste. Moreover it 
 is not, in India, poverty in means, which stands as the antece- 
 dent, or as it were, the cause of poverty in taste, as is commonly 
 argued ; but the reverse ; universal poverty in taste occasions 
 the universal poverty in means. The latter is not the cause, 
 but the consequence of the former. It is of the first importance 
 that this relation should be kept in view by the Indian States- 
 man. Out of many which might be adduced, the reader's 
 attention is requested to one striking fact in illustration of 
 
APPENDIX. 283 
 
 this truth. In no country in the world, those in the Frigid 
 Zone excepted, is window-glass more needed than in the upper 
 provinces of Hindostan, by a people of the bodily constitution of 
 the Natives. To the westward, the people suffer as much from 
 cold and damp, as any in Europe. Few escape fever and rheu- 
 matism in the rains and cold weather. And in the hot season 
 the dust, and parching wind, "are distressing even to brutes. 
 Again, — at any city on the banks of the Ganges, window-glass 
 is procurable at a price, as low perhaps, as in London. Yet it 
 is no less true than strange, that with so good reasons for its 
 use, and so ready a supply everywhere, the houses of all, even 
 the wealthiest Natives (with the former exception of a, few in 
 Calcutta), are unprovided with window-glass. The writer has 
 watched the erection of houses, upon which half a lakh of rupees 
 have been said to have been laid out (few indeed indulge them- 
 selves with such mansions), but not twenty rupees on window- 
 glass. What renders this the more surprising, is the c\istom, 
 not uncommon, for such wealthy Natives to glaze one or two 
 apartments for the reception of their European guests ; while 
 scarcely any are found to do so for their own comfort. Here 
 we have superadded some experience in its use. But the whole 
 in vain. Wealthy Mussulmans are indeed found much more 
 ready to avail themselves of the articles of comfortable use, 
 offered by English enterprize at so low prices ; but in their case 
 even, it is to a limited extent, and the number of wealthy of that 
 religion is very small. Hence window-glass, of which so large a 
 demand was anticipated, is always at a serious discount in the 
 Calcutta market ; although it would be difficult to name any 
 article which men, right as to their senses, would want more in 
 such a climate. How different this from the rapidly increased 
 demand for this very article, when it was once introduced into 
 England ; lamented by a Sage of those times as a mark of such 
 degeneracy, that, in one generation it was finding its way, 
 after glazing patrician windows, even into the cottage farmhouse 
 of those days. 
 
 "The comparatively large consumption of British cotton q^^^^^^^ j 
 goods, which for a time underwent a rapid increase upon the the demand 
 opening of the trade, has been, and is still, daily adduced by the ceptbnal ^^' 
 hopeful, as an earnest of an approaching vast demand in India, 
 for all other products of British industry. 
 
284 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 " The writer would refrain from the endeavour to dissipate so 
 pleasant hopes, were not too many persons, relying on a false 
 analogy of motives, disposed to avoid any interference with so 
 promising a course, and did not others, with full confidence in 
 them, try the Indian market to their cost, with every possible 
 production of art. 
 
 " The demand for cotton goods, which, up to a certain amount, 
 underwent a rapid increase at first, was to have been expected 
 from, and is to be attributed to, the very ancient taste of this 
 people for cotton fabrics for dress. It was no new taste, no 
 demand for a new article, but merely a transfer of custom from 
 the coarser and dearer, to the finer and cheaper wares. 
 
 " So far from the quantity of English cottons, now taken by 
 the natives, being any ground for future hope, it needs but 
 little observation to perceive, in the fact of the amount having 
 been for some years nearly stationary in the older provinces, that 
 it was only an ancient demand for cloths of such kinds to a 
 certain extent, which, being transferred to those of England, 
 rendered saleable proportional importations ; and the amount, 
 still small in comparison with the whole clothing of the people, 
 is but evidence of that indisposition to improve their condition 
 of life which the writer has already sufficiently established. 
 No sponta- " ^^ ^^ ^^ been successful in placing in their true light the 
 neous im- deceptive appearances which this question wears, and the delu- 
 India. ^'^^ expectations which have been founded on them ; and, if he 
 
 has disproved any real improvement in the people from their 
 own spontaneous efforts, the Author will consider the proposition 
 demonstrated, — that the system of non-interference maintained 
 towards the natives unremittingly, with the exception of that 
 sparingly afforded in school education, has been attended on 
 their part, with a refraining from all spontaneous improvement. 
 Mere ex- "That abundant example afforded them of the advantages 
 ?r!?^^™'^^^'' of civilisation has been unavailing, is manifested in the state of 
 Calcutta itself, and of the country in general. The reader's 
 time will not be occupied by any long demonstration of what 
 ought to be apparent to the mind of every unprejudiced ob- 
 server. But one remarkable instance may be adduced, illus- 
 trative of that peculiar trait in the native character, which 
 proves the barrier against all spontaneous advancement. The 
 Calcutta haclcery is painfully eloquent in proof of the fact, that 
 
 ing. 
 
APPENDIX. 285 
 
 example very abundant, evidence very striking, means as ready 
 as possible, and considerable pecuniary advantage, though all 
 combined, fail in inducing the people to adopt of themselves a 
 simple improvement. ITackeries on wooden axles have been 
 possessed by natives of all ranks, and degrees of wealth, in Cal- 
 cutta, while for a century, their English fellow citizens have 
 used vehicles, in vast numbers, on well-turned iron axles, the 
 easy draught of which ought daily to have been noticed by 
 them. At the same time, English enterprise has supplied their 
 markets abundantly, with iron of all forms and dimensions, 
 requiring little workmanship in order to form it into axles and 
 boxes, and at a price which would be entirely saved in work, 
 now lost by the excessive friction, in five or six months, at an 
 estimate on the average daily hire of a hackery. At the same 
 time numerous accidents from the snapping of wooden axles 
 would be avoided. With all this, the grating wooden axle is 
 still used (the thickness and looseness of which cause this serious 
 loss by friction, which the people entirely overlook), and it will 
 continue to be used, until hackeries of the usual form and price, 
 with the addition of an iron axle, are introduced by Europeans ; 
 so as to demonstrate by trial the pecuniary advantages which 
 would result from them, and to habituate a sufiicient number of 
 the natives to their use. 
 
 " This and a hundred other instances prove that example 
 and opportunity alone are unavailing, though supported with 
 good pecuniary reasons for improvement. When, however, a 
 very great and manifest saving is noticed by them, or some vast 
 gain, the natives will occasionally exert themselves. Thus many 
 have adopted the European method of making indigo, their 
 own producing an unsaleable article. 
 
 " An ingenious author has drawn a parallel between the con- 
 dition and habits of the people of England and India in ancient 
 times, and has hence inferred that their present vast difference 
 is to be attributed to certain political causes which have always 
 operated disadvantageously towards India. He has, it may be 
 supposed, succeeded in establishing a parity of condition at 
 some former period, but by no means of character. A day of 
 helpless infancy there is, during which some parallel as to 
 feebleness may be drawn between all children ; but he would 
 err against experience, who should thence infer that any diifer- 
 
286 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 ence to be observed in after life in their strengtli and energy 
 ought to be attributed to certain causes aifecting the nurture 
 and education of the parties differently ; and not to the differ- 
 ence nature has made in the constitutions of men. To the case 
 of nations this argument is equally applicable. 
 
 " It is affirmed, and affirmed truly, that the natives are found 
 to have powers of understanding, adequate to the acquirement 
 of all kinds of human knowledge ; and it has hence been con- 
 cluded, but concluded falsely, that the opportunity alone being 
 afforded them they will learn all that it is useful for them to ac- 
 quire, and put in practice what they learn. In proportion as 
 the Indian mind is extolled for readiness to understand, and 
 learn the philosophic truths discovered by others, has the phi- 
 lanthropist to lament its deficiency in those qualities, to which 
 are due, much more than to the former, the advanced civilisa- 
 tion and greatness of England. However sincere may be their 
 intentions, they are not India's best friends, whose desire of 
 establishing for this people a high intellectual character would 
 lead them to affirm that the mighty change which ought, long 
 ago, to have commenced in their habits and condition, may be 
 trusted to any spontaneous exertions of their own. 
 
 " The doctrines founded on what are termed the laws of 
 Political Science, though far from being universally applicable 
 in the Western World, may serve as a sufficient guidance to 
 politicians of the present day in Europe ; but, applied to India, 
 they cannot fail to misguide the judgment, and be preventive 
 of good. 
 
 " They, who are really acquainted with the native character, 
 who have seen through false appearances, and, sifting well the 
 expectations of the hopeful, have found them to be Kttle more 
 than chaff, to be scattered by the blast of time, cannot fail of 
 the conviction, that a system of economical policy, suited for 
 England, is inapplicable here. In England, a vast and efficient, 
 though complicated machinery of motives, forms, and then 
 rules, the active character of each generation ; needing, on the 
 part of the statesman, but little guidance, and cautious inter- 
 ference. 
 
 " In India no such engine is at work ; nor can the people 
 build it up of themselves. They have not the moral, mental, 
 nor physical energy, which, in the rudest times, chai'acterised 
 
APPENDIX. 287 
 
 the people of England ; and which, in each successive genera- 
 tion, has added some movements to the machine of motives, 
 which now, in return, determines our artificial, but highly civil- 
 ized national character. 
 
 " In India, there being no such powerful instrument, capable 
 of doing the work itself ; the work must be done by the hand 
 (like all other work here) of the statesman at present ; suitable 
 and beneficent interference must be practised towards the 
 people ; for without it there is no reasonable ground for sup- 
 posing they will ever make progress in the habits of civilized 
 life." 
 
 On^ the State of the UsErtrL Arts in India. 
 
 " That the Natives of India are deplorably ignorant of that 
 knowledge, which is of infinite importance to man, of the know- 
 ledge of all that is revealed to him in Christianity, is a fact 
 which, in this place, it would be needless and painful to dwell 
 upon. It is presumed, that this ignorance, on their part, is 
 deplored by every one professing Christianity; and that, by 
 whatsoever instruments he works, and whatsoever road he takes, 
 though his first object, in the order of time, may be the temporal, 
 his first object in degree, must be the spiritual advancement of 
 the people of India. 
 
 " Let his zeal be how great soever, let his philanthropy be 
 unbounded, man, doomed to act through a mysterious organism 
 of matter, cannot influence or benefit the minds of his fellow- 
 men, but through the agency of matter, subjected to a ^jhange 
 of form or place. The forces inseparable from matter resist 
 these changes, and will yield only to superior force applied by 
 labour. Whether it be in an inanimate form, as books, or 
 endued with life in the persons of delegated teachers and 
 preachers, the agency of matter is necessary, which can be 
 moved, combined, or supported, only by labour or its products. 
 And this labour can be supplied only from some accumulated 
 stock. That no such accumulation, under the form of its repre- 
 sentative, money, is possessed by the party, with whom the duty 
 of providing education to the people chiefly lies, would appear 
 from the scantiness of the sums annually expended by the 
 Government for this most important object. 
 
 " The writer has undertaken, in this Essay, a secular part, in 
 
288 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Erroneous the general work of improvement. Upon no subject are more 
 Trtr^"^"**'^^ erroneous opinions current, than the state, of the arts in India. 
 It is indeed generally admitted, that they are rude ; but it is 
 commonly added, that they are simply and cheaply conducted, 
 and therefore well suited to the habits and means of the people. 
 In this manner, every process almost, in their agriculture and 
 manufactures, meets with some European defender; a circum- 
 stance to be traced to the situations of the observers. Few of 
 them have that personal interest in the question, which would 
 lead them to a narrow investigation of facts. The age, at 
 which most of them have left England, a long residence in 
 India, and an education chiefly literary, must disqualify them 
 for a just comparison of the relative advantages of the arts of 
 the two countries. The great difference between the incomes 
 of these persons, and of the natives in general, and the fami- 
 liarity of the former with the prices of English finer manufac- 
 tures, cause many to forget, that prices, which appear very low 
 to them, are ruinously high to the poor native ; prohibiting his 
 use of many articles, which the former had supposed abundantly 
 cheap. And they fail to consider, that it is the proportion the 
 price of labour in each country bears to that of its product, 
 which determines the relative cheapness of the processes. 
 
 " Among the few persons, who are at the pains of affording 
 any attention to the native arts, an erroneous opinion is 
 prevalent, that great ingenuity is evinced in the simplicity of 
 the instruments, by which they are conducted. And they, 
 whose taste leads them to admire every thing of an Hindostanee 
 character, are wont to foster their predilections by dwelling 
 upon this imaginary ingenuity. 
 
 " The pages of historians being for the most part wasted in 
 recording the exploits and outrages of tyrants (the human 
 beasts of prey), it is no easy matter to trace human inventions 
 in the arts to their respective sources; a subject more worthy 
 the contemplation of man. It would appear, however, that 
 The dawn of nearly all the nations of Europe, and the west of Asia, have 
 art in Europe excelled the natives of Hindostan in the variety and ineenuitv 
 
 and Asia. j-ii-i-i. . a j 
 
 displayed m the simple instruments, used in the dawn of their 
 arts. And this is the case with the Chinese. 
 
 "In the commencement of the arts in any country, the 
 primary effort must be, to obtain a result which will answer the 
 
APPENDIX. 289 
 
 purpose intended, with the least possible fixture of capital — with 
 the simplest instruments; or with none, if the work can be 
 completed by the use of the limbs alone. Hence the toes even 
 are exercised to dexterity, and pressed into service. 
 
 " Centuries have elapsed, since in England the simple house- 
 hold instruments, neater far, and more effective, than those of 
 the natives, have given place to the complicated machines of 
 many parts, which effect so vast a saving of labour. These, 
 occupying separate buildings, are seen only by their respective 
 artists, or by the curious. And the manufacturers even, having 
 known from their youth no other, forget the many elementary 
 instruments, from which their own machinery has been formed. 
 In England, full of arts, the arts do least display, to public 
 view, their processes, at the present time. 
 
 " Hence few, but those, whom curiosity or business leads to 
 the study, have any knowledge of the innumerable processes to 
 which matter is subjected, before it is presented to view in the 
 attractive form of the comforts and luxuries of English life. 
 Few reflect, that they are indebted to European ingenuity, to 
 English especially, for nearly all that they touch, taste, or 
 handle, and that, until of late, every article, though much 
 dearer than at present, was produced with instruments, beautiful 
 in their accuracy and simplicity. 
 
 " It does indeed evince much ingenuity to simplify an instru- Simplicity in 
 ment in the mechanical, or a process in the chemical arts, means— then- 
 provided no sacrifice be made of labour, material, or certainty and defects. 
 of result. But to adhere, without any attempt at improvement 
 to instruments merely because they are simple, — instruments 
 wasteful of labour and material, and uncertain in the result, 
 marks a very obtuse and spiritless state of mind in a people. 
 It shows them to be deficient in speculative and theoretical men, 
 without whom a people must ever grovel in hovels with the 
 beasts of the earth. To extol an adherence to such mean 
 instruments, and to ridicule minds directed to their improve- 
 ment, is by no means creditable to the judgment of any, whose 
 opportunities, as members of a civilized community, should have 
 taught them better. It is an earnest of what the condition of 
 a people would be, composed of such beings as themselves ! 
 
 " Let the unhappy Molunghee have the same wants as the 
 English saltmaker, and let them be supplied by the sale of his 
 
290 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 labour. Its product in salt, exclusive of the hi^h duty, already 
 dearer than that of the Englishman's labour, would soon point 
 out how much of ingenuity or advantage lay in the simple 
 processes of the Molunghee — in his rude furnace of fragile and 
 slowly-working earthen boiling pots ; where the excess of earthy 
 surface swallows up one half of the heat ; in his simple employ- 
 ment of limbs, able, though half-starved, to raise at least thirty 
 pounds, in baling about the liquors with a two-pound cup ; in 
 his economically dispensing with a wooden trough or drain, 
 which he might have made in one month, perhaps week, of the 
 many years he has expended in walking, backwards and 
 forwards, between the source whence he dips up the salt water 
 and his boiling pots. And where wood is his fuel, a fraction of 
 that he has wasted in the furnace would have yielded all the 
 planks required for the material of the trough, to be put 
 together with wooden pegs, less acted on by salt, and therefore 
 better for the purpose than iron nails. Where he ought to 
 make fifty maunds, he makes but one ; as would be shown by 
 the price rising, if he were supplied with the comforts of the 
 Englishman, perhaps to fifty rupees a maund. It would then 
 be clear that the present price, low comparatively with that, 
 results merely from the human labour employed being remu- 
 nerated worse than the labour of beasts ; falling short of the 
 wages of the horse in England. A hovel, a strip of rag, barely 
 defending him from the reproach of absolute nudity, — a handful 
 of parched grain, or boiled rice, which he c£in scarcely afford to 
 season with the salt he makes, — in short, a keeping on the 
 lowest scale of existence of the labouring animal, alone prevents 
 the price rising so high as to admit of a profitable importation 
 of salt from England. 
 
 "In the preparation of other chemical products, — of the 
 earthy and metallic salts especially, — they are either wholly 
 ignorant, or so wasteful in their processes, as to raise the prices 
 above those at which many of the articles can be supplied from 
 Europe. 
 Indian dyeing. " In favour of the Indian art of dyeing much has been said, 
 which a close inquiry will not bear out. 
 Of cotton. " Cotton having been for ages the fabric of dress, and coloured 
 cotton petticoats worn by all females but those of rank, while 
 nature has been lavish towards this country in the supply of 
 
APPENDIX. 291 
 
 dyes, it might have been expected that the dyeing and printing 
 of cotton goods would have been brought to a high state of 
 perfection in India ; that every effort would, ages ago, have been 
 made by the native dyers to fix durably the spendid dyes their 
 country afibrds. 
 
 " But the same sleepy adherence to custom is marked in this 
 as in all other trades. Their ignorance and waste of the 
 materials they act upon, and of their own labour, is shown in 
 almost every part of a native dye work. Their mordants are of 
 uncertain composition, and badly applied. Black and red are 
 their only very durable colours. Their blue dyeing of cotton is 
 so ill performed, that a few washings reduce the colour of native 
 blue goods from the deepest to the lightest shade. The reason 
 is that in this, the land of indigo, its use is not thoroughly 
 understood. The blue vat is not properly made, being more a 
 suspension than proper solution of the dye, which does not 
 undergo deoxidation, the apparent change upon which its 
 solubility depends in the English blue vat. The brown colour 
 of Boglipoor, and buff of some other cotton goods, which are 
 of renowned durability, prove upon examination to depend upon 
 the silk interwoven with the weft, in which the colour is chiefly 
 seated. 
 
 " To two or three colours, therefore, the poorer native women 
 have to confine their tastes, or to wear their gayer chintzes until 
 so discoloured with dirt and offensive, as to render a scouring 
 unavoidably necessary. 
 
 " The dyeing of silk, a luxury beyond the reach of the mass Dyeing of 
 of the people, is an art of far less value to a poor people, while ^i'^- 
 it is one more easy of attainment ; the affinity of silk fibre for 
 colouring matter greatly exceeding that of cotton. The splendid 
 silk vests, which the Mahomedan chiefs must have introduced 
 from Western Asia, the unlimited prices, which rude but 
 luxurious courts would afford to pay in satisfying wants limited 
 in variety, will sufficiently account for the comparatively 
 advanced state of the art of dyeing silk in India. 
 
 " In this branch even of the art their processes are also rude 
 and expensive, as shown by the high price of the product, and 
 by the fact that Europeans, near the metropolis, have been 
 able to extract some profit from the little improvements they 
 have introduced into the business ; though, acting it is presumed, 
 
 u 2 
 
ii92 BRITISH AEMT IN INDIA. 
 
 under the disadvantageous use of hired labour, — the ruin of 
 nearly all undertakings in India, in which wages form a large 
 part of expense. Though the dyeing of silk is an art of less 
 value to this people as consumers, it is to be encouraged as an 
 instrument in the silk trade for increasing, though in a small 
 degree, the commercial exports of India. 
 
 Soap making. " The very important chemical art of soap making is in the 
 same backward state as the rest, and its product as dear in 
 proportion. Hence the mass of the people cannot afford to 
 make use of soap. It proves, upon the whole, a less expensive 
 course to consume labour and apparel, in beating the latter to 
 pieces, by degrees, upon boards and stones, than to employ soap 
 in the washing of their linen. The soap is very bad, and, 
 considering the price of the material, dear. A portion only of 
 the alkali is rendered caustic, and is but imperfectly combined 
 with the oleaginous matter ; while the larger quantity of free 
 carbonate and sulphate of soda and the chloride separate in 
 grains, causing the soap in damp weather to grow humid and 
 decay. The dark and offensive character of native soap indi- 
 cates some damaging of the materials in the making. Where 
 natron is employed, they do not succeed in destroying the 
 offensive vegetable colouring matter, being unable to construct 
 furnaces for the purpose. 
 
 Glass making. " With SO abundant a supply of excellent alkali, and of 
 siliceous earth, in the form of quartz, in all the hilly districts, 
 and the finest material for fire-brick in many parts of the 
 country, and, it is presumed, for glass-house pots in some place 
 or other (though the writer has not met with what he would 
 suppose the best), excellent glass might have been made by this 
 people : and, from the soda earth alone, a good green glass may 
 be manufactured. The glass of the country is quite unfitted 
 for any important purpose, and it is very unsightly ; made with 
 a great excess of alkali, at merely an ordinary red heat, it is 
 gradually acted on even by water in time. 
 
 " The common country ' Kaunch,' glass in mass, upon being 
 ground to a fine powder, and macerated in water, undergoes a 
 gradual separation into various substances ; and decomposition, 
 so long as it is kept humid, appears to be progressive. The 
 liquor becomes strongly saline, from free carbonate and sulphate 
 
APPENDIX. 293 
 
 of soda, with a separation of lime and iron, setting as a fine paste 
 on the surface of the glass sand. 
 
 " For looking-glasses, trinkets, and phials for European 
 customers, the glass-blower is under the necessity of using 
 English broken glass, a standard article of sale in the larger 
 bazaars. 
 
 " The small size and unequal heat of their forges confine 
 the efforts of the native glass-blower in general to the treatment 
 of a few ounces of the metal. Hence any vessel, above a phial 
 size, is blown so thin as to be of little use. And though so thin, 
 the glass is very liable to crack from changes of temperature, 
 owing to his inability to anneal it properly. 
 
 " In the treatment of the earths, and in the proper use of Stone-ware 
 fuel, the natives are surprisingly ignorant. It were useless to bricks "^^ 
 introduce the manufacture of mineral acids, and of etherial 
 liquids, and the casting of iron ; for they have no vessels of a 
 porcelainous nature for holding the former (none fitted even for 
 the complete preservation of common oil and spirit), nor fire- 
 bricks, for furnaces, for the latter. Without fire-bricks they 
 can neither have works for founding glass nor iron, nor for 
 making stone-bodied pottery. This, the basis of the chemical 
 arts, being wanting, they are deficient in all the rest. 
 
 " It is hoped that the reader is now persuaded of the igno- 
 rance prevailing in some of their most important chemical arts. 
 
 " The native simple mechanical arts being within reach of the Mechanical 
 observation of most persons, the writer would presume he might ^'^^• 
 treat their defectiveness as a self-evident proposition, were not a 
 too hastily formed opinion current that excellent simplicity is 
 manifested in all native machinery. 
 
 " It would occupy more space than the limits of this Essay 
 admit of, to attempt an inquiry into one-fourth of the numerous 
 mechanical arts. Out of many which might be instanced one 
 or two remarkable cases may be selected, familiar to all 
 European observers, regarding which they too commonly 
 fall in with the native error of mistaking cheapness for economy. 
 
 " When remarking upon the faulty construction of native Kiver boats, 
 boats, the writer has often been replied to that the low rate of 
 hire, and the small capital of the parties, did not admit of 
 superior boats being employed ; that they were in short well 
 
294 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 adapted to their purposes. The price of food being the standard, 
 and the poor condition of the dandies taken into account, it is a 
 question if any river navigation in the world is so expensive ; 
 and it is very certain that none is so dangerous. 
 
 " It is not too much to affirm that more than nine out of ten 
 of the losses on the river arise from the badness of the tackle, 
 and from the boats not being decked, nor divided into compart- 
 ments. Many boats are even supplied with a deck of loose 
 planks, which need little more than being nailed down and 
 caulked, so as to admit of a wave breaking over the boat, 
 or the gunnel being occasionally dipped under water, without 
 the swamping of the boat, as at present, being the con- 
 sequence. 
 
 " The division of the boats into compartments, said to be 
 not uncommon in China, would be an important security to 
 native boats. It would secure against sinking, numbers which 
 annually are lost upon trees and kunkur banks. The hole 
 thus made is commonly circumscribed, and would not let 
 water into more than one compartment ; and the boarding of 
 the partition would add greatly to the strength and durability 
 of the boat. 
 Piilse eco- " False economy in the tackling greatly adds to the tardiness 
 nomy in boat of the most tedious of voyages — that up the Ganges. A native 
 sail, made of gunny-bags, is at the best a net for allowing the 
 wind to shp through. One advantage it has, that of allowing 
 the helmsman to see a-head distinctly through it. This is the 
 condition of the sails of country boats when new. But such is 
 their state in general, that frequently more than one-half of 
 their area is unoccupied by cloth. They seem as set up in 
 mockery, not for use. Like worthless bags, they let fair winds, 
 as valuable as money, slip through them; while the interest 
 upon a costly cargo, and the wages of the boatmen, are often 
 running on much faster than the boat. The boat, having lost 
 the necessary wind, is invariably detained for days at some, if 
 not all, of the many places on the river, which, not admitting 
 of the use of the tow rope, can only be passed on a return of 
 that fair wind, which, had it not been allowed to run through 
 the sail, would have carried the boat past the place of detention, 
 in a few hours. 
 
 " The reader, who is not aware of it, will be surprised when 
 
APPENDIX. 295 
 
 he hears that country canvas (answering all the purposes of 
 European though not so durable) required for a large sail of 30 
 feet by 20, costs only 20 or 25 rupees, while the worst sail cannot 
 cost under 6 rupees, leaving a difference of 14 or 19 rupees, 
 which does not even make up for the inferior durability of the 
 latter. Let the cargo be copper, worth rupees 8000. The 
 wee^i;?/ interest upon this, at 6 per cent., is about 10 rupees ; and 
 the weekly wages of the men about the same. Exclusive of the 
 expenses of the boat itself, here are current charges amounting 
 to 20 rupees a week, the value of a new sail. So bad is the 
 tackling, as is too well known, that boats are frequently upset 
 from delay in lowering down the sails (the mode adopted by the 
 natives). The " sheets " , of the sails, instead of being so fastened 
 as to be readily set loose, are tied in knots ; and the halyards 
 stick in the common loop of rope, or under the sheaf of the 
 rickety pulley at the mast-head. Nor does this rude tackle ad- 
 mit of the sails being so braced, as to make the best use of a 
 side wind. The want of a keel is but half the cause of the drift- 
 ing of country boats. Wind which would slip off the properly 
 inclined and gently concave surface of a well stretched sail, is 
 detained in the belly of a native sail (provided the latter do not 
 let it escape) and tends more to push the boat sideways, than 
 onwards. And, since keels cannot well be used on the Ganges, 
 it is strange that moveable weather-boards have not been 
 adopted ; through means of which, barges on the Thames sail 
 very fairly, drifting far less than the boats on the Ganges, though 
 as shallow, flat-bottomed, and keelless, as any of the latter. So 
 dangerous and expensive is the navigation of the Ganges at 
 present, and so wide the field for improvement, that the writer 
 has long considered the improvement of boats to be one of the 
 few fields open for successful enterprize on the part of English- 
 men in India ; since abundant employment would be aflForded 
 by their countrymen for the conveyance of stores and of mer- 
 chandize. 
 
 "The difference in cost of a boat, built and rigged in a 
 manner suited to the navigation of the Ganges, and of the rude 
 native boat, would not exceed the amount paid for insuring one 
 load of saltpetre or cotton, from FuiTackabad or Agra, to 
 Calcutta. One trip would pay the difference, if the boats were 
 built at Ghats near the jungles in the Terrai ; and the risk would 
 
296 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 be reduced almost to nothing. If the boats were built, so that 
 no part projected much above the water, — the ' chopper ' (thatch) 
 beino- entirely removed, — the stern cut down quite to the level 
 of the rest of the boat, — and the men given one of the compart- 
 ments about mid-ship for their use ; which alone should not be 
 decked, but sheltered by a low awning, rising at most two feet 
 above the edge of the boat, and provided with canvas curtains 
 to let down only when the boat is moored ; — there cannot be a 
 doubt in the minds of those who have witnessed the delays 
 occasioned by adverse and side winds, that the journey might 
 be shortened by one third, at the least. Especially if the boat 
 were properly formed, and provided with a weather-board 
 moveable to either side, and a small wherry or canoe ; for want 
 of which, the delays, from the tow-men having to swim across 
 mouths of nullahs, and to take very circuitous routes, and from 
 the drifting of the boat in crossing channels of the river, exceed 
 anything that could be supposed by one who has not witnessed 
 it. Many a large boat, lost upon a lee shore in a storm, might 
 have gained the windward shore with the aid of a little boat, at 
 the commencement of the gale, before she drifted.* 
 The 'budge- "Did the subject of this Essay admit of it, it were easy to 
 show, what indeed must be evident to all who have afforded it 
 an examination, that a budgerow, the common travelling boat 
 on the Ganges, is of the very worst construction possible. It is 
 a monument of folly ; of sin against every principle of science 
 concerned in its structure. 
 
 "Who but must also be pained at observing the oblique 
 action of the oars of a dinghee, nipping the water, as a thing 
 to be cut between the blades of shears ? 
 
 " All the above are selected, as familiar instances. 
 
 "Time would fail one, in pointing out the absurd errors 
 against principle, and the waste of labour and material, mani- 
 fested in nearly all the native arts. 
 The iip-couu- " -f *■ ^^ ^ grateful task to seek out some exceptions. In the 
 try hackeiy a formation of the wheel and axle of the up-countrv hackery 
 
 favourable ex- ... ,„, . , , . , , •' 
 
 oeption. some ingenuity IS apparent i he outer single bar in the ?Mrree, 
 
 and the oblique sticks in the chuekra, give such support to the 
 extremity of the axle, as to admit of a small iron pin serving for 
 
 * After a severe storm I counted eighty wrecks in one day, while 
 descending the Ganges. 
 
 row. 
 
inquiry. 
 
 APPENDIX. 297 
 
 an axle. But this, and the whole vehicle, are commonly so ill 
 tied together with string, as to be liable to frequent accidents. 
 
 " The cross movement in the simple rope-spinning apparatus 
 is neat ; and a familiar one in the oldest machines in Europe. 
 
 " Lastly, The best instrument, as to principle, appears to be 
 the Persian wheel, employed for raising water. But the inven- 
 tion is no property of India ; nor perhaps of Persia. It was 
 probably an Egyptian instrument originally. So undeserving 
 are the natives of it, however, that they have nearly defeated its 
 action, by bad construction. It is, therefore, rarely used, where 
 the water has to be raised above twenty-five or thirty feet. 
 
 " An inquiry into some of the agricultural processes in use in 
 India,,has been made under a former head. 
 
 " From this inquiry we are forced to the conclusion that, as Conclusion 
 far as the arts of life are concerned, the people of India are [^™ ™^ °^ 
 making no considerable advancement in useful knowledge ; 
 although so long the subjects of England, the land of science 
 and the arts. 
 
 "That they are making no great advancement in pure and 
 natural science, or in moral science, is a fact, upon the proving 
 of which it would be idle to expend time ; a fact, which every 
 humane person, who has observed their sufficient intellectual 
 powers, must deeply regret. 
 
 "Let those, who are so disposed, attempt to hide the pre- 
 vailing ignorance of the people, under the dazzling glitter of 
 the infinitely small proportion, who, at the expiration of a 
 century, have had the riches of European science made known 
 to them." 
 
 The disappointed expectations of a century may suffice to 
 establish the fact, that industrial and social progress in India, 
 through European example and enterprize alone, will prove at 
 best a very tardy process. 
 
 In addition to the obstacles to progress presented by the 
 inertness of the people, there are moral and juridical obstacles of 
 a more formidable character which might alone account for the 
 fact, that the people of India at large have but little advanced 
 in the century which has elapsed since the battle of Plassy ; 
 nay, that in some respects they have retrograded. 
 
298 BRITISH AKMY IN INDIA. 
 
 On the Moral and Jueidical Obstacles to Pkogkess in India. 
 
 During the last eighty years orators and writers on Indian 
 questions have put forth and repeated nearly the same confident 
 expectations and promises, that in a few more years a great 
 work of progress would begin to manifest itself. On the renewal 
 of the Charter, which opened India to British settlers, and sub- 
 sequent to which the jealousy towards missionary efforts greatly 
 declined, the press abounded with such expectations. It like- 
 wise did prior to the Charter of 1853. 
 
 While the questions before us are the moral and judicial 
 
 causes retarding secular progress in India, a few concluding 
 
 remarks will be ventured upon the slow progress of reiigious 
 
 truth in that couatry. 
 
 The univer- The first cause retarding the advancement of the people and 
 
 sal pravity. development of the resources of the country will be found in a 
 universal pravity, which defeats the efforts of the government to 
 administer justice, rendering such a machinery as it has seen fit 
 to employ almost abortive, and which makes it most difficult for 
 the European settler to conduct, with integrity and security, 
 any operations connected with the raising of produce. 
 Honour pre- ^^ England we are little prepared to note that wide distinc- 
 
 vaient,butnot tion between honour and honesty which obtains in less civilized 
 and heathen communities. The exigencies of a rude state of 
 society will call forth and establish an exhibition of honour 
 which is surprising even to members of a Christian community 
 trained to respect and rely more upon honesty and truth for its 
 social security. Hence nothing is more common than for per- 
 sons from India to speak of the greater honesty of native than 
 of English servants. The servant employed within doors will, 
 as a matter of honour, not purloin things customarily exposed. 
 The man entrusted with jewels or money will in general be 
 faithful to the charge. Even when he has the disbursement of 
 the money he will often content himself with overcharges limited 
 to a certain commission upon customary purchases ; but he will 
 cheat to the utmost extent he is able when the purchase is not 
 " customary." It is the same in business. Agents acting in a 
 particular way will often merit respect for their honour, but 
 place them under other circumstances and their fraud will be 
 bounded only by opportunity. I have known the same runner- 
 
APPENDIX, 299 
 
 with-money carry repeatedly from 50?. to 100?. in silver — a 
 heavy load — about his person, from one to two hmidred miles 
 through a dangerous country, with his life in constant peril and 
 his reward the mere pay of a pound or two for the trip. Out of 
 3000Z. sent out in this way none has been lost, though any of 
 the runners might have gone off with what was a fortune for 
 life without the possibility of capture. One of the most trust- 
 worthy was, on account of his shrewdness, taken away from his 
 professional calling, and therefore from his professional honour, 
 and given an agency on account of his imagined honesty. In 
 the extent and audacity of his dishonesty he proved unrivalled. 
 His honour had been as perfect as that of a shepherd's dog, and 
 based on about as much reason and morality. 
 
 With respect to veracity, the standing rule in which every Mendacity a 
 child is educated appears to be — carefully to avoid ever speak- E*^'"* °^ educa- 
 ing the truth, excepting as a matter of interest or necessity. 
 One native gentleman of rank has told me of another, in his 
 presence, that he was lying, and always did so without causing 
 any shame or disturbing his equanimity at all. 
 
 As regards humanity, there is a like deplorable shortcoming Inhumauity. 
 and inconsistency as in the case of honesty. Instances of libe- 
 rality are frequent, even apart from an ostentatious munificence, 
 and of compassion also occasional ; but as a rule, the lives, for- 
 tunes, and happiness of their neighbours weigh nothing with 
 them. They will compass each other's misery, ruin, and death 
 for the smallest object. When to these are added a perfect 
 self-command and a large amount of cunning, it may be, in 
 some degree, imagined what must be the amount of crime, and 
 oppression, and the difficulty of detecting them and of redress- 
 ing wrongs amongst such a people ; and how unequal a combat 
 must an Englishman of integrity have to wage with them in the 
 transactions of life and in legal disputes, if he is to be allowed 
 none of the privileges of his race. But of this presently. 
 
 Desirable as they would in themselves be, the most perfect Judiciary pro- 
 code of laws and the profoundest learning in the administrators ^'^*"^- 
 of them would avail next to nothing compared with a sufficiency 
 in the number of eyes and ears and honest minds occupied in the 
 work. 
 
 I have seen a station filled with fine military youths, who have Military men 
 come out from England originally with a fair school education, ^ocoupiod. 
 
300 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 and who, if duly encouraged, would soon qualify themselves up 
 to the standard of most country magistrates here, wasting their 
 time and too often losing their morals in absolute idleness. 
 Since the ablest military commanders have exhibited much ac- 
 quaintance with civil government, no one will contend that to 
 occupy the minds of officers with such pursuits, instead of leaving 
 them in idleness, would detract from their military efficiency, 
 provided they were not removed from their sphere of regimental 
 duty. 
 Judges over- -^^ ^he same station might be seen, as at every other, a 
 whelmed with judge and magistrate, functions often combined in the same 
 ^^' person, overwhelmed with " cases " and completely mystified 
 
 by the native officers of his court. The prisoners in the con- 
 victs' jail were happy beings compared with the unfortunates in 
 the " witnesses jail," to visit which required at times some nerve. 
 No small number of those detained as witnesses, sometimes for 
 months, were there solely through the malice or cupidity, or 
 often both, of some native official in power, or of some one vsrho 
 had bribed him to apprehend them as witnesses to a transac- 
 tion, which had either never occurred, or never before been 
 and atrocity heard of by them. I have known a crime of the greatest atro- 
 abounding. city, comprising the murder of many persons and robbery of 
 much treasure, perpetrated at the instigation of the mayor of a 
 town, and the magistrate there decoyed off in his zeal, in the 
 hottest season, for some days in a circuit in the opposite direc- 
 tion to that in which the professional robbers were despatched. 
 I have known manufacturing works of large extent and value, 
 and of a peculiarly interesting character, ruined through the 
 unbounded fraud of the native agents employed to collect pro- 
 duce, upon the owner, an English gentleman, declining to have 
 the prosecution of one of them conducted with the aid of 
 perjured witnesses. The case had to be withdrawn, and with it 
 all check to the fraud of others. 
 
 Since under a system of vigilance totally inadequate to the 
 necessities of a country in such a moral condition, the poor or 
 honest man has not a chance against the rich and corrupt, is it 
 not manifest that the ends of justice would in the main be 
 greatly promoted if the doors of the court-house were closed, 
 and a beadle were placed in the ante-room to decide every case 
 by the toss of a rupee ? It would, at least, ensure to all an 
 
APPENDIX. 301 
 
 equal chance of success, and thereby place a material check 
 upon unjust aggressions of power and wealth. Is it not plain 
 that the first requirement towards the administration of justice 
 amongst the natives of the provinces is a large increase in the 
 number of the agents ? In England nine-tenths of the disputes An increase 
 amongst country people are settled by magistrates. In India functionaries 
 a still larger proportion are of a character upon which a fair tte only re^ 
 decision could be pronounced by any mind of ordinary intelli- 
 gence. When it is further borne in mind that to the poor, and 
 others actively occupied, almost any prompt decision is preferable 
 to great delay, and that in many of the local courts the causes 
 have been two, three, and four years in arrear, it must be evi- 
 dent that a system which so overloads its officers with work 
 becomes worse than useless. 
 
 If high legal attainments, and consequently proportional sala- 
 ries, were required only in judges of appeal, the question of 
 expense need no longer be urged in the way of a great increase 
 in the number of European minds occupied in the administra- 
 tion of justice. Medical men form some of the best magistrates 
 in England. At civil stations in India the surgeon who has the ^he oppor- 
 greater part of his time on his hands, and has a mind more dis- tunity for, and 
 ciplined by severe study and the necessity of logical and cautious (,^1 magia- 
 deductions than the, frequently youthful, magistrate himself, tratea; 
 might occupy the office, and would fulfil its duties thankfully, if 
 his present comparatively pitiful salary of SOI. a-month were 
 doubled. An abundance of medical officers would qualil'y 
 themselves for the office of civil surgeon and magistrate. In a 
 large proportion of criminal cases, such as wounds, murders by 
 violence or poisoning, rapes, &c., the surgeon's evidence, as it 
 is, is felt by the magistrate to be more reliable than all the rest 
 together. But how much better could the former weigh the 
 convictions of his own mind than impart them to the mind of 
 another ! Thus for 601. a-month he would perform the 
 joint duty of surgeon and magistrate, for which the present 
 functionary receives three or four times that salary. This would 
 leave an ample fund with which to put in requisition the honest 
 British intelligence of all regimental officers at the station 
 willing to qualify themselves to take a part in the work. It t^_ ° ™^ 
 would not be easy for a crafty band of native officials to blind 
 with their subtle dust so many active eyes. A prompt decision 
 
302 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 of cases would then be ensured, which is often of greater im- 
 portance even than a correct decision— not that the latter would 
 not also be greatly promoted. In short, jurisdiction partaking 
 very much of a simple and military character would be far 
 better suited for a people most of whom are so wanting in 
 moral principle of every kind, and in such humble circum- 
 stances. A large majority of disputes relating to property are 
 connected with the land, of the position and ownership of which 
 much must be already known in the revenue department. Might 
 not that department, strengthened by European aid from the 
 military, of different grades of information and rank, adjudicate 
 upon all such cases at least ? In short, since the occupation of 
 the country must presume a state of peace to be the usual condi- 
 tion, and therefore since three-fourths of the time of the large 
 body of military men, necessarily maintained in it, must be usu- 
 ally unemployed in the duties of what at present is their sole 
 profession, is it not Manifestly a great waste of moral and intel- 
 lectual resources, as well as injury to the parties themselves, not 
 to open to every one of them the door to useful and profitable 
 employment ? Entering the service through a channel of much 
 humbler expectations than those of the civil service, experience 
 has proved how ready military men would be, for a moderate 
 addition to their pay, to qualify themselves for, and to fulfil with 
 equal efficiency, most of the duties, for the performance of which 
 the established expectations of the sister service require a five- 
 fold greater remuneration. Not that these would be grudged 
 could the revenues of India support on such a scale of remune- 
 ration functionaries in number at all equal to the task. 
 
 Unless the greater part of the British morality, intelligence, and 
 firmness, present in the country, can be put into requisition for the 
 administration of justice, the next alternative desirable would be 
 the decision of cases hy lot, as upon an average securing justice 
 in one half of them. Of the Company's European judicial 
 establishment, it may be with truth predicated that integrity is 
 almost universal, zeal very general, and learning not unfre- 
 quent ; but supernatural powers would be necessary to overrule 
 the retarding and perverting influences of native corruption. 
 It was to be expected, but is not a little mortifying, that the 
 people should fail to recognize in their own character the cause 
 of the oppressions under which they groan, and should be ready 
 
APPENDIX. 303 
 
 to lay them at the door of the government and its alien repre- 
 sentatives, whose qualities are misunderstood by all but the 
 wily officers surrounding them ; while these are interested in 
 fostering such misunderstanding, if only to relieve themselves 
 of much of the odium invited by their corruption. 
 
 The Want op Peotection to Mental Peopeett. 
 
 Not only is the insecurity of the person and of material pro- 
 perty resulting from the insufficiency of the means employed to 
 protect them, a bar to progress, but, as elsewhere throughout Asia, 
 the rights of mental property having never been recognized in 
 India. The government, following Eastern example and perhaps 
 also the opinions of a certain class of politicians of the West, has I 
 believe established no law for its security, though the importance 
 of the question was recognized upon the Author's inviting the 
 attention of the government of India to it in Calcutta in 1833. 
 
 Even the more civilized countries of Europe have not yet 
 arrived at an equitable and politic view of the rights of mental 
 property. In England, especially, it is oppressed with prepos- Progress of 
 terous burdens ; and even then defensible only at great and mensurat""™" 
 anxious risk. Nevertheless it is a notable fact, that if over one with the pro- 
 map of the world the countries were severally coloured and ^^ '°° ° ' ' 
 shaded according to the absence or existence of protection to 
 mechanical and literary invention, and according to the extent 
 of the protection ; and if over another map they were coloured 
 and shaded according to the mental and social stagnation or 
 progress, and the degree of progress ; it would be found that 
 almost everywhere the presence of colour and the degree of 
 shade corresponded in both. Throughout Asia, v^here there has 
 never been protection, there is absolute stagnation. In the 
 United States of America, where the encouragement given to 
 native invention is most complete, there is its progress greatest 
 In England (which might and ought to stand foremost) and 
 in France, it is next. 
 
 On suggesting and urging the adoption of certain improve- 
 ments in their operations to natives in India, one of the first 
 objections raised has been the certainty of loss from others co- 
 pying them as soon as they proved successful. A people of so 
 little enterprize stand in especial need of protection, as do 
 
304 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 likewise Europeans who venture upon novel undertakings in 
 India. 
 
 A THiKD OBSTACLE to progress in India is the adverse influ- 
 ence upon European enterprize of the same native depravity 
 which renders the administration of justice so diificult, especially 
 in conjunction with the indolence of the people. If labour be 
 hired, the employer's eye must be constantly upon it ; if con- 
 tracted for, the advances of money, always required, become 
 consumed, and not half the products forthcoming. 
 
 The Judiciary Policy of the Government an Obstacle i-o 
 European Enteepkize. 
 
 The character and tendency of the judiciary policy indicated 
 by the measure named by its opponents the " Black Act," here 
 claims attention. The extent to which the Future of India — its 
 progress and the stability of British rule — -would be affected by 
 that policy does not appear to have been duly considered, nor 
 indeed the equity itself of the measure. 
 The " Black With the notion of doing equal justice to men, whether black 
 Act," ite in- Qj, -(vliite, it has been hastily purposed to place Europeans, in their 
 
 lunous and 111 • i 1 c • 
 
 dangerousten- amenability to the local courts, precisely on tue same tooting 
 dencies. ^j|.jj natives. Since no English gentleman of honour and self- 
 
 respect would, if he knew beforehand what this would involve 
 him in, trust himself and his capital in the country for any mere 
 prospect of pecuniary gain, or if he did, would deserve and be 
 pretty sure to lose it, the certain consequence of such a system 
 of false equality would be to make the interior of India only 
 tolerable to such European settlers as were on a level with the 
 natives in morality, but in time much more formidable to autho- 
 rity — all of them unscrupulous, and many of them daring men 
 of a buccaneering spirit, ready to make themselves captains over 
 thousands and to conspire to unseat a government in a spirit of 
 like unscrupulous ambition to that of some amongst those who 
 founded it. 
 
 It would be easy to adduce instances proving beyond dispute 
 the utter impossibility that Englishmen of integrity should meet 
 natives on an equality in the local courts or before local magis- 
 trates. Were the "Black Act" to be carried into effect, the 
 only part of the British dominions (Lord Palmerston has said, of 
 
APPENDIX. oOi) 
 
 the world), in which an Englishman could not boldly affirm 
 " Civls Romanus sum," would be India. If Parliament were to 
 enact that all men happening to bear a certain patronymic, or to 
 live in some particular county in England, were, from a given 
 date, to be deprived of their dearest civil rights because like 
 rights cannot, under an absolute government, be conferred upon 
 the natives of India, and they are not fitted for them, the injus- 
 tice would not equal that of such a measure as the " Black Act." ingeemity of 
 Neither the person nor property of an Englishman surrounded ^ settler with- 
 
 •1 !• ■ -nil -ii- °"i' some pri- 
 
 by a sea oi natives is sate unless he can carry about with him vileges of bis 
 some of the dignity of his race. The majority of the natives, so far '''^'^^■ 
 as conscience is concerned, would not hesitate to take his life for 
 half-a-crown, or to disprove the perpetration of the act by another 
 for a shilling. Let him be dragged before a native court, espe- 
 cially one presided over by a native, and incarcerated in a 
 native jail, and that prestige will be gone through which alone 
 he can live safely and honourably. His only chance then is to 
 have his own armed retainers and to set authority very much at 
 defiance. As it is, more than one man of integrity has had 
 to suffer ruin rather than to fall into the universal practice of 
 suborning witnesses, without which it is childish simplicity to go 
 into court. The climate being dead against him would alone 
 make the fancied equality most unequal. He must have cer- 
 tain civil privileges to balance in some degree its effects, or it 
 will very soon aid the natives to ruin and destroy him. He 
 cannot stand by day labourers in the open field, or be smothered 
 on the floor of a native court-house in a crowd of corrupt con- 
 tractors, or lie, committed to jail by a Mahometan judge on the 
 satisfactory evidence of oaths upon the " Koran " or Ganges 
 water, without perishing from heat which scarcely affects the 
 native. In fact wc have, in the very complaints of the Company's 
 civil officers against many of the planters, proofs of the moral effects 
 of its own discouraging and repressive system towards those 
 who, till of late years, were considered, and indeed styled, " inter- 
 lopers," and who had often to shp their way into the country li- 
 censed only as free mariners, and liable at any time to expulsion. 
 
 If the moral and material progi-ess of India is to be furthered planters of 
 by the example and enterprise of Englishmen, encouragement jj||^P/'^"^J,';. 
 must be given to men of the highest principle. The " Black India. 
 Act " would render India tolerable only to men of the lowest. 
 
 X 
 
•^OG BRITISH ARMY IK INDIA. 
 
 It is of the greatest importance, not only to the improvement 
 of the commercial produce of India, the development of her 
 great resources, and the moral as well as industrial progress of 
 her people, but to British prestige, and to the name of Christi- 
 anity itself through the example of its professors, that every 
 possible provision should be made to invite out settlers who 
 are above, and not below, the average of Englishmen in moral 
 tone and feeling. To such results the fancied juridical equality 
 proposed would be fatal ; and fatal also, it is believed, eventually 
 to the government itself. These opinions are based on close 
 personal observation and subsequent inquiries, extending over a 
 period of more than thirty years. In confirmation of them evi- 
 dence could be adduced in quantity, quality, and strength, which 
 would indeed surprise the reader, who may not from circum- 
 stances have been placed "behind the scenes" in India or be 
 acquainted with those who have. 
 
 It may appear presumptuous, but the writer believes he could 
 suggest a judicature to which the European alone should be 
 amenable, which would at once foster, instead of wound, his 
 integrity, sense of justice, and self-respect ; and at the same 
 time ensure to the native litigant with him more certain justice 
 than it is possible can be obtained under the present system. 
 Anomalous But there is that in the proposal which must be puzzling to 
 l"clj'a''^of t/ic ^^^ unsophisticated Englishman, who, in his resolute simplicity, 
 BriUsh as a imagines that wherever the dominions of his Sovereign extend 
 he can carry about him his civil rights at least. He may feel con- 
 cerned to think that his country, so properly jealous of the consti- 
 tutional rights of her own citizens, should find herself the despotic 
 ruler of a people six times her own in number, to whom she dare 
 not confer a fraction of such rights, and is even barely able to 
 administer civil justice at all ; the basis of legal justice, evidence, 
 having scarcely any available existence whatever amongst them. 
 He may feel concerned at seeing his country levying taxes and 
 war, confiscating property and life, and enacting laws (and all 
 upon a grand scale), amongst a people who have not, and cannot 
 be given, a word to say in the matter. And he may easily 
 imagine that when this contradictory and un-English position of 
 his race is divested of the grandeur of power and magnitude, 
 and the contrast is not between Englishmen and Indians in the 
 mass, but between an individual Englishman claiming all his 
 
 goveinmeut ; 
 
APPENDIX. 307 
 
 own rights, and something of the privilege which his race has 
 so largely assumed, in civil dispute with a native possessing only 
 such rights as can be safely doled out to him, that such a con- 
 trast may cause his country some misgivings at the anomalous 
 position in which she has placed herself. But if he reflects at all, but denied 
 
 i_ , i. -1 i- • , , ,■!• ,■ 1 • even their own 
 
 what must be his surprise, not to say mortiiication, on hearing nglits as indi- 
 that, to appease her conscience and do homage to British prin- viduals. 
 ciples, she is minded to make scapegoats of such of her own 
 sons as venture into the region of her arbitrary rule — that, 
 because she cannot raise the native up to the standard of their 
 rights and privileges, she purposes to depress them down to 
 the abject level of the native — that, while she justifies her own 
 exceptional course and the gigantic privileges she assumes as 
 necessary for her security in the country, she would refuse to 
 the individual Englishman a recognition of the smallest fraction 
 of such privilege as also necessary for his existence there, and 
 would even deprive him of the dearest of his own — trial by a 
 jury of his countrymen and personal security against arbitrary 
 power, and that in a country where he cannot have the safe- 
 guard of any powerful public opinion, and where the local civil 
 authority is unavoidably in the hands of men for the most part 
 young enough to be the sons and sometimes even the grandsons 
 of English judges, or even in the hands of natives whose 
 religious bigotry is strongly against him, in spite of all their 
 professions and possibly even desire. 
 
 The individual Englishman may fairly crave of his country- 
 men some explanation of the grounds upon which they collec- 
 tively assume such boundless privileges over India, demanding 
 absolute obedience at the peril of life and property, never 
 dreaming of anything like equality or reciprocity of authority 
 with the natives, and knowing that it would be incompatible 
 with their position in the country to do so, and yet turn round 
 upon him — one of their own privileged race — and, lecturing him 
 upon the universal equality and rights of man, would ignore 
 altogether his claim to clothe himself with a little fragment of 
 such privilege — as it were, a mere sun-axid-knave-^rooi cape of it. 
 Nay, more, that they would actually deprive him of many of the 
 rights he is born into as a Briton, and depress him to the low 
 social level which the Indian has inherited from immemorial time, 
 and in which, for his own security and that of his protectors, it 
 
 X 2 
 
308 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 is needful that he should be kept ! as if the daily physical evils 
 besetting the former, of heat, and prickly-heat, exhaustion, 
 mosqultos, boils, and black-bile, with its more familiar mental 
 correlative and metaphrase, "melancholy," and with heavy 
 liabilities in reversion of cholera and fever, were not quite 
 enough to torture him, without the maddening sense of vsTong 
 which, in spite of all casuistry, every Englishman must feel who 
 is subjected to the operations of the Blacle Act ! 
 
 In Mr. Venables, the indigo-planter, government has found 
 a very able and powerful subject, who has held a district for 
 them, after their own officers had to desert it. Let such settlers 
 be encoiffaged, and it will be well, in all times, for both the 
 governing and the governed. But let the country be rendered 
 tolerable only to Venables of another stamp — to men who find 
 it necessary to risk a constant collision with authority in 
 defending themselves when in the right, and thence grow un- 
 scrupulous of wrong — who surround themselves with retainers, 
 mere goats by themselves but wolves when led by Englishmen — 
 and let ten thousand of such leaders be spread over India, having 
 a common cause in disaffection to the government — let this, more 
 than, probable, result issue in due course from the " Black Act," 
 and we have evidence in what one powerful but loyal planter 
 can do, of what might be enacted by ten thousand disloyal. 
 
 Unless India can, as formerly, be closed to Britons and Bri- 
 tish enterprise altogether, and it cannot, it would be well, not 
 as a matter of right only, but of prudence also, that a different 
 policy should be observed to that here earnestly deprecated. It 
 will be well not to hold up at the threshold of India a legal civil- 
 equality sieve through which, all substantial grains of sterling 
 metal refusing to pass, nothing but moral dirt will go through 
 to be spread broad-cast over the country. 
 
 On the Causes retarding the Progress of Christianity. 
 
 Christianity has not made the progress in India which the 
 friends of missions have expected and promised. Have they 
 not too hastily accepted the views of those who point to con- 
 quest as opening the readiest door to her entrance, and thereby 
 subjected themselves to the taunts of such persons upon their 
 failure to lead her in ? A naval commander has recently gone so 
 
C'UUVL]>10U. 
 
 APPENDIX. 300 
 
 far as to speak of the British broadside as being the necessary 
 forerunner of the Gospel ; and in terms scarcely less plain have 
 some divines, in the case of China, promised Gospel fruits from 
 our opium vicars ! 
 
 Our conquest of India is an accomplished fact, which we can- Conquest 
 not reverse were we to desire it, and which it is our duty, as far precursor °''uf 
 as it lies in our power, to render beneficial to the temporal and 
 spiritual interests of the people. But to imagine that conquest was 
 either the legitimate or the surest course for promoting either 
 of these interests is as wide a departure from scriptural teaching 
 as it would be from historical fact to affirm that it was under- 
 taken for that object. There are no truths more emphatically 
 set forth in the word of God, and established in the history of 
 His workings, than, first, that material power is not the instru- 
 ment he has authorized or blessed as the means for conversion 
 (where it appears to have proved so, it having only opened the 
 way to a corrupt and worldly acceptance of Christianity) — and 
 secondly, that a simple and confiding employment of spiritual 
 weapons in reliance on His support has been attended with a 
 success, which proves the continuance to this ^ ery hour of mira- 
 culous interpositions more marvellous than any performed merely 
 upon the bodies of men, in the days of miracles addressed to 
 the vulgar senses. " Put up thy sword into its place " — " we 
 wrestle not with flesh and blood" — "the weapons of our war- 
 fare are not carnal," and fifty more scriptural passages, may be 
 quoted to show the will, and as many scriptural instances to 
 show the workings, of Providence. While miracles in abun- 
 dance were performed by the apostles to attest their mission, 
 they had little power to deliver themselves from the hands of men. 
 Rarely was divine power employed even to set them free, and 
 even then chiefly to produce an efiect on the minds of others. 
 In two out of three miraculous jail-deliveries, they neither 
 needed nor attempted to escape. So far from worldly power 
 being made to protect their path, it was always obstructing it, 
 and most of them were left to suffer martyrdom at its hands. 
 Weak unto death in the flesh, their spiritual strength was infi- 
 nite : they did more than Archimedes imagined he could do — 
 they upset the world ! And it has been so ever since. Where 
 no human sword has cleared his way with carnage — where the 
 missionary has gone forth with his life in one hand and his 
 
310 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Bible in the other, he has rarely had to lay down either of 
 them. Out of weakness he has been made strong — the very 
 spectacle has been disarming; he has "turned to flight the 
 armies of the alien." We speak, of course, of scriptural mis- 
 sions, not Romish ; and whether we turn to ancient or modern 
 times, to the one hemisphere or to the other, we have the uni- 
 versal result of success in close proportion to the outward 
 weakness of the agent. 
 Ciiristian Witness the unaided power with which a. practical Christianity 
 teaclimg and |jj.Q^g}j(; under its sway in ancient times the whole Roman and 
 aided by tho Barbarian world, and in modern times races savage, haughty, 
 iUe!*^ '^""''^''^ and bigoted in the extreme, through the agency of a few mis- 
 sionaries unarmed and unsupported by arms. Witness Tahiti, a 
 people under the sway of an arrogant and crafty hierarchy, un- 
 surpassed in cruelty and barbarism, with a religious system of 
 human sacrifices, as it were prepared for the immolation of the 
 missionary ; brought, by half a dozen earnest men, who landed 
 with their lives in their hands, into a state of Christian civiliza- 
 tion more advanced in some respects than the generality of 
 Christendom itself! Witness the Sandwich Isles, a parallel 
 case. Witness all such parts of Africa as Christians have visited 
 with the aspect of beneficence only. Witness New Zealand,* 
 a people not haughty merely, but, at the time of their visitation, 
 beasts of prey ! actuated by the ferocity of the belly, to whom the 
 battle-field was their shambles, yet so miraculously humanized by 
 the missionary alone that it required a too abrupt assumption of 
 sovereignty on our part, and occupation of their country, to 
 rouse them into a temporary hostility against us ; and even then 
 they declined to combat on the Sabbath, though brave as any of 
 ourselves ! A son of the writer (who went to New Zealand 
 upon a kindly presented cadetship to India for him having been 
 declined), t his tent pitched by a lone wood-side, was awoke one 
 
 * If since the dynastic occupation of their country, the evil example of 
 the countrymen of the missionary has had an adverse eifeot in some parts 
 of New Zealand, it does but confirm the truth of the proposition. 
 
 f The Afghan and China wars had just then occurred. It is manifest 
 that, since the soldier can scarcely, without a destruction of the military 
 system altogether, decline enacting anything he is commanded to do, 
 the parent who places him in that position shares, to some extent, with 
 the government which employs him, the responsibility of his acts. Did 
 rulers find that questionable wars cut ofi' tlie supply of living instruments, 
 
APPENDIX. 311 
 
 early sabbath morning by a sound of many voices, where he had 
 supposed himself alone in the wilds. Hastily dressing himself 
 in surprise, which, if it amounted to alarm would be excusable, 
 he sought a glance of its source. As he approached it a peal 
 of sacred song, causing the woods to resound with the name of 
 the Prince of Peace, disarmed all fear. He found a tribe of 
 New-Zealanders congi-egated spontaneously at their orisons, 
 with, it is believed, the Liturgy of the Church of England in 
 their hands, their missionary pastor being engaged at some 
 distant station ! 
 
 What youth, with any religion, but must have felt deeply im- 
 pressed with the protection which that sacred name threw around 
 him. The day was not long past when that very tribe might have 
 been clamorous with strife, as to who first espied him as their 
 prey, to be hewn limb from limb to satisfy the cravings of a 
 diabolical appetite. ^V^hereas now they were ready to enibrace 
 him as an unarmed brother in Christ, whose life, no doubt, they 
 would readily protect with their own ! That a reflex effect of a 
 lasting character should, by such an incident at the savage an- 
 tipodes, be produced on the mind of a youth from England may 
 be well supposed. 
 
 At the end of a century's manifestation of British power and 
 wisdom, and of extensive Missionary labour, the late occurrences 
 in India do not exhibit a state of things at all contradictory to 
 the whole tenor of Scripture, that worldly wisdom and the power 
 of man are not the instruments of Providence for the propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel. It has doubtless made progress in cases 
 where it came in accompanied by them ; but the progress has 
 been feeble compared with that where it has presented itself in 
 the persons of its preachers alone. Idolatry and pride more 
 rampant still than those of India have given way before it, when 
 it appeared in the aspect of humility and love alone. It was 
 
 the military system would soon become, what it professes to be, purely 
 and directly defensive. They would learn also that, while the direct neces- 
 sity of self-defence is the only clear evidence of Divine permission to 
 engage in war, itrecautimial warfare involves in it that dangerous step into 
 a dark abyss, which marks man's self-relying distrust of Providential 
 care and rule ; and rarely fails to disappoint him — a truth hard to leani ; 
 although the confidence with which such wars are engaged in by one 
 generation is generally equalled by the condenmation they receive from 
 the next. 
 
312 BRITISH ABMY IN INDI A . 
 
 then that in India itself the Southern Missions had such rapid 
 prooress. It was before we entered India as conquerors. 
 India con- Having enjoyed no small opportunity of studying the charac- 
 the exhibition ter of the natives, having employed them by thousands, both 
 of power. educated and uneducated, and well considered the obstacles to 
 
 their conversion, and therefore also to their industrial and social 
 advancement ; the conclusion is forced upon my conviction that 
 if in the inscrutable purposes of the Almighty it had so happened 
 that no European had up to this day set foot in India, but the 
 Protestant Missionary, she would (speaking humanly) before 
 this have become evangelized — that is, there would have been an 
 outward acceptance of Christianity from one end of the country to 
 the other, and with it a moral change and social progress, which 
 under present circumstances it will take long indeed to effect. 
 This is not the opinion of a visionary fanatic or a book-worm ; 
 but of one who has been, even more than enough, occupied 
 in practical dealings with man and matter — in employing the 
 former to work upon almost every form of the latter. 
 
 In sajdng this, it is not of course meant that our position in 
 India is not to be valued and maintained, so long as its tenure 
 shall appear a Providential arrangement. If it has been an ob- 
 stacle to higher influences, it has been outwardly the means of 
 preserving order, and mitigating mutual oppression, amongst the 
 people. But let not the Missionary accept the proposition that 
 it is his proper pioneer and adjuvant, and that his small success 
 is due to the feebleness of his Mission against native bigotry. 
 Rather let him see in the domination and example of the profess- 
 ors of the religion he has to advocate, an influence so little in 
 accordance with New Testament means, that what has been 
 effected in the way of conversion in India is to be received as a 
 gracious exception to its promise, surpassing anything that could 
 have been rightly anticipated. 
 
 ( G.— Page 175. ) 
 
 Tlie claims In giving a public expression, at last, to deeply implanted im- 
 cMdren advo- pressions on the fate of the Soldier's Child, and (under a future 
 cated with no head) on the prospects in India of the Soldier himself, I would 
 
 personal re- j ■ , ■• ■, n • 
 
 flections. desire to be understood as reflecting only upon the si/stem to 
 
APPENDIX. 313 
 
 which the minds of all of us have been enslaved by custom, 
 until a common assent to it has become established. So far is 
 it from my intention to cast reflections upon any persons, either 
 as individuals or as members of authoritative bodies, that I feel 
 too conscious of being myself especially chargeable with neglect 
 in the matter. It is true that I have not failed, when the oppor- 
 tunity offered, in private conversation, to express my convictions 
 on these subjects, and that I might plead the excuse of having no 
 official responsibility in the matter. But there is the greater 
 responsibility of observation and conviction. I have felt in such 
 cases the choice to lie between three unsatisfactory courses — 
 either, in touching upon evils of such magnitude that the mere 
 naming of them may be displeasing, to smooth them down 
 with soft and inadequate terms, which, serving only to perpetu- 
 ate smooth and inadequate impressions, are worse than useless 
 — or to refrain from any public remonstrance whatever, a 
 course, at least not actively injurious like the former — or lastly, 
 to give a truthful expression to one's impressions, employing 
 terms and epithets neither feebler nor stronger than were due to 
 truth. The price of such a course — the certainty of inviting 
 displeasure, and the imputation of cavilling, with the uncertainty 
 of any beneficial result— has been more than I have hitherto felt 
 prepared to pay. Of the three, the middle course has been 
 hitherto taken, as the preferable one — a course which, while 
 open to reproof by some, others will think it would have been 
 well to have adhered to still. 
 
 (H.— Page 188.) 
 Arts of Importance introduced into India. 
 
 Some apology may appear due to a record here of the follow- 
 ing operations and their result. But they whose views are en- 
 lightened, and whose interest in Indian progress is sincere, will 
 scarcely think so. 
 
 The Operator entered upon an Indian career, mainly as an The success- 
 inviting field for favourite pursuits in science, well supplied with tjon ^f impor- 
 philosophical apparatus. It became, almost on landing, his am- t™*. ^^'t^ i^ito 
 bition to effect something towards the advancement of Indian 
 art by the aid of I'urtjpcan tclencc. The furthest thought from 
 
314. BRITISH ARMY IN Ix\DIA. 
 
 his mind was to undertake any business operations, as such, 
 conscious of a disqualification equalling his distaste for them. 
 A zeal and ambition, overpassing pecuniary, were necessary for 
 carrying out to a successful- completion undertakings not com- 
 monly surpassed by private works in England in the scale of the 
 operations, and by none in the variety of them. 
 ,, ■'^t>s™<'e of Jjgt scientific machinists and chemists form their opinion 
 
 tneiundamen- . i,. 
 
 tai means of as to the extent 01 the undeveloped mdustnai wealth in a country 
 the iiseful ^^ boundless natural resources and a teeming and intelligent 
 
 arts. .... . ° ^ 
 
 population, but in which the fundamental instruments of useful 
 
 art are wanting to the following extent. In mechanics no lathes 
 (worth the name), no fly, or punching presses ; no proper grind- 
 ing or crushing mills ; wind unemployed as a power for machin- 
 ery, and water nearly so ; and scarcely any gear-work, and that 
 absurdly faulty. In metallurgic art, no fire-bricks whatever ; 
 nor knowledge of real furnaces, or kilns. In chemical art, 
 scarcely a knowledge even of the mineral acids, or of the imcom- 
 bined alkalies ; no ceramic ware of a " body " less pervious than 
 a common pipkin ; no glass (of Indian manufacture) deserving 
 the name. 
 • ^"„ , j"^i*" Here was a field for any one who should be as ambitious to 
 
 mg field for i m • i p i • i i <» -n i t • i 
 
 peaceful am- exhibit beiore the natives the ascendancy ot il,ngland in the arts 
 
 bition. (jf peace, as her captains have been to establish her ascendancy 
 
 in the art of war ! Here was an opportunity to wield over 
 matter, brute and ponderous, the powers of nature, providen- 
 tially placed within call of human intelligence, until the natives 
 should look on with amazement, and begin to think that there 
 was nothing impossible to Englishmen ! Here was an opportunity 
 for attempting a practical solution of the wordy anticipations 
 of politicians respecting " British skill and capital developing the 
 resources of India," repeated almost from the days of Plassy to 
 the present hour ; but by how many attempted to be brought 
 down from thin air and reduced to a stubborn reality ? 
 
 Moved in a humble degree with such desires, it was that, at 
 the suggestion of an oflficer who was acquainted with his pursuits, 
 the Operator was led into an attempt which would at once 
 introduce into India a variety of important manufactures, 
 though at that time his knowledge was theoretical only; he 
 having no practical acquaintance whatever with any of them. 
 
 At that period mineral waters were much in vogue for 
 
APPENDIX. 315 
 
 medicinal purposes, and one of these, soda-water, as a luxury 
 verging to a necessary in India. Artificial Harrogate water, on 
 account of its action on the liver, was a favourite remedy with 
 some ; especially with the late Mr. Sandham, a medical officer of 
 great ability, in H. M. service, at whose request it was included 
 in the products of the mineral-water manufactory which was 
 established. 
 
 The reader must know that a place more barren of resources 
 from art, and at first sight from nature, could scarcely be found 
 than the interior of India more than a thousand miles up the 
 Ganges from Calcutta. At one time the very screws and nails 
 used, and some of the implements necessary for the workmen, had 
 to be made on the spot. A large part of the machinery and 
 prepared metals had of course to be obtained from England. 
 Nevertheless, in the course of three years, after almost incredible 
 difficulties, works were established on what might fairly be termed 
 a grand scale. As from a large brewery in England, the pro- 
 ducts went forth to all parts of the country to those who vended 
 them. 
 
 Determined that the works should be self-relying, the oppor- 
 tunity ofi"ered itself to attempt the manufacture of oil of vitriol 
 (sulphuric acid), vitreous stone pottery, and eventually glass, 
 which form the necessary basis of the chemical arts in a country, 
 and of fire-brick and furnaces of the metallurgic — also of soda, 
 potash, compressed citrate of lime, &c. For the vitriol chamber, 
 which was of considerable dimensions, a large boat-load of Eng- 
 lish sheet lead had to be procured from Calcutta, a journey more 
 tedious than that from England.* 
 
 * On the arrival of the large rolls of lead, which the natives took for Grossness 
 
 " lead roots" which they fancied to be a natural production in coils, of the native 
 
 the following incident occurred, worthy of note as showinfr the influence ™je. Kemark- 
 ,, . , ,, '!, . ,. r ii, 1 J able incidents, 
 
 of caste upon the tastes as ^^'ell as the prejudices ot the people ; and 
 
 how wide is that social separation between the different castes which 
 
 rightly handled might be converted into as wide a religious and political 
 
 one. To remove on to a bank of sand, without dropping them into the 
 
 river, the rolls of lead weighing a ton each, the thatch of the boat had 
 
 to be thrust up, when a large nest of stinking rats was upset into the 
 
 river. The captain of the boat leaped into the water, as he was, and 
 
 swimming into the eddy in which the creatures were struggling, he caught 
 
 them up one by one by the tail, and chucked them old and young upon 
 
 the thatch again. Upon the object being inquired : what led him to 
 
 reverse wliat had been supposed a good service and riddance, he replied, 
 
3 1 6 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Oil of vitriol Preliminary experiments, proving the expediency, led to the 
 
 manu ac lue. (,Qjjg^j.yg(-;Qj) ^f ^j^g chamber well underground, by which the 
 
 heat and draught of the climate, which would have stopped the 
 
 generation of the acid or greatly reduced the product, ^^ere 
 
 obviated. 
 
 With the exception of a small chamber at Calcutta this was 
 the only sulphuric acid work, not in India only, but probably 
 in all Asia. There is a miniature and empirical production of 
 the acid by native alchemists — an article they sell at about three 
 shillings the ounce, while this cost about the English price of 
 a penny or two-pence a pound — only one hundred and fortieth 
 Its import- part the cost of the native acid ! When it is considered that the 
 corrosiveness of the acid is such a bar to its shipment from Eng- 
 land that the freight and insurance by the time it reached the 
 heart of India would multiply its price many fold, and that the 
 
 " Pardon j'our servant ; when any of ii« boatmen are not well, and our 
 stomachs too weak to relish our ordinary fare, we treat ourselves to a 
 rat or two, which we breed in the thatch !" On another occasion, while 
 travelling by water, having towed to land the htige carcase of a putrid 
 alligator with the vain hope of extricating, without the aid of thorough 
 decomposition, its skeleton from the almost feiTeous bands of ligament 
 and sinew, upon my abandoning it, after notching and blunting every 
 hatchet at command, the boatmen petitioned for the eggs. Kipping the 
 creature up, they took out bushels full of the bine and putrid shelless 
 spheroids, which the men of all the half-dozen boats devoured day by 
 day, keeping them in baskets in tlie sun, until a gust from the roof of 
 the boat on which they were, no "spicy gale from Araby the blest," 
 bringing to mind their existence, now in the last stage of cohesion, I ordered 
 them to be thrown overboard. Yielding however to a request that they 
 might be finished off that evening, it was no small trial to the stomach, 
 when some men and boys entering our boat to bale out the water, the 
 exudations trickling down their skins were rank with the odour distilled 
 from within. Taxing one almost naked boy with the cause of the visible 
 rotundity of his stomach, he replied, patting it complacently, " Edn Jcho- 
 dawun unde se hhurguya," " Yes, your worship, it is brimfull of the eggs." 
 Contrast with these men, many of them fine enduring fellows though 
 at present so disgustingly coarse in their tastes, the affected and fastidious 
 Brahmin, who may be seen to walk about with a gauze veil before his 
 mouth, lest animal life and matter in the form of animalculse should 
 chance to enter it ; and then reflect what an opportunity the former, and 
 all that division of abject castes immediately above and below them, offer, 
 if skilfully taken by the hand, to be relieved of their social depression 
 and oppression under Brahminism, and raised into an independent anta- 
 gonism to the Brahmin and Eajpoot. 
 
APPENDIX. 317 
 
 chief ingredient, sulphur, is cheaply obtained of the purest khid 
 in the East, and the other, nitre, is actually supplied to England 
 from India ; and when it is further considered that sulphuric 
 acid forms the root of the chemical arts of a country from which 
 they branch out into the magnificent growth they have attained 
 in Europe — in England especially ; and further, that this acid 
 would render available much Indian produce, citric acid for in- 
 stance, which cannot in the form of lime-juice come with advan- 
 tage to England ; the indispensability of the manufacture of this 
 acid to the progress of India in chemical arts will be manifest. 
 No little perseverance in experiments, and contrivance, were 
 required to enable one who had never seen any acid work before 
 to bring the production, in a climate particularly adverse to it, 
 up to the maximum attained in England — to an average exceed- 
 ing two and a half times the sulphur consumed. To makers of 
 this acid in England it may be useful to know, that experiment 
 proved pure shell-lac to be nearly proof against its action, even 
 when of considerably greater density than it ever attains in the 
 chamber. Hence beams and planks coated with lac, which were 
 placed within it, were preserved many years, and secure " joints " 
 could be formed with lac at all seams. 
 
 The manufacture of fire-bricks, furnaces, and especially of ^^^.^ ^of""fire- 
 vitreous pottery, left every other difficulty in the shade. The bricks, lur- 
 mineral resources of the country within a radius of two hundred ^'^j.g^' '"''^^',1 
 miles had to be explored. Men were kept in all directions gl«ss. 
 searching in the banks and beds of rivers and by well-diggers 
 for earths and stones. Of the specimens brought in, hundreds 
 had to be tested and some were closely analyzed. Eventually 
 Bundelkund yielded three of the most important materials, and 
 Rohilcund two others. It was not until after two years of unre- 
 mitted efforts, persevered in, at one time, almost as much by 
 night as by day, and with an expenditure on this branch alone 
 of more than three thousand pounds, that a manufacture was per- 
 fected of vitreous stone-ware equal in quality to any in England, 
 and on a large scale, from twenty-four to thirty thousand articles 
 a month being produced. Upon a specimen being shown to a 
 manufacturer here he was unwilling to credit the' fact that its 
 material was artificially compounded, affirming that for such 
 ware a naturally compounded earth must be found. The fire- 
 brick, which had no small share in effecting this, was brought to 
 
aneu. 
 
 rflo BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 a refractoriness and freedom from expansion much surpassing 
 that of any English fire-brick. The reason of this would be 
 evident at once to the scientific reader, did space admit of the 
 Its import- process of their manufacture being here explained. When it is 
 considered that a good fire-brick is at the foundation of all 
 ceramic, vitreous, and metallurgic art, and that no brick less 
 fusible than a house-brick existed throughout India, saving fire- 
 bricks imported all the way from England, and no ceramic ware 
 with a better " body," however painted and glazed, than that of 
 a house tile, the perfection of these arts in India will not be 
 thought unimportant by those who admit that if we draw largely 
 upon her revenues we owe her, in return, instruction in practical, 
 as well as theoretical science. Soda, potash, and purified and 
 compressed citrate of lime were also produced in these works ; 
 from twenty-five to thirty pipes of lime-juice having in one 
 season been reduced into that solid form. But this product was 
 discontinued ; its novel form in cakes causing its intrinsic value 
 to be unappreciated in the London market. Mineral waters, 
 soda, potash, Harrogate, seltzer, and chalybeate, of which, mainly 
 the first, from ten to twenty thousand pounds worth were at 
 one period despatched in the year, gave the commercial sup- 
 port to the works. As even the wire used was in general 
 drawn on the spot, everything — the acids, sulphuric and hydro- 
 sulphuric, the alkalies and salts, the vitreous bottles and the 
 wire — were all produced within the walls. The corks alone, to 
 the annual value of about eight hundred pounds, were imported, 
 and from France. Any full description of the various experi- 
 ments, furnaces, kilns, grinding and other mills and machines, 
 presses, " wheels," &c., devised and constructed, would form a 
 volume of itself. At the age of twenty-eight the owner had the 
 satisfaction of seeing his work complete ; but as he had through- 
 out the period professional duties and anxieties — to his 
 temperament more trying than all these operations upon brute 
 matter — he was doubtless ageing in constitution three years 
 in one. 
 
 The use of saltpetre in the acid works drew his attention to 
 the crude sources of this article, and led to the following peculiar 
 process, and extensive and distinct works,. for its refinement. The 
 nitre of India has two distinct sources, yielding two very different 
 kinds of crude saltpetre, though the two are often mixed in the 
 
cess for refin- 
 ing it. 
 
 APPENDIX. 319 
 
 market in various proportions. One is the result of some elective Vaiiuties of 
 or inductive affinity which leads to the formation of nitre where tre.'^'' ^''"''"'' 
 other salts, common salt especially, are in existence. This article 
 is easily cleaned by one process of solution and crystallization, 
 but then it is poor in nitre, yielding from 15 to 30 per cent, 
 though containing more. The other kind of nitre is largely 
 generated in its proper native source, — the drains, ditches, and 
 walls of villages where animal matter is undergoing decay. Its 
 saline matter is all saltpetre amounting to 80 or 90 per cent., 
 the rest being soluble animal impurities. But then their solubi- 
 lity, and the dark and greasy character they give to this article, 
 even after two refinings, render it less marketable, though so 
 much richer, than the former. 
 
 Aware of the two facts, first, that nitre suffers no injury by a Peculiar pro- 
 heat of 500", and secondly, that at that heat, and below it, animal 
 matter becomes thoroughly decomposed and reduced to charcoal, 
 which is a powerfully clarifying agent, this interesting experi- 
 ment was made. A parcel of forty pounds of this fetid crude 
 salt was taken. One half, dissolved in hot water, was poured 
 into a capacious glass jar. The other half was carefully charred, 
 spoonful by spoonful, on an iron plate over a chafing dish, and 
 the jet-black product similarly dissolved and poured into a fellow 
 jar. The former solution was of its usual dark colour of London 
 porter, and yielded small, dark, greasy, and friable crystals. In 
 the other solution the charcoal, into which the impurities had 
 been resolved by the frying, settled rapidly, leaving the super- 
 natant liquid as clear as crystal. It was drawn off by a syphon, 
 and yielded beautiful prismatic crystals the size of the finger of 
 pure saltpetre. This specimen was sent to Calcutta, and valued 
 at two shillings the cwt. above the finest article in the market, 
 that being four or five times the cost of the crude material in the 
 Futtehgurh and Oude districts. So valuable a process for render- 
 ing marketable a cheap article which largely abounded, prompted, 
 after various experiments, the following erections. A large Exten, 
 building, standing on thirty-two timbers, as a table on its legs, 
 one hundred and twenty feet long, one hundred wide, and fifty 
 high at the centre, and twenty at the eaves, contained this 
 apparatus. A reverberatory furnace, having a circular bed, bot- 
 tomed with sheet iron and twelve feet in diameter, was mounted 
 eio-hteen feet hiah ovor a hollow arch. Two flat iron arms set 
 
 SIVO 
 
 worlta foi- tlie 
 purpOKo. 
 
320 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 edgeways, one of them being concave, the other convex, radi- 
 ated to the circumference of the furnace bed, from a spindle in 
 its centre which passed through its bottom into the archway. 
 It was there mounted with a grooved wheel, round which a 
 chain passed to a "rigger wheel " driven by bullocks. The 
 iron arms were each six to seven feet long and six inches deep, 
 and swept the furnace bed as they revolved. In the archway 
 under the furnace stood a massive wooden vat twelve feet high 
 and ten in diameter, half filled with cold water, with a wooden 
 agitator, the axis of which could be connected above with the 
 spindle and wheel just described, so as to be driven round by 
 the same bullocks. Directly fires were lighted in the two large 
 fireplaces of the reverberatory three hundredweight of the crude 
 saltpetre were poured in through tubes in its roof, and swept 
 round the bed by the iron arms, which were so notched below 
 as to lay the salt alternately in a disk round the centre, and in 
 a flat rinff towards the circumference. The motion of the 
 sweeps kept the salt from being over heated, while the constantly 
 renewed salt kept them from becoming red-hot in the intense 
 heat, and bending. In six or eight minutes three hundred- 
 weight of the salt were completely carbonized and thoroughly 
 melted, when two draw-slats in the bed were opened, and the 
 molten salt, at a temperature of 500°, fell into the water in the 
 vat below. 
 Their capa- In ten hours ten tons of the salt were thus fused and dis- 
 bility and sue- charged into the vat ; by which time the whole was in full ebulli- 
 tion, and the vat became a wooden boiler, the heat coming down 
 in the saltpetre, and the same fuel performing the double duty of 
 carbonization and solution. The liquor, being allowed to settle 
 for ten hours, was drawn off limpid into leaden coolers twenty-four 
 feet long, twelve feet wide, and two-and-a-half feet deep ; which 
 became a maze of beautiful crystals, the first crop weighing 
 four or five tons, and the second about three more. As this 
 process could be repeated every twenty-four hours with ease, 
 the capability of the works may be estimated. The works con- 
 tained also large evaporating and dissolving boilers, of iron and 
 copper, some of the former twenty feet long. 
 
 The making of these proved impossible by native skill. After 
 employing about sixty smiths for some weeks in the attempt, 
 and the destruction of much English sheet-iron by their efforts 
 
 cess. 
 
APPENDIX. 321 
 
 to punch it, a large fly-press was contrived and erected, which Large punch- 
 could receive the sheets with the edges of each pair over- !^?, P'*^^^ ^""^ 
 lapped, so that the holes were punched through both at one 
 time ; and as the machine guided the sheets with great ra- 
 pidity, three unskilled labourers could punch the plates of a 
 large boiler in one day ; and so accurately that the rivets could 
 be dropped into all the double holes at once ; whereas some 
 sixty smiths, with their native means of punching, had at- 
 tempted the work for a fortnight, or more, and failed. The 
 whole of the framework of this press was of timber, yet it an- 
 swered perfectly, and lasted well. 
 
 Ill health compelled the owner to leave all these undertak- 
 ings ; but not until they had suffered a severe shock, through 
 the impossibility, after a time, of obtaining the crude salt, 
 though it abounded, without advances ; and of securing these 
 without the employment of suborned witnesses and other in- 
 tolerable practices. 
 
 One of the chief agents having embezzled eight thousand 
 rupees, the Anvil, or head of the office, undertook to prosecute 
 him. On entering the works one morning, the proprietor had a 
 dozen smartly dressed and shrewd men introduced to him as 
 the witnesses against the defaulter, by the Amil, who, antici- 
 pating his objections, remarked, " These are not only very 
 clever, but most truthful men. I have explained that master 
 will only consent to the truth." When they all exclaimed, " As 
 Heaven is above, so is master below ; on the holy Ganges 
 water, we will all swear to the truth, and prove it so that master 
 shall have justice." The process was then explained with 
 great zest on the proprietor's consenting to listen to the temp- 
 tation. These men, having never seen or heard of any of the 
 parties till that day, would take a month to get up the case, to 
 learn the facts to be proved, to invent a variety of incidental 
 circumstances, to vary their evidence, and contradict each other 
 on trifling points in such a way as to avoid the appearance of 
 collusion, and to practise themselves against all possible cross- 
 questioning — in short, introducing one hundred lies for each 
 truth proved, and being quite ready to prove the claim double 
 the real amount in order to secure a large commission as well as 
 pay. It was impossible not to admire the ingenuity, shrewdness, 
 and cunning of these men, and to lament that they were thus 
 
322 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 prostituted. On their being paid for the day and dismissed, 
 the head of the office remarked, " It is of no use to go into court 
 with the real witnesses in any such cases ; they are base and 
 brutish ' goonwarees,' * who will not only tell more lies than the 
 skilled witnesses, but be caught in them, and their evidence will 
 be proved good for nothing ; whereas master would to a cer- 
 tainty have gained his cause, for I had secured the ablest com- 
 pany of witnesses in Furrukabad." He was right as to the 
 issue ; especially as handsome bribes to the officers of the court 
 would also have been necessary. The attempt, without these 
 practices, would have been vain. The impunity of one defaulter 
 proved an example for others ; between 2000?. and 3000/. of 
 advances, though made with all apparent lateral security, va- 
 nished, and what was worse, there was no hope for the future. 
 
 Here were works most complete as a manufacturing and com- 
 mercial undertaking, and employing on the spot and in the dis- 
 trict some thousands of men on much advanced wages and earn- 
 ings, exhibiting also in the peculiarly " trussed " roof alone, and 
 the stability of a stately building against hurricanes, though 
 standing on lofty timbers which had to support the walls of mat- 
 ting twenty feet high (saltpetre devouring earth and brick walls), 
 mechanism in carpentry instructive to the people ; and in the 
 various processes and the scale of the operations, in the fiir- 
 naces ; in the iron, copper, lead, and wooden boilers, crystal- 
 lizers, and vats ; in the peculiar saline liquor pumps, and plu- 
 vial evaporating apparatus, &c., a step scarcely inferior to the 
 works first described, towards developing the resources and 
 industry of India, — a raised platform in the universal level of 
 dormant ignorance, which merited better aid from an enlight- 
 ened government than to be overwhelmed by a system under 
 which success with integrity was an impossible conjunction. 
 
 A curious incident occurred when the reverberatory process 
 was first tried, which was at midnight owing to delays in com- 
 pleting the preparations. The sudden descent of four hundred 
 pounds weight (the quantity tried) of the salt at the heat of 500° 
 
 * Clowns. 
 
 t In a hurricane which blew down some trees and buildings, its con- 
 structor was lip at daybreak, watching in some alarm, from the shelter 
 of a tree, the springing of the large and elastic structure to each heavy 
 gust ; when a number of the workmen made their appearance an hour 
 before the time, certain, as they confessed, that they should witness the 
 rxiins of their occupation. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 323 
 
 or more into water at 80°, in a hollow covered vat under an 
 archway, gave rise to such hideous noises, followed by moaning 
 sounds, and that at midnight, that the whole of the men on the 
 process screamed out, took flight, and reported in Furrukabad, 
 that " master " had at last gone too far, and had revolted against 
 nature by putting heated salt into cold water instead of cold 
 salt into heated water ; that the heat of the salt was past the 
 endurance of the water-spirits, who shrieked with pain ; and that 
 they saw their master carried up into the clouds. However, 
 finding on the following morning this ascent a mistake, and 
 encouraged by the light of day, the process was again attempted, 
 and though some again decamped, the rest held on under the 
 eye of an assistant, and became in time familiar with the roar 
 and outlandish plaints repeated every ten minutes or so. 
 
 (I.— Page 203.) 
 
 The Traffic in Opium in the East. 
 
 The saddest subject connected with India and China, beyond 
 all question is Opium. Would that it were possible to be silent 
 upon it, lest the remarks which an anxious study of the question 
 for many years constrains me to offer should in any measure 
 prejudice, in some minds, the interest which may have been 
 excited upon the main subject of this volume ! 
 
 I would fain startle the reader who cannot afford even the 
 following condensed view of the question his attention, with a 
 few preliminary facts and arguments ! 
 
 The opium consumed in China, three-fourths of which are im- Striking il- 
 ported, and one-fourth, or one-third, now grown in that country, 1^^*^^*!°'^ °J 
 and every ounce of which is chargeable at our door, amounts of opium con- 
 annually to 100,000 chests or more, and was rapidly increasing q^^ ™ 
 at the time of the late outbreak. That would make about 
 20 million gallons* of laudanum, which placed in nine-gallon 
 casks end to end would extend 400 or 500 miles ! — a quantity 
 sufficient to poison to death in one dose averaging five drachms 
 each, old, young, and infantile, four times the whole population 
 of the world ! Were that laudanum from a single year's opium 
 deposited in a gigantic, tower-shaped, vat, standing 500 feet high, 
 either before the Houses of Parhament or before the India House, 
 
 * Calculated in wine measure of four quarts to the gallon. 
 
 y2 
 
324 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 and were that vat to suffer a judicial bursting, such would prove 
 the quantity and the force of its contents, that the Eastern 
 building in the city would, almost in the twinkling of an eye, be 
 washed down amongst the ruins of the neighbouring streets ; or 
 the western, with all its titled and learned councillors, with their 
 many virtues and not unfrequent errors, voting at the time 
 perhaps a resolution in favour of the traffic, would be swept 
 away into the Thames in fewer seconds than Sir Charles Barry 
 was years in rearing it, by a cataract of laudanum 500 feet 
 high and 70 in diameter ; as liberated from the dissolving 
 vat! 
 Its coinpa- Awful as would be such a catastrophe, and deplorable 
 
 naon with the g^ g^ national loss, it would be small in comparison with 
 spirit con- , . ' . ^ . 
 
 Slimed in the the annual injury done to China by our opium ; little as 
 Lritisli Isles, g^sual observers may be disposed to notice it. The reader 
 who may question these effects is invited to a perusal of the 
 following remarks ; and he is implored not to draw a com- 
 parison between our nation's shame in the AVest — the spirit 
 debauchery of Britain, and our greater shame in the East — the 
 opium debauchery of our own planting in China ; unless it be 
 to remonstrate from the homefelt injury of the minor though 
 gigantic evil of Spirit, against tlie terrible effects and prospects 
 to China of the greater evil of Opium. — Unless it be to institute 
 such a comparison as this — the total production of spirits in 
 Great Britain and Ireland, both for home consumption and for 
 exportation, exceeds twenty millions of gallons! — a quantity 
 alarming to contemplate. The opium consumed in China, if 
 dissolved in that spirit, would just about suffice to convert it 
 all into laudanum ;* and then, in the physician's estimate of its 
 powers, all that solvent spirit present would be nearly as so much 
 ivater compared with the opium 1 Moreover, opium acts, not 
 less, but more powerfully upon the Mongolian — the Chinese, 
 than on the Caucasian — the European race ; and not less, but 
 more, when smoked, or rather deeply inhaled, than when taken 
 into the stomach. Spirit debauchery is indeed our great 
 domestic vice and shame ; but it has crept in upon us unawares 
 from the day when distillation first made spirit known in 
 Europe under the illusive belief that it was the elixir of life — 
 
 * Taking it as wine measure. 
 
APPENDIX. 325 
 
 and obtained for it the credit, and name, of " aqua vitce" " eau 
 de vie," &c. It is tiie same agent, also, as that which gives 
 attractiveness, whether right or wrongly, to wine and other 
 fermented liquors : so that, if we are ensnared by alcohol, we 
 have become entangled unwittingly in its meshes. But not so 
 with opium. Is there one member sitting in the British 
 or Indo-British Council Chambers, who could refrain from 
 denouncing as a felon, deserving transportation, the chemist 
 whom he found teaching his household for gain to consume 
 laudanum as an agent of vicious excitement ? And would that 
 chemist better his position, would he not rather drive the injured 
 parent or husband frantic, by proving that his family, by use, 
 could now consume it by spoonfuls with apparent impunity, or 
 by 'arguing that, if he did not entice them, some other chemist 
 would ? or by coolly calculating how insignificant a proportion, 
 and therefore loss, his family was to the whole population? 
 Yet such, nay in many respects worse than this, have been our 
 doings in (jhina ! 
 
 Oh ! do not parade before the world our nation's drunken- The compa- 
 ness — "publish it not in the streets of Askelon," unless catedasreririi- 
 it be to serve some beneficent and sacred object ! Do not Sensible. 
 think to better our shameful doings abroad by a shameless 
 exhibition of our state at home ! What would be said of the 
 apologist, and his apology, who, upon being remonstrated with for 
 debauching his neighbours' wives, should reply, " ^V hy make 
 such a pother about that ? I can tell you what is just as bad. 
 Only come to my home, and you shall see how abandoned my 
 wife and sisters are"? Yet wherein is the difference between 
 his argument, and the common apology for the debauching of 
 China with opium — that it has its parallel in the spirit debauchery 
 at home — which finds its way into the' mouths of even able and 
 excellent men, who have accepted it from others, and circulated 
 it, as opium-defence currency, without duly reflecting- upon its 
 extraordinary character ? 
 
 \Vithout for one moment admitting, that the necessity, sup- 
 posing it existed, of bolstering up the revenues of India by 
 opium, could justify a continuance of the traffic, it may be 
 shown that the necessity does not exist, and could only end in 
 ruin if it did. 
 
326 
 
 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 We have at last well nigh succeeded in breaking down all 
 Local and Imperial opposition in China to the entry of opium, 
 having long and easily corrupted all the former authorities,* 
 and now intimidated the latter. But, with our evil success we 
 have equally destroyed the ground of opposition to the cultiva- 
 tion of opium in China, which, according to the best information 
 to be obtained, has grown up with such rapidity since the opium 
 war of 1842, as already to equal nearly one-third of the im- 
 portations. 
 Facilities for The reader may not be aware that China possesses, in a 
 of the drug in greater degree than India, the facilities for a cheap production of 
 Ciima. ^iig drug, — quite equalling it in climate and soil, and surpassing 
 
 it in that density of the population, and difference in their 
 habits, which lead to the excretion and preservation of an im- 
 mense quantity of highly nitrogenous manure, so favom-able to 
 the plant, and which also supply, for wounding its matured cap- 
 sules and collecting the juices, perverted fingers innumerable of 
 women and children, unfettered by castes from a general co- 
 operation. Let it not be imagined that the requirement of the 
 land for grain would form any obstacle. It would even less 
 than it does in England to the production of hops, in which 
 the land rent is a small consideration. The price of opium in 
 China would pay for the import of food from any part of the 
 world, though raised at English prices. In the remarkable facili- 
 ties for the production of the drug in China, and the rapid growth 
 of it now, we have, in fact, painful and irrefragable proof, both 
 of the self-denial of the supreme government of China, which, 
 under severe edicts, and against the recommendation of cer- 
 tain of its financiers, restrained the production to its utmost, 
 during the two hundred years, at least, in which we have evi- 
 dence of their being familiar with its properties and dangerous 
 use ; and we have proof also of the influence of our doings, — and 
 what must they issue in ! Having established the most extensive 
 and deeply rooted debauchery the world has known, and while 
 relying upon it, as forming a large and increasing proportion 
 
 * Strange ! that the facility with which opium is now introduced 
 through our too successful corruption of the local functionaries, which is 
 a serious aggravation of our offence, should he constantly cited by the 
 upholders of the trafBc as an apology for it ! 
 
APPENDIX. 327 
 
 of the revenue of India, we have thus started an opium cultiva- 
 tion in China, which in the nature of things must increase, and 
 leave the opium revenue of India stranded ; and when gone, 
 that opium traffic will leave the government of India " poor 
 indeed," — not through the loss of its opium purse only, that 
 were " something, nothing," but by filching from it its " good 
 name " throughout this nether world, and amongst the hosts in 
 heaven. 
 
 Far better were it now, and at once, to look to the legitimate 
 sources of revenue in India, in affirming which to be abundant 
 for all needful requirements of good and secure government, 
 we are not indulging in the mere speculative opinions of poli- 
 ticians, or in secondhand information. 
 
 Again, so far is the Bi-itish government in India from having Growth of 
 merely inherited the traffic in opium from the Mahometan, and *{j^ ^™^° JJJ. 
 from having used any endeavours to limit it, that the latter are England. 
 said to have resolutely repressed a deleterious cultivation of the 
 poppy. Ninety years ago no regular trade in it existed ; but 
 a vicious propensity for opium was discernible amongst the 
 Chinese on the coast sufficient to stimulate the cupidity of the 
 Company's functionaries in Bengal, who commenced, after a 
 minor trial or two, with a venture of a thousand chests, which 
 they had to smuggle into Canton in an armed vessel. And so 
 far is it from being true that any endeavours were employed 
 to repress the traffic at any time, that, though the Company 
 proved their knowledge of its character by once express- 
 ing a wish that for " the good of Humanity " this could 
 be done (as if the whole was not entirely in their power), 
 they warned their Bengal government against any such steps 
 as would injure their revenue from it. The traffic, having, 
 like a poisonous reptile, crept along the shores of China, took 
 forty years of fostering care to nurse it up to four thousand 
 chests, after which it grew rapidly, and in ten more years had so 
 far advanced as to excite the envy of the native governments of 
 India, whose cupidity, at last, over-ruled their better profes- 
 sions, enticed on as it was by the example of the leviathan 
 parent of the creature. Onwards it grew, breathing forth as it 
 were a moral aura morphiana which has affected merchants and 
 political functionaries. Christian and Bhudist, as fast as they have 
 
328 BKITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 approached it, until in 1840, when Commissioner Lin with tears 
 declared that every chest of opium imported was the death-war- 
 rant of numbers of his countrymen, the quantity upon which he 
 proved his sincerity by a most righteous destruction of it was 
 no less than twenty thousand chests, present at one time ; the 
 importation then being nearly forty thousand chests a year ; 
 and now, since every barrier set up by the supreme government 
 of China has been practically broken down by the former war, 
 the amount has risen to upwards of seventy thousand chests, 
 while the cultivation in China, the restriction of which has for 
 the same reason been relaxed in despair, appears to have brought 
 the total consumption up to an increasing one of one hundred 
 It can only thousand chests ; and it is in the very nature of such a 
 terminate in debauchery to continue to progress until it has reduced to im- 
 China. poverishment and ruin any nation falling under it, how nu- 
 
 merous soever it may be ! 
 Ready means Let not then truth be abashed by the mistaken assertion that 
 pression of the England, acting either through her Imperial government at 
 traffic. home or local of India, endeavours to restrain the production 
 
 of opium. She holds the monopoly, absolute within her own 
 territory, and it is most desirable that she should continue to do 
 so, and with it the responsibility and odium of all excess in pro- 
 duction beyond a mere medicinal supply for the East. This 
 might authorize a cultivation to the extent of two or three 
 thousand chests a year. Her rule is also despotic. Thus 
 doubly armed, she held an entire command of the production in 
 her own territories for many years when it amounted to no more 
 than that quantity ; and she could of course bring it down 
 to that amount again ; and would very shortly, could she see it 
 to be her interest to do so. Possessing an entire command over 
 the ports of India, she has a nearly equal hold upon the opium 
 from Native States, the distance of most of which from the coast 
 would increase her ability to restrict the passage of it, to any 
 extent she desired. It is indeed sad to think that her example 
 has brought some of them into that anomalous position of depend- 
 ing, like herself, upon this odious traffic for a considerable portion 
 of their revenue. But now that she will little desire subsidiary 
 aid from them in the form of any more " contingents," there is 
 afforded a favourable opportunity for commencing a restriction 
 on their export of opium. 
 
APPENDIX. 329 
 
 To such a course she is bound, as having been herself the 
 exemplar of Evil instead of the Good for which she was placed 
 in her privileged position in the East, 
 
 The path for England is surely plain enough. Let her fulfil Tlie path of 
 her late treaty both in its spirit and letter. As in the case of 
 Africa, let her make amends for a long com-se of wrong-doing 
 by protecting the coast of China, who is as unable to guard 
 herself from the intrusion of the opium clippers as Africa from 
 that of slavers ; and let steps be taken for reducing without delay 
 tlie production of opium iu British India and of checking that 
 in the Native States by warning the merchants that it will to a 
 certainty be seized and confiscated when caught iu the Chinese 
 seas. Happily there is so little chance of an opium revenue 
 having any permanency, that Indian financiers may be anxious 
 to turn at once to other and legitimate sources before the 
 production of the drug in China has run to an irrepressible 
 length, and our nation shall lie under utter condemnation as 
 the cause of it. They who contend that India cannot be ruled 
 without the aid of a revenue from opium, proclaim, in other 
 words, the duty of our retiring fi-om the country ; but it is not 
 so. Her resources properly husbanded are ample. She may 
 not indeed afibrd at present the double charge of a full civil and 
 military establishment — the latter employed only during war — 
 but she can afford a machinery quite as effective as she has yet 
 had, and much less costly ; and she may, assuredly, be made to 
 yield a larger revenue than she does. 
 
 With respect to the production of opium, it would be a The mono- 
 mistake indeed for the government to relinquish the monopoly P°^y. °^ P™" 
 
 1. • T 1 1 T • 1 1 11 ductioii must 
 
 01 it. in no other way can the growth be hmited to the small not b;; reiiu- 
 amount which will suffice for a medicinal supply for India. But, l^iished by tho 
 
 rr J 5 govemiUBiit of 
 
 as absolute in power, and the sole producer, the government India, 
 can as formerly restrain the production with no great difficulty 
 to the quantity made thirty or forty years ago. Then may we 
 hope for that Divine blessing upon our rule in India, which, 
 at present, who that is not blind or bold, indeed, could venture 
 to invoke ? 
 
 My own acquaintance with the subject dates from the year Incident 
 
 1831, when, in passing by water the chief opium magazine of the auXor^ to bt- 
 East India Company at Patna, I paid a \isit to a friend who <=°™« acquain- 
 had charge of the scientific deiiartment of it. After he had led traffic. 
 
330 
 
 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 me through story after story, and gallery after gallery of the 
 factory, with opium balls right and left tiered in shelves to the 
 ceiling ; upon my expressing amazement at an exhibition of 
 opium, enough to supply the medical wants of the world for 
 years, he replied, nearly in these words: "I see you are 
 very innocent ; these stores of opium have no such beneficent 
 destination. It is all going to debauch the Chinese, and my 
 duty is to maintain its smack as attractive to them as possible. 
 Come to my laboratory." There I saw broken balls of opium 
 procured from China, by the Bengal government, as approved 
 musters for imitation, by the cultivators. Though I had been 
 several years in India, this was the first I knew of the nature of 
 the traffic, and thankful was I for the accidental visit, and the 
 painful impression it left, and that the next person, whom the 
 Governor-general did the honour of selecting for the office upon 
 the death of my friend, felt bound to decline it. 
 
 Upon looking around for information, I heard that the natives, 
 
 where they ventured an opinion, the Mahomedans especially, 
 
 were equally scandalized at the engagement of the Company in 
 
 such a traffic* 
 
 Independent That the medical profession of England is prepared to form 
 
 action of the .. • j j i ■ j i i- -a 
 
 medical pro- ^ts own mdependent judgment on so grave a question, unmfiu- 
 
 fessionofEng- enced by any party considerations, we have an exemplary proof 
 
 in the fact, that in the year 1843, at the moment when the 
 
 opium question was coming before the House of Commons, 
 
 having undertaken to obtain an authoritative opinion against 
 
 any use of opium as a luxury, I found men in the first position 
 
 most ready to pronounce against it ; and it was gratifying to 
 
 notice the weight of their opinion on the House, and the force 
 
 with which the Earl of Shaftesbury (then Lord Ashley) wielded 
 
 The EarJ it in the resolution he moved. It is true that an opponent in 
 
 bury 's motion the House inquired for a medical opinion from China itself, and 
 
 in 1843. named Dr. Parker as a highly qualified authority on the spot; 
 
 but then he did so with every deferential expression towards 
 
 the collective opinion of the heads of the profession in London ; 
 
 and it is curious that, expecting such opposition, I had placed 
 
 * A pamphlet, p^lblished in 1842, entitled ' England and China, by an 
 Englishman,' of which between 2000 and 3000 copies were circulated, was 
 ivrittcn under the deep impression first produced by this incident. 
 
APPENDIX. 331 
 
 amongst papers for his Lordship, an extract, I had received 
 from America, of a report recently forwarded to the Missionary 
 Society there by Br. Parker himself, in which he expresses 
 amazement that a country, occupying the position amongst 
 Christian nations of England, should be found implicated in a 
 traffic not only destructive to health and life, but frequently 
 unseating the intellect, and driving to furious madness its 
 unhappy victims. Had his Lordship not been induced by the 
 Minister to withdraw his motion (at a moment when he ap- 
 peared in the arms of victory), upon the grounds that negotia- 
 tions for peace were progressing in China, this remarkable 
 remonstrance from Dr. Parker, while it would doubtless have 
 proved a more satisfactory answer than its seeker expected or 
 desired, would have shown that learned and conscientious 
 minds, though separated by the globe, would pronounce but 
 one opinion upon such a question. 
 
 Opiusi as an Article of Luxury, and a Comparison of it with 
 
 Spirit. 
 
 While statesmen, financiers, and traders, though abundantly Historieoi 
 wary of it as far as their families are concerned, are trifling with notice of opi- 
 this dangerous agent, and speak of its properties as if it were an 
 article of modern experience, to the physician it is known in the 
 writings of the ancients ; its very patronymic, " Thebaioum" 
 reminding him that it dates back to its preparation in Thebes. 
 Its more familiar name, " Opium," having doubtless been de- 
 rived, as the Greek " Opion" from the Arabic name " Vfyon" or 
 " Ufeem " (rather than from the Greek " owos," juice), shows it to 
 have been very anciently known in Asia. In Persia, as far back 
 as the ninth century, it is described by the physician Rhazes,* 
 who also dwells upon its injurious eflFects as an article of luxury. 
 In the different parts of India we found, in the various dialects, 
 Khush-khash, Koaknar, &c., and more generally the Hindee 
 " Poast" to be the familiar names of the plant from which opium 
 was being prepared at the time we obtained possession of the coun- 
 try. In China, according to Sir Wilham Ainslie,t we have no 
 earlier notice of opium than in a work entitled Puntsaou, written 
 
 * Op. Rhaz. de re Med., lib. i., \>. 1'J8. 
 t Ainslie's Materia Medica, vol. i., r- '^-l. 
 
332 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 in 1600, in which it is recommeBded for the cure of dysentery. 
 But it appears improbable that that ancient people, familiar 
 with most natural agents before Europeans, should not have 
 known one so important and so obtrusive to the senses as the 
 mephitic exudation, frequently spontaneous, of the poppy- 
 head. 
 Oversight The action of opium upon the human system, and its admis- 
 actfon. "'^ ' '' sibility or not as a luxury, is one of the many questions upon which 
 certain moralists and physicists, by creating in them divisions, do 
 little credit to their respective bodies, — a sure result of allowing 
 the judgment to be warped by partial evidence, and of neglect- 
 ing to keep prominently in view a dispensation of the Almighty 
 which determines the whole condition of man. It being a pro- 
 minent part of His great design to exercise the higher faculties 
 of man, his moral especially, the relation to him of every mate- 
 rial agent is made such as to keep him at all times in a state 
 of probation. Many of the direst agencies are in their opera- 
 tion sufficiently uncertain to qualify his fears, and sufficiently 
 inviting to tempt him to brave them. If every bullet entered a 
 heart, there would be an end of war and of the virtue of refrain- 
 ing from it ; if fatal disease followed every licentious act, there 
 would be an end of incontinence and of the virtue of chastitv ; 
 were every approach to drunkenness fatal, men would be shy 
 of alcohol and sobriety would be no virtue. So also, if every 
 use of opium, as a luxury, were lethal, there could never have 
 entered into the Supreme Councils of Bengal the hope of 
 debauching China with it. 
 
 The danger of a luxurious use of opium rests in the very facts 
 adduced by its promoters in defence of it — namely, that while 
 opium is beyond all comparison the most fascinating and de- 
 structive of narcotic stimulants to a people falling into its snare, 
 a proportion of its devotees, sufficient to be a lure to others, are 
 able for many years to restrain themselves to an apparently mo- 
 derate use of the drug, while, here and there, instances of longe- 
 vity occur, and of constitutions able to carry the consumption to 
 an extraordinary extent. Such instances are not wanting in 
 England. Doctor Christison, of Edinburgh, cites several which 
 had been scraped together to defend the claims of the executors 
 of an opium-eater of rank upon a repudiating insurance-office. 
 In a similar manner the Imperial Opium Trade Interest has 
 
APPENDIX. 333 
 
 had little difficulty in bolstering up its cause with quasi medical 
 evidence from India and China of a like character — the isolated 
 facts of which may no doubt be true : and some residents in China 
 may truly testify that they have seen little evidence to the con- 
 trary. Their opium transactions being vpith active men of 
 business, the capable, and not the debauched, all who pass into 
 the latter stage cease to cross theh- path. But to bring forward 
 as evidence prosperous indulgers in opium, is merely to exhibit 
 the decoy-ducks, but for whose existence and example the traffic 
 would very soon come to an end. 
 
 For evidence from China worthy of reliance we must tiu-n to 
 the disinterested and the devoted, especially to the medical mis- 
 sionaries. The picture they exhibit is appalling indeed, yet 
 such only as might be predicated by any one acquainted with 
 the properties of opium and the present magnitude of the 
 traffic. 
 
 But not to anticipate our subject we must turn, as first in Opinion of 
 authority, to the voice of the Profession in England expressed profession'^" of 
 in the opinion of a sufficient number of its most sagacious and England. 
 learned members, who had no need to wander to China nor 
 pore over interested evidence to settle the question. A pro- 
 found study of the living man, that wondrcus assemblage of 
 organs for repair and waste, kept in harmony by a sensorium 
 commune, with its spiritual functions also, more wondrous still, 
 cannot but enable them at once, and ex cathedra, to pronounce 
 against his employing as a luxury an agent, the action of which 
 is so powerful upon his system in its normal condition, un- 
 violated by the drug ; however nature, when compelled to submit 
 to its intrusions, may struggle on to save appearances and put 
 off the hour of her bankruptcy. 
 
 The following then is the opinion already referred to. Its 
 force is increased by the fact that, having submitted to the dis- 
 tinguished physiologist and surgeon who worded it, one drawn 
 up by myself, he did me the favour of substituting this more 
 emphatic opinion : — 
 
 "However valuable opium may be when employed as an 
 article of medicine, it is impossible for any one who is acquainted 
 with the subject to doubt that the habitual use of it is productive 
 of the most pernicious consequences, destroying the healthy 
 
334 
 
 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 action of the digestive organs, weakening the powers of the 
 mind as well as those of the body, and rendering the individual 
 who indulges himself in it a worse than useless member of 
 society. 
 
 " I cannot but regard those who promote the use of opium as 
 an article of luxury as inflicting a most serious injury on the 
 human race. 
 
 (Signed) " B. C. Brodie." 
 
 Signed also by — 
 
 Dr. R. Bright, F.R.S. Dr. P. Latham. 
 
 Dr. Chambers, F.R.S. Mr. R. Liston, F.R.S. 
 
 Dr. Ferguson, F.R.S. Sir C. Locock, Bart. 
 
 Sir J. Forbes, F.R.S. Dr. Macleod. 
 
 Dr. Glendinning, F.R.S. Mr. J. C. Moore. 
 
 Dr. Gregory. Dr. Paris, F.R.S. 
 
 Sir H. Halford, Bart., F.R.S. Dr. A. T. Thompson. 
 
 Dr. Hodgkin, F.R.S. Mr. F. Tyrrell. 
 
 Mr. Csesar Hawkins, F.R.S. Dr. B. Travers, F.R.S. 
 
 Sir H. Holland, Bart., F.R.S. Dr. Thos. Watson, F.R.S. 
 
 Mr. Aston Key. Mr. Anthony White. 
 
 Dr. Jas. Johnson. Dr. J. C. B. Williams, F.R.S. 
 
 Before adducing direct evidence from the East as to the 
 effects on the Chinese of the gigantic importations of opium, it 
 may be well to examine some of the palliating arguments 
 current. 
 
 1. It has been said that the Chinese waste much of the opium 
 by reducing it into an extract. 
 
 2. That as they smoke it in general, and do not eat it, the 
 deleterious effects must be less. 
 
 3. That the spirit debauchery of England is as injurious as 
 the opium of China. 
 
 Upon the character of this apology, even supposing the asser- 
 tion were correct, it has been felt necessary to remark already, 
 and to deprecate the parading of our nation's shame as a vindi- 
 cation of our wrongdoings elsewhere. 
 Erroneous As to the waste of opium by the Chinese in preparing the 
 the waste of extract, were it true, it would only affect the main question as 
 the drug in lessening the rapidity of the evil progress. But it has been too 
 
APPENDIX. 335 
 
 hastily caught up from an unfortunate passage in the writings ;tspreparatiou 
 
 of a late worthy missionary who had long and loudly proclaimed 
 
 the ill-doings of opium in China, and who might, under 
 
 particular circumstances, be pardoned for the qualified tone of 
 
 appeals which he felt still constrained to make. In preparing 
 
 their extract the Chinese adepts treat the drug by successive 
 
 processes, obtaining extracts of different degrees of strength. 
 
 A glance at their processes will satisfy any qualified judge, as 
 
 might be expected, that they do not leave in the bulky refuse a 
 
 particle of any active principle. That writer's estimating the 
 
 refuse as part of the drug resulted merely from a want of 
 
 acquaintance with toxicological chemistry. The other portion 
 
 of the passage referred to, which has been circulated with an 
 
 effect its author would, if alive, lament as much as any one, 
 
 gives a conjectural estimate of the extent of the mischief in 
 
 China which is still more incorrect, as has been abundantly 
 
 shown. 
 
 By erroneously imagining a large portion of the opium to be 
 wasted, and then allotting to each smoker a quantity so large 
 as would prove how great was the decay of nature in all of 
 them, he lowered the estimate of their number to two millions. 
 As the opium imported, and produced in the country, has 
 doubled since even that recent estimate, that would raise the 
 number to four millions ; but the estimate is quite erroneous. 
 If the number of smokers does not exceed ten millions* the 
 extent and rapidity of decay in each must be great indeed. 
 Moreover, what is to be said of attempting, as has been done 
 by some, to palliate the evil by comparing its extent with the 
 whole population of China ? Such an apologist would be little 
 disposed to accept as an excuse for the ruin of a daughter that 
 she was but an unit in the millions of England. 
 
 With respect to the comparison between the smoking and The process 
 
 „ . , .■■ <.ni--. ij ji ™ smoking 
 
 eating of opmm, the evidence of all dismterested and close opium exa- 
 observers confirms what might be physiologically predicated, ^^^'^■^^^J' 
 that opium, when smoked, or rather deeply inhaled in the pecu- 
 liar manner practised, so far from being less, is far more active 
 than when eaten. 
 
 For a clear perception of the process it is necessary to advert 
 
 ■» This would allow 5 grains of opium a day to novices, 20 to habitual 
 smokers, 40 to the more advanced, and 80 a day to the debauched. 
 
336 BRITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 to the ordinary condition of the human chest, in which it is 
 about two-thirds inflated, there being below the region of the 
 breath, which consists of only from 20 to 30 cubic inches, 
 a large volume of air from which about 140 cubic inches can be 
 expelled, and which may be termed the supplementary air,* and 
 above the region of the breath another volume or space, into 
 which 100 or more cubic inches may be drawn, and for which 
 the name complementary air appears suitable. f Thus, then, 
 there is, including the space of the breath, room for no less 
 than about 280 cubic inches. Now it must be plain that when 
 the opium smoker, or rather inspirer, empties his chest to this 
 large extent by a strained expiration, and then makes a long 
 and deep draught of air through the subliming fumes of 
 morphia and the other mephitic principles in the opium pipe, 
 until his lungs are inflated with not merely 30 cubic inches of 
 returning breath, but also with 240 cubic inches or more of 
 supplementary and complementary air, that the fumes so car- 
 ried in must visit nearly all the extensive and highly sensitive 
 pulmonary surfaces. If the indraught be not checked at the 
 onset by spasm in the larynx, that portal of custodiary sen- 
 sitiveness, as happens on the intrusion of many irritants, the 
 vapour cannot but be carried in it throughout the lungs, and have 
 an opportunity of acting upon their whole expanded surfaces as 
 long as the distension continues. Now, Chinese opium smoking, 
 as it has been described to me by those who have watched the 
 process, is just such an action. The chest having been inflated 
 through the pipe to the utmost, the indraught is detained in 
 it as long as the breath can be held. Tt is then slowly 
 expelled by the nostrils, in a long-continued expiration; and 
 any of the mephitis not absorbed by the lungs has an oppor- 
 tunity, in visiting the frontal and maxillary sinuses and olfactory 
 membrane, of acting upon their expanded nervous surfaces in 
 close proximity to the brain. Having heard the fact of the 
 narcotic vapour entering the air cells questioned, I have thought 
 it necessary to dwell upon the structural and pneumatic condi- 
 tions rendering this result inevitable. It may be the case that 
 the vapour of morphia at first acts as an irritant on the glottis, 
 but directly any has found entrance to, and gratified the system 
 
 * t In a work entitled ' Statics of the Chest,' 1843, I liave adopted these 
 terms in the absence of any previously accepted names. 
 
APPENDIX. 337 
 
 by way of the lungs, there must be a sympathetic announcement 
 against further interference communicated to the larynx. It will 
 soon grow accustomed to what gratifies the sensorium. 
 
 Dr. Nathan Allan, an American physician, who has paid 
 much attention to the question, in writing upon opium smoking,* 
 brings conclusive proof, both from fact and from physiology, of 
 the more powerful and deleterious effects of opium imbibed in 
 that manner than by way of the stomach. 
 
 ^^^ith respect to the comparison between opium smoking and 
 spirit drinking in England, it is to be lamented that this argument 
 is put in a specious form by a popular writer on China. Into 
 the morality of this argument we have already entered. Viewed 
 simply in a physical light such an assertion must put the patience 
 of any unprejudiced physician to no little trial. 
 
 In the year 1839, having been much thrown in the way of the 
 working classes in our manufacturing towns as well as in the 
 metropolis, and pained at the unfavourable contrast their habits 
 presented to the temperance of the Hindoos and other Indian 
 races, I obtained the opinion of a large number of the leading 
 members of the profession upon the use of alcoholic drinks, 
 many of them the same who denounced the use of opium as a 
 luxury, but the utmost extent to which their opinion went, and 
 with which my own observation equally accorded, was that 
 such beverages were unnecessary for persons in health, and not 
 conducive to support strength to labour. No such opinion 
 against them could, or would, have been expressed as the above 
 notable one against opium. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the friends of temperance have Mistaken 
 
 in their zeal, on some occasions, given a countenance to the fr°^^a^aoftem! 
 argument of those whom they suddenly found so alive to the perance. 
 evils of spirit drinking in England, as to compare favourably 
 with it the opium smoking of China. But the friends of the 
 British temperance cause have taken nothing by this acquiescence. 
 The argument being attempted as an apologetic, and not a 
 moral one, evinces no especial desire on the part of its employers 
 to take part in any way in the temperance movement here, but 
 would be equally or indeed more applicable against it, mutatis 
 mutandis, had the spirit interest of Britain to be defended ; 
 
 * Church Missionary IntelUgenoer, April, 1857. 
 
338 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 thus, " If the opium trade in China is not interfered with, how 
 much less can the smaller evil, the spirit, in England !" 
 
 AYithout enthusiasm in a good cause the hands of the most 
 feeling must soon hang down in a cold and selfish world ; but 
 enthusiasm is ever endangering an unintentional departure 
 beyond the strict limits of truth ; always to the injury of the cause 
 in hand. It would be well for England, as well as China, if the 
 friends of temperance would denounce every comparison of 
 Spirit with Opium debauchery appearing to qualify the latter. 
 The following fact will show the danger, while endeavouring to 
 steer the social vessel out of the Charybdis — Spirit, of trifling 
 near the Soylla — Opium, upon which it would be shipwrecked 
 indeed ! Since the last opium war, when power and wealth were 
 combined to defend the luxurious use of opium by every specious 
 argument, in Parliament, by pamphleteers, by the press, by 
 Indian statesmen, and by opium smugglers ; by all of whom it 
 was repeatedly set forth as no worse than the use of spirit, nay 
 by some as positively beneficial ; the growth of an improper use 
 of the drug in England has made more rapid strides than it did 
 in China for the first thirty years of the East India Company's 
 fostering eflrorts. The reason of this is sufficiently plain. 
 Alcohol having no such sway over China as over England, there 
 were few there with debauched appetites ready to lend their 
 ears, while there was no misguided press there to pour into them 
 the moral poison qualifying a use of opium, of which there have 
 been such reckless instances here. On the contrary ; every wn- 
 brihed statesman in China, from the Emperor downwards, every 
 moralist, poet, and satirist, united with one voice to check the 
 growing evil, and did for a time retard it. In England, as we 
 have seen, the pen of Protestants has been otherwise employed ; 
 and nothing has been wanting to send our reckless classes 
 along the fascinating road to opium ruin, but instruction in the 
 practice of smoking the drug ! 
 Teetotal- The increasing consumption of opium in England led to a 
 charKed^with ""eport, which, though a further digression from our subject, I 
 opium eating, cannot, in justice, refrain from noticing, viz., that the abstainers 
 from alcohol, the teetotalers, had taken to the use of the di-ug. 
 Though placing no credit in it, I thought it light inquiries 
 should be set on foot throughout the kingdom. Not finding a 
 single instance of a teetotal opium eater, I traced the report. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 339 
 
 which had been circulated in every newspaper throughout, the 
 kingdom, and authoritatively stated in Parliament, and even, I 
 believe, from the pulpit, to its original source — a journal of 
 wide circulation, the avowed organ of the liquor trade. Upon 
 applying to the editor for his authority for it, all the reply I 
 could obtain was, that the statement was highly credible, since, 
 with a general decrease in the consumption of spirit, there had 
 been an increase in that of opium : and that if it were an incor- 
 rect explanation of the fact it could be readily contradicted ! No. 
 The abstainer upon principle from alcohol will hardly take to 
 opium. It is the intemperate craver after new excitement, and 
 the fashionable seeker after a stimulant in its bulk and effects 
 more disguiseable than alcohol, who, under the teaching of the 
 Imperial opium interest, are spreading the habit in England ! 
 
 Much as truth will readily aver against spirit, it is of opium 
 only she is prepared to affirm that the great majority of those 
 who indulge in it at all, especially its smokers, are, with dif- 
 ferent degrees of speed, indeed, but irresistibly drawn on, both 
 by its feiscinating presence and by its agonizing absence, to 
 their utter destruction ; its dire effects on body and mind sur- 
 passing those of every other excess to which the depraved appe- 
 tite of man prompts him. The reader who should think any 
 further evidence necessary to confirm so authoritative and em- 
 phatic an opinion as that of the Medical Profession of England, 
 might be supplied with bitter facts enough to fill a volume. 
 
 The following are a few : First from India, where the drug, 
 when taken, is chiefly eaten, and its use repressed as far as pos- 
 sible by the British government within its own territory. In 
 the villages where the Company's opium is produced, even the 
 Hindoos, the most temperate of people, have caught the mania. 
 Mr. A. Sym, an opium agent of the Company, writes in a letter 
 dated 13th March, 1840,— 
 
 " The health and morals of the people suffer from the pro- 
 duction of opium. Wherever opium is grown, it is eaten, and 
 the more it is grown the more it is eaten ; this is one of the 
 worst features of the opium question. We are demoralizing 
 our own subjects in India ; one-half of the crime in the opium 
 districts, murders, rapes, and affrays, have their origin in 
 opium-eating. 
 
 "Both Hindoos and Mussulmans eat the drug; and its 
 
 Z 2 
 
 Opium fur 
 worse than 
 even spirit as 
 an agent of 
 debauchery. 
 
 Testimony 
 from India of 
 the destruc- 
 tive effects of 
 opium. 
 
34U BRITISH AllMY IN INDIA. 
 
 pernicious effects are visible on the population of the opium 
 districts, particularly in the neighbourhood of the depots." 
 
 And to a friend he remarked — " One opium cultivator 
 demoralizes a whole village ! " 
 
 Of the outlying province of Assam, then more recently under 
 the East India Company's control, Mr. C. A. Bruce, superinten- 
 dent of their tea plantations, addressing the government, gives 
 the following frightful picture : — 
 
 " I might here observe, that the British Government would 
 confer a lasting blessing on the Assamese and the New Settlers, 
 if immediate and active measures were taken to put down the 
 cultivation of opium in Assam, and afterwards to stop its im- 
 portation, by levying high duties on opium land. If something 
 of this kind is not done, and done quickly too, the thousands 
 that are about to emigrate from the plains into Assam 
 will soon be infected with the opium mania ; that dreadful 
 plague which has depopulated this beautiful country, turned 
 it into a land of wild beasts, with which it is overrun, and 
 has degenerated the Assamese from a fine race of people, to 
 the most abject, servile, crafty, and demoralized race in India." 
 .... " This vile drug has kept, and does now keep, down the 
 population ; the women have fewer children compared with 
 those of other countries, and the children seldom live to become 
 old men, but in general die at manhood ; very few old men 
 being seen in this unfortunate country in comparison with 
 others. Few but those who have resided long in this unhappy 
 country know the dreadful and immoral effects which the use 
 of opium produces on the native. He will steal, sell his pro- 
 perty, his children, the mother of his children, and finally even 
 commit murder for it." 
 
 Another gentleman holding an official situation under the 
 East India Company in Assam has written thus in a private 
 letter to a friend : — 
 
 " The cultivation of opium is free in Assam ; the fearful 
 results from its use, which every day present themselves to 
 notice, are very painful to witness." 
 
 A strange attempt was made in parliament, by an opponent 
 of Lord Ashley's motion, to refute these statements by charging 
 the effects described to the unhealthiness of the climate, as if 
 officers selected for their ability, and long resident in the pro- 
 
APPENDIX. 341 
 
 vince, could commit themselves to such statements ignorantly. 
 I have always understood the climate of " this beautiful coun- 
 try," Assam, excepting where overrun with jungle — the conse- 
 quence, as Mr. Bruce says, of the depopulation — to be much less 
 unhealthy than that of Bengal. That a climate which had 
 fostered a numerous and " fine race " of Indians should after- 
 wards sweep them away would be strange indeed. 
 
 In the free state of Rajpootanah in the west of India, with its 
 more arid climate, opium has also seriously injured its once 
 remarkably fine race. Hence one East India Director, when 
 addressing his parliamentary constituents, rightly protested 
 against the wresting of the opium monopoly out of the hands of 
 the Indian Government, as threatening India with a desolation 
 by the drug ; and hence another Director of the Company rightly 
 argues in the same strain, in a pamphlet known to proceed from 
 his pen ; though in their zealous remonstrance to save India 
 they prove too much, as we shall see on turning to unhappy 
 China for evidence of the effects of opium there. 
 
 Turning to China we may indeed multiply evidence in accord- Testimony 
 ance with the Profession's opinion, from the havoc of opium ^^ destruc- 
 there. One remonstrative statement of Dr. Parker's has been tive effects of 
 already referred to, in which, if I remember right, he adds that 
 the unhappy victims of opium mania have in their frenzy to 
 suffer death at the hands of their own relations. This prover- 
 bial occurrence amongst the Malays, of " running a muck," 
 appears to prove that opium exercises not a milder but a worse 
 effect on the Mongolian race. 
 
 " Thus Charvet ascribes to this circumstance (race) the 
 different effects of opium on the Javanese and Malays (both 
 belonging to the Mongolian race) as compared with those 
 produced on Europeans, Turks, and Persians (the Caucasian 
 race)."* 
 
 "The Javanese," says Lord Macartney also, "under the 
 influence of an extraordinary dose of opium, becoming frantic 
 as well as desperate, not only stab the objects of their hate, but 
 sally forth to attack in like manner every person they meet, till 
 self-preservation renders it necessary to destroy them." 
 
 In another report of Dr. Parker's, dated December 31st, 
 1838, when the evil was not the fourth of what it now is, he 
 * Pereiva's Mat. Mcdica. Ed. 3. Vol. i. p. 118. 
 
 opium. 
 
342 BRITISH ARMl IN INDIA. 
 
 says, " comparatively few victims of the opium mania have 
 moral resolution remaining sufficient to attempt an eman- 
 cipation from its most deplorable effects. Personal observation 
 has furnished abundant evidence of the appalling extent of 
 the evil." 
 
 Another medical missionary of judgment and experience, 
 the Rev. W. Welton, lately returned from China, after a 
 residence of seven years in Fou Chou, a city of 600,000 
 inhabitants, informs me that the injury inflicted on that city by 
 opium almost baffles computation. He estimates its victims at 
 more than half the adult males, and says that Chinese statists 
 and men of letters estimate the smokers of opium higher still. 
 He says that in the case of the poor the habit is almost univer- 
 sally destructive, though, according to his observation there, the 
 effects of opium are more commonly narcotic than phrenitic. 
 He states that it greatly impairs their ability to work from the 
 first, and kills them on an average in ten years from the com- 
 mencement of the use of it ;— that the loss of productive labour 
 and destitution of the families of the poor threaten to become 
 general. It is not its fascinating effects only which tempt the 
 poor onwards in the use of it, but its effect also of lessening the 
 activity of the organs of nutrition and change, by which the ap- 
 petite is lowered and life maintained on less than the natural 
 amount of food ; and want, from the superinduced indolence, is 
 little felt. But this hastens on their destruction. In the case 
 of the rich the effects are not so rapid, as long as they are able 
 to partake freely of some highly sustaining diet ; though with 
 them also any permanent moderation is altogether uncommon. 
 
 Beyond comparison more alluring than dram-drinking, opium- 
 smoking soon brings the whole system, the nervous system and 
 mucous surfaces especially, into a condition rendering every 
 temporary withdrawal of the narcotic agonizing. Mr. Welton, 
 from whom I received the above account of his own observations, 
 elsewhere remarks: — "The Chmese enumerate among the evils 
 of opium-smoking the following — the whole body pervaded by 
 aches and pains ; hands and feet enfeebled ; headache and 
 colicky pains ; can neither sit nor sleep ; cannot travel nor 
 work ; when meal-time arrives, loathe their food ; frequent and 
 incessant discharges from the nose and eyes. These symptoms 
 are but premonitory to others far more serious, including a 
 
APPENDIX. 343 
 
 diarrhoea which it is most difficult, if not impossible, to remedy. 
 After the habit is once formed, and cannot be kept up by a 
 needful supply of the drug, which requires increase, the preced- 
 ing category of evils ensue, and are so distressing and insupport- 
 able, that the victims of it will even sell their wives and children 
 to get a supply. This is the invariable testimony of the Chinese 
 themselves, which I am well able, from my medical practice 
 among them, to corroborate and confirm. The natives them- 
 selves are most anxious to devise means to relinquish the habit, 
 without suffering the dreadful and distressing bodily ailments and 
 symptoms already detailed. In proof of this, at the time I write 
 this, numerous handbills are posted in every direction in the 
 streets, pretending to have discovered some such precious anti- 
 dotes to the evil effects of the drug. Empirics, as in England 
 and America, avail themselves of the credulity and urgent 
 necessities of their countrymen, by advertising a nostrum for the 
 evils of this vice, pretending to be derived from America, Spain, 
 India, the Red-haired country. Western Ocean country, &c." * 
 
 Dr. Ball, long resident in China gives this frightful picture : 
 " Throughout these" (maritime) " districts and in all the towns 
 may be seen walking skeletons, and families wretched and beg- 
 gared by drugged fathers and husbands, multitudes who have 
 lost house and home, dying in the streets, in the fields, on the 
 banks of the rivers, without even a stranger to care for them 
 when alive, and when dead exposed to view till they become 
 offensive masses !" 
 
 Evidence of a hke character might be indefinitely multiplied. 
 The Rev. W. C. Burns, who has been more than eight years in 
 China, writes from the vicinity of Namou, 16th July 1856, — 
 " The ravages of opium we meet with here on every hand, and 
 the deterioration of the morals of the people generally I cannot 
 but ascribe in great part to the use of this ensnaring and destruc- 
 tive drug. When will measures be taken by those in power to lay 
 an arrest on the opium traffic, which is inflicting such indescrib- 
 able injury on this people, and which threatens in its progress, by 
 its direct, and by its indirect effects — poverty and anarchy — to 
 sweep away a great part of this nation from the face of the 
 earth ? " t 
 
 * Church Missionary Intelligencer, 1857. 
 
 t " What is the Opium-trade ? " by Donald Matheson, Esq., p. 11. 
 
344 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Poverty no doubt ! 
 
 " Side and back go bare, go bare ; foot and hand go cold^ — 
 But belly, God send thee ale enough, let it be new or old ! " 
 
 In this brutish old distich substitute " opium " for " ale," and 
 the men of Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Lanarkshire will find a 
 ten- fold reason why the masses of China receive so little of their 
 useful fabrics. 
 
 On the Moral and Keligious Aspect of the Teafeic. 
 
 With respect to the heavy responsibility attending this erro- 
 neous course, as might be expected no one party has been prepared 
 to accept it, nor does it, as has been supposed, lie exclusively 
 at the door of the India House and of the merchants. 
 
 A full share of blame rests with successive Parliaments and 
 Governments of England from the commencement of the century 
 and earlier ; for parliamentary Committees have from time to 
 time discussed the subject, and even admitted its grave aspect, but 
 have advised, as expedient, silence and non-interference ; while of 
 the dififerent Cabinets during this period some have adopted a 
 course the least defensible of all. And with respect to the na- 
 tion at large ; in a parliament returned especially upon the 
 Chinese Question, what is the proportion of the electors of Eng- 
 land who have given the history of our relations with that 
 country any independent inquiry ? Moreover, amongst those 
 who have long had not only an acquaintance with its facts, but 
 a moral sense also of their character, the writer of these pages is 
 one who has to confess a sluggishness and faint-heartedness in 
 remonstrance which would not have existed had those related 
 to him been involved in the ruin. When therefore the imperial 
 opium traffic has the inevitable effect of blunting, as with an aura 
 morphiana, the moral sense of merchants and of every official 
 in the East and West, so that the honourable and humane con- 
 sent to connive at it, and at the ramified system of immoralities 
 it necessitates, the whole thing must be denounced as a national 
 sin, every one of us, according to the light and influence he pos- 
 sesses, having to bear his share of the guilt, as he will of the 
 judgment which in some form or other never fails to be visited 
 on offending nations. 
 
 Let no one then rashly appeal to the antecedents and 
 
APPENDIX. . 345 
 
 presumed moral inflexibility of any individual officials to justify 
 an indolent confidence that all is right, and a neglect of im- 
 partial inquiry. Such a course compels the expostulator who 
 would be faithful to adduce facts and even personal motives 
 he would gladly submerge under the general inquiry. If then 
 the aura morphiana extends its influence to the far west, dulling 
 the moral sense of imperial Statesmen here, what must be its 
 eflPect upon those who are unfortunately placed in the centre 
 of its intensity — upon traders and functionaries, especially where 
 these are, through near relations, closely interested in the traffic ? 
 One of two consequences is inevitable. They must either sink 
 into an insensibility as complete as the effii'ct of the drug 
 itself on the smoker, or break away from their ensnaring posi- 
 tion, at whatever sacrifice to their pecuniary interests ; as has 
 been done in certain exemplary instances. Let our supine 
 nation take to itself the blame, and not lay it all upon those 
 whom she allowed to lapse into a position from which none of 
 them can individually extricate themselves without a sacrifice 
 few have moral strength to make. 
 
 Grand and extensive to human appearance were England's . England's 
 opportunities for good when she invested herself with the moral portunHies for 
 guardianship of the East, — when, the Almighty, by not restrain- ^°°^ ™ ^^^ 
 ing her arms, allowed her to assume power there with all its 
 responsibilities In her sway over India and her command over 
 thetrade with China great was her secular gain, but great also the 
 return which she was bound, and ought to have rejoiced, to make. 
 She found India and China — one half of the world's population 
 — through the protective restraint of a Mahomedan Government 
 over the former, and a Bhuddist over the latter (such was the 
 gracious intervention of Providence) — under the sway neither 
 of that scourge Spirit, nor of that greater scourge Opium. 
 Knowing the obstruction offered by the former agent to the moral 
 improvement of her own Saxon race, deeply impressed ought she 
 to have been with the responsible privilege devolving upon her, 
 as mistress of a boundless field unensnared by these agents, for 
 plying the vaunted influence of her Christian civilization^ — as 
 mistress of the plains and people of India, and mistress of a 
 position in China second only to that, in moral and religious 
 opportunities ! 
 
346 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Placing herself uninvited on the coast of China, she found her 
 an immense and ancient Empire far removed from all the benign 
 influences of Christianity with which she herself had for centuries 
 been favoured, and therefore possessed of the faults of our com- 
 mon nature due to the circumstances of her position. She found 
 her people as proud, contemptuous, fraudulent, and vain, as with 
 like disadvantages her own would assuredly have been ; and 
 also (looking to the fate of India) reasonably distrustful and 
 exclusive. 
 
 Did she, as the Representative of Protestant Morality 
 IN THE East — a privilege and responsibility from loMch she can- 
 not escape — bring even the ordinary influences of a practical 
 Christianity to bear upon that people — of integrity, honour, 
 generosity, benevolence, and humanity — influences which when 
 honestly and perseveringly applied are irresistible ? 
 
 No one mindful of the power with which a practical Chris- 
 tianity brought under its sway in ancient times the whole Roman 
 and Barbarian world, and in modern times the most savage and 
 haughty races through the agency of a few unarmed missionaries, 
 can for a moment doubt that by the exhibition of some Christian 
 principle, some little generosity, some little nobility of soul, the 
 distrust of the Chinese, with their puerile vanity and arrogance, 
 would have long since given way, and our relations with her 
 been placed upon a reasonable footing, without the employment 
 of any such means as we have been, and are now adopting. To 
 deny this were to run in the face of all experience ; to which 
 the case of China itself is no exception. 
 
 In permitting England to occupy the highest position of mflu- 
 ence on the coast of China, the Almighty has laid upon her ^n 
 obligation from which she cannot escape — that of being the 
 Exemplar of Protestant Morality in the sight of that people. 
 That of this trust He will sooner or later demand an account, 
 no one who has studied his ways in history, or His announce- 
 ments in Scripture, can for one moment doubt. Did she then 
 use endeavours, by a consistent and elevated bearing towards 
 that people, to improve their morals, and subdue their preju- 
 dices ? 
 Her de- The very contrary. She did not even leave them in their ex- 
 isting demoralization ! Finding them, like her own race, prone 
 to, but under the bondage of no especial agent of, drunken 
 
APPENDIX. 347 
 
 debauchery, the cultivation of their snare, Opium, being 
 thoroughly repressed in China, she plied them for the sake of 
 gain with this lethal agent from without ! 
 
 Opium debauchery in China, the nursling of England (for 
 her parliamentary committees and government have been 
 accessary to it from the first), was fed the first year, as we have 
 said, with one thousand chests of the drug, and required fifty 
 years of fostering care, on the part of the government of India 
 and the merchants, to enlarge its powers of consumption up to 
 an annual demand for four thousand chests ; but in the last 
 thirty years it has been acquiring a giant growth. 
 
 The nine months' supply destroyed by the Chinese Commis- 
 sioner Lin, in 1840, would have made laudanum enough to fill 
 about forty thousand hogsheads, or a vat seventy feet in diameter 
 and 100 high ! In 1855 the quantity exported from India rose 
 to seventy-seven thousand four hundred and thirty-five chests,* 
 while the whole growth of China (the efforts of the government 
 having been paralyzed by the former war, and our subsequent 
 breach of solemn engagements to check the import of the drug) 
 has now risen to probably thirty thousand chests annually, 
 making a total of more than one hundred thousand ; and in 
 the nature of things the quantity must increase, to the utter 
 decay and impoverishment of the people, unless it be arrested 
 by Divine intervention in some form or other : — let it be our 
 prayer, through a gracious influence upon the hearts of our 
 rulers, and not through a destructive judgment upon the nation. 
 
 There are four contingencies of this traffic which 
 GREATLY AGGRAVATE ITS CHARACTER. Homage perseveringly 
 done to one evil principle is sure to involve with it homage 
 to many. 
 
 1. In the first place. The opium trafiic must either override .l^ui° '" 
 all opposition in China, or bring us into repeated collision with peated coUi- 
 the government and people. Hitherto the latter has been the ?'<''^.,^*'' "^' 
 case. Let any one acquaint himself with the tenor of all that 
 has been said and done by the Chinese government and its 
 councillors, and all that has been urged by the moralists, poets, 
 and satirists of China, and his surprise must be, not that so 
 insolent and exclusive a spirit towards white men has been ex- 
 hibited at Canton, but that it has not been greater at other 
 * Of about 120 lbs. each, nearly all of which entered China. 
 
348 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 places. In a word, what would be the feelings and conduct of 
 every Englishman who had a spark of patriotism towards a 
 people too powerful and crafty to be excluded from our shores, 
 and whose main occupation" was spreading this very opium ruin 
 throughout our land ! Do we not find in the Chinese that 
 very inconsistency which is to be expected from a people long 
 taught by their leaders and teachers to hate and despise us 
 for the prominent exhibition of our character, and at the same 
 time disposed to respect the better part of our character, and 
 avail themselves of the advantages it offers them of protection 
 and gain ? 
 The tiafflc 2. The effect of the traffic in dishonouring the name of Chris- 
 daUzW ^Xe t'S-^ity i^ a second evil of greater magnitude still. After a hun- 
 religion of the dred years of the contact oi Protestant civilization, the doors 
 ospe . ^£ China remained unopened to us. There were indeed faith- 
 
 ful men who sent, and more faithful who went as, mission- 
 aries, from the hour that England sent her opium ; but could 
 she invoke a Divine blessing upon such double dealing ? The 
 influence of the devoted missionary is doubtless marvellous, but 
 then he must be untrammelled by obstacles from his own side. 
 The more he has to combat trouble and danger from those to 
 whom he brings his message, the more is his singleness of pur- 
 pose manifested, the more his self-devotion ; and the greater 
 therefore is his success. But if his fellow Christians are on all 
 hands exhibiting their Christianity in a moral aspect which 
 makes the heathen themselves shudder, what can be his success ? 
 What but such as we have seen after a century of labour ! 
 
 To charge this failure to peculiarities in the Chinese charac- 
 ter, and to their pride, is indeed a pitiful admission of the 
 weakness of our influence ! To have to batter open their doors 
 by the force of brute matter, to have to run at them with the 
 momentum and moral worth of a buffalo or rhinoceros, is to 
 exhibit no strength to boajt of, but weakness most abject ! To 
 find on our entry, that, after a hundred years of our example and 
 exhibition of Christianity at their gate, the darkness, depravity, 
 and cruelty of idolatry, have not been in the smallest degree 
 mitigated by it, but are, apparently, all the more rampant 
 from its vicinity, is humbling indeed ! but it is not to be won- 
 dered at. It is not the words of the missionary, or the printed 
 book in his hand, to which the heathen will or can give heed. 
 For the value of their message of peace on earth, goodwill, and 
 
APPENDIX. 349 
 
 love, he looks of course for an exhibition of them in the lives 
 and actions of its influential professors. 
 
 Every missionary informs us that the people point in scorn to 
 the opium chest, and tell him to carry it away before he brings 
 his Bible. W'hen the Emperor vi^arned his subjects against 
 Christianity as " a religion which all men knew to be one which 
 corrupts," he said, " the pure natural heart of man, and makes 
 him willing for gain to destroy his fellow creatures," he drew 
 but a reasonable inference, whilst he spoke, in a few words, 
 volumes as to the effect of our in-thrust of opium. Here is a 
 palpable proof that it would have been well for the message of 
 the missionary could he have proceeded from some foreign land 
 and have presented himself as of another race and faith from 
 the opium purveyors ; while England, if she insists on exhibit- 
 ing herself reeking with opium, should at least come for- 
 ward as the avouched high priestess of demonolatry ! If she 
 will deepen the depravity of the heathen for gain, let her not 
 scandalize Christianity by assuming before them the white robe 
 of the Saviour, her skirts foul with opium ! 
 
 3. A third contingent evil flowing from this deplorable traffic is 
 that it has involved us in a breach of faith which may challenge the 
 history of human improbity for its parallel. Upon what ground can 
 England hereafter with any face bind nations to their treaties ? 
 
 At the close of the last war it was notorious that, determined Breach by 
 not to legalize the traffic nor make a revenue out of it, the Englandofthe 
 
 ° . . . ' solemn treaty 
 
 Emperor, even m the hour of his prostration, rejected all proffers with China. 
 and temptations to that course.* At the same time he conceded 
 an admission into five ports, and a cession of Hong Kong, 
 we stipulating aid to our utmost for the suppression of smug- 
 gling. Saving admission into Canton, and the local dispute of 
 the lorcha, whatever its merits, his part was fulfilled to the letter 
 — say, if you will, on account of his weakness. 
 
 The reader is exhorted to ponder over the following treaty, 
 and proclamation by Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, and then 
 say if it would be possible by the foi-ce of words to impart 
 greater solemnity and distinctness to a promise ! 
 
 In all the treaties and proclamations which have been promul- 
 
 * The recent admission of opium into Sliangliai and Amoy, under a duty, 
 appears to he a local act to raise a revenue for suppressing the insurgents. If 
 it were an imperial, it would but prove the fatal growth of our evil influence. 
 
350 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 gated since the Conquest, it would not perhaps be possible to 
 find one in which all the power of our language has been put 
 into requisition to an extent equal to that with which China is 
 promised and the world assured, in these documents, of our 
 determination to root out the smuggling, and our shame that 
 British subjects should be engaged in it ! * 
 
 Supplementary Treaty, signed in English and Chinese at 
 Hoonan Chae, Sth October, 1843. 
 Supplemen- " Article XII. — A fair and regular tariff of duties and other dues 
 isTs'^'^"^*^ "^ having now been established, it is to be hoped that the 
 
 system of smuggling which has hitherto been carried on 
 between English and Chinese merchants, in many cases 
 with the open connivance and collusion of the Chinese 
 custom-house officers, will entirely cease, and the most 
 peremptory proclamation to all English merchants has been 
 already issued on the subject by the British Plenipotentiary, 
 who will also instruct the different Consuls to strictly watch 
 over and carefully scrutinize the conduct of all persons, 
 being British subjects, trading under his superintendence. 
 In any positive instance of smuggling transactions coming 
 to the Consul's knowledge, he will instantly apprize the 
 Chinese authorities of the fact, and they will proceed to 
 seize and confiscate all goods, whatever their value or 
 nature, that may have been so smuggled, and will also be 
 at liberty, if they see fit, to prohibit the ship from which the 
 smuggled goods were landed from trading farther, and to send 
 her away as soon as her accounts are adjusted and paid." 
 
 " Proclamation. 
 
 " British Plenipotentiary, Hong-Kong, SirM. Pottinger, Gr. C.B., 
 
 22 July, 1843. 
 
 Proclamation " Her Britannic Majesty's Plenipotentiary trusts that the pro- 
 
 Plenhjoten- visions of the Commercial Treaty will be found in practice 
 
 tiary. mutually advantageous, beneficial, and just, as regards the 
 
 • Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary must have felt that to particularize by 
 name the grand subject of the smuggling — Opium — would, in connexion 
 with so many invectives, have cast a stigma upon the great purveyor of 
 it in India, and the merchant-prince conveyors of it into China. To 
 suspect that the omission was made with any sinister object, in the midst 
 of so many solemn appeals, would be unjustifiable. 
 
APPENDIX. 351 
 
 interests, tte honour, and the future augmented prosperity 
 of the governments of the two mighty contracting empires, 
 and their subjects, and His Excellency most solemnly and 
 urgently calls upon all subjects of the British Crown, 
 individually and collectively, by their allegiance to their 
 Sovereign, by their duty to their country, by their own 
 personal reputation, respect, and good name, and by the 
 integrity and honesty which is due from them as men to 
 the imperial rights of the Emperor of China, not only 
 to strictly conform and act up to the said provisions of the 
 Commercial Treaty, but to spurn, decry, and make known 
 to the world any base, unprincipled, and traitorous 
 proposals which they, or their agents or employes, may re- 
 . ceive from, or which may be in any shape made to them by 
 any subject of China, whether officially connected with the 
 Government or not, towards entering into any collusion or 
 scheme for the purpose of evading or acting in contraven- 
 tion of the said provisions of the Commercial Treaty. 
 " Her Britannic Majesty's Plenipotentiary will not allow himself 
 to anticipate or suppose that the appeal which he now 
 makes to all Her Majesty's subjects will be unheeded or 
 overlooked by even a single individual, but at the same 
 time it is his duty, in the responsible and unprecedented 
 situation in which he has been placed by the course of 
 events, to distinctly intimate that he is determined, by every 
 means at his disposal, to see the provisions of the Commer- 
 cial Treaty fulfilled by all who choose to engage in future 
 commerce with China, and that, in any case when he 
 may receive well-grounded representations from her Ma- 
 jesty's Consuls, or from the Chinese authorities, that such 
 provisions of the Commercial Treaty have been evaded (or 
 have been attempted to be so), he will adopt the most strin- 
 gent and decided measures against the offending parties ; 
 and where his present powers may not fully authorise and 
 sanction such measures as may seem to him fitting, he will 
 respectfully trust that the legislature of Great Britain will 
 hold him indemnified for adopting them in an emergency 
 directly compromising the national honour, dignity, and 
 good faith, in the estimation of the government of China, 
 and in the eyes of all other nations. 
 
 " God save the Queen ! 
 
 (Signed) " Henry Pottinger." 
 
of these docu- 
 ments. 
 
 352 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Solemnity In these notable documents what moral expression is wanting, 
 what sacred and lofty sentiment omitted, which could serve to 
 pledge England most deeply to sincerity ? — England, the Ex- 
 emplar of Protestant Christianity, pledged by the Plenipoten- 
 tiary of Her Most Gracious Majesty — " the Defender of the 
 Faith ! " The language is apparently that of patriots as sen- 
 sible of their country's wrong-doing towards China, as were 
 those good men of her wrong-doing to Africa, who stirred her 
 up to remorse and a suppression of the great but lesser mora] 
 evil of the two — the slave-trade. 
 
 What must be the trammelling and embarrassing character 
 of a traffic which has placed men of high honour and principle — 
 the nation's choicest statesmen and other functionaries — in the 
 following anomalous position ! 
 Their pro- Pray let the reader note the force of every line of this promise 
 b"^^ ™utf rl° *° ^^ ^^^ °^ Chiua — this outburst of remorseful indignation — 
 broken. this homage to justice, honour, and humanity ! Is there an 
 
 Englishman who will not blush to know that from the com- 
 mencement of the traffic up to the date of the signature of 
 these documents, and ever since, there never has been the 
 smallest effort on the part of Her Majesty's Government to 
 check the trade ? On the contrary, the production of the drug 
 in India by the Company has been encouraged by the Board of 
 Control ; it has been defended repeatedly by members of differ- 
 ent governments ; every effort made in parliament to check it 
 has been thwarted ; parliamentary committees have repeatedly 
 recommended silence upon it ; the Earl of Shaftesbm-y's motion 
 against opium that very year (1843) was withdrawn at the 
 request of the Minister ; the Company have gone on increasing 
 the supply with an extraordinary rapidity ; the Consuls in Chiua 
 have done nothing to check the smuggling, or take any of the fine 
 steps promised, and could not, as one of them significantly stated. 
 Moreover, that the threats held out, in an honest heart no doubt, 
 by Her Majesty's Plenipotentiary, ended in nothing. " Every 
 means at the disposal " of Her Majesty's Representatives — a 
 powerful naval force, and " the most stringent measures " — its 
 broadsides — were never once heard, nor threatened, against the 
 opium craft ; excepting in a solitary instance in which an officer, 
 Captain Hope, of the ' Thalia,' committed the mistake of sup- 
 posing some meaning to be attached to treaties and promises, 
 
APPENDIX. 353 
 
 and diverted from their course some opium ships, not, indeed, as 
 such, but as proceeding beyond the prescribed limit of thirty-two 
 degrees of latitude : while this small effort is said to have been 
 balked by his removal to another station ! 
 
 If all this shall appear incredible in history, still less credible The consum- 
 will be the following consummation of it — the actors being men j^pjo^ih' 
 of such high honour, that his self-confidence must be great who 
 would lightly occupy their embarrassing position. After \^e 
 had for many years totally neglected to fulfil our treaty and 
 promise against smuggling ; nay, had in the interim doubled our 
 introduction of opium — while it was uotorious that our traders 
 continued, as always, to bribe the local officials of China ; — 
 that the great Government of India was pushing increasing 
 quantities of opium every year into the smugglers' hands, ready 
 put up in packages of Chinese weight (though refraining of 
 course from itself smuggling, but having even indemnified losers 
 of seized opium) ; — that the smugglers' ships were perfect 
 sloops-ofwar in their armament and "slavers'' in their speed; 
 — that not only they carried the British flag, but it was mounted 
 also by licensed Chinese craft to secure immunity on the coast, 
 — while it was notorious also that the Supreme Government of 
 China, especially since the war, was utterly powerless to prevent 
 the opium ships from breaking bulk, though unquestionably sin- 
 cere, and the local government equally powerless and at the 
 same time corrupt ; — while the very terms of our promise proved 
 our knowledge of her weakness — will it be believed, after all 
 this, that our Government, when about to charge China with 
 her laches in not admitting us as stipulated into Canton, instead 
 of first making some amends for the past by setting to work at 
 once to fulfil our very solemn stipulations, actually found them- 
 selves to have drifted into a position in which they felt compelled 
 to save appearances by giving the Emperor notice that England 
 would consider herself relieved of her obligations to him on 
 account of his failing to do his part in the suppression of the 
 traffic? — Relieved of obligations, the very terms of which had 
 implied his inability to oppose the power and craft by which 
 the smuggling was supported ! — relieved at the eleventh hour 
 of obligations which, from the very first hour, not one of the 
 parties bound by them had manifested the smallest intention of 
 observing ! 
 
 2 A 
 
354 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 Let the reader compare a breach of treaty on our part so 
 solemn in its reiterated assurances, and in its importance to 
 China, as promising to save her from the breaking in of many 
 million pounds weight of opium annually, with the breach she 
 has committed (if breach it is with such justification) in re- 
 fusing to our traders the convenience and recreation of a free 
 entry into Canton, and then let him in candour say which 
 party, in this realized parallel of the fable, is the wolf and 
 which the lamb — or goat, if you will. 
 England 4. The fourth, and perhaps the saddest contingency of all, con- 
 then rufers to Elected with the traffic in opium, has been the constant endeavour 
 sin. on the part of our government to induce the Emperor to legalize 
 
 its introduction. A recommendation to that effect on the part 
 of a Tieathen councillor about the year 1838 was not to be 
 wondered at, but it must be to us surprising that his tempting 
 arguments were unheeded and he degraded. More than one 
 British councillor, fearing no degradation in Christian England 
 as the advocate of that policy, has prompted the effort to 
 persuade the Emperor to take off the contraband and to make 
 a revenue out of the drug ! 
 
 In this proposal there was no real parallel whatever to our 
 spirit duties. The same active principle pervades beer, wine, and 
 spirit, which the large majority of our nation having long con- 
 sumed, and, being their own rulers under a constitutional govern- 
 ment, have not made up their minds to disuse and suppress. 
 All that a British government can do is to tax spirits highly ; 
 and if the country countenances any Chancellor of the Exche- 
 quer in such expressions as that he looks with satisfaction to 
 an increased consumption of spirits, the fault is its own. But 
 even in England, were opium inhaling to be introduced here 
 with destructive and rapidly increasing effect, there cannot be a 
 doubt that its importation and sale would, by the most stringent 
 measures, be reduced again to a medicinal amount. 
 
 To our persuasive arguments the Emperor Tuou Kwang 
 replied : " It is true I cannot prevent the introduction of the 
 flowing poison; gain-seeking and corrupt men will for profit and 
 sensuality defeat my wishes ; but nothing will induce me to 
 derive a revenue from the vice and misery of my people ! " 
 Here was a heathen ruler reading a lesson in morality to a 
 Christian government ! — a severe and courageous sarcasm after 
 
APPENDIX. -J OS 
 
 his having recently felt the power of " civilization " in argu- 
 ments of lead and iron. 
 
 Thus does^England, with her Bibles all over the world, and 
 her shelves breaking down under her endless accumulations of 
 stereotyped religion and morality, find herself the failing and 
 rebuked tempter of one heathen ruler, and now again (as is too 
 well known) at the same work with his successor ! — the cor- 
 rupter of the morals of heathen rulers — the tempter of them 
 to desert their people, and give up repressive measures which 
 had for generations been thoroughly successful, until ruined by 
 her cupidity and power ! Let her succeed, and he will then 
 wash his hands of the blood of his people, he will leave them 
 free to grow opium for themselves, and England will have the 
 satisfaction to know that she has consummated the greatest 
 crime that one nation could commit towards another ! 
 
 We read, in history, of lawless subjugations — of cruel ex- 
 terminations by the sword — of bigotry and ambition doing their 
 worst in the hands of a Cortez and Pizarro ; but we do not read 
 of one nation besetting another, for filthy lucre's sake, until she 
 has laid both people and ruler prostrate under the debauching 
 impetus of a poison, to the growing force of which human 
 judgment can assign no limit ! Many are the dark pages 
 in history, but that, it is to be feared, will bear the deepest 
 shade which shall faithfully record the doings of England 
 towards China ! Many are the attributes of the Great Spirit 
 of Evil ; but to tempt has been ever esteemed his arch-attribute, 
 from the time, as the sacred poet sings, — • 
 
 " When first this Tempter cvoss'd the gulf from hell," 
 " Brought death into the world, and all our woe,'' * 
 
 and has acquired emphatically this designation of The Tempter. 
 The Tempter has had his agents at work in all ages and 
 countries ; but it is reserved for the nineteenth century, and for 
 England — Protestant England ! — to perform this agency on the 
 most gigantic scale. It is England, alas ! who, breaking in 
 upon one-third of the world's population with a flood, the end 
 of whose desolating course she neither knows nor heeds, is 
 found, from time to time, when she has alarmed them with her 
 arms, at the ear of their heathen ruler, whispering into it 
 
 '• ' Paradise Ijost,' Books X. and 1. 
 
 2 A 2 
 
356 BKITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 temptation to desert his people and do violence to his conscience 
 — to such natural light as has been vouchsafed him from on 
 High I The first great temptation was that of the mother of a 
 future world : the last is that of the father, in responsibility, of 
 one third of its now living, breathing millions ! We would not, 
 and dare not, compare this with the former greatest crime on 
 earth of the greatest of criminals. At the same time, while 
 utterly unfitted to attempt such casuistry, we dread to think 
 how near, in the sight of unerring Justice, the one crime, were it 
 not done in blindness, would approach towards the other ! 
 
 Who, with the opium trafiic before his mind, but must have 
 looked with double alarm at the late convulsion in India ? If 
 it is passuig off as a severe, but not consummated, judgment, it 
 is because the long sufifering of God is great. If, in spite of 
 this warning, the production of opium is being pushed with 
 unabated force, it is because the perverseness of man is greater. 
 If the declarations of Scripture and the dealings of Providence 
 assure us that His righteous will must in the end prevail, it is 
 because His justice and power are greater still — are infinite ! 
 War and With respect to the conversion of China, whatever may be 
 China. the merits of the present war, when so many speak confidently of 
 
 its importance as opening the door to the entrance of the Truth, 
 one is prompted to ask if it is under the banners of a Mahomet 
 or a Bajazet the triumphant entrance is to take place ? If, in 
 making her appeal to the God of Battles, England can venture 
 at the same time to appeal to Him as the God of Creation and 
 of Mercy, who knows that she had in vain pursued towards 
 her enemies an undeviating course of heneficence and honour, 
 and that she cannot escape the slaughtering of His creatures, 
 by leaving them in their perverseness, let her lift the sword, but 
 let no one so disregard His entire word as to propose that 
 the Missionary shall look to the sword as his precursor, by 
 which he may hope to reap the fruit of his labours, escaping 
 the thorn— by which he may avoid that helplessness, self- 
 renunciation, and reliance on Divine protection alone, which 
 constitute the moral strength of his position. Whether, in His 
 inscrutable purposes, the Almighty shall be pleased to make " the 
 wrath of man to praise Him," is a secret which rests with Him- 
 self Our guide is His written word. In it we are expressly 
 forbidden to look to force in any way as the pioneer of the 
 
APPE^^DIX. 357 
 
 Gospel. With that word iu their hands, is it possible that any 
 friends of missions can invoke a blessing on their work, with 
 any such notion in their minds, as that their Missionaries should 
 enter the gates of China marching close in the rear of Power, — 
 treading to its martial sounds, — marked with its dust, — and 
 mixing their hymns with the ' lo Triumphe ' of the motley and 
 exulting train following the chariot of Victory ? 
 
 ( K.— Page 204. ) 
 
 Objections to the introduction of Africans into India have African troops 
 been raised, on the ground of its affording a countenance to ^°^ ^"without 
 the slave trade, since the men must be purchased on the coast, slavery, or 
 Were it so, I freely confess that, with at least an equal abhorrence ™"° expense, 
 of slavery with my neighbours, nay, from a desire to be con- 
 sistent in that abhorrence, I would prefer an appearance of it in 
 Africa, to the reality of it in England. We may be very certain 
 that the starving and oppressed African taken to the climate of 
 India, congenial to him, and raised to the respectable position of 
 a well-dressed soldier, might be safely given his liberty, and the 
 promise of being conveyed back again to his squalid and en- 
 slaved life in Africa, if he were so insane as to prefer it. No 
 such promise to the British soldier as discharge and a free return 
 at any hour to England can be ventured upon ; showing which 
 would be most contented and free. But whatever might be the 
 state of the recruiting in Africa at the outset, letters by thou- 
 sands, as soon as they could write, or messages through one or 
 two influential men, brought back to Africa, accompanied with 
 substantial presents, would in no long time set whole provinces 
 volunteering, where want and periodical famine are so frequent. 
 
 The missionaries might be able with a good conscience to aid 
 the work with their influence, when they considered how import- 
 ant, on moral grounds, it would be to lessen the number of British 
 soldiers in India, and were assured that every religious advan- 
 tao-e would be afforded to the African recruit as a soldier in 
 India. It is absurd to suppose that from a teeming, abject, and 
 oppressed people recruits could not be had on about the same 
 terms as amongst the natives of India, as soon as it ceased 
 to be a terra incognita to the former. To commence with the 
 
358 BRITISH ABMY IN INDIA. 
 
 rates of remuneration to West India corps would be to spoil the 
 work, and to remunerate the African as absurdly as would be a 
 recruiting in England on a scale of pay equal to that of the com- 
 mission officer of the India Service. 
 
 African troops in India would possess a peculiar value. 
 Their mere presence would trip up the confidence of the natives 
 in their climatic advantages ; but for which confidence, it is, 
 from long past conversations with them, my conviction they would 
 not venture on rebellion. The African could never amalga- 
 mate with them, and must at all times feel that his own exist- 
 ence was bound up with that of the British power. We may 
 hope that he would become a convert to Christianity, *and set a 
 fairer example of its profession than do our unhappy fellow- 
 countrymen in the ranks in India. After a generation or two 
 his offspring in India might supply recruits on the spot. In 
 the mean time there would appear no want of African tribes 
 abundantly martial in spirit. 
 
 The CafFres themselves, who have given us so much trouble 
 at the Cape, are said to be in such abject want as to be willing 
 to take any service on any terms ; and they certainly do not 
 lack valour. As to any capriciousness and uncertainty of cha- 
 racter, surely that would be corrected by discipline and educa- 
 tion, and, after a force was once formed, by the influence and 
 example of the older soldier upon the recruit. It would be of 
 great importance that a rate of pay little if at all exceeding 
 that of the native soldier in India should be, from the first, 
 established. 
 
 ( L.— Page 206. ) 
 The enlist- The Acts of Parliament of 1847 were undoubtedly an imnort- 
 
 meut Acts of , i i i /. ,. 
 
 1847 an im- ant step towards a wrioiesome system oi enlistment, as afibrd- 
 com''let''"V'^" "^§ *^® recruit the opportunity of revoking, before a magistrate, 
 a precipitate decision. But when he is enlisted for Her Majesty's 
 service the liability to serve in India is of course kept out of his 
 view ; and when for the India service, the Serjeant, as a matter 
 of course, and of fact, cannot, and would not if he could, give 
 him any true notion of what he is undertaking. And should 
 any of his friends have it in their power to do so and to con- 
 vince him ; is he not always under some pecuniary obligation 
 
APPENDIX. 359 
 
 to the Serjeant, before he sees the magistrate, which, however 
 small, a village lad has no means of liquidating ? and does he 
 not in withdrawing subject himself to many taunts, and ridicule, 
 which the least educated can least withstand, and, as he walks 
 away, to be jeered as a renegade ? In short, is it not very true 
 that he does and can only accept service for India in the dark ? 
 Notable eifects of recruiting practices will be found under the 
 two following heads : — M and N. 
 
 ( M.— Pages 213 and 214. ) 
 
 The following extracts from the General Orders of Com- Eemarkable 
 
 India. 
 
 manders-in-Chief in India are selections from amongst the de™'^an ni?li' 
 stronger specimens of what may be said to form the burden and tary crime in 
 current matter of military orders relating to European troops in 
 that country. Coupled with the endless regimental orders and 
 punishments, and with the condition of mind of the great majority 
 of the men, they establish incontestibly the fact, which might 
 without their evidence be predicated from the whole premises of 
 the question — that military service, to the European soldier of 
 the ranks in India, is no blessing, but an iron bondage, so irk- 
 some that men who are all that the commander could desire in 
 the field in Europe, seem completely metamorphosed when im- 
 mured in barracks in India. Such a service moreover draws in 
 amongst them, as a matter of course, characters so undeserving 
 that even it is the best life the four quarters of the globe offer 
 them ; but not a reformatory one : in its present state, or 
 future prospects. 
 
 General Orders respeotixg Mutinous Conduct on the Fart 
 OF British Soldiers in India. 
 
 " Head-quarters, Simla, 2nd August, 1844. 
 " G-eneral Order. 
 
 " His Excellency has more than once pointed out the very 
 serious liability which soldiers incur who offer violence to their 
 superiors. The present is the eighth instance in five months of 
 soldiers in H. M. regiments in Bengal, sentenced to transporta- 
 tion for this offence ; but without the desired effect in the pre- 
 
360 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 ventlon of the crime— and unless a more immediately exemplary 
 punishment be adjudged by courts martial in the worst cases of 
 violence, of which the present is one, it would appear to be 
 impossible to look for any diminution of that insubordination 
 which has of late become so disgracefully frequent. This Order 
 is to be read at the head of every regiment, &c. 
 
 " By order of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, 
 " (Signed) H. C. Smith, Major-General, 
 
 " Adjutant-General of H. M. forces in India," 
 
 "Simla, 27th May, 1847. 
 " General Order hy the Oommander -in- Chief, 25<A May, 1847. 
 
 " Since the commencement of the year 1847, the General 
 Orders have recorded no fewer than sixteen convictions by 
 General Courts Martial against men of her Majesty's service for 
 gross acts of insubordination and violence towards commissioned, 
 and non-commissioned, officers. During the same period of 
 but four months the courts martial returns of regiments record 
 as many as forty convictions by inferior courts martial of men 
 bearing the name of soldiers for similar ruffianly offi;nces out- 
 raging the discipline of the army and disgracing the service 
 to which they belong. 
 
 " The acts of which many of these men have been convicted 
 rendered them liable to a sentence of dea.th ; and the Com- 
 mander-in-Chief therefore deems it necessary to call the atten- 
 tion of all concerned to the remarks contained in the General 
 Order number seventy-nine, of 2nd of August 1844. 
 
 " Should violence to superior officers in the execution of their 
 office continue as frequent as it has now become. Lord Gough 
 is determined to carry into execution, in every instance, the sen- 
 tence of a court martial, whatever it may be. 
 
 " His Lordship however confidently trusts that the appeal he 
 now makes to the sense of duty of the Soldiers of H. JM. Regi- 
 ments serving under his command will not be in vain. 
 
 "This Order, \yith that of the second of 2nd August 1844, 
 will be read at two successive parades at the head of every regi- 
 ment and detachment of H. M. service in the Bengal Presidency, 
 and afterwards at the head of every troop and company, by the 
 
APPENDIX. 361 
 
 officers commanding them, and a report made to the Adjutant- 
 General of H. M. forces in India of such having been done. 
 "By order of the Right Honourable the Commander-in-Chief, 
 " (Signed) C. R. Cdreton, 
 
 "Adjutant-General H. M. Forces. 
 " By order of His Excellency, the Right Honourable the 
 Commander-in-Chief, 
 
 " Pat. Grant, Lieut.-Col., 
 " Adjutant-General of the Army." 
 
 EXTEACT BENaAL GENERAL OeDERS, BY Hi 3 ExCELLEKCY THE 
 
 Commander-in-Chief, dated Head-quartees, Simla, 14th 
 August, 1852. 
 
 " Remarks by His Excellency the Commander in Chief. 
 
 " This is the fourth case of soldiers of this distinguished regi- 
 ment who have been sentenced to transportation within the last 
 six weeks. His Excellency has reason to fear that this disgrace 
 to his regiment and to the army, Thomas Queeney, was actu- 
 ated in his outrageous conduct by a desire to get himself trans- 
 ported. If the Court were of this opinion, it would have been 
 well had they refrained from meeting his wishes and sentenced 
 him to punishment of another nature. The sentence of trans- 
 portation shall however now be carried out to its full extent ; 
 and at Norfolk Island, the place of the prisoner's destination, he 
 will soon discover the vast difference between the life of a well- 
 conducted soldier in India, and that of a convict subjected to 
 the severe discipline and hard labour of the prisons of the penal 
 settlement. 
 
 "The Commander-in-Chiefhas been given to understand that 
 the soldiery of this army have received from the ill-intentioned 
 an incorrect description of the life of military prisoners sentenced 
 to transportation, and imagine that it is one of comparative ease 
 and comfort and preferable in many respects to that of a soldier 
 in India. His Excellency cannot perhaps do more to dissipate 
 this erroneous idea, than to make known the following extract 
 from the instructions given by the Secretary of State in the 
 Colonial Department to the Lieutenant-Governor of Van Die- 
 man's Land regarding the treatment of convicts, and which « ill 
 have to be carried out in tlve case of the convict Queeney. 
 
362 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 '"Arrived at Norfolk Island the convict will be employed at 
 hard labour. No authority except that of the Queen herself will 
 be competent to abridge the time of his detention there. On the 
 other hand, the misconduct of the convict in Norfolk Island may- 
 have the effect of prolonging his detention there indefinitely. 
 
 '"Even good conduct on the part of the convict cannot 
 abridge the duration of this part of the sentence.' 
 
 " The removal of the convict Queeney from Norfolk Island to 
 another locality, where however he will still have to work as a 
 felon, at hard labour, can only be obtained by a long course of 
 continued and unvarying good conduct on his part, such as would 
 have secured him, had he remained in the Army, certain promo- 
 tion in his profession and the means of retiring eventually to his 
 native country. He is now debarred by the sentence of the 
 Court from the hope of ever seeing his country again. 
 
 " The above observations will show that the life of the convict 
 is one of disgrace and toil. Let the evil-disposed soldiers there- 
 fore be warned by the fate to which this man Queeney has sub- 
 jected himself : a fate to which death would be preferred by every 
 honourable soldier. 
 
 " This order and the order of the 14th July last, publishing 
 the trial of Private John Gill, Her Majesty's 29th Eegiment, are 
 to be read at the head of every garrison or body of troops at a 
 general parade, and subsequently at the head of every troop, 
 company, or detachment of Europeans of the East India Com- 
 pany's Service in Bengal. 
 
 " The prisoner will be sent to the Presidency under proper 
 escort, and made over to the Town Major of Fort William, in 
 view to his undergoing the sentence awarded, in accordance 
 with instructions which will be communicated to the officer com- 
 manding the Meerut Division. 
 
 " By order of His Excellency the Commander in Chief, 
 " (Signed) H. T. Tucker, Lieut.-Col., 
 
 " Adjutant- General of the Army." 
 
 ( N.— Pages 214 and 222. ) 
 
 A striking The following incident, though it occurred many years ago, 
 and pamfui ]^^^ j^^j. ^^^^ ^f j^-g significant importance by time. Delusive 
 
APPENDIX. 363 
 
 announcements by recruiting serjeants are to be seen to this day incident con- 
 even upon the walls of the government military offices and bar- recruiting 
 racks. The only but more humane diiFerence, in the treatment trickery. 
 of disappointed offenders in India, consists in the less severe cor- 
 poral punishment now inflicted, and the greater frequency of 
 transportation ; though under another head (Appendix M) will 
 be found evidence of so great an increase of military crime of 
 later years in India as to have led to a General Order by the 
 Commander-in-Chief of distressing, however necessary, severity. 
 
 As long ago as 1820 I saw in various parts of England and 
 Scotland, as well as at the India House and at the Horse Guards, 
 a blue picture, familiar doubtless to many, which I freely confess 
 a youthful indignation prompted the desire to tear down had I 
 the opportunity. It was headed by an invitation to fine young 
 men to enter the Honourable Company's Horse Artillery, as if 
 more than a small proportion enjoyed that privilege, where a 
 fortune would soon be made ; and the process was exemplified 
 by a picture below of a horse soldier cutting a native to pieces 
 and plundering from him a bag of treasure ! 
 
 In July, 1 823, Lower Bengal was a waste of waters — the in- 
 undations of the Ganges ; out of which, within the whole bounds 
 of a certain horizon, stood a solitary island, the site of a large 
 Brahmin village, upon which were gathered in refuge the in- 
 habitants and stock of the submerged country around. To that 
 island had drifted in a typhoon one of the largest hospital boats 
 of a " monster " and medley detachment of more than eight 
 hundred Europeans, the senior medical charge of which under 
 the age of twenty-three I had the responsible honour to hold. 
 
 In quest of these thirty or more of my severest cases I had to 
 let loose from a weather shore far off, and was fortunate in not 
 drifting past, but pitching upon them and their shelter. The 
 day following, about half-a-dozen of the soldiers' boats came up 
 from leeward, the Head-quarters and Commissariat being "no- 
 where." Each boat had I believe on board its grog cask in 
 charge of the serjeants, but no provisions. We bought from the 
 Brahmins, through the medium of Mahomedans, a bullock each 
 day, which, to the affected horror of the former, butcher lads 
 among the men quickly reduced to inviting joints. Matters 
 went on quietly for a couple of days, save that I saw the men 
 at night supping on a duck a-piece, with one each also to " the 
 
364 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 ladies ;" and I am afraid, under the teaching and authority of 
 the blue picture, all unpaid for; until the discovery was made, 
 that where everything else, living and inanimate, was swarming, 
 self-rescued snakes especially, arrack also abounded ; — abounded 
 because a Christian Government was then urging upon its 
 revenue officers the extension everywhere of the " abkaree," sale 
 of spirit, which under the Mahomedan governments had been 
 repressed. Drunkenness amongst the soldiers followed as a 
 matter of course, and affrays in which, being but a handful 
 amidst thousands, they no doubt fought the more desperately. 
 One of them, half drunk, intruded into a native's Zenana in 
 search of more liquor, and in a quarrel cut his leg half through 
 with a "bill." Victory for the hour was with the European 
 pupils of the blue picture. Redress however was sought through 
 the Civil authorities ; and not many days after, at Berhampore, 
 from an early hour in the afternoon till towards dusk, it was my 
 painful duty to stand, as the surgeon, over an uninterrupted suc- 
 cession of floggings, from that of the " bill " man, who, if I 
 remember rightly, was sentenced to many hundred lashes, and 
 received most of them, through floggings of others less than his 
 by a third, a half, and down to a hundred lashes or more, the 
 smallest awarded. I did not take note in writing of the number 
 of lashes awarded to each, and given ; but I believe that a refer- 
 ence to the Bengal military records would confirm this statement 
 on memory. 
 
 The reader may imagine the hospital scene that night — what 
 peace of mind and good will to man was exhibited by men rag- 
 ing under pain, shame, heat, and a sense of wrong ! but he will 
 not easily imagine my feelings when, upon endeavouring to 
 soothe the ravings of the chief offender and sufferer, he turned 
 and appealed to me, with a volume of imprecations, against the 
 higher powers and all in authority ; those especially who had 
 posted up that very blue picture, the object of my former indig- 
 nation, as put forth to deceive him and other ignorant men into 
 " thinking it nothing to cut down the Moors." I felt that had 
 he, prior to, or during the punishment, called that picture and 
 the system of deception of which it was the type to my recollec- 
 tion, the nerve to witness the inflictions which had well nigh 
 given way would have failed me quite. 
 
 Here were ignorant men who, sent out from a Christian and 
 
APPENDIX. 365 
 
 Protestant realm dominating over a vast heathen population, 
 ought to have been solemnly charged with the duty of exhibiting 
 an example of Christian humanity, compassion, and integrity ; 
 but who were, not only recklessly shovelled into India with no such 
 warning and exhortation, but actually, from the first moment, 
 invited out by false temptations of murderous rapine ! and who 
 were then visited by punishment so severe and humiliating as 
 almost to unseat reason and endanger life, when, falling into a 
 drunken snare, laid as it were by the government, they carried 
 out the very and only impression implanted in their minds, if not 
 under the countenance of that government, at least with its cog- 
 nizance ! 
 
 (0.— Pages 201 and 217 ) 
 
 On the Value of India as a Dependency. 
 
 No one can have traced out the misemployment of labour 
 and the lack of enterprise in the various paths of industry in 
 India, without surprise that the gross amount of its products 
 should be as considerable as it is, and without inferring from 
 these facts that the natural resources of the country should be 
 very great. Upon searching into the fertility of the soil, and 
 the minerals to be found beneath it in various localities, this 
 inference must grow into conviction. Such an one, moreover, 
 can scarcely fail to desire earnestly that these resources should 
 be drawn forth, and the defective state of industry corrected. 
 But while these facts might fully be discerned and appreciated, 
 it is far from desirable that the value of India as a possession 
 should be overrated. It can only tend to mislead the conti- 
 nental states of Europe, and excite envy, while it has a per- 
 nicious effect upon the minds of the natives of India. It serves 
 only to confirm a notion prevalent amongst them, that Britain 
 derives all her wealth from their country. Significantly placing 
 his hand upon India, in a chart of the World, and his thumb 
 upon England, the native will remark upon the small terri- 
 torial extent of the latter. It being a current opinion amongst 
 them that the people of England are straitened for food, the 
 great exports of indigo surprise them so much that an old 
 report has arisen, which I understand prevails unto this day 
 
366 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 amongst the sepoys, that we possess the means of converting 
 indigo into a larger weight of food. Extreme need is, I be- 
 lieve, commonly presumed by them to be the cause which 
 urges Englishmen to seek a life in India, the climate of which is 
 so hostile to them and their children, and renders necessary a 
 separation from these from an early age, and often for life. 
 That such impressions are undesirable must be evident, and 
 that they have operated amongst others more influential to- 
 wards disposing the minds of the natives to insurrection, I cannot 
 doubt. As a matter of fact, it is also to be desired that more cor- 
 rect opinions should be current than those which have been too 
 hastily put forth, especially of late, as to the value of India as a 
 dependency. It has value sufficient to justify its retention, apart 
 from the obligations which the occupation of it has now im- 
 posed upon us ; and there is little fear of its being prematurely 
 abandoned by a British Government. But how greatly its value 
 has been overrated will, I think, appear from such considera- 
 tions as these. Whatever may be the available amount of the 
 public revenue of India, all that Britain is beneficially inter- 
 ested in out of this sum is, first the receipts of Her Majesty's 
 and the Honourable Company's Commissioned Officers and 
 covenanted European servants over and above what their profes- 
 sions and industry might have yielded them at home or in other 
 fields. It is to be presumed that one-third of their receipts 
 must be deducted on this account. Secondly, the pensions and 
 salaries paid in England. Thirdly, the profit and wages on public 
 stores supplied to India. Fourthly, the profit and wages upon that 
 portion of the trade with India which is in excess of what it would 
 have amounted to had the country been independent or in other 
 hands. Then from that estimated total have to be deducted all 
 expenses due to the hostility of the climate, both those incurred 
 in the country, and the heavy expenses of journeys and voyages 
 for change of air and climate, and for sending children to be 
 educated in Europe, and maintaining them at much greater 
 cost than if their parents' home were at hand. Now these 
 charges commonly swallow up all that can be saved by a careful 
 economy during the first twenty years of a residence in India. 
 It is a small minority only who are alive and in possession of 
 anything from India at the end of that time. With all these 
 deductions that must be a strained estimate which would bring 
 
APPENDIX. 367 
 
 the pecuniary value of India to England up to six millions 
 sterling per annum. In this, no account has been, or can be, 
 taken of the deductions chargeable upon the climate for destruc- 
 tion of health, premature death, and bereavements, separation 
 of parents from children, and children from parents, from in- 
 fancy, and often for life — a thing so unnatural, that man in 
 a simpler state of society would not incur it for any con- 
 sideration. 
 
 With respect to the support of the European soldiery of the 
 ranks, nothing can be placed to the credit of India as a posses- 
 sion, but a grievous deduction, as has abundantly appeared 
 in the preceding pages. Lastly, the possession of India renders 
 us at any time liable to a European war, which in these times 
 cannot be waged for any length of time under a cost of fifty or 
 a hundred millions sterling, the interest upon which would 
 represent a permanent charge equal, or nearly so, to the net 
 annual value of India only until the recurrence of another war. 
 In fact, if the Russian war had been incurred on account of 
 India, the expenditure upon it would have amply sufficed to 
 satisfy and liquidate every existing British interest in con- 
 nexion with India. Every public servant would have come home 
 with glee (excepting in so far as a moral interest in India might 
 have operated with some), and every planter and merchant 
 closed his concern with high satisfaction upon the seventy or 
 eighty millions, it cost, being showered amongst them. Every 
 prospective hope, also, in the minds of parents, of a provision in 
 India for children now living, might have been abundantly 
 satiated with these ample means. 
 
 Compare with this the value of either our Eastern or Western Greatly sur- 
 Colonies — the Australasian or American. Take the former. paesedbyAus- 
 They contain at least two hundred thousand adults of British rica. 
 birth of both sexes and of different ranks, whose earnings, 
 ranging from thirty pounds at the lowest to some thousands per 
 annum at the highest, cannot average less than 70^. a year, or 
 a total of 14,000,000Z. per annum.* As they are permanent 
 residents in a congenial climate, the whole of their earnings 
 must fairly be estimated as so much gain to the nation. To this 
 has to be added the value to England of the rapidly-increasing 
 
 * Or take the annnal gross products of tlieir industry in gold, copper, 
 wool, &c., and the amount will rise much higher. 
 
368 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 trade to those colonies, which, when the land question is pro- 
 perly settled, will in time far outstrip that with India. Having 
 taken much interest in the question of wholesome colonization, 
 especially in connexion with a settlement in New Zealand, 
 Otago, in the formation of which I was much concerned, I 
 obtained from the New Zealand Company an engagement, as 
 the condition of my friends' and my own support of the settle- 
 ment, that a system of land sale and allotment should be 
 established there, which I venture to think would have proved 
 of great advantage to every rightful interest, public and private. 
 The fulfilment of this engagement never took place. The Com - 
 pany, indeed, became dissolved not long after. Nevertheless, 
 under any system. New Zealand cannot fail to progress until it 
 alone, when its many natural resources are taken in connexion 
 with its great climatic advantages, will prove of far more sub- 
 stantial value to Britain than India, which has served only as 
 the prison-house and premature grave of the great bulk of the 
 Britons — the soldiers who have gone out, and has exterminated 
 their British descendants ! 
 
 To say then that the loss of India would reduce England to 
 a third-rate power, or even a second-rate, is simply absurd.* It 
 has merely diverted from many choice parts of the world a por- 
 tion of the enterprise and energy which would have acquired a 
 substantial and permanent growth by this time of much larger 
 amount and value to her ; whether such settlements continued a 
 dependency of the Crown, or, like the United States of America, 
 became separated from it. Were these States annihilated at this 
 moment, it may be a question whether England would not decline 
 at once to a second-rate power, though they cost her nothing in 
 their maintenance and defence. As to the apprehension that the 
 two countries, England and the United States, should ever be 
 engaged in war, the very thought of it ought to be insufferable 
 to the mind of every one, on either side the Atlantic, whose 
 language, literature, and faith are English. War, upon any 
 conceivable grounds which could be named, would exhibit such 
 wickedness and puerile folly, that rulers who drew the Crown 
 of England and the American Union, or allowed them to lapse 
 into conflict, would be guilty of the highest treason — that against 
 
 * The retention of India is at present having this effect in drawing away 
 nearly all our army, and rendering enlistment into it so nndesirable. 
 
APPENDIX. -"'C'.' 
 
 Christian Civilization and Constitutional Government. Surely 
 it would be well at such a tirne as the present, when neither 
 people is on its mettle, honour, pride, or folly, that a mutual 
 and solemn declaration and treaty should be made, pro- 
 nouncing war between the countries impossible ; providing, 
 for the settling of disputes, a council of arbitration with the 
 choice of an umpire in reserve, and leaving it to the dis- 
 satisfied party to record, if it pleased, a protest, as its ultima- 
 tum. Leaving out of view the wickedness of any war between 
 sections of a kindred people, it is admitted on all hands that 
 no object or right that could be named, excepting the main- 
 tenance of honor (!), would be worth to either country the 
 cost of so internecine a war as it would prove. Now the 
 declared impossibility of war would have settled the point of 
 "honor" beforehand, as in the case of a man taking orders. 
 And just as a military man is tenfold more liable to give and 
 receive insults than a clergyman — as the self-same "■ honor "" 
 which puts the former and his opponent on their mettle, prompts 
 the latter and any opponent to mutual forbearance, so would it 
 assuredly prove between England and America, when once it 
 wore the aspect of mere dastardly hectoring for the one Govern- 
 ment to speak, or act offensively towards the other. The sub- 
 jects of the offending state could not but feel themselves 
 degraded and insulted by their own rulers. The reader will, 
 it is trusted, pardon this digression, England and America 
 being mutually, as free colonies, of the greatest value to each 
 other. 
 
 If England were ambitious of greatly advancing her power, a inifi ct 
 by increasing largely the surface and population of a consoli- ''"(^^P"^? ''.'!',' 
 dated imperial territory, it may be a question, now that Montreal American co- 
 is practically nearer than Dublin was a hundred years ago, ^?"'<^^ would 
 
 r J ... ./ e ' give real pow- 
 
 whether such a thorough amalgamation with her North Aiuerican e"r to England. 
 
 dependency, as would be implied by combining her Euruptan 
 
 and American sections under a new title of '* East and A\'c'st 
 
 Britain," would not very soon place her far at the head of the 
 
 nations of the earth. 
 
 ^^'ith respect to India, we have got it and must keep it if we 
 
 can. The sooner we abandon an opium revenue, which is 
 
 rendering us abandoned, and will ere long abandon us, and stir 
 
 the people up, by the highest taxation and the hrishest local ex- 
 
 2 B 
 
370 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 penditure in improvements on every scale, to more productive in- 
 dustry, the sooner will they be raised from their general depres- 
 sion, and be able to support liberally their beneficent trainers 
 and defenders. The convictions of thirty years, long since ex- 
 pressed in various writings, remain more than ever confirmed, 
 that if the Government could, and were to, lower the land rent 
 to nothing, the condition of the mass of the people on the land 
 would after a time be not improved but rendered worse. Pro- 
 duction would decrease excepting under certain local circum- 
 stances of commercial stimulus, the sources of the rent would 
 vanish and those who are supported by the expenditure of it 
 would become destitute. 
 
 Kemaeks on the Causes of the Eebellion. 
 
 I^istress of Many years ago while making inquiries into the prevailing 
 cause of disaf- distress and decay of irrigation in Bundelkund, of sepoys and 
 fection, zumeendars * from that province, I found them clamorous in 
 
 their anxiety that the causes which had brought their families 
 into trouble should be inquired into. On another occasion when 
 taking a look into Oude, after having for more than six years 
 repeatedly heard from the opposite bank of the Ganges the sound 
 of guns proclaiming the progress of conflicts, 1 found villages in 
 desolation and depopulated. On inquiring the cause, of the only 
 inhabitant clinging to the home of his fathers, the usual tale was 
 told of the crudest oppression under the signature of the Lucknow 
 minister or the King himself Upon my suggesting that cruelty 
 so extreme would justify a combined resistance more effective 
 than the desultory, commonly practised by them ; the old man, 
 the head of the village now in ruins, replied, " 'What chance have 
 we against the Company's power, have not your arms extended 
 over all lands ?" Thus : were the classes yielding our soldiers not 
 disposed to look very favourably towards us ; in the latter case 
 as upholding by our troops the misrule they suflfered from ; in 
 the former as dispossessing their families when defaulters ; often 
 deservedly, but in the case of Bundelkund I have no doubt op- 
 
 * As many as a thousand hrinjarees at a time, many of them zumeendars, 
 have come up to me with immense droves of bullocks laden with feldspatliic 
 earth and fire-clay, from mines of these earths, I held in Bundelkund in 
 the Sevcir territorj^. 
 
APPENDIX. 371 
 
 pressively, from a mistaken view of the position of the people 
 and the state of their resources. Further inquiry made it plain 
 that by drawing its soldiers from the rent-paying classes it 
 happened in numerous cases that bitter feelings must be created 
 when their families were dispossessed. In Oude indeed it was 
 well known that enlistment took place to a large extent that 
 each family might have in the Company's army a connexion 
 able to speak and to secure for them exemptions, or privileges, 
 protective against oppressions with which the Company's govern- 
 ment itself was associated as presenting the ultimate force of 
 suppression against which resistance were vain. 
 
 Again the wants of the cultivators for seed corn, &c., had and its drain 
 constantly to be supplied by the savings of their relations in the tiie sopor. 
 army. There can be no doubt the claim of the collector for 
 revenue was often paid by the accumulated savings of the sepoy. 
 In other cases a zumeendar of substance, whose nephew was 
 receiving ten rupees a month as a sepoy, with a social rank the 
 highest, as a Brahmin of the priestly class, could not but 
 compare such receipts with the two hundred a-month he himself 
 paid as revenue, and vphich his nephew would tell him, "just 
 equalled the pay of the young ensign who had come in poverty 
 from England, fed perhaps on indigo resolved into food, and 
 a pariah in caste." As time went on this connection of the 
 soldiery with the revenue-paying classes could not, it has 
 always appeared to me, fail to have a prejudicial effect. 
 Indeed on mentioning this apprehension to a field-officer 
 recently returned from India he stated that of late years a 
 recklessness had grown up amongst the sepoys on account of 
 the pressure of their village wants upon them. 
 
 Again, while the bigotry and superstition of the Brahmin, , '^^''^°"?y ?^ 
 which have been much dwelt upon as a cause of the outbreak, for his pre- 
 are not to be overlooked, it is the social position and prescrip- scriptive pow- 
 tive power, which his caste confers upon him, for the mainte- 
 nance of which he is most jealous. The Brahmin does not only 
 stand in a hierarchical, but also in the highest aristocratical 
 position ; and he has an authoritative voice in all pursuits of 
 industry. All processes in other arts, as well as agriculture, 
 are supposed to have been prescribed and imparted through 
 the Brahmins. Every newly commenced process of business, 
 every new machine, or even repair of an old one, has to go 
 
 2 B 2 
 
372 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 through the ceremony of ^'poojah" with a feeing of the 
 Brahmin. 
 
 I very soon discovered the jealousy of the Brahmin towards 
 processes and machines of a kind and on a scale which struck 
 the people with surprise ; and which for a time the workpeople 
 desired should be " poojahed." A little reflection must make 
 it plain that if the Governor-General had even sent oblations to 
 their idols daily, it could have availed little towards suppressing 
 the deadly hostility of the Brahmin towards the European system 
 — towards progress of every kind. Not only does Western 
 science put to silence the trash taught by the gravest of them, as 
 their hallowed system of physics, but more palpably in the arts, 
 their authority is suifering daily shipwreck through it. In the 
 locomotive engine they must have seen it run down at the rate of 
 forty miles an hour. In short, their hierophantic aristocracy was 
 going to ruin ; in their sight much more certainly and alarmingly 
 by the impertinence of progress, than by the quiet labours of the 
 missionary. To combine the exaltation and conciliation of the 
 Brahmin with the progress of civilization, was an impossible 
 attempt. A European gentleman in my employment, of great 
 ability, and born in the country, taught me early to perceive 
 the expediency of excluding the Brahminical element and spirit 
 as fast as we could from the large establishment employed in 
 the works described under a former head.* We had a curious 
 (jrease question arise, in connexion with the lubrication of the 
 various bearings of machinery, which in weather very hot and 
 dry required more than usual unction. By unusual tact on the 
 part of my friend, instead of a " strike," which in India is pecu- 
 liarly difficult to overcome, we always gained the ascendency, 
 and, by degrees, destroyed the authority of the Brahmins com- 
 pletely. 
 
 The confident reliance of the natives in the destructive 
 
 effects of their sun upon Europeans, is another cause upon 
 
 which I have dwelt in former pages.f Without this reliance, 
 
 It is not probable they would for many years to come, have 
 
 attempted to throw off our yoke. 
 
 encour^edby "^"^ ENCOURAGEMENT given by our studiously Conciliating 
 
 the deferential bearmg towards the Mahoraedans also was likely to foster their 
 
 wMd^ them*"' P>"etensions rather than lead them to acquiesce in om- ascendency. 
 
 * Appendix H. t Page 14 and elsewhere. 
 
APPENDIX. 373 
 
 An instance of this effect of rather a striking character came to 
 my notice in connexion with the impression on the Company's 
 rupee. It is well known that up to so late a date as the year 
 1835, the Company's government maintained the inscription on 
 the last Mahometan sicca rupee, that of the Emperor Shah Allam, 
 with his title on the obverse, and on the reverse a passage from 
 the Koran ; and it was thought unsafe to tamper with this im- 
 pression. 
 
 It came to my knowledge, from a conversation respecting this 
 inscription on the rupee that the Mahomedans professed the 
 belief and carefully circulated the report, that the impression 
 was supernaturally maintained by the Deity ; as a public evidence 
 of the Mussulman right to rule Hindostan, and as a pledge 
 for a restoration of the right. It was affirmed that the Company 
 had repeatedly sent out dies from England, bearing their own 
 device and that of the King of England, but that when put 
 under the press they uniformly yielded rupees \\ ith the Mussul- 
 man impression on them. Upon being remonstrated with for 
 their credulity the ready reply of the Mahometans was that a 
 miracle was a possible occurrence, but that it was impossible tlie 
 Company would continue the impression, and with it the 
 acknowledgment of the right of others to the empire, if it lay 
 in their power to avoid it. 
 
 It thus appears, that a measure which might possibly have 
 been politic for a few years after our occupation of the country, 
 was being persevered in, as such, until it was so incomprehen- 
 sible by the natives, as to encourage a miraculous interpretation 
 of it in favour of Mahomedan right. 
 
 Some years afterwards, when in Calcutta, I mentioned the 
 report, at the Mint, to the late General (then Colonel) Forbes, 
 who was at the time endeavouring to induce the Government to 
 substitute an English device for the Persian impression on the 
 coin of India. He was much amused by it, and said, " the 
 next time you see the Governor-General (whom he knew to 
 favour me with interviews on public questions connected with 
 Indian progress) I wish you would mention it to him ; he is dis- 
 posed for the change." I did so ; and Lord W. Bentinck, 
 appeared struck with the view the natives took of this act of 
 obsequious policy on the part of the Government. The fact 
 that the existing impression on the coin only served to produce 
 
374 BRITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 a false impression on the minds of the natives, Hindoos as well 
 as Mahometans, of a character not a little opposed to the 
 policy, upon which alone the retention of it was defended, could 
 not but have been viewed as a reason of some weight in favour 
 of the change contemplated. 
 A native ANOTHER cause of disaffection and disrespect will be found 
 KiInTer'^ in the state of the press of India— a question very difficult to 
 deal with. It were far better to give up India than to sacri- 
 fice, were the thought endurable, freedom of the press in Eng- 
 land. If a free press is needful for England our countrymen 
 feel the need of it equally in India, where wrong would pre- 
 vail on all sides uncorrected and even unknown, and where 
 life, dull as it is, would be intolerably so, without it. But if 
 the European press is free it is difficult to put a restraint upon 
 the native press. Yet how far an alien and absolute Govern- 
 ment can be maintained over a half-enlightened people possess- 
 ing an unfettered and most licentious press, while that Govern- 
 ment too, disdains to maintain organs of its own, is a problem 
 which remains to be solved, and of which an unfavourable solu- 
 tion has well nigh taken place. It is in fact a question simply 
 of military strength. Whether the Government can sit in a 
 panoply of power with its arms folded in majestic indifference 
 towards shafts from the pen sent forth in daily torrents, will 
 depend upon its ability and care to clothe its British soldiery 
 with an anti-thermal panoply proof against the fiery shafts of the 
 rebel natives' great ally — the Sun ; and also upon what other 
 ethnic resources it has to supply the tropical element in its armies. 
 A Goyern- Knowing how ignorant the natives are of the wealth and 
 cal° ^recom- power of England, the value of a Government Military Journal 
 mended. l^jis been SO strongly impressed on my mind, that I could not 
 
 refrain from submitting to the attention of the President of the 
 Board of Control, nearly a year ago, the suggestion of such 
 a paper as a ' Native Army Gazette ; ' which might be edited 
 by some of the ablest of the present hostile native writers, en- 
 lightened by, and entertained on, a suitable salary. Would 
 it prove of no value to supply the sepoys of every regiment, free 
 of cost, accompanied with military news connected with the 
 array — its distinctions and promotions, with information as to the 
 speed with which a British army could be conveyed by steam to 
 the most distant parts of the world ; with a list of Her Majesty's 
 
APPENDIX. 375 
 
 shipping and armament, and of the steam power of England, 
 royal and commercial; with an account of her revenue and 
 wealth compared with the poverty of India ; with tables of her 
 exports and imports, and of the quantity of food consumed per 
 head, and its variety ; with an account of her various colonies, 
 and command over other tropical races abundantly able to 
 supply a black army equally sun-proof with themselves ? There 
 might be some ground in an objection that its marvellous 
 statements might not receive credit, if it were a single publica- 
 tion ; but that an abiding incredulity would be maintained in 
 the minds of the sepoys towards evidence of all kinds — statis- 
 tical tables, parliamentary reports, &c., — and persevered in 
 month by month, and year by year, it would be absurd to sup- 
 j)ose. It was surely desirable that the sepoy should not think 
 that the whole resources of England lay in India, and up to the 
 hour of his rebellion believe that in their hunger the English 
 had devised the means of converting indigo, and that supplied 
 from his country, into food ! It was surely desirable that notions 
 so contracted and little to the dignity of his rulers and officers 
 should be corrected ! 
 
 There is a further and powerful cause of disaffection TUeaiisence 
 amongst the people : of Ilindostan Proper more especially : — Governiuent. 
 a cause which has operated upon the village feelings and in- 
 terests of sepoys from our own territory — it is the absence of 
 that paternal government to which they have from time im- 
 memorial been subjected. In the preceding pages will be found 
 copious facts and arguments proving the inability of the natives 
 to husband their industry and the impoverishing effects on many 
 districts of drawing away all the rent from them. To this joint 
 cause I endeavoured, twenty-five years ago, to invite the atten- 
 tion of the authorities as tending to produce " a fearful dis- 
 affection in the hearts of millions," and rendering the British 
 system, though so equitable and moderate in its demands, 
 more irksome than the capricious and lawless course of many 
 native rulers, so long as the latter did not amount to ra- 
 pine, and aided the operations of the husbandman. Native 
 industry has such little power of organization, and is so prone 
 to fall off in productiveness, that it is not simply a light taxation 
 that will avail much. In numerous instances the smaller zu- 
 meoudars have not the providence to husband the necessary 
 
876 BRITISH ARMY IN IXWA. 
 
 capital, and if they had, would oftentimes not dare to keep it 
 for any time, and very generally would not have the resolution 
 to spend it in keeping their agricultural " plant "—implements, 
 wells, cattle, &c.— in the best order. They need providence 
 from without, supplying the means at the time when they are 
 wanted, and enforcing the employment of them. Amongst 
 instances of this, discernible on all hands by those who will 
 search for them, may be mentioned the state of parts of Bundel- 
 kund, as exhibiting the fact in a striking light. The portion 
 of the province in our possession yielded to the Emperor Ackbar 
 far more than it has to the Company. I believe twice as much. 
 Some years ago large tracts were waste, and overrun with 
 " dawk" jungle, and are so still, no doubt. Yet the surface 
 soil is good, much of it said to be excellent, while the ruins of 
 substantial masonry wells show the extent to which it was an- 
 ciently cultivated. The opportunity of discussing the deterio- 
 rated condition of the province from its ancient state with 
 zumeendars from the impoverished part of it, having under 
 particular circumstances been afforded me, the following admis- 
 sions were elicited by a little persuasive questioning : that their 
 lands possessed high fertility, but could yield no " Rubbee " 
 crops from a lack of water — that water abounded, but as in the 
 case of many parts of India the subsoil was too sandy for any 
 but masonry wells — that there was plenty of brick clay and of 
 " Kunkur" stalagmitic limestone, at hand — plenty of " dawk" 
 wood for burning both bricks and lime — labour so redundant, 
 that they affirmed the poor Assamees, lacking employment and 
 food, had often to eat a kind of soapy clay to satisfy their crav- 
 ings, and yet from year to year no attempt was made to construct 
 wells. Moreover, that the remains everywhere of ancient wells 
 testified to the traditional fact, that formerly the land was 
 highly cultivated, and yielded to the " Sircar," the government, 
 a large revenue. The zumeendars one and all explained 
 that none of them had weight sufficient to organize the necessary 
 labour, for, to them, so heavy a work ; and that anciently there 
 were government officers for advancing the means and enforcing 
 its performance. 
 
 Some such auxiliary system as this would appear indispensably 
 necessary for accommodating the Company's revenue system to 
 the requirements of the people. It would save many, possibly 
 
APPENDIX. 377 
 
 nearly all, zumeendars from becoming defaulters, dispossessed, 
 and then of course, rebels at heart ; and there is scarcely a limit 
 to which it might not draw forth the resources of the country. 
 As to the common objections to any measures of interference in 
 Europe, most of them do not apply to the case of India. To 
 the more plausible ones, that the Government has not the means, 
 and that they would be wasted by fraud if they had ; the ready 
 reply is that the means are presumed to arise, after, possibly in 
 some cases, one first beneficent expenditure, from a propor- 
 tionably increased taxation, while waste or fraud merely 
 replaces funds to that amount in the hands of the zumeen- 
 dars from whom they were levied. The system is that which 
 prevailed to the greatest extent under Ackbar and other 
 governors, who rendered Mahomedan rule acceptable to the 
 people in spite of the unparalleled bigotry and cruelties the 
 Hindoos had endured at the hands of " the faithful." Even 
 under those milder rulers, Hindooism was barely tolerated, and 
 was subjected to wanton insults at the hands of Mahometan 
 officers. Yet the people prospered, and were contented under 
 such reigns, and had Ackbar's successors been like himself, 
 they might have been in power to this day. 
 
 A FURTHER cause favouring combination will be found in . Confidence 
 the knowledge the natives had of our profound ignorance of ^ ^u, ^^ant 
 their thoughts and ways ; and of the facility with which a plot °^ detective 
 might be carried on to its maturation unknown by us. They 
 witness, and practise, successful deception every day, and are 
 well aware that the government has not a detective police 
 worth anything excepting for the discovery of such ofl'ences as 
 it is convenient to native officials should be discovered. The 
 deception practised towards the civil functionaries, even those 
 of the greatest ability, is the necessary consequence of this want 
 of a detective machinery. 
 
 No person can now doubt that the rebellion was organized 
 long previous to the outburst, and that the relations of the 
 sepoys throughout the country, and the zumeendars generally 
 were privy to it. It is surprising that any one should doubt that 
 large numbers of them were also accessary to it, and it is difficult 
 to disconnect so remarkable, mysterious, and general a measure 
 as the circulation of the " chuppatees " from the rebellion which 
 immediately followed it ; especially as it is said that, on an 
 
378 BRITISH A.IIMY IN INDIA. 
 
 ancient occasion of a general combination of the fighting popu- 
 lation, it had been practised. That the zumeendars in possession 
 should not have risen, is a satisfactory proof that the motives 
 for disaffection were not strong enough to induce them to risk 
 their properties. But nothing more can be said of the majority 
 of them than that, excepting in that they circulated the chuppa- 
 tees, they were neutral in action, but accomplices in knowledge. 
 They acted the part of the signalman or bugler, who is an 
 accessary to the combat though he does not engage in it 
 A secret- Impressed with the great need in India of a better detective 
 recommended' machinery than can be at the command of local officers, I 
 ventured, in one of the communications already referred to, to 
 express the opinion that a secret service corps, of great value for 
 civil as well as political and military purposes, might be 
 formed of dark complexioned half-caste Christians, trained at 
 the Government Schools and selected for their abilities and 
 good principles. To refuse, upon moral grounds, to employ such 
 a machinery in India, would exhibit a squeamishness not 
 enforced in Scripture, nor fairly deducible from its precepts. 
 What ! shall a government not be squeamish at the thought 
 that every day in the year all manner of injustice and oppression 
 is being enacted under, and by, its authority acting in ignorance, 
 and afi^ect a moral sensitiveness against the only machinery equal 
 to the detection of it ? The difficulty of maintaining integrity 
 in a secret service corps, of any kind, especially in India, is not 
 to be overlooked ; but that a large and efficient amount of 
 fidelity might, by suitable provisions, be commanded, there 
 cannot be a doubt. Perhaps the members of such a corps 
 should never be very long resident in one locality ; and they 
 ought to have no direct communication with the local autho- 
 rities, nor acquaintance with their own successors ; or, perhaps, 
 , even with the names of their whole body. Good pay, feir pro- 
 motion, and a strict discipline and able superintendence, 
 would ensure an amount of efficiency giving such a machinery 
 incalculable value. Had it existed, the first whispers of the 
 rebellion would have been heard, probably before the country 
 was denuded of troops for the Persian war. 
 
 If then we would take such a comprehensive and philoso- 
 phical view of the causes of the rebellion as shall exclude 
 erroneous impressions, we nmst not too hastily adopt the sug- 
 
APPENDIX. 379 
 
 gestions, as to their nature, even of friendly natives, who would 
 not think of naming any displeasing to their rulers to hear ; such 
 as the damaging effect of progress to Brahminical pride, &c. ; 
 and, least of all, are the statements of the disaffected to be 
 relied on. 
 
 The native, subjected from time immemorial to despotic 
 and more or less oppressive rule, and trained in no thoughts 
 of freedom, has no idea of pleading oppression as an excuse 
 for rebellion, unless it should be almost of an exterminating 
 character. Though, on the other hand, his allegiance is not 
 ordinarily such, as a moderate inducement to rebel would not 
 overrule, provided security could be insured to him. But with 
 him, even more than with other nations, religion is a ready 
 rallying cry. Although men of intelhgence should place httle 
 credit to complaints respecting it, it forms a general excuse for 
 yielding to the impulse, and it ensures combined action. In 
 the present instance it is scarcely credible that any intelligent 
 native should have thought the government had any design, 
 either in the greased cartridges or otherwise, to do violence to 
 his religion. The Mussulmans, whose religion could not be 
 touched by anything but open obstruction, have been quite as 
 loud in the religious cry, and more active in the rebellion than 
 the Hindoos. The latter would feel the use of the greased 
 cartridges, unceremoniously forced upon him, an insult to his 
 caste ; not one of design, but of carelessness, contrasting with 
 the former, almost obsequious, conduct of the government to- 
 wards his prejudices. 
 
 For the real ground of the rebellion, we must look to the Causes of the 
 several causes, already enumerated, in their conjoint operation, their conjoint 
 
 Istly. We find the bulk of the soldiery drawn from the tax "ction. 
 paying population, who are sure to have grievances against any 
 Government ; especially against one, like the Company's, stand- 
 ing unfortunately in a two-fold position of invidiousness — in its 
 own territory : having renounced that system of paternal discipline 
 which, when not unjust and capricious beyond a certain point, 
 the natives by temperament and custom were disposed to rely 
 on ; and which certainly saved them from many of the eject- 
 ments attendant upon the British system ; — and in Oude : which 
 yielded so large a portion of its soldiery, having the oppressions 
 endured by the same classes referred to the presence of its powerful 
 
380 BRITISH ARMY 11* INDIA. 
 
 interference at one period and absence of it at another — oppres- 
 sions too which the exactors have been doubtless ready enough, 
 though with but partial truth, to persuade the people were con- 
 sequent upon the large payments extorted from their sovereign 
 by the Company. Each such (quasi) loan has probably sufficed 
 as an excuse for the exactions of many a year, and of ten times 
 its amount. 
 
 2ndly. We find the army drawn, not only from the tax-pay- 
 ing classes, but from those castes anciently in the highest posi- 
 tion of social dignity and prescriptive privilege, and restored to 
 much of it, by our own obsequious policy, befitting us as "pariahs." 
 Our omnivorous, and other habits, are those which distinguish 
 the native pariah ; and, like him, we have been sedulous to ac- 
 knowledge ourselves such, by the great deference we have our- 
 selves shown to the high castes ; whose especial characteristic it 
 is to avoid and contemn all these habits and tastes which we 
 have in common with the native outcast. 
 
 We have in effect said — " Our tastes and instincts are, alas ! 
 swinish and low caste. Though we cannot change our nature, it 
 shall not prevent us from honouring you, the stately roebucks of 
 mankind — pure herbivorous feeders, of exclusive habits." In how 
 many ways has the English functionary, civil as well as military, 
 said by his deference to caste — "Write me down a pariah." 
 But not only have we appeared before them as pariahs ; but as 
 ravenous ones from a hungry country, migrating to theirs for all 
 we could obtain. It is marvellous that superior knowledge and 
 prowess should have so long sufficed to command for us so large 
 a measure of respect, in the face of such a humiliating deference 
 to caste, and inflation of its pride. 
 
 Srdly. While we have lent ourselves to restore and actively 
 uphold the high pretensions of Brahminism, the example of social 
 progress we have set has laid the severest strokes at its founda- 
 tion ; being altogether incompatible with its prescriptive claims 
 and privileges. To preserve their social position, men in 
 Europe are ready to incur any risk. To improve it : is the main 
 object for which wealth is sought with a life of toil. The 
 Brahmin felt the very earth giving way under him. He was 
 persecuted formerly by the Mahometan ; but this was approach- 
 ing extinction. His only chance was to strike at once, and 
 eradicate Western example and teaching. 
 
APPENDIX. 381 
 
 4thly. While the Mahometan was ready enough, uninvited, to 
 cling with pertinacity and pride to every semblance of dynastic 
 right, we have in various ways fostered such feehngs, even to 
 the extent of maintaining his impression on the coin of the 
 country — an open acknowledgment of a right, which was yet 
 behig kept in abeyance in perpetuity by ourselves. So inexpli- 
 cable to the native was an acknowledgment so damnatory of 
 our position, that a miraculous interference in favour of the 
 Mahometan's claim appeared to him less incredible. 
 
 5thly. The native mind was left in the power of a vernacular 
 press, everywhere playing to its prejudices, unopposed by any 
 such organs as are found to be necessary by other despotic Go- 
 vernments wherever the art of printing is known, and doubly 
 requisite for the security of the alien Government of India. 
 Hence the mass of the natives have remained totally ignorant of 
 the resources and wealth of England. 
 
 6thly. The too well grounded confidence of the natives in 
 their power to effect a combination undiscovered by any detec- 
 tive machinery we possess, was a further encouragement to 
 action. 
 
 7thly and mainly. Their observation : actually surpassing our 
 own in its correctness, of the power of their sun upon Europeans, 
 has been doubtless the great and detemihiing cause of the present 
 movement ; as it will of future, to our ultimate confusion, if the 
 dressing of our soldiery in the Tropics shall continue at the 
 decision of no better qualified minds than at present. 
 
 In conclusion. Such an examination of the causes of the 
 rebellion — causes which, if they shall continue to operate, will 
 give final success to a future, if they do not hazard the issue of 
 the present rebellion — forces upon the mind some further exa- 
 mination of the merits of the " traditionary policy " which has 
 ruled in India. Its basis was an endeavour to cherish both the 
 Mahomedan and the Hindoo element, and to rule upon the 
 strength of their mutual jealousies. But this system of backing 
 and bottle-holding to two opponents, involved in it constantly- 
 increasing libations to each, and was sure to issue in their 
 discovering the object, and uniting for the time the very training 
 imparted to them, to destroy the power which was making their 
 prejudices and animosities its tools. It is, in fact, simply impos- 
 sible to win the good-will of the Hindoo or Mahometan population 
 
382 BEITISH AEMY IN INDIA. 
 
 by courting them as such. The progress, enlightenment, and 
 prosperity which would make them British subjects in substance 
 and feeling as well as in law, must be promoted with a like 
 parental and authoritative course to that pursued in the train- 
 ing of a rising generation amongst ourselves ; saving, of course, 
 in the matter of religious instruction. Secular knowledge 
 relating to " things which are seen and temporal " brings with 
 it present experience and fruition, whereas spiritual knowledge 
 — religion, relating to " things which are not seen and eternal," 
 must, in man's sublunary state, rest in faith ; and Christianity in 
 love also. Coercion, or even the semblance of temporal autho- 
 rity is destructive of these. It may change the religion of a 
 country, but then it must be thorough in its action — it must be 
 the exterminathig sword of Mahomet; to convert the heart it 
 must be kept out of sight altogether. 
 
 The Government of India, in refraining from affording any 
 active support, as a Government, to Christian efforts did surely 
 right ; and it cannot too repeatedly avow the determination, and 
 explain fairly all the reasons for it. But then its functionaries, 
 individually, from the very highest, ought to be found amongst 
 subscribers to the work ; otherwise an opposite impression is 
 produced of indifference towards, and disbelief in, our own reli- 
 gion, which we are bound to desire to propagate. It cannot 
 but have a damaging effect to the persuasions of the mission- 
 ary, if men in authority, professors of the religion he ias to 
 offer, exhibit no interest in it whatever. It makes their pre- 
 sence and the Government they constitute, instead of the 
 blessings they might be, the greatest of evils, as limiting the 
 progress of that enlightenment which is of infinite value and the 
 surest basis of all other. As to the policy of courting idolatry 
 by doing homage to its rites, decorating its gods, and offering 
 military salutes to its processions — it is an exhibition of treachery 
 to Christianity, and of political timidity, beyond measure more 
 ignoble and humiliating than would be any flight of our forces 
 from the field of battle ! It is the converse error of those who, 
 also failing to take the word of God in its entirety for their 
 guide, would propagate religion by coercion; but it is a far 
 less excusable error in its motives, while it is sure to defeat its 
 object. 
 
APPENDIX. 383 
 
 The Path of Duty the soundest Policy. 
 
 The reader of Eastern history is invited to reflect upon the Tavourable 
 peculiarly favourable position of India, when it fell into our when first pos^ 
 hands, for a rule of Christian benignity. sessed by us, 
 
 Hindooism on the one hand : with its high caste pretensions, policy, 
 and its social extinction, and oppression, of its lowest castes, had 
 been for centuries humbled in the dust by the violence of Maho- 
 metan bigotry ; though latterly exempt from absolute persecution. 
 Mahometanism, on the other hand : was enduring humiliation 
 by the fall of its dynasties throughout the Continent ; and that : 
 not at the hands of the Brahmin raising his head again to spiritual 
 and secular pretensions surpassing those even of Popery. It 
 was the Mahratta — a marauding race of no high caste nor 
 much Hindoo zeal, whom we found everywhere triumphing, 
 though here and there dividing with the Pindarees, mere rob- 
 bers, the work of Mahometan demolition. We found the 
 Mahratta at the gates of Delhi itself, and saved the Mogul 
 family from extinction at his hands. The Mahratta race had 
 triumphed so far as to have acquired the power, and learnt its 
 interest in establishing orderly government in various parts of 
 India. 
 
 Here then was a favourable opportunity for a Christian go- 
 vernment, duly valuing the blessings, and impressed with the 
 teachings of its own faith, and sincere in its professions of bene- 
 ficence, to have adopted that simple, straightforward, English (?) 
 policy which in true wisdom, and happy results, would have 
 indeed surpassed all the wiliness of worldly statesmanship. " We 
 come," it would have said, " to put an end to your contentions, 
 " civil and religious, and to all social oppression. AVe interfere 
 " with no man's religion, where it does not outrage humanity, 
 " and will allow no one to interfere with it by force or intrusive 
 " insult of any kind, but we leave every one free in his zeal to 
 " propagate his own faith by his best efforts. If the Hindoo is 
 " not a propagator, that rests with himself. We even rigidly 
 " refrain, as a government, from propagating our own faith, 
 " highly as we value it, and convinced as we are that it would 
 " prove the greatest of blessings to this people, but we trust 
 " that none of our servants professing it will be behind men of 
 
of a low caste 
 
 384 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 " other religions in making known what we are assured is the 
 " only truth. As to our array, having no distinction of castes 
 " ourselves, our military service will involve much that would 
 " wound the prejudices of the high caste Hindoo ; we are too 
 " considerate therefore towards him to permit him henceforth to 
 " enter it ; especially as it is our purpose to raise the low castes 
 " out of their depressed position, and to find occupation for them 
 "in our ranks. We will, therefore, that the former remain 
 " actively engaged in their pui'suits of husbandry which it is our 
 " purpose to encourage by all means at our command. Maho- 
 " metans ought to have no castes and no objection to stand in 
 " the ranks with any of their fellow men of like social position. 
 " We shall therefore be ready to receive poor Mussulmans into 
 " the army." 
 Advantages Acting upon this principle an army of low caste men might 
 have been formed, whose feelings of loyalty would have greatl} 
 surpassed those of any of them at present in the service : ad- 
 mitted as they are on sufferance merely, and not upon principle. 
 The degraded position and oppressive exactions they are sub- 
 jected to under Brahminism, render them a class in a state of 
 social humiliation eminently favourable for the operation of 
 such influence as a benign government might have brought 
 to bear upon them ; while every step they were raised, would 
 have placed them in an antagonism to Brahminism, and, we 
 might hope, eventually to Hindooism itself, through the per- 
 mitted efforts of the teachers of Christianity, which would have 
 bound their fortunes up inseparably with those of the govern- 
 ment ; even where such teaching had gone no further than to 
 produce a moral conviction in their minds of the oppressive 
 and degrading character of the religion to which their class 
 had been contented to remain the social victims through many 
 ages. 
 
 If for a generation or two many of them lacked the stately 
 appearance of the bovine Brahmin, their omnivorous habits 
 would be found to introduce into their systems a quantity of 
 nitrogenous food, giving them a nervous temperament far more 
 really fitted for military purposes of every kind than that of the 
 Brahmin. But a large number of low caste men, especially of 
 Chumars, Tfelees, and Mehturs— tanners, oilmen, and sweepers 
 — are to be met with, quite equalling the Brahmin in strength. 
 
APPENDIX. 385 
 
 and surpassing him in endurance and nerve. The castes a 
 step above these, the coomars, danrees — potters, boatnaen, and 
 others — now doing with ourselves an increased homage to Brah- 
 minism, under our rule, and therefore atFecting to be polluted by 
 even an approach of us, self-proclaimed pariahs, to their food, 
 might, had we taken a stand of befitting dignity in the ignoring 
 of all caste, have been drawn into our service with the former. 
 Its good pay on the one hand, and the example of a combined 
 resistance of its ranks to the contumely and exactions of the 
 Brahmins on the other, would have swelled the number of 
 the classes gradually rejecting a system which trod them 
 down, and impressed even the most pretentious of them with 
 a mark of low degradation.* The emancipation and social 
 independence of all these classes would be the downfall of 
 Hindooism, as a social, and very soon therefore as a religious 
 system. 
 
 Another signal advantage in a moral point of view, of the 
 circumstances in which we found India, must 'not be omitted. 
 To the credit of the Mahometan it has to be recorded that 
 bis Government had suppressed the incentives to drunken de- 
 bauchery—alcohol and opium — so carefully, that we found 
 even the lowest caste Hindoos, who have little or no reli- 
 gious compunctions in the matter, so generally temperate, 
 that the occasional excesses of some with the fermented juice 
 of the Tarree and with the plant B'hung offered no practical 
 obstruction to the social and moral improvement of the popu- 
 lation. 
 
 Plaving found the education of the Brahmin, not only in 
 superstition, but more especially in pride, and prejudice, and 
 generally also in indolence, to disqualify him for nearly all useful 
 pursuits, and to make him an obstructive tamperer with others : 
 and having, on the other hand, found low-caste men far more 
 teachable of industrial pursuits, and faithful than others, I 
 have to confess a prejudice in favour of the latter. I have 
 experienced an instance of fidelity in one of the lowest of these, 
 which it would not be easy to find paralleled in any country. 
 
 * I have often heai'd Brahmius decline to admit these several castes even 
 to the name of " Hindoos," or to recognise any appreciable difference between 
 thom. 
 
 2 
 
386 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 With an army drawn from these castes alone, interspersed or 
 not with the humbler class of Mussulmans, and strengthened 
 with a suitable proportion of African troops, and with a proper 
 machinery for improving the minds of all such soldiery willing 
 to learn, and for enhghtening them respecting the country of 
 their rulers, the government might have watched with calm 
 indifference that growth of rancorous hostility in the high- 
 caste Hindoos which is inevitable towards it, and the whole 
 European body, as introducing a progress in art as well 
 as science, which is cutting from under them the high 
 stilts of privileged ignorance and error, and prescriptive claim 
 on which they march over the heads of their countrymen, and 
 are everywhere treading on their toes. 
 
 To judge of the opinions of the high castes throughout India 
 generally, by those expressed, and doubtless very much felt, by 
 the Anglicized, semi-Jnglicized, and well-to-do Brahmins of 
 the Presidencies, would be to mislead oneself. They have the 
 discernment to see that progress is inevitable, and they feel 
 the comforts and security of their own position under those 
 who are its representatives and authors. They have made up 
 their minds to accept a new social position, more gainful to 
 them personally than the one which is being undermined. 
 Accepting as inevitable the decline of the prescriptive status it 
 gave them, their devotion to Hindooism is in proportion 
 weakened. Many of them can now perceive in it absurdities, 
 to which it blinded them effectually so long as it was able to 
 flatter their self-importance, and confer upon them gainful 
 privileges. 
 The baditi- How unfortunate a contrast to such a policy has been " the 
 Usu^ortanate traditionary " adopted by the East India Company's govern- 
 contrast. ments, and even still clung to by some persons ! They entered 
 
 upon a field in which they found, ready to hand, Brahminism 
 long, and Mahometanism recently, depressed ; and drunkenness 
 of no kind prevailing ; and they found numerous abject classes 
 needing only an enlightened and resolute encouragement to 
 induce them to throw off the remaining trammels of Hindooism, 
 and to stand in armed antagonism to the oppressive pre- 
 tensions of the Brahmin. But what did the " traditionary " 
 pohcy ? It restored, and even exalted the social pretensions of 
 the Brahmins, and the dynastic of the Mussulman ; it helped 
 
APPENDIX. 387 
 
 to depress still lower the social position of men of low and no 
 caste : of its own leper * complexioned authoi-s, therefore, 
 amongst the rest, and to aggravate the intensity of Brahminism 
 by even doing homage to its rites, its idols, and processions ; 
 and, to crown the whole, it was at pains to encourage every- 
 where, for a revenue, a free use of distilled spirit, aggravated 
 by the example of the European soldiery, whom it introduced 
 to a life of reckless despair. At the same time it unavoidably 
 exhibited enough of progress to offend the Brahmins, but not 
 enough to benefit them, and the rest of the agricultural popu- 
 lation ; and it then drew the soldiery not only from the tax- 
 paying population, but chiefly from these exalted Brahmins. 
 Is it then too much to afiirm that it has brought down upon 
 its promoters the very rebellion they have sacrificed so much of 
 their better principles to avoid ? 
 
 A Word on the Claims of Native Eulers. 
 
 One of the most serious questions arising out of our occupa- 
 tion of India, and the most trying to the statesman to handle 
 conscientiously without having his reputation soiled, is to render 
 British responsibility in India compatible with the maintenance 
 of Asiatic rule in the various independent states within our terri- 
 tory ; and to form treaties, the observance of which shall not 
 eventually prove a far greater offence against morality and hu- 
 manity than the breach. 
 
 It is not possible for any One habituated to the consideration 
 of public questions to have lived for several years close to Oude, 
 to have heard its continued conflicts, and to have seen its deso- 
 lation, without having long since reflected upon the policy 
 pursued towards independent native states. 
 
 The history of Asiatic rule, especially of Mahomedan over a Prevalent 
 Hindoo population, is, in general, one of misrule : culminating Aaiatio rule, 
 through a few generations to a point at which the natural 
 remedy for grievous oppression takes place — rebellion aided by 
 treachery, and followed by the estabUshment of a fresh Govern- 
 ment, often under a traitor relative ofthe murdered or dethroned 
 
 * The complexion of a, native leper is so like that of a pale European, 
 somewhat heated by exposure, that at a short distance I have mistaken the 
 one for the other. The impression on the native mind of the similarity in 
 connexion with our " outcast habits " is not to be overlooked. 
 
 2 c 2 
 
388 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 oppressor. The population then enjoy some respite under a 
 Government winning favour by performing a paternal part., but 
 at the same time gradually yielding to corruption and vice and 
 bringing upon itself the fate of its predecessor. Under such 
 Governments, in the advanced stages of their corruption, every 
 one who possesses the strength, rivals the supreme power in 
 wrong. This is a gloomy picture ; but it is as nothing compared 
 with the state of a country in which the oppressions of barbarism 
 are supported with the strength of civilization. It is then that 
 profligacy and selfishness run riot : unrestrained by that whole- 
 some fear of reaction, which keeps within some bounds those 
 who are unblest with any feelings of humanity to restrain 
 them. 
 
 In connexion with the extension of our arms in the East there 
 are few measures calling for more regret, as inconsiderate and 
 grievous in their consequences, than our defensive treaties bind- 
 ing us to support native rulers against internal commotions ; yet 
 leaving the administration of Government in their hands. In 
 the case of Oude, the claims of an unhappy people to our pity 
 were so long merged under our respect for the tenfold forfeited 
 rights of a worthless dynasty, to which we had indignly placed 
 ourselves under obligations for large loans (query, gifts) obtained 
 from its coffers, that the evil of a multitude of sub-oppressors in 
 the persons of marauding landholders had grown up and become 
 superadded to the iniquitous oppressions perpetrated under the 
 authority of the Government itself. 
 Inconsistently We are wont, in these days, to marvel that the doctrines of 
 ™me ^ Filmer, and the scruples of the non-jurors, should have com- 
 
 manded so much respect ; but the homage they paid to an impos- 
 sibility — a divine right to misrule * — was nothing to that which, 
 
 * Strange ! that tlie right of despotic government, irresponsible to man, 
 should have been inferred from a portion of Scripture — the 13th chapter 
 of Romans, written as if to prove the necessity and to authorize the establish- 
 ment of constitutional government. The great Apostle, wise as a serpent 
 while hai-mless as a dove, contends indeed for the Divine authority of civil 
 government, in the abstract : as necessary for man's sublunary and social 
 state, and urges the duty, therefore, of an implicit obedience to it ; but 
 he is careful not to leave rulers any excuse, or their subjects without a 
 remedy, for oppression. He presumes an excellency of government as the 
 ground, and measure, of the obedience he demands ; and he is scrupulous 
 to claim implicit obedience to it on that condition only. He repeats, as if 
 to avoid the possibility of a misunderstanding, the condition again, and 
 
preme. 
 
 APPENDIX. 389 
 
 strange to say, some of those whom we honour as the upholders 
 of liberal views in politics have done, surely from a want of ac- 
 quaintance with the interests concerned, to the claims of native 
 Governments — that of Oude in particular. Why ! the bitter 
 plaint of the industrious, producing, population of Oude has 
 been, our upholding by our strength, directly at one time, in- 
 directly at another, the oppressions under which they groaned ! 
 I cannot doubt, had any one of the feeling men, whose sympathies 
 have been excited for their late rulers and other oppressors, 
 heard their touching plaints, and witnessed the sad scenes con- 
 firming them, that he would have felt indignant that such a 
 worthless dynasty as that at Lucknow should be upheld for an 
 hour, and such merciless marauders as the latter not be promptly 
 deprived of all power to oppress. 
 
 How far the position we have taken up in India is one of „ The duty of 
 
 ._ , . /y 1 1 ■ 1 ^ -1 tliB British 
 
 Divme sufferance rather than guidance may be a question, but Government 
 there can, or ought to be, no question as to whether it does not '° ^""^"^ "^ ™' 
 now impose upon us the duty of an enlightened protectorship of 
 the whole people encompassed in our dominion. It were an 
 outrage to humanity and to all Christian principle to concede to 
 barbarous rulers, and chieftains, under our auspices (as all in 
 India must be), the right to oppress and torture their unhappy 
 subjects and dependants vrithout limit. To value their dynastic 
 rights at a higher price than the lives and happiness of the 
 people under their rule, and to scruple to sacrifice the former for 
 the preservation of the latter, would evidence a political mora- 
 lity, it is to be hoped, few enlightened minds in England would 
 in these days desire to profess. The policy of weakness may 
 compel us to connive at much evil, but that should never be 
 allowed to form a precedent for wilfully upholding wrong, or 
 even to habituate our minds to an indifference towards the 
 sufferings of the humble and oppressed. 
 
 ao-ain, with consummate tact, but with singular boldness, considering that 
 he wrote under the dominion of the worst of tyrants — "for rulers are not 
 a terror to good works " — "for he is a minister of God to thee for good " 
 
 "/or he is a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil" — 
 
 "for for this cause pay ye tribute also." If rulers, whether Christian or 
 Mahometan in profession, prove hopelessly neglectful of these conditions, 
 they, by a logical deduction from the apostle's teaching, forfeit all right 
 from on high to rule ; and neither the inconsiderate treaties of man, nor his 
 power, can rightly countervail that forfeiture. 
 
390 BRITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 To annex the territory of a feebler state — to take possession 
 of it in a spirit of ambition, were indeed reprehensible ; but, 
 even in the worst instance that could be named, it would be a 
 greater injustice to the people of such a state not to make their 
 interests, and the manner in which they had been ruled, 
 the foremost point for searching inquiry before a decision was 
 pronounced upon the propriety of the measure. The reader of 
 the preceding pages will not charge the Author with any ambi- 
 tion to see the territorial surface of the British dominions in 
 India extended. He would, however, rather see every inch of 
 it annexed than remain under the hopeless misrule of such na- 
 tive governments as that of Oude. He has not been unobservant 
 of the fact (and has referred to it in papers written between 
 twenty and thirty years ago), that the " paternal " character of 
 native governments, which were otherwise tolerably well con- 
 ducted, rendered them more inviting to the people than the fiill 
 regulation system of the Company's, and he is no unqualified 
 admirer of the Civil Government the latter has succeeded 
 in affording its subjects; nevertheless, much, in spite of its 
 best intentions, as unremedied evil and ill-doing abound in 
 its dominions, they are an elysium compared with the condi- 
 tion of states under a weak or profligate native ruler sleeping, 
 or rioting, at his ease under the shelter of the British flao-. 
 
 When, if ever, our Government shall so modify its adminis- 
 tration of justice in India as to include in it every educated 
 European mind in its service available, military as well as civil, 
 and in subordinate offices not a few of the less educated, and 
 shall introduce and urge forward improvement with a paternal 
 hand, then will it indeed prove, in all that concerns their secular 
 interests, a blessing to the people of India. 
 
 ( P.— Page 228. ) 
 
 vice 
 va: 
 
 Soldiers' ser- It did not appear necessary or expedient to venture, in the 
 ^jywiththlir t^'^'^' i"to any details while naming what seemed the reason- 
 res, able pecuniary prospect for the deserving soldier retiring at the 
 end of twenty years' service ; but it may be as well not to appear 
 unmindful of the fact, that men, especially in H. M. regiments, 
 come out at various ages. A man going out at the age of 40 
 
APPENDIX. 391 
 
 has little, and at 50, no chance whatever of living twenty years 
 in India. It might be fair to name twenty as the commencing 
 age of service and to deduct one year of the service required for 
 title to a pension for every two years and a half, men exceeded 
 that age on coming out. Thus a man at twenty would have 
 twenty years to serve and be able at forty to claim his pension of 
 40Z. a year. At thirty he would have sixteen years to serve and 
 obtain his pension at forty-six. Entering India at forty he 
 would have twelve years to serve and arrive at his pension at 
 fifty-two. 
 
 Non-commissioned officers would of course have a suitable 
 advancement on the privates' pension of 40Z. a year. In the 
 event of incapacity firom illness they might severally be allowed 
 an invalid pension of half the full rates on having served half 
 the several terms. 
 
 The total annual charge would be trifling when compared 
 with the rightfulness of the claim, the beneficial efiects, and 
 probably the absolute ultimate economy resulting from them. 
 
 The following tables of the Company's good conduct pay and Tables of 
 good conduct pension exhibit the best pecuniary hopes the soldier pensions itl- 
 in India has at present ! ! With the views, or rather no views, lowed Euro 
 which have hitherto prevailed, the scale was doubtless thought to ft 
 have been liberal ; but then it was fixed by those who were not ^'^^^'>" 
 the representatives of the people's claims and feelings. With 
 how much of hope and satisfaction it has inspired the soldier 
 may be judged from the preceding pages, both in the body of 
 the work, and from the matter under the letters L, M, and N, 
 of the Appendix. 
 
 " Rewards foe Good Conduct. 
 " Good Conduct Pay, and Distinguishing Marks. 
 
 " In order to make due distinction between deserving and un- 
 deserving Soldiers, the following rewards are granted to the 
 former class, viz. 
 
 "If a Non-commissioned Officer shall obtain a commission as 
 a reward for distinguished conduct in action with the enemy, he 
 is allowed, in aid of outfit, lOOZ. 
 
 " Annuities are granted to Serjeants for meritorious, or 
 
 lean soldiers 
 or services in 
 
392 
 
 BEITISH ARMY IN INDIA. 
 
 distinguished 
 Medal. 
 
 " To Corporals, 
 
 Drummers, 
 
 and Privates. 
 
 service, not exceeding 201. each, with a Silver 
 
 do. 
 
 Good 
 Conduct Pay. 
 
 Having served 5 years, and notl 
 having been in the Defaulter Book > Id. a day. 
 during the last 2 years J 
 
 Having served 10 years, and having 1 
 been during the last 2 years in unin- 1 ^j 
 terrupted enjoyment of Id. a day j 
 good conduct pay ; 
 
 Having served 15 years, and having 1 
 been during the last 2 years in unin- 1 
 terrupted enjoyment of 2d. a day | 
 good conduct pay J 
 
 Having served 20 years, and having ] 
 been during the last 2 years in unin- 1 
 terrupted enjoyment of 3d. a day I 
 good conduct pay J 
 
 Having served 25 years, and having ' 
 been during the last 2 years in unin- 1 
 terrupted enjoyment of id. a day j 
 good conduct pay j 
 
 3d. do. 
 
 id. do. 
 
 5d. do. 
 
 Having served 30 years, and having ) 
 been during the last 2 years in unin- 1 „ , 
 terrupted enjoyment of 5d. a day j 
 good conduct pay J 
 
 do. 
 
 Number of 
 
 Distinguishing 
 
 Marl£s. 
 
 "The following are some of the benefits conferred on the 
 deserving Soldier by the East India Company's Pension 
 Regulations. 
 
 "Men discharged after 21 Years' Service. 
 
 Serjeant Majors 2s. 6d. a day. 
 
 Quarter Master Serjeants — having served 5 years in one orl „ „ , , 
 
 other of the Bants .. .. |2s. 3d. a day. 
 
 Serjeants — having held that Eant during the last 8 Years] 
 
 of Service I 2s. a day 
 
 or, \ if at home, 
 
 distinguished for Good Conduct, and dis- or, 
 
 abled by being wounded on actual service] 
 If permitted to remain in India . . . . 30 Rupees a Month. 
 
 Serjeants — not having held that Rank during last 8 Yearsl , 
 
 of Service / Is. a day. 
 
 Corporals and Privates Is. a day. 
 
APPENDIX. 393 
 
 " Men discharged as unfit from debilitated constitutions, 
 after 14 Years' Service. 
 
 Serjeant Major . . .. Is. id. u, day. 
 
 Quarter Master Serjeant Is. 2f;. a day. 
 
 Serjeants . . . . Is. a day. 
 
 Corporals and Privates <.)/]. a dfiy. 
 
 " ]\Ien discharged on account of Wounds or Injuries 
 received on Service. 
 
 If able to If unable to 
 
 contribute towarcte contribute towards 
 a livelihood. a livelihood. 
 
 Serjeant Major — 
 
 After 21 Years' Serviee .... 2.s'. {id. a day . . ..2s. Vul to 2s. 9a!. a ilay. 
 
 After H Years' Service . . . 1.?. I>i1. a day .... !.«. lOd. a day. 
 
 Quarter Master Serjeant — 
 
 After 21 Years' Service .... 2.s. 3d. a day . . . . 2s. 3c!. to 28. 6d. a day. 
 After H Years' Service . . . . Is. 3d. a day .... l.f. C,d. a day. 
 
 Corporals and Privates- 
 After 21 Years' Service . . . . Is. id. a day .... Is. lOd. a day. 
 After 14 Years' Service . . . . Is. Od. a day . . . . Is. 6d. a day. 
 Under 14 Years' Si>rvice . . . . Os. '.)d. a day . . . . Is. 3d. a day. 
 
 " The Pensions granted by Lord Clive's Fund are included in 
 the above rates, and no man whose service is under 21 years 
 is eligible to the above pensions, unless discharged as an Invalid 
 entitled to the benefits of that Fund, and unless his discharge 
 contain the government's recommendation for his admission to 
 these benefits." 
 
 LONDON ; PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SON.?. STAMFORD STRRFT. 
 AND CIIARTNG CR0.=;S.