to would regulate the future proceedings in
this respect, the Court was again " cleared,"
and we again marched into the room where
the refreshments were to be had. In
half-an-hour's time we were re-admitted. But it
was not until the following day (for members
are not allowed, in short they are bound by
oath, not to divulge what may be decided
when the doors are closed), that we learnt
the Deputy-Judge-Advocate-General had
carried his point, and that a sort of parody
of that old nursery story, about "the fire
began to burn the stick, the stick began to
beat the dog, the dog began to bite the pig,"
was the proper way to open the proceedings
of each day, during a protracted trial by
general court martial!

So curiously is human nature constituted,
that I, in common with the rest of the
audience, began, after the fifth day to like the
business, and to watch its various twistings
and turnings with great interest. The mess
house, at which the Court was held, became
a favourite lounge for almost everybody in
the station; and it was curious to hear the
bets that were made with reference to the
probable "finding," and the sentence. The
trial lasted over thirteen days, inclusive of
two Sundays, which intervened: and the
proceedings were then forwarded to Simlah,
where they remained for a fortnight awaiting
the decision of the Commander-in-Chief,
who, in fulfilment of Blade's prophecy,
certainly did put forth " a snorter of a General
Order," and as full as it could be of italics,
capitals, and notes of exclamation and
interrogation. His Excellency " walked into " the
President, and recommended him to study
some catechism of the Law of Courts' Martial,
such a book as children might understand.
His Excellency further remarked that the
Senior Captain (the principal witness), or any
man wearing a sword, ought to be ashamed
of admitting that he was unable to define
the various stages of intoxication; and that
he was astounded to find that the Court in
general should have paid so little attention
to the admirable reasoning, on this point, of
a junior member whose intelligence appeared
to have enlisted no sympathy. (This had
reference to Blade.) His Excellency went on
to say, that he had never himself been drunk
in the whole course of his long life, and to
that fact he attributed his position; that if
the Court had done its duty it would have
cashiered the prisoners; that a " severe
reprimand which the Court awarded was a
mockery which stunk in the nostrils," and
that the prisoners were to be released from
arrest and return to their duty without receiving
it. But the Chief did not end here. He
went on to say, that he would maintain the
discipline of the British army in the East, in
all ranks, or else he would know the reason
why. And being, I fancy, in some difficulty
as to what to use, in the case (whether marks
of admiration or interrogation), he
emphasised the last word, of this culminating
and very relevant sentence thus:

"WHY?!!!"

It was a matter of grave doubt whether
the determination, thus expressed, to uphold
discipline in the army, was in any way
assisted by such general orders as those
fired off from the pen of the ardent
Commander-in-Chief: the more especially as such
general orders were copied into the
newspapers, and were read by (or listened to while
others were reading aloud), every
non-commissioned officer and private in Upper India,
Native and European. Three weeks after
the promulgation of the general order just
alluded to, a trooper in the dragoons having
been talked to seriously by the captain
of the troop, for some irregular conduct,
thus unburthened himself:—

"You! What do I care for what YOU
say? You are one of those infernal fools,
whom the Commander-in-Chief pitched into
the other day, for BEING a fool." And, as
the peroration of this speech, consisted of the
dashing off of the speaker's cap and hurling
it into the captain's face, the man was tried,
convicted, and sentenced to be transported
for life.

If it be inquired by the reader whether
the above description of a Court Martial
in India is a fair specimen of what usually
transpires at these tribunals, I reply emphatically
"Yes; " and I make the assertion
in this, the last of my papers of WANDERINGS,
after having watched the proceedings of no
fewer than eighteen Courts Martial during
my sojourn in the East Indies.

"A GUDE CONCEIT O' OURSELS."

ON my twenty-second birthday, just five
months ago, I gained the object of my highest
ambition the medal of the Academy of Arts
of my native town and on the same day
sold a small landscape (with figures) for
thirty guineas. I got thirty one-pound notes,
and wrapt a shilling in each of them. Now, I
said, I am too big for my native town, and the
streets are too narrow. Fame has not room
to distend her cheeks enough to blow the
proper note. I will start to-morrow for
London. There, what glories await me;
orders from Lords, and commissions from my
honoured Sovereign and my adored Prince
Consort; invitations to Waldemar Castle and
Montresorville Hall all the summer; journeys
to the Bank every quarter in my own neat
little brougham to invest in the three per
cents. I will run no risk by loans or
mortgages. And Miss Arabel, see if she
will toss her head so high, and stalk
away past me as if I were one of her father's
clerks! I rather think she will see she has
not shown much sense since I met her before
the Exhibition opened.

These thoughts passed rapidly through my