Page:The Marquess Cornwallis and the Consolidation of British Rule.djvu/88

82 the Company cannot keep up an efficient European force in India ; this is a fact so notorious that no military man who has been in this country will venture to deny it, and I do not care how strongly I am quoted as authority for it.

'The circumstances, however, of the native troops are very different. It is highly expedient and indeed absolutely necessary for the public good, that the officers who are destined to serve in these corps should come out at an early period of life and devote themselves entirely to the Indian service; a perfect knowledge of the language, and a minute attention to the customs and religious prejudices of the Sepoys, being qualifications for that line which cannot be dispensed with. Were these officers to make a part of the King's army, it would soon become a practice to exchange their commissions with ruined officers from England, who would be held in contempt by their inferior officers and in abhorrence by their soldiers, and you need not be told how dangerous a disaffection in our native troops would be to our existence in this country. I think, therefore, that as you cannot make laws to bind the King's prerogative in the exchange or promotions of his army, it would be much the safest determination to continue the native troops in the Company's service, and by doing so you would still leave to the Court of Directors the patronage of cadets, and of course give some popularity to the measure.