equipped, she takes her stand in rear of the company to which she is attached, till the order to march is given, when she wheels into her place, and treads the ground with as martial a step as the best man there! If she belong to a cavalry corps, she is on horseback, but uses a man's saddle. There is something about these women which thoroughly realizes the idea of the word dashing. They have a frank, fearless look, but nothing vociferous or bold, and, in cases of difficulty and danger, have proved themselves invaluable as nurses and assistants. They are well cared for, too-not like our poor soldiers' wives, obliged to eat, drink, cook, wash, and sleep, in the same room with some twenty or thirty men! On my admitting, unwillingly enough, to a foreign officer that, according to the rule of the British service, men, women, and children occupied the same domicile by day and night, he expressed his surprise that "so great and civilized a nation should sanction such an immoral system." He could only hope, with me, that, as the heads of our public civil institutions were in correspondence with Holland and Belgium, some hints might be taken from their social arrangements of military life. "Here," said he, "the soldier can only marry with the leave of the authorities, the indulgence depending on his good conduct, and if his wife does not demean herself properly, she is deprived of all privileges, and expelled the quarters.' As it is found necessary to attach a certain number of women to each corps, Government requires that these women should not only be respectable when admitted to regimental privileges, but that they should remain so, or be discarded. But to return to the military spectacle in St. Denis. The plain is all astir with the mirth of the young soldiers, and nothing affords a better proof of the comfort, as well as utility of their equipments, than the way in which they enjoy this hour of relaxation; for, see, instead of casting their knapsacks on the ground, and lying down weary with the weight they have been carrying, they do not even loosen their light kits. They form into groups, and five or six couple whirl by in a circle, dancing the polka! The first band stops; away hurry the dancers arm-in-arm, singing as they go, to the bivouac of the 7th regiment, and here a charming bolero stirs the air with its music, while a youth steps into a ring, snaps his fingers, and executes the old Spanish dance with such spirit that the circle widens round him, and some begin to sing; when, lo! the melody is interrupted by a blast from the trumpets of the cavalry, the troops again fall in, and a mock fight begins. This closes with a dashing charge of cuirassiers, from one end of the plain to the opposite grove, upon the position of the imaginary enemy. The General, with his staff, then takes up his ground, and the little army marches past him. First comes a corps of the line, with its superb band, then the riflemen, next a crash of trumpets and brazen-helmeted cuirassiers, -the men of Hainault, from Mons, Tournay and Liege. These muster a thousand strong, and as they ride slowly by, we think of William de la Marck, the "wild boar of the Ardennes," and his Walloons. In five minutes the great plain was void of all but drinking booths and pavilions. One of the latter named after St. Peter, with a bearded likeness of the Saint over the entrance, attracted a good many loiterers, but, notwithstanding this, and the permission to drink on the ground, we did not see one tipsy soldier during the day. The linesmen left the field with fixed bayonets: these, and the helmets of the cuirassiers made a glittering show in the long green alley leading to the highway, and the motley crowd of limonadiers, cantinières, peasants in blue blouses, stray riflemen in "Lincoln green," women in holiday attire, and children in wooden shoes, gave the whole scene the appearance of a tableau at Astley's. The countenances were as varied as the dress; the peasant with his oval face and aquiline nose was totally different in aspect to the flat-visaged dragoon; and among the soldiers of the line many a long black Spanish eye shot out from under sable lashes, while the lithe limbs of the marching men were in utter contrast to the broad chests and stalwart arms of the cavalry from the Pays de Vallon (the Walloon country). After having witnessed this brilliant spectacle, it was not quite agreeable to us to be asked by our military acquaintance on the spot, "Have you nothing of this kind in England, nothing but occasional reviews, involving a display lasting but a few hours, and presenting none of those details which make our annual camp at Beverloo a school of instruction for the soldier, and keep him during the summer fully equipped for service?" In many English towns the sight of a soldier, with the exception of a recruiting-party, is a novelty, whereas every city in Belgium has its garrison, and at intervals a review, a bivouac, or an encampment draws the traveller from England to those plains which history has celebrated as the battle-ground of Europe. In France and Belgium the whole routine of a soldier's life is carried on as though in perpetual preparation for war; and it is not too much to say, that many a hint has been gathered by military tourists from Continental camps and bivouacs, likely to be turned to good account in our own army. In a word, who shall say that the encampment on Chobham heath would ever have been formed, but for the splendid displays in Paris since 1852? And who shall deny the certainty of benefit to the soldier, when his dress and equipments shall be remodelled and better adapted than they are at present to the varied nature of clime and service in which it may be his lot to be engaged? Those who visit Chobham must not come away with the belief that they have seen the soldier on service. They may there, indeed, have learned something of his duties, and gathered a general notion of actual warfare, but they can form no idea of his sufferings and privations when accoutred in heavy marching order under an Indian or an African sun. Oh for the light French shako in such marches, the small goat-skin pack slung on without needing a comrade's assistance, and the abolition of the hateful hard-glazed stock! As for our arms, why should we not take a useful hint from our Belgian neighbours, whose troops are armed with a musket that can be readily taken to pieces by unfastening three screws, and is cleaned and repaired with marvellous expedition. Mark our young recruit, too, on landing from a transport in an enemy's country: he is equipped from top to toe, but has, probably, never had a musket in his hand. Visit a French or Belgian drill ground, and you shall see that the arm is the first thing thought of there; the young soldier becomes a tolerable marksman before he "carries cap and pouch," and, to go closer into the details of military economy abroad, take a stroll through our neighbours' barracks, and look at their arrangements for the comfort of their married men. At Chobham the visitor will have observed certain rude huts, set apart for the women whose aid is required as regimental laundresses. Very miserable have these huts looked during the late floods; nevertheless, they are less objectionable than the domicile of the soldier's wife in barracks, where she rests her weary head at night in the midst of a crowd of soldiers, who are up and astir to the sound of drum and bugle, the signal for her too to rise and arrange her nook as daintily as her poor means will permit. She is allowed no skreen by day, so she smooths her patchwork quilt upon her bed, arrays her husband's chest, table-fashion, with a few books, a basket or two, some shells, and perchance a few flowers. She then prepares the family breakfast as well as she can among other candidates for a corner of the hearth, and, such domestic avocations over for a time, she sends her children, neatly dressed, to the regimental school, sings her infant to sleep, lays it on the patchwork quilt, and takes her usual place at the washtub, or the military chest, on which she contrives to iron.* In a French or Belgian barrack, husband, wife and children are to be seen cheerfully seated together at their board, and, whoever would enter there, either knocks for admission or utters some pleasant word of apology for the intrusion. But the dress of the soldier is the point in which our Continental neighbours have greatly the advantage of us. The Belgian Cuirassier is perfectly accoutred, and is fully matched in that respect by the Corps de Guides. When we saw these, we longed to change the costume of our gay Lancers in Kafirland for such a uniform. The Chasseurs de Vincennes in France are models of light-infantry equipment; but few have heard of that marvellous body of men, named les Zouaves, employed in Algeria. These men are selected from other corps for particular service; they are mostly dark-complexioned, keen-witted, perfect in the Arab language, fearless riders, and of undaunted courage. Arrayed in the turban and the loose costume of the East, they skim the desert on their untiring horses, and acting sometimes the spy, and at others the open foe, they carry on their predatory manœuvres with a skill which astounds and deceives the Arabs themselves. Within the last three years the married soldier has been granted the sum of twopence a-day as lodging-money for himself and family. That foreigners will be gratified by the military display on Chobham Heath can hardly be doubted. There is no mistaking their genuine admiration of the personnel of our army; and in the various visits we have paid to Continental garrisons we have had occasion to remark the deferential spirit in which our kind guides have invariably pointed out to us the most interesting facts marking the difference between their service and our own. To judge of this feeling, the reader should have overheard the exclamation of a young French officer, who was standing at the door of the George Hotel at Portsmouth, when the 93rd Highlanders marched up the High-street last March. His countenance became more and more animated as its expression changed from curiosity to wonder, and from wonder to admiration, when, having watched them all go by, he raised his hands in an ecstasy of delighted surprise, and cried, " Ciel! quels soldats!” There is no mistaking the feeling of interest manifested by the people of England towards the soldier, since they have been brought face to face upon the peaceful tented field. To him who promoted the plan of an encampment amid the sunny hills of Surrey, the thanks of the nation are due, not only for a spectacle fraught with interest and novelty, but for a purpose of the highest national utility, while the soldier himself will never forget the occasion which brought him under the immediate eye of his Sovereign, whose glory and renown are dearer to him than life. SONNET, To a Young Lady on her Birthday, July 23, 1853. NOT in the cheerless Winter of the year, When sickly suns glare dimly o'er the snow, But in the sweet time of the Summer's sun, The merry sunshine warm'd thee with its glow; CUTHBERT BEDE, B.A. 157 INDIA; AND ITS ADMINISTRATION.* THE names of this book and its author are as familiar to the readers of the recent Parliamentary Debates as the name of India itself. The supporters and the opponents of the Government measure made use of its facts and opinions with equal liberality of quotation; the Opposition, while they did not hesitate to describe it as the work of an advocate of the East India Company, drew the principal materials of their speeches from its pages; Ministers rested their case mainly upon its statements; and each side exulted in an advantage, when it was able to enforce an argument or strengthen an assertion by the authority of Mr. Kaye. A book that has thus supplied weapons for the armories of contending parties must possess some unusual claims upon attention; and few publications have had this sort of compliment paid to them in a more remarkable degree. But it may be doubted whether Mr. Kaye should consider himself flattered by the variety of aims to which his labours have been so dexterously rendered subservient; and whether the solid and permanent character of his work has not suffered an injustice by the activity with which its details have been frittered away, to suit the temporary purposes of a political discussion. Of the legion of books and pamphlets upon Indian affairs, to which the renewal of the Charter has given birth, this volume is the most important, elaborate and authentic; and it was to be expected that it should be frequently and largely referred to as a source of information on subjects with which the public generally are little, or imperfectly acquainted. But this very recognition of its practical merits is not unlikely, more or less, to have the effect of confounding it with the mass of ephemeral publications addressed within the last few months to the vexed question of Indian Administration, and to lead the reader to overlook, in its immediate application to passing occurrences, its more durable claims upon consideration. It is in this respect, Mr. Kaye's volume is chiefly distinguished from the crowd of contemporary contributions to Indian history; and we may say of his book what we cannot say of any others, that while it embraces and exhausts every topic of current interest, it exhibits a complete view of the whole course of our acquisitions and settlements in the East, drawn, for the greater part, from exclusive and hitherto inaccessible materials, and treated throughout in a comprehensive and historical spirit that will render it as valuable in the next century as it is found to be at the present moment. Nor is it alone as a compendium of the acts of the East India Company that this work asserts a distinct and original character. Mr. Kaye is not satisfied with a mere display of statistics, or * "Administration of the East India Company," by John William Kaye. |