rmy, and partly from the privilege of urging their claims through
the Resident, enjoyed by native officers and sipahees, now ceasing on
their being transferred to the invalid establishment.

But the privilege itself is calculated to create feelings of
dissatisfaction with their European officers, among the honest and
hard-working part of our native army. Such men petition only when
they have just cause; and not one in five of them can obtain what
they demand, and believe to be their just right, under an
administration like that of Oude, whatever efforts the Resident may
make to obtain it for them; and where one is satisfied, four become
discontented; while the dishonest and idle portion of their brother
soldiers, who have no real wrongs to complain of, and feign them only
to get leave of absence, throw all the burthen of their duties upon
them. Others again, by fraud and collusion with those whose influence
they require to urge their claims, often obtain more than they have
any right to; and their unmerited success tends to increase the
dissatisfaction felt by the honest, and more scrupulous portion of
the native officers and sipahees who have failed to obtain anything.

Government will not do away with the privilege without first
ascertaining the views and wishes of the military authorities. They
are not favourable to the abolition, for though the honest and hard-
working sipahees may say that it is of no use to them, the idle and
unscrupulous, who consider it as a lottery in which they may
sometimes draw a prize, or a means of getting leave of absence when
they are not entitled to it, will tell them that the fidelity of the
whole native army depends upon its being maintained and extended. I
am of opinion, after much consideration, and a good deal of
experience in the political working of the system, that the abolition
of the privilege would be of great advantage to the native army; and
it would certainly relieve the European officers from much
importunity and annoyance which they now suffer from its enforcement.
It is not uncommon for a sipahee of a regiment in Bombay to obtain
leave of absence for several times over for _ten months_ at a time,
on the pretence of having a case pending in Oude. When his leave is
about to expire, he presents a petition to the Resident, who obtains
for him from the Court an order for the local authorities to settle
his claim. This order is sent to the officer commanding his regiment.
T