Page:Our Indian Army.djvu/44

20 into full operation in 1796, since which period no native has been allowed to rise above the rank of soubahdar.

The pay of the Sepoy is seven rupees per month, which is double the wages of the class of persons from which they are generally drawn. The establishment of each regiment is 700 rank and file; and the men, though of a size somewhat below that of European soldiers, are nearly as brave (when properly led), and quite as hardy and as active, capable of undergoing as much fatigue, and of sustaining even greater privations.

Officers in the Company's service receive royal commissions, as well as commissions from the Government of India; their rank, however, only operates to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope. Promotion to the rank of colonel is in the hands of the Company; the rank of general officer is confirmed by royal brevet upon the occasion of the issue of a brevet to the royal army. The commands in chief at the different Presidencies of India are held by generals in her Majesty's service.

The interior economy and management of our Anglo-Indian Army is altogether so different from anything of the same nature in Europe that a few details on the subject may here be acceptable to the reader.

When not in the field, the troops are always in cantonments, with the exception of Fort William, Fort George, and Bombay, where there are regular barracks for both officers and men. These cantonments consist of a solid built barrack for the European soldiers, the Sepoys being lodged in huts of their own construction. Around the barracks, and generally skirting the parade-ground, the officers are allotted a piece of ground each, called a compound, on which they have their bungalows built, consisting in most cases of three rooms and one or two verandahs; though many, according to the taste and means of the occupants, are very elaborate and comfort-