requently perplexed by the apparent
contradictions of a traveller from the East, when describing the
characters and manners of the inhabitants of Hindostan. If, for
instance, he alludes to our gallant sepoys, he pours forth unmeasured
praise, and appears altogether charmed with their docility, courage,
honour, and fidelity. On the other hand, his opinion of the natives in
the aggregate is often as exactly the reverse as it is possible to
imagine. They are described, perhaps, in the strongest terms, as at once
servile, cowardly, treacherous, and ungrateful. The fact is, that our
troops are all from the northern provinces of India, the natives of
which are a brave and generous race, who hold the profession of arms in
the highest estimation. The _Bengallees_ on the contrary, (with the most
universal and shameless indifference to truth,) are mean, effeminate,
and avaricious. They are chiefly composed of merchants, copying clerks,
mechanics, and domestic servants, and are invariably refused admittance
into the company's army. These people are vastly inferior to the natives
of the upper provinces in mental and corporeal energy, though more
polished in their manners, and more easily initiated into the arts and
mysteries of civilized life. I will illustrate the nice sense of honour
which distinguishes the native soldier by the following anecdote.

A sepoy of the Bengal native infantry was accused by one of his comrades
of having stolen a rupee and a pair of trousers. The sergeant-major
before whom, in the first instance, the charge was brought, was both
unable and unwilling to give it credence. Besides the unusual
circumstance of a native soldier being guilty of so base an act, the
accused sepoy had always been remarkably conspicuous for his brave and
upright conduct. His breast was literally covered with medals, and he
had long been accustomed to the voice of praise. Still, however, justice
demanded that the charge should not be dismissed without an impartial
investigation. The whole affair was brought to the notice of the
commanding officer, who desired that the sepoy's residence should be
immediately and thoroughly examined. On opening his knapsack, to the
utter astonishment and regret of the whole regiment, the stolen property
was discovered. None, however, looked more thunderstruck than the sepoy
himself. He clenched his teeth in bitter agony, but spoke not a single
word. The colonel told him, that though circumstances were