embarked? I hold the reason— the original
reason— to be far more of a moral than a
physical kind, or at any rate that moral reasons
form the causes, while the physical reasons
which most persons regard as the causes, are
simply the effects, of the evil. Our men in
India have too little to do, and idleness in India,
as in every other part of the world, is the cause
of evil, even to the prostration of nearly all
physical energy.

Take the daily life of an English soldier in India.
It is one of enforced idleness. By seven o'clock
in the morning, his drill and duty for the day are
over. He has no fatigue or cooking duty to do;
all that, is done for him by the native servants
of his troop or company. In some regiments
he does not even clean his arms; and I have
known cavalry corps in which the grooming of
the horses was done by native syces: the men
merely looking on or making believe to brush
the horses' manes and tails during stable hours.
By eight o'clock the breakfast-time is over, and
from that time until one the men have nothing
whatever to do but to lounge on 'their cots and
sleep away the forenoon. From dinner to evening
parade, or stable hour, the men are similarly
without any occupation. Those who would
like to go out shooting, are forbidden, as it is
supposed that exposure to the sun is injurious
to health. It is true that in most regiments
there are libraries for the men; but how many of
the latter can read, or of those who can read how
many do so; how many are there who care to read
hour after hour and day after day? To drive
away the ennui caused by a hot climate, the
men require physical as well as mental work,
and this physical work should have an object in
it, or the men will not take to it in earnest.
I have seen in some regiments in India, large
buildings erected in which all kinds of games
and gymnastics were encouraged, so as to keep
the men engaged during the heat of the day.
So far as it goes, this plan is good, but all
play is no more beneficial than all work.
These makeshifts to give the men occupation,
do very well for a time, but they soon die a
natural death. Nothing can be better than
athletic games and gymnastics for soldiers,
but these should be in hours of play, not in
hours of work; and this reminds me how I
observed the men of the French army occupied
in Algeria when not engaged in their military
duties.

In the French army, every recruit is supposed
to know a trade on joining the army. If he has
not yet learnt a trade, he is taught some occupation
after joining his corps. Should he be ignorant
of reading and writing— or, knowing these,
should he wish to improve his education, so as
to qualify himself for promotion— he goes to
the regimental school for four hours every day
when he is not on guard or on fatigue duty.
Once his schooling is over, he is put to work at
some trade or handicraft: or should he not know
one, he is put to learn one. In every French
regiment, there are regular gangs of butchers,
bakers, cooks, carpenters, masons, gardeners,
builders, labourers, cart-drivers, watchmakers,
silversmiths, tailors, shoemakers, blacksmiths,
and what not. All these trades or handicrafts
are under their regular head men, and every
soldier when he can work, may, and does, gain a
certain sum per day, by working in the shop of
his trade. In Algeria, the whole of the government
work is done by these military artisans,
who, as well as the state, are gainers thereby.
The men thus earn extra pay, and the government
get work done better and cheaper than they
could do by employing the people of the country:
besides treasuring up the vast advantage of
always having a corps of workmen at command.
The system of regular organised workmen is
the true secret why the French army get on so
well when on service. In the English army we
have nothing of the kind, except as regards the
tailors and shoemakers, and (in cavalry regiments)
the saddlers and farriers. There are many good
workmen who enter our ranks, but, through want
of practice, they soon forget what they knew. In
Algiers, I have seen a whole pile of barracks,
large enough to contain three thousand men,
that was built entirely by a regiment of the
line, from the digging of the foundations to the
making of glass for the barrack windows, and not
a day's drill or manœuvring had been neglected
while the work was going on. Throughout
Algeria, miles upon miles of excellent public
roads have been made entirely by the troops:
the men being paid a small additional sum by
the state while so employed. Thus the government
gained by getting their work better and
very much cheaper done than could have been
effected by private contractors, while the troops
gained a very comfortable addition to their
regular pay. I don't say that out-door work of
this nature could be carried on in India at all
seasons of the year without more or less detriment
to the health of the men; but I am very certain
that it could be done for several months in the
Upper Provinces and other parts, and that the
men would look upon the change as the greatest
blessing— as affording them a most wholesome
relief from the dreadful monotony of cantonment
life. What would be easier than for a regiment
to go under canvas every year, and move to
wheresoever its services might be wanted for
road-making, bridge-building, or other such
work? The men would gain in health, in pocket,
and, above all,in that knowledge how to overcome
difficulties on actual service which so
distinguishes the French army. When one of our
Anglo-Indian regiments takes the field the men
are as helpless as babies. They have been so long
accustomed to have everything done for them by
their cook-boys and other native servants, that
they can do nothing for themselves, save clean
their clothing and arms, and not always that.
They can and do fight well, but this is not all that
is required of a thorough soldier. He is obliged
to work at every other trade in turn. We repeat
what was said in a former paper, " The handicraft
trade a man has been brought up to, his
peculiar fitness for one occupation more than,
another, even the hobby which it pleases him to