THE INDIAN ARMY.—QUESTION. (Hansard, 14 March 1862)

SIR MOTTO FARQUHAR
said, he rose to ask the Secretary of State for India, In consequence of his having authorized the Government of India to reduce the youngest of the regiments of Cavalry lately formed in Bengal, what would be, in the event of such authority being acted upon, the position of the officers and men? An official statement had been made that the Government of Bengal, finding they had more cavalry regiments than they required, had determined to send home the Queen's Bays. The Home Government, it was stated, thereupon wrote to give the Indian Government authority, instead of sending home an old regiment, to reduce the youngest cavalry regiment which had been formed out of the local European cavalry regiments—namely, the 21st Hussars. He should not have directed the attention of the House to the subject, had not the House constituted itself a Court of Appeal upon questions affecting the late Indian Army. It would be in the recollection of hon. Members that in the Act of 1858, which transferred the Government of India from the East India Company to Her Majesty, it was provided by the 56th section that the pay, pensions, allowances, privileges and promotion in the Indian Army were to be in the same position as when the Indian Army was under the East India Company. Not satisfied even with that provision, the House manifested its determination to see that justice was done to the officers of the Indian Army by accepting a clause proposed by his right hon. Friend (Mr. Henley) in the Act of 1860, which resulted in the amalgamation of the Indian with the Royal Army, which repeated the guarantee given by the Act of 1858. Lord Derby stated at the time, when he was at the head of the Government, that the expectations of the officers of the Indian Army ought to be considered, and the right hon. Gentleman (Sir Charles Wood) assured the House that no material alteration would be made in the position of the officers of the Indian Army, and said, in 1860, he did not know how Government could give a better pledge of the sincerity of their intentions than by accepting gladly and willingly the clause of the right hon. Gentleman the member for Oxfordshire (Mr. Henley). Before the rebellion there were ten regi- 1506 ments of Native cavalry. Several of the officers were murdered, but those who escaped did their duty bravely. Upon the suppression of the mutiny it was determined to have Native cavalry regiments no longer, and, after various changes of policy on the part of the Government, there appeared in the Calcutta Gazette of the 22nd of April last a General Order, issued by the Government of India, upon the authority of the Home Government, in which the whole scheme of the amalgamation of the Indian and Royal Armies was clearly laid down. In that order it was declared that no alteration would be made in the position of the officers or men without their consent, and those belonging to the Local European Cavalry and Infantry were invited to volunteer under the general conditions of service of Her Majesty's Army, into three new Regiments of Cavalry and nine new Regiments of Infantry to be added to the Royal Army. The same power which had created a regiment, could, of course, reduce it, and therefore, if there were more regiments in India than were absolutely required, it was competent to the Indian Government to propose that those regiments should not be retained in that country. It could not be supposed that the officers would have volunteered into the new regiments if they could have thought it possible that within ten months of the time when the General Order was issued it would be stated by the Secretary for India in that House, that if the Indian Government did not require a cavalry regiment, they had his authority to reduce it whenever they pleased. Now the question he had to ask was, what would be the position of the officers who had volunteered into the new regiments if these regiments were to be thus reduced? Were they to be restored to the position in which they were before they volunteered, and to be in the local service of the Government in India, or were they to be sent home and put on half-pay?

MR. ADAMS
said, that the officers of the Indian Army were already in such an uncertain position, that any circumstance at all tending to increase that uncertainty could not fail to exercise a most injurious influence. He could mention cases in which officers had gone out to India, but finding their services were not required, had been obliged to remain in Calcutta doing nothing; and though some few might have obtained appointments, an 1507 order might, at any moment, send them adrift. He did not mean to say that the army in India ought never to be reduced, but he trusted that the announcement made in the House the other night would not be carried into effect.

§ COLONEL SYKES
said, he wished to ask upon what principle the Secretary of State proposed to act in reducing the youngest of the cavalry regiments of Bengal? He contended that the Indian regiments ought to take rank according to the dates at which they had been raised; whereas it was proposed to reduce the very regiments which had fought at Plassy and Buxar. Nothing could have been stronger than the assurances of the right hon. Gentleman that the pay and allowances of the officers of those regiments should remain exactly the same as hitherto, and yet those assurances were about to be violated. It would be found much better policy to retain old than to form new regiments.

§ MR. VANSITTART
said, he regretted the hardship to which the officers of the reduced regiments would be subjected. They could never hope to command a troop in the regiments to which they might be temporarily attached, because such a proceeding would necessarily be very unjust to the officers of those regiments. Consequently, it appeared to him that they would lose one-half of their emoluments.

§ SIR CHARLES WOOD
said, he regretted as much as any one that there should be any uncertainty in the position of the officers. He hoped, however, to be permitted to observe, that the uncertainty arose in a great measure from the consideration which the Government had endeavoured to give to the position of the officers by creating favourable terms of retirement with a view to mitigate the hardship which, he readily admitted, had been incurred by some officers in consequence not of the amalgamation, but of the present reduction of the army in India. It would, however, have been quite as competent for the Court of Directors to have made the reduction as for Her Majesty's Government; and, undoubtedly, they would have done so, as nobody is prepared to maintain that the Native army should not be reduced. That reduction must inevitably entail some amount of hardship on the officers. "With regard to the particular question, he had stated on a former occasion under what cir- 1508 cumstances it had arisen. Those circumstances were certainly in no degree attributable to the line of conduct pursued by the Home Government. The first demand of the Indian Government was for a much larger number of regiments than the India Office thought sufficient. If therefore that Government had altered its tone so as not only to come down to what the India Office sanctioned, but even below it, that was not the fault of the authorities at home. The first consideration, of course, was, what was the force required for India; for it was manifestly unjust to impose on the revenues of that country the cost of the maintenance of a number of extra regiments beyond the absolute requirements. Then the question was, what could be done with the regiments which, in the opinion of the Government of India, were unnecessary? It was not his opinion or the opinion of the Commander-in-Chief that there were too many regiments; but it was not for him to force the Government of India to maintain regiments of cavalry which they thought unnecessary. The hon. Baronet had asked what would be the position of certain officers to whom he had referred. Those officers had volunteered for general service, but they were at present in the Indian Service. Supposing the Government of India determined not to form the regiment, then their services in a regiment of the Line would not be required, and they would remain, as at present, officers of the Indian army, to be employed in such manner as the Government of India could best provide employment for them. They were therefore neither better nor worse off than their brethren, the officers of the other regiments in the Indian army. He was not aware of the exact feeling of the Indian Government on the subject, but he was inclined to think, from what he had heard, that they had changed their opinion as to the number of regiments requisite in Bengal, and that the regiment would be formed.