INDIA. [From the Sydney Morning Herald, March 29.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 497, 8 May 1850, Page 4

INDIA. [From the Sydney Morning Herald, March 29.]

Not having an " enemy" to deal with, Sir ! Charles Napier appeys to be exerting himself as a military .reformer. His general orders are very different affairs from the "reprimanded accordingly" style, so much in favour with Commanders-in-Chief. A reprimand from him is useful, not only to the individual officer, but to the whole army. When he inspects a regiment or division, he expresses his real sentiments ; there is no official " butter." When the usual annual relief of the Bengal Army took place, it appears that several commanding officers of regiments applied for particular stations, upon which an order was issued reminding commanding officers of a fact, which some civilians would do well to consider, that they ar' maintained for the benefit of the public, and that they must go where the public service requires they should be sent. As a specimen of military Whigging we give one of His Excellency's orders in full : — 12th December. At the late review of the troops on the plan of Meean Meer, the following egregious deficiencies were evident to all : — l6t. That some commanders of regiments were unable to bring their regiments properly into the general line. 2nd. One commanding officer of a regiment attempted to wheel bis whole regiment as he would a company ! 3rd. Several officers commanding companies were seen disordering their companies by attempting to dress them from the wrong flank. 4th. When the line was ordered to be formed on the left column, some commanders deployed too soon, and ordered their lines (thus improperly formed) to " double quick," in order regain their position. This was all bad ; but it was worse to see these regiments on receiving the word to " double quick," at once charge with loud shouts, no such order to charge having been given by any one, nor the word " prepare to charge," nor did anything occur to give a pretext for such a disgraceful scene, exhibiting both want of -drill and want of discipline. sth. Bad as this was, it was not the worst. When these regiments chose to charge, the Com-mander-in-Chief, to his astonishment, beheld the men discharging their firelocks straight up in the air, and he saw some men of the rear rank actually firing off their muskets to the rear over their shoulders as their bearers (he will not call them soldiers) were running to the front. He feels assured that no such scene could have happened in any other regiments in the army ; if ever such again happens, he will expose the commanding officer of any regiment that so disgraces itself, in public orders, to the whole of the Indian army. In the course of his service he never before witnessed such a scene. No commander could go into action with a regiment capable of such conduct, without feeling certain that it would behave ill ! The Commander-in-Chief will therefore hold commanding officers responsible (for they alone are to blame) that any soldier who shouts, or charges, or fires, without orders, be instantly seized, tried at once by a drumhead courtmartial, and the sentence executed on the spot. Courts-martial which try such dangerous offenders will, the Commander-in-Chief has no doubt, uphold military discipline and military honour against outrageous and criminal disorder. This order may be deemed severe: the Comman-der-in-Chief means to be so, for he will not pass over without animadversion faults which, if tolerated, would, in the event of war, produce certain defeat to his army. The reviews which the Com-mander-in-Chief makes of the troops are not to be taken as so many " chips in porridge." They are made for the purpose of ascertaining what officers are fit to command battalions, and there being no want of such in the Indian army, he"wiil feel it to be his bounden duty to remove those who are not ; and whenever he finds a regiment fire, shout, or charge, without orders from its commander, he will, after this warning, remove the latter from his command. The sepoy is both a brave and obedient soldier ; and whenever he behaves ill, it is in a great measure the fault of his commanding officer.

The drill and discipline of all armies rest mainly with the commanders of regiments and companies. They are in immediate contact with the officers, noncommissioned officers, and private soldiers ; and to them general officers must look for that perfect obedience, without which an army is an armed mob, dangerous to its friends, and contemptible to its enemies. The Commander-in-Chief does not hereby call on commanding officers to torment those under their order by long and harassing drill. But he does call upon them to instruct th«ir officers, and to instruct themselves, and also to instruct their supernumerary ranks, that they are to seize any man in their front who dares to shout, or talk, or fire, or run, without orders. General officers, commanding divisions or brigades in this army are called upon to see that commanders of regiments do their duty in those points. The Commander-in-Chief doas not apply this order to all commanders ; he well knows that there are abundant first-rate soldiers and first-rate regiments in the Indian army ; but he applies it to those whose regiments are in bad order. By order of His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief. Pat. Grant, Lieutenant- Colonel, Adjutant- General of the Army.