s not behove me here to consider.[30]

In all armies composed of involuntary soldiers, that is, of soldiers
who are anxious to quit the ranks and return to peaceful occupations,
but cannot do so, much of the drill to which they are subjected is
adopted merely with a view to keep them from pondering too much upon
the miseries of their present condition, and from indulging in those
licentious habits to which a strong sense of these miseries, and the
recollection of the enjoyments of peaceful life which they have
sacrificed, are too apt to drive them. No portion of this is
necessary for the soldiers of our native army, who have no miseries
to ponder over, or superior enjoyments in peaceful life to look back
upon; and a very small quantity of drill is sufficient to make a
regiment go through its evolutions well, because they have all a
pride and pleasure in their duties, as long as they have a commanding
officer who understands them. Clarke, in his _Travels_, speaking of
the three thousand native infantry from India whom he saw paraded in
Egypt under their gallant leader, Sir David Baird, says, 'Troops in
such a state of military perfection, or better suited for active
service, were never seen--not even on the famous parade of the chosen
ten thousand belonging to Bonaparte's legions, which he was so vain
of displaying before the present war in the front of the Tuileries at
Paris. Not an unhealthy soldier was to be seen. The English, inured
to the climate of India, considered that of Egypt as temperate in its
effects, and the sipahees seemed as fond of the Nile as the
Ganges.'[31]

It would be much better to devise more innocent amusements to lighten
the miseries of European soldiers in India than to be worrying them
every hour, night and day, with duties which are in themselves
considered to be of no importance whatever, and imposed merely with a
view to prevent their having time to ponder on these miseries.[32]
But all extra and useless duties to a soldier become odious, because
they are always associated in his mind with the ideas of the odious
and degrading punishment inflicted for the neglect of them. It is
lamentable to think how much of misery is often wantonly inflicted
upon the brave soldiers of our European regiments of India on the
pretence of a desire to preserve order and discipline.[33]

Sportsmen know that if they train their horses beyond a certain point
they 'train off'; that is, they lose the spirit and