22 JUNE 1872, Page 2

Colonel Sykes, Member for Aberdeen, died GC Monday, at the

age of 82. He was almost the last of a species once common—the Anglo-Indian who really believed in the " Company " and its system, and regretted its abolition. He had served from fourteen,. but his claim to distinction was political rather than military. A learned man of a somewhat heavy kind, a fair debater, upright, chivalric, and obstinate as a mule, the old Colonel became a sort of power in the House, was worshipped by men with grievances, and once in 1859 carried a clause for the protection of Indian officers' rights which has been a rock of offence to Viceroys- and Great Moguls ever since. They are always breaking their moral shins over "Sykes' Amendment," which is regarded by the old Company's Army as their charter, and would, we doubt not, lse quoted to St. Peter, if he objected to let them in. Colonel Sykes was always disinterested, and when off his hobbies full of ability and knowledge, and despite his wrong-headedness and habit of boring, will be seriously missed from his place.