Mr. Bright, who usually gets Indian feats correctly, has fallen
into a singular error as to the native regiments sent to Malta. He says they are " Mahommedan, half-savage troops." They may be half-savage, in some senses, but while their officers have them in hand they are orderly troops, and much quieter in canton- ments than Europeans. Nor are they all Mussulmans. The old, legal proportion of Mussnlmans in a Sepoy regiment was one-third, and though this was usually below the actual pro- portion, especially of late, and in the regiments selected, at least one-half of the men must still be Hindoos. The Sikhs, be it recollected, are Hindoos, as the Government will find out, if there comes any serious difficulty about their food. The Goorkhas are all Hindoos, and a large proportion of the Madrassees are without caste. There are most serious reasons against employing Sepoys in Europe, one of them being the new pride they will carry back, but their barbarism or their Mahommedanism is not one of them. The grand evil of Mahommedanism, its belief that an Infidel who resists has no rights, though it exists among Indian Mahom- medal's, is not as strong as in Turkey. They have lived with Hindoos and under Englishmen too long. A Mnssulman private cannot very well tell a Sikh private that all outside the Faith are animals. The Sikh would break his head.
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