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THE MILITARY SERVICE IN INDIA.
Cawnpore, 12th April 1851. Silt—Your paper of the 8th February last, containing among the "Topics of the Day" an article on the "Moral State of the Indian Armies," with reference to Sir Charles Napier's farewell general order, came into my hands only two days ago, after the departure of the last mail for England. In that article, you call on "those who are tenacious of good name on behalf of the Indian Armies," and (by your direct allusion to my former letter published in the Spectator of the 1st February) on me personally, to "for- tify you" with a statement of the exact truth, should Sir Charles have ex- aggerated. Your call has led use to perceive that I ought, at the time of the promulgation of Sir Charles's order to have endeavoured to qualify the inferences which the world in England might naturally draw from Sir Charles's denunciations, by sending you a commentary upon them. Indeed, I should have done so, had I supposed you would consider the subject of suf- ficient interest, or my treatment of it not too inferior to deserve a place in your columns. You observe, that in "challenging your allusion to stories of demoraliza- tion in the Indian Armies," I "spoke with great respect of Sir Charles Na- pier." I did so ; but it was of his qualities as a leader in war, of his bravery, his energy. Of his administrative qualifications, of his ability to rule an army in time of peace, I said nothing laudatory. On the contrary, I spoke of the grievous disappointment we officers of the Bengal Army had ex- perienced in seeing how little had been done by Sir Charles Napier in the way of amending the defects which still exist in our system of internal economy. His farewell order of the 15th December last was a consistent sequel to the line of conduct he had pursued during the year and a half of his com- mand of the Bengal Army. While it is not to be denied that his strictures contain much truth, and while Sir Charles does not omit to record that the number of officers who have misconducted themselves by remissness in the payment of their debts is not inordinate, still the tone of his remarks is such as to impress the minds of people at a distance with the belief that the evil is more widely spread, and more often arises from discreditable causes, than is really the case. It is such as to justify us iu complaining of its ex- aggeration and its depreciatory tendency. In the second page of your paper of the 8th February, you deduce the inference from "the unfavourable pic- ture painted by Sir Charles Napier," that " the demoralization of the army by which Great Britain holds India is an alarming fact." Now, so far from the Bengal Army (I confine my defence to the branch of the Indian Armies to which I belong, and which has been mainly the object of Sir Charles's disparaging strictures) having become demoralized or deteriorated, I main- tain, and I challenge contradiction, that the moral tone of this Army is vastly higher than it was thirty years ago, or at any intervening period; that there is less drinking, less gaming, less, incomparably less, of the degradation and mental and moral debasement involved in illicit sexual connexions. Much of this improvement is attributable to the greater numbers of our educated countrywomen who now come to India ; brightening, cheering, solacing the homes of many, humanizing and purifying the minds of all. It is not to 'be denied that pecuniary involvement is too frequent in the Bengal Army. But there are two important omissions in Sir Charles's re- marks on the subject. The first is, that he has not indicated all the causes of debt. Many debts are incurred 'by the purchase of promotion. The sys- tem of purchase in the Indian Armies is different from that of the Royal Army, and may require a word of explanation. Promotion among us goes by seniority in each regiment up to the rank of major. When a senior officer, having served long enough to entitle him to it, is willing to retire from the service upon his pension, the officers junior to him in his regiment subscribe a quota, each in proportion to his standing, to make up. a bonus equivalent to the estimated value of the retiring officer's position in the re-
mit. Another cause of debt is the failure of an officer's health, compel-
ml g to go to the hills, or to sea, or to Europe ; and thus involving him m expenses which his income (reduced during his absence from his regi- ment) is inadequate to defray. When these two causes—of compulsory ab- sence on medical certificate, and of a call for purchase-money for a retiring officer—fall together, they necessarily involve an amount of debt which may keep an officer in difficulty for some years. But, with rare exceptions, debt thus incurred is gradually paid off by steady economy. Sir Charles Napier would probably say that he did not intend to include the cases of debt thus incurred in his withering denunciations. Yet they form a large proportion of those cases from which it is inferred that the Army is demoralized by debt. It would scarcely be becoming in me to examine too critically all the assertions in this farewell order, issued by a brave old soldier who has so lately been my chief. But there is one paragraph on which I must com- ment. Among the causes of debt enumerated by Sir Charles, of "disgrace- ful" debt, be it remarked, the third cause is "the constant marching of regiments." I shall not stop to enlarge upon the inconsequential reasoning which can discover individual disgrace in the assumed consequences of an obedient compliance with the exigencies of the service. But I aver, that it is not the fact that the marching of regiments is a frequent cause of debt. Those upon whose resources the expenses of a march tell most heavily are the married officers, notoriously and necessarily the least given to extrava- traor riotous living of any members of the military profession • but to yeenng subalterns,. who are mostly unmarried, period of regimental re- lief is not oppressively expensive. And there are few officers, old or young, who do not tire of their present quarters, and hail the period of relief as a welcome change. Moreover, when Sir Charles Napier instanced the "march- ing of regiments" as a cause of debt, he does not seem to have known that the corps of the Native Army are constantly, and at all seasons, liable to be ordered to march by detachments. The Native officers, commissioned and noncommissioned, and the men, receive extra batta during the time they are on the march; but the European officers receive no additional pay on such occasions. And, although the commandant and the regimental staff (that is, those who being best paid could best bear the expense) remain snugly at regimental head-quarters, and do not move except on the march of the regiment, (usually, in ordinary times, a triennial occurrence,) the cap- tains and subalterns are frequently on the move, either on escort duty or on detached duty to some neighbouring outpost, "on command" as it is tech- nically termed. And these detached duties are generally more expensive than the periodical march of a regiment to a new station because the de- tached officer, in order to retain possession of the house or share of a house which he occupies at regimental head-quarters, is obliged to pay rent during the period of his absence, in addition to the expenses of marching if on escort duty, or of house-rent at the outpost if " on command." The second omission of which we have to complain is, that Sir Charles Napier has not sufficiently dwelt on the fact that the evil he denounces is chiefly confined to the young subalterns of the Army. This distinction is important. It has been remarked of the English who visit the continent of Europe, that many who are steady well-behaved people in their own coun- try permit themselves strange liberties during their absence from home. The same remark is applicable to the young men who come to India, many of them fresh from school, most of them unused to the possession of an inde- pendent income, and acting under a freedom from the restraint imposed upo'n people living among those they know, and to whom they are known, and which freedom is seen elsewhere as well as in India to become a licence to many. But these inexperienced youths learn in time that the pleasures of an independent income are counterbalanced by its cares and responsibilities ; that it is by no means pleasant to be in debt ; they learn to follow the ex- amples of steadiness set them by the large majority of their older comrades ; and long before they cease to be subalterns, they become orderly members of society. Their pecuniary involvements may still continue, partly from the difficulty of getting out of debt when once in it, partly from the other causes of debt which I have indicated. But, while regretting that debt should not be less general than it is, I do assert that the large majority of debtors, ex- cepting always the young and inexperienced, are not obnoxious to Sir Charles Napier's denunciations on the score of dishonest or wasteful extravagance, or riotous living. In truth, the folly of being in debt is generally more obvi- ous than its dishonesty. Debt may be incurred by the thoughtlessielding too easily to the temptations of tradesmen who find their account in charging high prices and giving long credits; but it can only be continued by borrow- ing from the banks at a high interest, the loan being secured by an insur- ance on the borrower's life, and liquidated by monthly instalments deducted with the borrower's consent from his pay by the paymaster. Thus, in most cases, the only loser is the debtor, who pays the penalty of being in debt by the inconvenience of a diminished income. And I believe that officers are becomins more alive to the perception of this folly ; for it is no uncommon thing to hear a man speaking of a debt incurred ty former youthful extra- vagance, or by the purchase of regimental steps, or by having been com- pelled to go to sea or to Europe in search of health, and calculating that m a year, or two years, or three, (as the case may be,) at his present rate of economizing, he expects to be free from debt. You animadvert with some severity on an expression in Sir Charles's gene- ral order, which is, it must be confessed, rather incautious and ill-chosen ; namely, that it is a commandant's duty to make himself " disagreeable" to any officer who misconducts himself in the matter of neglect of his pecuniary engagements. Nevertheless, the expression will bear examination, and even repetition. All interference with a man's pleasures must needs be disagree- able; but it is not the less the duty of a commanding-officer to check ex- travagance as well as any other misconduct in those under his command. And if this duty be done in a kindly spirit, if the offender be made to see that his commander is actuated by no impertinent wish to meddle in his pri- vate concerns, but by a sincere desire for the wellbeing of the individual, and for the general respectability and good name of the regiment, it will be rare indeed that such motives are not appreciated and respected by even the delinquent himself ; and at all events they will receive the respect and sup- port of the other officers of the regiment.
" Experto credite."
Therefore, with a modification, I repeat and apply your words, and say- " In so far as Sir Charles Napier has not exaggerated, those who have the good name of the Indian (Bengal) Army at heart, and in particular regi- mental commanding-officers, would do well to accept so much of Sir Charles's censure, to apply iestrietly, and to chastise time eras which he denounces." Unfortunately, all commanding-officers do not sufficiently consider it to be a part of their duty to check extravagance. But the greatest misfortune is when a commanding-officer in his own person sets an example of extrava- gance, or, still worse, of immorality. Such instances are, I grieve to say, to be found in the Bengal Army, as well as in other armies. But why are such men allowed to exercise command ? and why should we, as a body, be mis- represented on account of the delinquencies of these rare exceptions? I cannot say that I wish Sir Charles Napier had staid in India to cure the evils he has denounced ; for too many of his official acts during the period of his command were marked by a want of the temper, tact,judgment, and dis- cretion, which are ti e main attributes of administrative ability. We cannot, then, regret his departure. But I do wish that all who may succeed him in the command of this Army would exact from regimental commandants a strict account, in every instance of indebtedness that may come to the know- ledge of the Commander-in-chief, how the debt was incurred, of what stand- ing as to time, and what steps the commanding-officer has taken to press upon the debtor the necessity of practising a rigid economy until he has relieved himself from his liabilities. Were this duty strictly and jmpartially (with- out respect of persons) performed by Commanders-in-chief, an improve- ment would speedily be discernible in this particular in the commissioned ranks of the Bengal Army. Sir Charles Napier calls upon officers to assist the Commander-in-chief in putting a check upon debt. But this is beginning at the wrong end. Not but that Sir Charles would have been right in appealing to the good feeling of the officers of the Army to assist him in discountenancing habits which are in- jurious to a sense of manly independence and self-respect. It is the mode and the time of his exhortation of which I think we have reason to complain. If, instead of "waiting to see more clearly how matters stood," and stating the results of his observations in exaggerated and too indiscriminate terms, just as he was on the point of quitting the country,—stating them, too, in the form of a farewell general order, which he knew would be greedily read and dwelt upon by many at a distance, to the injury of that good name which he professes to have so " jealously guarded,"—if, instead of thus acting, Sir CI:miles Napier had addressed himself to the task of a judicious, patient, and benevolent reform, he would have entitled himself to the lasting gratitude, as his-first coming awakened the sanguine hopes of the Bengal Army. A BENGAL FIELD-OFFICER.
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