cent. cheaper than at present. Look at our boundaries now, and the distance of our stations from the source of supply; more than half the army removed hundreds of miles from this advantage, and the expenses of moving increased three-fold, can it be fairly said that our allowances are not reduced? Officers and soldiers of his Majesty's service get an increase of pay for length of service in particular ranks; not so those of the Company. Officers of his Majesty's service get also what is termed blood-money,-a twelvemonth's pay on being wounded; not so those of the Company. Children of his Majesty's officers have the advantages of education at a reduced expense, and a fair field open to their exertions being rewarded with commissions; not so the Company's. The circumstance of an officer's having spent his life in the service of the Company, gives him no claim to look to the reward of a commission for any of his children; while the necessary sum he is obliged to remit to England for their education, is increased by the breach of contract in our honourable masters in the depreciated and false value of the coin in which we are paid. His Majesty's officers in their temporary service in this country, where duty calls them, have increased allowances, to put them, as it is said, on a par with those of the Company, who are tied for life to this destructive climate. Compare their situations but for a moment, and see where the scale of advantage preponderates. It is between twenty and thirty years since I entered this service high up in the lists of lieutenants of my regiment, since which I have seen very many regiments added to the establishment, and yet have no prospect of being a field-officer before I have served thirty years. I am convinced, I speak within bounds, when I say no officer, (with the exception, perhaps, of two or three lucky ones,) who has entered this service within the last ten years, has a chance of rising to the rank of a field-officer under a period of thirty-eight years' service. Interest also in the distribution of appointments prevails too strongly, to the exclusion of the claim of length of service; and the usages, and even published regulations of the service, are departed from, whenever strong interest exerts its influence over them, who, from the temporary nature of their situations, cannot feel a proper interest in the permanent and future welfare of the service at whose head fortune has placed them. The junior officers of this army have strong and just cause of complaint against commanding officers of regiments, who too frequently, following up the example of the higher authorities in their want of consideration towards their European officers, neglect their just claims to consideration and attention, and suffer them to be injured and insulted, though plainly authorized and called upon to uphold them by the regulations of the service. Two instances have just come under my own observation in proof of what I have here advanced, but I dare not give you the particulars, as it might be the means of pointing me out for persecution. With such want of con sideration and attention to the European officers, is it to be wondered at, if, under such treatment, they should fail in that respect and attention due to their commanding officers; or if such treatment should influence them in their conduct to those under their command? Let common sense answer this question, and then look for one of the causes of the diminution of attachment and respect in the Native soldier to his European officer.* Many of our cantonments swarm with European and Native traders in indigo, cotton, &c. Shopkeepers, half-caste writers, civil officers, &c., occupying bungalos, frequently to the exclusion of officers belonging to the station, and producing a scarcity of them, which raises the rent or price of those we occupy much beyond the fair value, to the great detriment of our interests; but I am running into a detail which would occupy volumes, and which was foreign to my intention, for, I confess, I have not abilities to do justice to the subject, without tiring both you and your readers. I therefore leave it, in hopes some one more able (more zealous for the weal of our masters I do not acknowledge) will enter fully into the causes of, and remedy for, the lamentable deterioration of the Bengal army. MILENSIS. TO A LADY SINGING. † THOSE Soothing tones so richly steal Oh, dark-haired minstrel,-şing again! Yet Love so soon his way will win Where Pleasure opes her golden door, That lest the traitor now glide in, Oh, dark-haired minstrel,-sing no more! A. B. * We are left, too, to the mercy of every Commander-in-Chief, who, for the sake of patronage, may (as has been done by the present one, in the measure of partially removing regimental officers (majors) to the command of regiments to which they do not belong,) set aside the long established usages and constitution of this army, to the great detriment of the just rights and expectations of deserving officers. + From The Literary Souvenir' for 1828. } WE embarked at Cumana, on board an American schooner, for La Guayra, in company with our friend, Captain M, and two Colombian officers. The moon shone resplendently, and we enjoyed the pleasure of a charming breeze, which assured us that we should soon be wafted to our destined port; this we had great reason to desire, owing to the miserable accommodation afforded by our conveyance, and on account of our stock of water, which proved to most fetid description, notwithstanding the solemn assurance of the captain, that it was the production of some celebrated spring in the neighbourhood of Bunker's-hill. The anchorage here is, perhaps, the worst in the world, though it might be rendered perfectly secure by constructing a pier, which could be accomplished with facility, and at a trifling cost; such an.. undertaking has been submitted to the consideration of the Government, but, like many other good projects, it was discarded, from the indifference of these people to improvement. Exposed as the shipping are here to every agitation of the ocean within any moderate distance of the land, vessels have repeatedly been driven on shore; even in calms the sea often rolling tremendously, when there is no wind, so that no precaution could obviate the evil. The Custom House, which we visited with our luggage, is rather an extensive building, and here are the Government offices and a suite of rooms for the use of the Governor. It is the practice in Colombia to present your passport to this personage, who has always a question or two to entertain you with, particularly if you should be so unfortunate as to arrive direct from England, as the people here profess abundance of regard for the natives of that country, and are very obsequious towards Englishmen in general. As we had dined with this gentleman a short time previously at Cumana, our conversation was confined to a few common-place remarks, which did not occupy him long, when the gallant Colonel A- with a mixture of pride and politeness, bade us buenos dias, and retired from the audience-chamber; it was the only time we had the honour to kiss his Excellency's hand.' We knew La Guayra to be a wretchedly dull place, with an atmosphere ill-calculated for the constitution of an Englishman, and the greater part of the town in ruins, from the effects of the dreadful earthquake of 1812. We were conducted to a posada, some five minutes' walk from the Government House, and we made our appearance just in time to partake of a tolerably generous supply of the luxuries of the country, converted into French, Spanish, and Italian dishes, on which we contrived to fare sumptuously enough. The company consisted of European and American agents, masters of vessels, clerks, captains of privateers, some Colombian officers, young adventurers with merchandize from England, and a sprinkling of chevaliers d'industrie. There was no general topic of conversation, but abundance of talking; and we all ate with no mean appetite, considering the heat of the weather and the toughness of the viands. " 1ba9at is the zing t " When the earthquake of 1812 destroyed the greater part of Carraccas and La Guayra, a large party were quaffing their claret at › this very house, and the instant the shock was felt, the whole coterié rose simultaneously, with gestures which may be better conceived than described; some rushed into the street, without looking behind them until they had passed the walls of the town; others effected their ma escape by the balconies; but the maître d'hotel, who was then an active.. little Frenchman, happened to be in the attic at the moment, heroically clambered upon the roof, where he had just got comfortably seated, when the whole gave way, mine host exclaiming, with the naïveté of his sprightly countrymen, after he had recovered from the confusion of the sudden tumble, Me voici me voici ! mes amis!' although I doubt whether there were any other creatures than his domestic animals to witness his exaltation. When we felt disposed to retire, we were ushered into our new apartment, which hich we soon found to be as hot as an oven; its dimensions did exceed thirteen feet in length, and about ten or twelve in breadth, containing three stretchers, or pallets, each provided with a mattress no thicker than a bound volume of The Oriental Herald, stuffed with dried grass, or some such substance, a pillow composed of the same materials, somewhat bigger than the largest size of the most fashionable bustle, and a couple of stout German linen sheets; three straw-bottom chairs, two ewers, and a substantial deal table, with a neat, but inelegant lookingglass, was, to the best of my recollection, the entire stock of moveables in our superbly-furnished chamber. I awoke about midnight, when, gracious heaven! who (except my heated companions, or those who have been in the Black Hole of Calcutta) can describe the moist condition of my German, linen sheets, and Colombian appurtenances! Had I been ten nights exposed to the humidity which reigns near the Falls of Niagara, I question whether my skin would have acquired a greater degree of suavity; but, being one of Pharaoh's lean kine, I was less annoyed than my colleagues, though sufficiently out of humour to condemn close rooms in a warm country, and wish myself almost any where else. We all arose at dawn of day, and hurried into the sala, where we were forthwith furnished with coffee, which partially restored what good nature we possessed; but even this comparatively happy state did not deter us from execrating, with astonishing volubility, the total absence of comfort in this part of the New World. ། There is absolutely nothing attractive in La Guayra. The town is built at the foot of a ridge of mountains, and is not unlike some parts of Gibraltar; there are two or three tolerably level streets, which are clumsily paved with curb stones; the houses are small and confined; there are two churches; several good coffee-houses, and numerous billiard-tables, which are always well attended. The natives amuse themselves, in the cool of the evening, round their respective dwellings, when the men smoke cigars in their shirtsleeves, and the women talk nonsense, or fall a-yawning. The notes of a guitar are sometimes heard, but the performers require the animation and ability of their predecessors to produce any thing like harmony; others may be seen stretching their weary limbs on the beach, or standing in groups on the wooden wharf, where the merchants congregate to complain of 'hard times' and hot weather. The respectable part of the population is composed of English, Americans, German, and other foreigners. It is the sea-port of Carracas, and the exports are cocoa, coffee, cotton, hides, and indigo, which are brought from the neighbourhood of that city on the backs of mules. Mecatia is an insignificant village, containing some forty or fifty houses and huts, about half a mile from La Guayra, and where most of the merchants reside, as it is decidedly preferable to the town itself, on account of its being considerably cooler. Notwithstanding La Guayra is excessively hot, yet there are few cases of fever there, although there is enough filth throughout the place to engender a pestilence. The market here is little superior to that of Cumana, but the frequent arrivals from Europe and St. Thomas' bring good supplies of seasonable articles; there is abundance of delicious fish, and plenty of claret wine, which, by the way, are the only reasonable commodities in the place, besides plantains and Indian corn. Having gratified our curiosity with disjointed La Guayra, we hired mules for Carracas, after the rate of three dollars a-day, engaging to feed the animals during our sojourn in the city. I got a lusty one, and borrowed a pair of good English spurs from a German friend who was so kind as to accompany us. Our saddles and bridles were English, but none of the best, though quite good enough for the purpose. It is needless to relate how obstinate a mule is, especially if a native of Colombia, with an untutored Englishman on its back: the fact is, this batch was perfectly unmanageable, although we had no disposition to show off; and as they were determined that we should not guide them, we very wisely permitted them to guide us. The actual distance from La Guayra is said to be 12 English miles, and the journey is generally accomplished in two and a half to three hours. The road to Carracas was cut by the Spaniards out of the vast mountain Avila, in a zig-zag direction, which is paved in some places. The |