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ART. III.-LIGHT CAVALRY IN INDIA.

1.-Advance Posts of Light Cavalry. By General F. DE BRACK, Paris 1844. Translated by Major P. J. Begbie, Madras Artillery. Madras: Christian K. Society's Press, 1850. 2.-Cavalry. Its History and Tactics. By Capt. L. E. NOLAN, 15th Hussars.-London: J. Bosworth, 1853.

3.-Training of Cavalry Remount Horses. By Capt. L. E. NOLAN, 15th Hussars.-London: Furnivall and Parker, 1852. 4.-Remarks on the Native Troops of the Indian Army. By Major JOHN JACOB, Commandant of the Sindh Irregular Horse.Bombay 1854.

5.-Cavalry Outpost Duties. By Lieut.-Col. ARENTSCHILDT, 1st Hussars, King's German Legion.-London: Furnivall and Parker, 1854.

6.-Hints on Irregular Cavalry. By Capt. C. F. TROWER, B. M. H. H. Nizam's Cavalry.-Calcutta: Thacker & Co., 1845. THE present is a time in which every branch of the Army is attracting public attention. Its efficiency is a matter which affects the honor and interest of every patriotic Englishman. Practical suggestions therefore, biassed only by a love for the service and anxiety for its welfare, springing from any quarter, may reach the eye of those in whose power improvement lies; and, should the possible contingency, hinted at by Lord John Russell in the House of Commons, be realized, of our Indian Army joining in the bloody struggle for right in the Crimea, may prove a public benefit.

We have seen the stock of the Infantry Soldier-that "point d'appui" of discipline in the opinion of many veterans, and instrument of torture to the wearer-ruthlessly sacrificed at Varna to the common sense of the English public. A few clever leaders in "The Times," penned by one not in awe of the Horse Guards, daring to have an opinion of his own, and drawing his conclusions from his own sensations, effected in a few weeks the downfall of this remnant of barbarism. This would not in all probability have been done by the Army itself within the present century. However, one daring Hussar, now alas no more, had the audacity to doubt the perfection in dress and accoutrements of his crack corps and of others English and foreign. He decides the question of the steel scabbard, the overalls with straps, the unwieldy lance, and the present pattern of Hussar

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saddle. He is right; such things are absurdities, even when climate; strength of man and horse, associations and prestige-all tend to alleviate their evils. How then can the appointments of Indian Light Dragoon Regiments, which have steadily copied the European in every absurdity as well as in every excellence, be presumed to be faultless? We doubt whether, after our intelligence, our experience, and our modern science have been all brought to bear on the trooper, his horse, his arms and the discipline he undergoes, our Cavalry have not rather retrograded than advanced in efficiency since the days of Cromwell and his Ironsides, and we are certain that our system does not make troopers like those of Ziethen and Seidlitz.

Yet we have men as good as the daring horsemen of these warriors, whilst in horses and arms we are far superior. Into the reasons and causes of this paradox it is our present purpose to inquire, with the assistance of the valuable works above mentioned. Many writers in our Indian newspapers, good men and true, have of late years written volumes on this subject; but it is to be regretted, that, in their zeal for the particular service they uphold, they have been unwilling or unable to suggest practical remedies for the shortcomings and abuses they so valiantly attack. We shall therefore propose a remedy for every abuse, acting on the suggestion of a writer in the Dublin University Magazine, for January 1854, who pronounces it to be a mode of practice as excellent as it is rare. At the same time we admit that most of our suggestions have at least been thought of already by practical men.

We will consider Light Cavalry under three heads:

1. Arms and Equipments.

2. Horses.

3. Discipline.

On the choice and use of the two first, and the skill and temper with which the latter is carried out, depend the trooper's confidence in himself, his security, and his power of inflicting injury on his enemy. The first axiom which General De Brack lays down regarding arms is: "In peace you will have learnt how to manage your weapons; in war you will learn how to use them."

And then arises the question, What weapons? what arms must we learn to manage in peace that we may use them in war? Those in vogue amongst Cavalry corps are the sword, carbine, lance and pistol; but before we proceed to consider their merits and demerits at greater length, we will hear the various opinions of the gallant "sabreurs" whose works are now before us. General De Brack says:

"The sabre is the arm in which you ought to place the most confidence, because it is rarely that it fails by snapping in your hands. Its cuts are

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surer in proportion as you direct them with coolness, and as you hold your arm properly. It is the thrusts that kill; cuts only wound. Give the point then, give the point as often as you can, and you will dismount every man you reach; you will demoralise the enemy, who may escape your thrust, and you will add to these advantages, that of never exposing yourself and being always at your guard. In the first Spanish war, our dragoons acquired such a reputation for their skill in thrusting, as to demoralise the Spanish and English troops."

To which latter assertion the translator naively adds in a note, that" it will be as great a novelty to our readers as it is to ourselves." The whole tenor of Capt. Nolan's chapter on "The Arming of Cavalry" indicates a strong preference for the sabre over all other weapons. But he raises that vexata quæstio, of the respective advantages of the straight sword and the curved sabre, and is apparently as much in favor of the latter as General De Brack is of the former. Captain Nolan says:

"The Sikh war showed clearly, had any proof been wanting, how useless the Indian Cavalry was when organised on the English model; whilst at the same time, brilliant proofs were given of the superiority of the Irregulars armed with sharp swords, and having a proper command over their horses."

And then quoting from a letter in the Delhi Gazette continues: "A Cavalry soldier should find himself strong and firm in his seat, easy in his dress so as to have perfect freedom of action, and with a weapon in his hand capable of cutting down an adversary at a blow."

Our next authority is also highly in favor of sabres for Cavalry, and as the redoubtable commandant of the Sind Horse has not only had in person such practice with the enemy as falls to the lot of few, but has taught his gallant troopers to use their blades with such cutting effect, his practical experience is entitled to respect, if it does not weigh very heavy in the scale. Major John Jacob, however, and General DeBrack are at direct issue, as to the respective advantages to be gained by a horseman over his antagonist, by the cut or by the point. The former tells us at page 35 of of his "Remarks :"

"It is no mistake at all to arm them with good cutting swords of one uniform pattern. The English swords, (not the government regulation iron, but a weapon made in England of good steel and of a proper shape) is infinitely better than any Eastern blade, and all the native soldiers prefer it. Even these Beloochees here are begging to be allowed to buy these swords at any price. The things cut of themselves, however unskilfully handled."

There are great mistakes made regarding the respective powers of the edges and points of swords. On foot, or when moving with moderate rapidity, it is unnecessary to argue in favor of the point of the fencer; its superiority is evident to all. But on horseback, the speed of the horse prevents the swordsman from drawing his arm back with sufficient rapidity after a home thrust, so that if going at fuil speed (as every Cavalry man ought when attacking) his sword, after passing through his enemy, is very liable to be knocked out of his hand, the weapon running up to the hilt, and then of course violently stopping. This has occurred to myself, when I should have been quite disarmed, had

not the sword been buckled to my wrist with a very strong leather strap. The same thing has also often occurred to others; wherefore for Cavalry soldiers curved cutting blades are the best. Straight swords will only cut in skilful hands, curved blades cut fearfully, of themselves almost, without any skill on the part of the soldier."

Such facts strike the reader as hard as Major Jacob's sabre-cuts did the enemy; and any old " pigsticker," accustomed to use the long spear, which allows of being shortened or lengthened in the grip, and can be turned with greater facility in the hand, for the purpose of extrication, than a sword hilt, will agree with us as to the difficulty that often occurs in releasing the head from its bloody sheath in front of, or behind the shoulder of a fighting boar who has charged home, and is, whilst you are striving every nerve to save your spear for another attack, doing his utmost to rip and ruin for life your gallant little Arab. Many will recollect, that when their weapon has been suddenly stopped, (as Major Jacob describes) by striking against, or piercing a bone, they have found themselves with but half a bamboo in their hands, the other half being left buried in the flanks of their game.

We will not attempt to sever the gordian knot into which the sabrecut and sword-point have become entangled; we would insist upon neither, and allow every man to follow the dictates of his own fancy or the result of his own experience, as most assuredly every one will do, when he meets his antagonist in the battle crash. At that time, teaching, argument and practice will weigh as nothing compared with the impulse of the moment, and we would have every trooper exercisesword practice, not practise" sword exercise," on horseback, allowing him to form his own conclusions as to the manner in which he could most injure his enemy with the least harm to himself. If he be enamoured of the straight sword and the point, provide him with the former that he may give the latter; but if he opine that his prowess would be increased by using the curved sabre and the drawing cut, let him indulge his predilection for them. All are not equal adepts in one particular mode of attack; and he, who can deliver a point with the greatest dexterity and certainty of injuring his adversary, may signally fail in that pliancy of arm and neatness of stroke so requisite to make a sabre cut effectual. We would, therefore, have two pattern swords for Cavalry; one straight, the other curved; and allow every man to use his discretion in the choice of either, with liberty to change it after practice and experience. We can imagine that an outcry would be raised by the button and collar men of the army, at having swords of two patterns in a corps. The smart Major, who considers he performs "the sword exercise" as well as the drill Serjeant, or the puffy Colonel, who writes to the Adjutant General so much about the uniformity of the men, might be indignant ; but

surely the Irregular Cavalry, who use swords of all shapes and sizes, have done gallant service. A short time since we saw in our friend Wilkinson's upstair room in Pall Mall muskets of different lengths, bends, and weights, some straight, some curved, some long and some short, to suit the different capabilities of our Infantry soldiers, whom we have just discovered are not all made alike; and these weapons had an hour previously received the approval of Lord Hardinge and his sanction for introduction into the Army. Every griff in the country can tell you how well his "Purday" comes up to his shoulder, and how he considers his fellow griff's "Westley Richards" much too straight in the stock. If then diverse arms of one sort be required for different capacities, why should not be also diverse arms of another sort? If muskets and rifles, why not swords?

The European horseman will probably often attack with the point, as he understands and appreciates its deadly use; but the Native Suwar, Regular or Irregular, will almost invariably use the drawing cut, whose damaging issues he has heard of from early childhood, as practised by his progenitors at Paniput and at Plassey, at Assaye and Mahidpore, in Afghanistan and the Punjab. None of our officers, who were cut down during our late campaigns were, as far as we can recollect, wounded with the sword-point; whilst we could name many who were almost cleft in two by the sharp, drawing, sabrecut. Take Chillianwalla alone; frightful were the wounds received in the backs of their heads by poor Edward Christie H. A., Christie of the 5th L. C., and Godby, now of the Guides-wounds which exposed their very brains.

But it is time to sheath our swords, and we ought not to waste much time in discussing the merits of their scabbards. We believe every sensible man in India, European or Native, is as much in favor of the wooden, as he is against the steel scabbard, and would hail the introduction of the former, with the abolition of the latter, as a more decided improvement than any made during the present century; indeed we should dismiss a subject, upon which so many are agreed, at once, were it not for the fact that the change is not yet made. As it is, we will reproduce the principal arguments on the question, supporting them by the opinions of our text books. No amount of normal training will give confidence in a weapon, when a soldier knows that it will not cut, and that no care or sharpening will preserve its keenness so long as he must keep it in a steel scabbard, which wears the edge away each time the sword is drawn and sheathed for purposes of parade. It looks smart and soldier-like to see a corps of horse on parade, drawing swords as one man; but the ringing noise which accompanies the performance tells a tale to the keen observer; that rattle dis