native officers, civil and military, and the descendants of the gentry and aristocracy of the old régime. The latter is a class which Government should study to preserve, but the force of circumstances is daily tending to circumscribe these powers, and there are some who think that their existence is a positive evil.

It is foreign to my subject to inquire into the propriety of absorbing Native Governments, but it is evident that they are gradually fading away, and to maintain in the interest and service of Government as many of this class as possible, is very desirable. There may a time come, when the energies of the lower orders may increase and a middle class rise without the assistance of Government; but at present we can only make the best use of what we have so as to help the social state of India, and no one can deny the usefulness of this class of men devoted to our Government.

By organizing the whole cavalry branch of our Army on the system of irregular cavalry, we might, I think, give employment to a great number of this class, by which, without increasing expense, we should secure considerable political advantages, and have men much superior to the present as cavalry soldiers.

To those unacquainted with the subject, the idea of irregular cavalry is associated with native dress, native accoutrements, and a slack discipline, whereby every man is allowed to ride his own way, fight his own way, and swagger as much as he likes without reference to any one but himself. To begin with the name "Irregular Cavalry;" the distinguishing feature in this service, is its being Sillidar Cavalry, that is, instead of the horses being the property of Government, they belong to the soldiers of the regiment, (the allowing any other contracting party is wrong) and this name ought to be substituted for the other.

In regular cavalry, the great expense is the horse and his accoutrements, and in the purchase of both, money is frittered away and goes into the pockets of contractors and others, who live upon the Service without giving anything in return. The expense of any class of soldiers is so small in proportion to the above-mentioned expense, that the very best ought to be supplied, viz., the British Dragoon, whose superiority in the actual charge is very great, and for which duty alone regular regiments should be maintained all European. The superiority in the organization of Sillidar Cavalry is, that every penny is actually expended on men in the regiment, who are their own brokers and contractors. All the money spent upon these men under the system of regular cavalry, goes under the other to pay for a superior class of soldiers, for native gentlemen will only join the ranks of Sillidar Cavalry. In this service, the position of the men who own horses (or sillidars) with respect to Government, is much the same as a man possessing property in the funds. The actual value of the horse is small compared with the value of the situation or the permission to place a horse in the regiment. This is called an assamee, and is looked upon in the light of property varying in value according to the pay and character of the regiment. Thus a sillidar, or holder of an assamee, embarks a certain amount of property in the regiment, for which he receives a regular monthly interest or stipend from Government, the payment of which depends on his own good conduct, for he is liable to forfeit the assamee if he behave improperly, and the value of which property rises and falls with the character of the regiment. This is a great hold on

Sillidars, the influential men in the regiment, and is the reason why irregular corps will not mutiny when regular corps may. The former must always find it too great a risk.

The best-paid Sillidar corps in the Bombay Army costs Government about 35 rupees per sabre, pay to all ranks European and native, pensions, compensations, and all et ceteras, included, while a regular regiment of Cavalry costs about 82 rupees.

The harassing duties and constant detachment duty of Sillidar corps have also a pernicious effect on their discipline and appearance. If we look at our Sillidar corps and consider these duties, and this very great difference of pay or rather cost, we may safely judge what sort of corps could be maintained at a cost of even 20 rupees per sabre less than that now expended on regular cavalry, and I am confident that in the ranks of such a regiment we might have the best families in India; men, who now, perhaps, are draging out their life discontented and unhappy, and whose lot is commiserated, to the detriment of the British Government, by a large circle of our subjects.

To give such men employment suited to their tastes, and to make them feel that their exertions are of benefit to the Government of the land, would be a most politic measure; while I am convinced that we would maintain a body of cavalry, far more useful for military operations, much superior in endurance in the field, and fully equal in gallantry in action.

III.-The main object, never to be lost sight of in the organization of Sillidar Cavalry, is that its efficiency is solely dependant upon the zeal and spirit of its native commissioned and non-commissioned officers. Everything done should tend to increase their respect for, and confidence in themselves, as well as to show that Government places as much confidence in their ability and gallantry as in that of its European officers.

These feelings are only to be maintained by the choice of a proper European Commander. He must not be encumbered with rules and regulations for the interior economy of his regiment; the leaving him untrammelled is indispensable.

The prosperity and efficiency of Sillidar Cavalry is mainly dependent on this authority vested in its Commandants, by which they and their men are all in all to each other. The regiment is organized on the principle of a Chief and his followers, the only organization which natives, regular or irregular, foot or horse, properly understand. The commissioned officer stands alone amongst them as a Sirdar, powerful for good or evil, and this enables him to carry out whatever he enters upon. Chosen as a Commanding Officer of Sillidar Cavalry is, or ought to be, he will seldom act wrongly; and his men, well knowing that his measures are always intended for their good, and the good of the regiment, implicitly obey his orders; while he again, from the powers vested in him, can quickly correct any mistake which he may inadvertently have committed. His power, as contrasted with that of the present Commandant of a regular regiment, is as a Native Government contrasted with ours. Although its measures seem hard, still, owing to a compensating power, which, from its nature, it has within itself, it is able to make its government, on the whole, more palatable than our own unbending and inflexible rule, governed by routine.

Local corps are decidedly bad if the men be intended for soldiers. The system introduces into one corps lazy fellows who will only serve

in fifty square miles of country, and it hinders another regiment from obtaining good men who do not like to be always absent from their own country; besides it fosters a spirit of demand and suspicion which ought not to exist between a State and its soldiers.

I would have no distinction of pay or place of service. For seasons of very great scarcity, when grain might be immoderately dear, Government might grant compensation, but let Government bind itself by no rules. Its gratuitous liberality will be the better appreciated. At present there is no Service where there is a more devoted attachment to Government than in the ranks of Sillidar Cavalry, which feeling is mainly attributable to its peculiar system, being bound by no rule or regulation, and being carried out by Commandants fitted for their situations through Native Officers of a superior class, intelligent and of good family they stand toward the Sowars as Government ought towards the European Commander. The chain of confidence is as it were unbroken, from the lowest Sowar to the head of the Government.

THE PIPER OF VIMIERO.

AN INCIDENT OF THE BATTLE OF THE 21ST AUgust, 1808.

BY W. S. PASSMORE, BRIGHTON.

AMIDST a gallant host who thronged dread Vimiero's field,
And sternly fought to win or fall-they were not drilled to yield,
Brave Stewart well his lesson conned, as Scotia's scholars dare,
For schooled were all, and perfect each, in their fierce task of war.
A Highland Piper, Stewart stood, while round him raged the fray,
And cheered his fearless comrades on with warlike roundelay;
"The gath'ring," and "The Campbells come," above the cannons' roar,
Swelled loudly forth, and each one grasped his ancestor's claymore.

Full early that brave laddie fell below with shattered limb,

But wounds were nought, and agony seemed less than nought to him;
For boldly he defied the blow and scorned the ignoble rear,
Stern duty from his breast had barr'd the coward sense of fear!
Down on a bank beside the storm that flew unceasing by,
The hardy soldier now reclined and nursed his quiv'ring thigh;
"I can na longer, lads," he cried, "gang wi' ye to the fray,
But deil burn my saul if ye shall music want to-day!"

Then seized again the thrilling pipes, his soul was in his strains,

66

And Scots wha hae wi' Wallace bled" re-boiled their northern veins;

While "Draw the sword," proud "Scotland," now with lightning flash anew,

At once unleashed those eager hounds, away they dashing flew !

Now shrill and wild the "Pibroch" screamed, as fierce the combat ran,

And each heart bounding 'neath the plaid did honour to its clan;

But hark! that shout, 'tis Junot flies-then loudly Stewart threw
Those stirring strains around, "Hurra for the bonnets of" true "blue!"
The field was won, aye, nobly won, and Wellington that day,
Engrafted on his ample wreath another blooming bay;

But surely not less lustrous shone the wreath that Stewart wore,

For brightly glanced his garland 'neath its blush of Highland gore!
A cheer, a cheer for the Highland lad, for nonę can better claim
A Briton's ringing thanks than he who bore that kingly name;
Oh! may a cry like his resound when next Britannia bleeds,
And equal valour nerve the hearts who fight when Britain needs!

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR JOHN BARROW.

(Continued from No. 224,

page 344.)

WHILE Lord Melville was energetically engrossed in resuscitating the Naval Economy of the country, and restoring harmony among the personnel of the fleet, a blow too forcible to be parried toppled him from his seat. This most "untoward event" bereft the empire of the able services of one of its most efficient Ministers in the hour of need; for Bonaparte had just assumed the Imperial dignity-Francis II. had relinquished his supremacy over the Germanic empire-the Duc d'Enghien had been murdered-England was menaced with invasionand Mr. Pitt was evidently in the decline of his life. This very mal-apropos diversion of the public mind is, however, so involved with the progress of naval affairs of that day, that it may be desirable to refresh our reader's memory on the subject.

It must be recollected, that on the dissolution of the unholy Coalition Ministry of 1783, the office of Treasurer of the Navy was undertaken by his Lordship, then Mr. Dundas; and that he was esteeined a trusty auxiliary to one of the most memorable cabinets in the British annals. He was, indeed, a valuable colleague to the youthful Premier who at that period nailed his flag to the mast, and resolutely declared his intention to face an angry majority in the House of Commons, to adhere to the position he had taken, and never to desert his royal master. The services of Mr. Dundas were in constant requisition, and his utility in harness is universally acknowledged. But after a lapse of nearly twenty years, the St. Vincent Commissioners produced reports implicating the new First Lord of the Admiralty, in that, while he had filled the office of Treasurer, he had illegally retained in his own hands large balances of the public money. Mr. Whitbread, who brought the affair under the consideration of the Commons, observed, that in exhibiting a charge against this noble lord, he did not accuse a mere unprotected individual; but one who, during a period of thirty years, had been in the uninterrupted possession of lucrative offices, and had exercised an extensive influence on public affairs: "many knew the transactions," he exclaimed, "but nobody dared to tell. Why? Because he was allpowerful in the vessel of the State; from the kelson to the top-gallantmast-head he was every where. His influence was felt in all quarters. When he issued forth from his habitation in Somerset Place, could he go to the east, and not see proofs of his power? If he turned to the west, he was in the seat of his power also. Did not his patronage extend from the sources of the Ganges to the Orkneys? Was there a ship sailed which was not fraught with tokens of his sway? Was there an Exciseman made, or a Viceroy appointed, that he was not consulted?" The Orator who-notwithstanding the longe intervallum— thought that he was emulating Burke, succeeded in working the case to its desired consistence, and a squally breeze was raised. Melville was impeached and tried by his Peers, under a scrutiny which lasted from the 29th of April to the 12th of June, 1805, when the Lord Chancellor, on casting up the votes, found the accused NOT GUILTY: he was

acquitted of all the charges, but as on four of the ten articles of impeachment, the majority in his favour did not amount to double the number of those who gave a contrary judgment, the public animosity was maintained against him for a considerable time. This so far answered the purposes of the party whom our author designates as "Whitbread and his political accomplices," that it incapacitated Lord Melville from acting against them in future, and he retired to his seat at Dunira with a dimmed reputation Truth, however, like Eddystone lighthouse, is founded on a rock, and in the end defies the squalls which rudely assail it. Notwithstanding the clamour raised, and however solemn the allegations, it was clear to the unprejudiced head that neither the Report, nor Whitbread himself, alleged that any loss to the public had proceeded from the transactions under consideration: and it has consequently followed, that the motives of the managers have been imputed more to the influence of partisanship, than of patriotism. Sir Walter Scott, alluding to Melville's death, emphatically says, "Envy is already paying her cold tribute of respect and applause to the worth which she maligned while it walked upon earth."

We have made this statement in the double light of a preliminary to, and a commentary on, the account given of the transaction by Sir John Barrow; and we think he gives a tolerably fair view of the actual bearings of the case. In saying this, however, we must not be understood as indorsing every opinion which he advances, since his feelings are, from obvious circumstances, more strongly excited than ours can be. Melville, he says, became "a mark for inveterate malice to aim its too successful shafts against; and when a victim is to be immolated, a hierophant is seldom wanting to undertake the part of executioner. The Coryphæus of the band, on the present occasion, was Mr. Whitbread, a wealthy plebeian brewer, who had aspired to become a senator." The managers of the impeachment uttered loud outcries about his Lordship's having declined to answer some pointed queries; and their myrmidons bruited that he was therefore guilty of devoting huge sums of public money to his own private use, whenever he listed. We will here give Sir John's view of the transaction:

"Lord Melville was a great card to be played. He had served many years as Treasurer of the Navy, and Mr. Trotter as Paymaster; and the latter acted as private agent and banker to the former, received his salary and other monies, and supplied him with what cash he might require; but he advanced him also out of the public money such small sums as were constantly demanded of him for current public services, to avoid his drawing frequently for such trifles on the Bank of England. In short, a running account appears to have been kept for convenience sake, which, though it might have been an irregularity as a private account between the Treasurer of the Navy and the Paymaster, yet it facilitated, without injuring the public service.

"Lord Melville being summoned to appear before the Commissioners, and they having read over to him the several sums received, paid, and replaced for twenty years past, he was then asked, somewhat impertinently it must be admitted, 'Did you derive any profit or advantage from the use or employment of money issued for carrying on the public service of the Navy (during such and such periods, twenty years before) when you held the office of Treasurer of the Navy?'

"Lord Melville indignantly replied, 'I decline answering this question.'