and rewards; and to what he may be driven by contumely, by unnecessary "worry," and a cruel abuse of the lash. The precepts inculcated in the "Remarks on Military Law and the Punishment of Flogging" ought to be engraven on every soldier's heart; but as every one may not have access to this remarkable production from the pen of that real soldier-and soldier's real friend-I will introduce a few of those precepts here: "It is generally best to do what is just, and abide the consequences the inconveniences which attend the doing of a right action are rarely permanent." (A precept equally applicable to naval as to military affairs, and which a late Board of Admiralty would do well to study and endeavour to carry into effect!) * * * * "Men are governed by punishments and rewards, and the necessity of the first is very much increased by the neglect of the last.” "A corps of honour should not be formed like a top with a broad head, standing upon a point and only supported by the lash.” * * I might give many more extracts of the kind; but, be it observed, this great man not only preached, but practised what he preached he always acted with unswerving justice as far as human judgment would admit he always gave the preference to encouragement over punishment; and that he put into practice the noble sentiment expressed in the question, of: "what officer, possessing any manliness of character, would be so selfish that he could enjoy comforts, if his soldiers were without them?" the following well-authenticated and characteristic anecdote will prove. When Sir Charles Napier undertook, with his small army in Scinde, that extraordinary march across the desert to the fort of Emaum Ghur, "during which for eighteen days he was wandering in the waste," his soldiers suffering from thirst, and the intolerable heat of a vertical sun, the brave old General rode amongst them, uttering from his own parched. and sun-cracked lips, every hope and encouragement he could devise. The heat had become so excessive, that the desert felt as a furnace fanned by a scorching blast; at this fearful time, when many of the soldiers were staggering about like drunken men, without one drop of water to allay their thirst; a young officer is said to have ridden up to the General, and drawing a small bottle of ale from his holsterpipe, to have offered it him, to drink. The bottle was taken from his hand, dashed into a thousand fragments on the ground, and after listening to the precept I have last quoted--but given in no measured termsthe young officer, who had perhaps thoughtlessly made this mistake, was glad to escape from the influence of the General's wrath! Such was the man sacrificed by an ungrateful Government, at the corrupt shrine of Leadenhall, in expiation of the crime of endeavouring to reform abuses, to expose tyranny, mal-administration, incompetency, and neglect ! Had such a man led our noble soldiers during late events, what success might not have been achieved? what glory earned? what disasters might not have been eschewed? This great, this good, and noble-minded man, died as he had lived. The soldier's welfare was ever uppermost in his breast; and nearly the last words he uttered, were words of satisfaction, at having ever been the "soldier's friend." CHAPTER XVI. THE ROUTE' AND EMBARKATION FOR INDIA. Falstaff. Pay the musicians, sirrah! Farewell, hostess; farewell, Doll. You see, my good wenches, how men of merit are sought after: the undeserved may sleep, when the man of action is call'd on. Farewell, good wenches. If I be not sent away post, I will see you again ere I go."-Henry IV. "He that has sail'd upon the dark blue sea, THE "route"- the "march"-" embarkation for foreign service"-how many and how varied are the associations connected with those few words, which instantly arise in every soldier's mind; at least, in that of every real soldier, who well knows the purport of what they are meant to convey. Weeks and months had glided away in the drills, the parades, the guard-mountings, the loitering idleness, and dissipation of a Chatham garrison life; when, at last, an order came for the immediate departure of a large draft from the dépôt, for the East. It is still fresh in my mind, that evening, when, whilst assembled at our mess, the sergeant on duty, handed round the garrison orders containing this expected decree. The farewell toasts were drank; some kept up those parting revels throughout the night; whilst others, more prudent, hastened to their respective quarters, to make the requisite preparations for the ensuing move; and next morning's early dawn, witnessed a large detachment of recruits, drawn up in Brompton Barrack Square, all ready to depart for that distant land, from whence, so few were probably ever destined to return. Staff officers next bustled to and fro; the reports were collected; then-all being returned" present," the word was given to move off in columns of sections from the right; and as " quick march" sounded upon |