Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/145

 men went over to the enemy. The sepoy is born a soldier, and the esprit de corps grows with him as he grows; his father has, perhaps, died in battle, and his mother and his sisters are comfortably pensioned by Government. He looks to the Company's service as the means of an easy and honourable livelihood, to his pension as the support of his old age, and to his old regiment as the sphere in which his sons and his sons' sons may follow Ids example. Such men are, therefore, worthy of our respect and esteem!

13. RELIEFS.—Regiments seldom remain longer at one station than three years, when they are removed to some other, two or three months' march distant. The order for the relief of all troops for the season generally appears in August, and few subjects give rise to so much speculation and excitement. In Bengal all marches,unless on emergencies, are made in the cold weather, the 15th November being the general time for breaking ground and the 15th March as late as is found agreeable in tents. Most officers look forward to a long march, not as an inconvenience, but as an agreeable tour and a welcome release from the dull monotony of a life in cantonment. Probably the regiment may be ordered to take the field, and form part of a grand army against some powerful enemy.