he saw, a positive advantage in such union. To English officers who had devoted time and opportunities to the study of native languages and character, the broad preserves of Indian administration should at length be opened; and Indian officers were not loth to serve the Queen and wear her lace, with the prospect of improved position when circumstances should call them home; neither were they blind to the advantages implied in changes and exchanges from India's dusty camps to Aldershot or Chobham. Thus, in a way and for a time, the scheme was positively popular, and only more inquiring minds read the mutual sacrifices such a measure must entail. Among the endless difficulties besetting its consideration, ranked primarily pensions, funds, and local service claims. Then there was the fact of the commission money, by means of which our English pay could only be compared to interest on capital invested; and the purchase system, though indeed existing in both armies, was conducted in so different a manner as practically to preclude comparison. With the special arms, or branches of our services, the question appeared to offer more ready promise of solution. Original gratuitous cadetships might be held of equal value, whether received from Queen or Company; and conditions as to special training for an Indian or a home career might easily have been dictated. However this may be, the means employed seemed such as to baffle opposition; and, armed with a royal warrant, Sir Charles Wood went forth, ostensibly to deal out royal favours with a lavish hand upon distinguished men, himself most ignorant of what lay before him. The

position was one really forced upon him, and not of his selection. It was a task which fell to him as an item of his daily labours: great as it was, to have hesitated might have displayed cowardice or want of confidence in the powers that God had given him. Neither of these feelings was likely to deter Sir Charles Wood; and he commenced with characteristic energy to call together men, and establish data for his guidance.

Among the men so called together was one whose name can hardly be too prominently recorded. As adjutant of his regiment, not many years before, young Norman had become remarkable for bearing, zeal, and knowledge of his work. Selected by Lord Clyde, he had served in offices never previously committed to one so young in years. Called by the rapidly-succeeding deaths of three superiors to act as Adjutant-General to our army before Delhi, General Nicholson and he together had grappled with and overcome the greatness of that crisis. Although his honours had been reaped on others' graves, both pen and sword were ever in his hand; and to those who knew him then and fought beside him, his name will be inseparably connected with Metcalfe's ruined house, and that intrenched position on the heights commanding Delhi where Hindoo Rao once dwelt.

Indeed, all who could shed light on the obscure questions to be dealt with were earnestly addressed, and all responded by reports embodying their private hopes and fears, and breathing opposite advice. Sir James Outram and Sir William Mansfield, with junior officers like Colonel Baker, each had his say, and all

the doctors differed. Commission sat upon Commission, and the work advanced but little. The patience of the Horse Guards had been sorely tried-action of some kind had become essential; and at length in despair some ready pens put certain figures down on paper which, aiming at a compromise with all, eventually pleased none. A basis thus established, much was hurried over, and still more omitted altogether. Then came the Staff Corps, which, with its painful changes and uncertainty, has wrought more wrong and deceived more minds than aught else we know of. The establishment of a Staff Corps originated in a known necessity-the only question was the mode of execution. The knot was so entangled, and had been tied by such countless hands, that cutting seemed the only remedy. Time pressed, moreover, so the sharpest sword was sought. That sword was Colonel Norman's. The blow was bold, and dealt with skill; the tangled skein parted at its centre, and for a time all hoped a conjuror had done it, and that the threads, proving of equal length, might all be worked up without waste. This hope, like many others, was doomed to bitter disappointment. The immediate pressure was, indeed, removed-amid whispered approbation the expectant crowds had vanished-but the real difficulties of the situation had practically increased tenfold.

It happened that most of the heads of the Indian army had profited in some measure by amalgamation, and that rewards for recent service had reached the higher grades of officers and won their silence for a time at least; hence the junior captains and subalterns

were those who really suffered most, and it was exactly they who naturally were least consulted, and whose opinions, when expressed, received least consideration. Thus it is, also, that as these grew from boys to men they awoke to a consciousness of wrongs that now are uttered and repeated each year with increasing force. Neither can it be lost sight of, that in practically endeavouring to obliterate all former service claims and regimental pride, the Government has been guilty of a policy as unwise, and calculated to estrange the army, as those measures of the Restoration, when the tricolor, with the names and numbers of distinguished corps, gave place to the Bourbon flag, and to a series, perfect, indeed, in arithmetical progression, but wanting in those grand associations upon whose wings the eagles had been borne to Moscow and Madrid.

Thus it was with the "Bengal Engineers," who had ever been conspicuous for talent and distinction. Thrice weeded, those who withstood the test of such a crucible might well boast of merit. The merit was theirs, and they were duly proud of it. No service had produced a greater number of brilliant representatives. In peace and war her sons had sought and found a field of action worthy of themselves. Equally great in practice and in theory, many of the highest administrative offices of India had almost become hereditary to them. They possessed a powerful identity not easy to erase; they were ripe, at least, in glory; so their doom was sealed the scythe went forth, they were gathered into the royal ranks, and since have been forgotten.

Of military measures two more only call for imme

diate remark. First, the oft-quoted breach of faith in the want of observation by the Indian Government of the gracious terms of the amalgamation warrant; and, secondly, the establishment of the Military Finance Department, to whose tender care was handed over all that remained of our former Indian army. The first has been so much discussed and fully proved, that few lines will serve to record our deep conviction that the royal word has not been kept. Quite recently, and with perhaps the best intentions, a Parliamentary Committee sat on this inquiry; some evidence was taken, and the matter was dismissed with certain unimportant observations. In such questions all depends upon the composition of the Committee, and the one to which reference is made was singularly calculated to defeat the objects aimed at by its authors.

The Military Finance Department had its origin in economy. Its childhood had been passed in those days when, as has been said, each rupee was watched in circulation; and even later, when fortune smiled again, its object was not so much to check excess in some departments as to reduce the estimates of all without reference to obligation or utility. For the sole control of this machine, under the personal authority of Lord Canning, a man of obstinate ability had been selected and armed to the teeth, with power and promise of support. Colonel Balfour appeared upon the stage of past extravagance. For some two years he conducted the work of pruning with a knowledge of detail only exceeded by his zeal in execution. To him succeeded Major Mallison. The writer of 'The Red Pamphlet'