Admitting that the Civil power derives its support from the knowledge of
a military force being at hand, still the exhibition of the latter is as
rare on the Ganges as on the Thames; and a magistrate would sink in the
opinion of his superiors, and of his own service, if he were to apply
for the aid of troops in any but the extreme cases in which such an
application would be warranted in England. It would be just as rational
to argue that our provincial mayors and magistrates in England are
hated, because troops are stationed at Manchester, Preston, or
Newcastle, as to adduce the distribution of the regular Sepoys in Bengal
and Upper India as a proof of the hatred borne to the Civil servants,
through whose administration that vast region is made to furnish forth
the funds to support the armies with which heroes win victories and
gather laurels.
What is meant by “guards for civilians” it is hard to guess. The
Lieutenant-governor at Agra is, we believe, the only civilian, not in
political employ, who has a guard of regulars at his house. In some
places in Upper India, regulars may be posted at the Treasury, for the
same reason that a corresponding force is posted at the Bank of England
in the heart of London; but even to the Treasuries in the lower
provinces no such protection is given.
Sir C. Napier, we suspect, has confused the collector with the
collections, and fancied the force occasionally posted to protect the
latter to be, in fact, employed to swell the state or guard the person
of the former. That regular Sepoys should be employed to escort treasure
is much to be regretted; but treasure is tempting, and the mode of
conveyance on carts very tedious, the ways long, the country to be
traversed often very wild, and the robbers in some quarters very bold.
It is not often that in England bullion belonging to the State has to be
conveyed in waggons; but when this happens, it is, we think, usually
accompanied by a party of soldiers.
It would be tedious to follow out all the mistakes made about
Chuprassees and Burkundazes—the former being a sort of orderly, of whom
two or three are attached to every office-holder, military or civil, to
carry orders and messages, in a climate where Europeans cannot at all
hours of the day walk about with safety; and the latter being the
constabulary, employed in parties of about fifteen or twenty at the
various subdivisions into which, for purposes of police, each district
is laid out. To form them into battalions would be to strip the interior
of all the hands wanted for the common offices of preventive and
detective police.
We now gladly turn to the more pleasing duty of pointing out the
brighter passages, and rejoice to draw our reader’s attention to the
strain of kindly feeling towards the men and officers of the Company’s
army, both European and Native, pervading the whole work.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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