•»7'1' Sotig, by L. S. C. [March, 



soldiership; he advances in the gradations of intemperance, and his 

 constitution gradually sinks ; his time is now spent pretty equally 

 between the guard-room and the congee-house (solitary cells) and the 

 hospital ; and finally, too often closes his cai'eer in a state of raving 

 madness, emphatically termed the " horrors." The numbers that ter- 

 minate their rapid course in this horrible manner, are, to a stranger, 

 incredible : we should like to see the returns of the army published. " I 

 do not hesitate to declare," says the officer whose pamphlet on this 

 subject is referred to at the head of this article, " that not tens, but 

 hundreds are the instances, which have passed before my own eyes, in 

 the regiment to which I belonged. The very frequency, too, of the pla- 

 cards in the streets, at a// times, advertising for recruits for India, indi- 

 cate pretty plainly some extraordinary drain." 



Are scenes such as these to be contemplated with indolence, or suf- 

 fered to proceed without an effort to remove them ? Are consequences 

 such as these to be witnessed, above all, by a trading company? Why, 

 every one of these soldiers costs at least £100 before he reaches Fort 

 William ; and as little concern is taken to preserve the expensive instru- 

 ment, as if the prime-cost, to say nothing of his daily subsistence, had 

 not amounted to a hundred farthings. Fifty per cent, on the whole 

 expense of the Company's European forces might be saved by a little 

 practical wisdom in the management. We acquit the Company of all 

 oblique views in this matter ; they merely, but knowingljs neglect : no 

 responsibility they imagine rests on them — they belong not to them. 

 Short-sighted policy I Folly first or last recoils on its own head ; let 

 them look to it. The Burmese campaigns have proved how little these 

 enervated troops are capable of sustaining fatigue, or resisting disease 

 and how shall they be able to meet the hardier and bolder natives of the 

 North, who are plainly gathering their strength for a more formidable 

 attack than any that has yet been encountered ? 



SONG. 

 Go — for I feel thy looks are changed. 



And it would grieve my heart 

 To find thy tenderness estranged, 



And th.Tt we coldly part; 

 Ah ! leave me then at once, and fly, 

 Ere doubt is turned to certaintj'. 



Few, very few, have been the hours 



My soul has known of peace ; 

 Unwelcome is the cloud that lowers 



And bids that sunshine cease — 

 But Hope's bright colours soon decay. 

 And pass, hke Iris-hues, away ! 



Go — not a word, a look of mine 



Shall make thee linger : yet 

 I would not, in thj' faith's decline, 



Thy early truth forget; 

 I V, ould not learn fi'om thee the tale, 

 That words are air, and vows are frail. 



Yes — it may be, when far removed, 



The voice of memory 

 May yet remind thee how we loved — 



And its reproving sigh 

 May all thy former heart renew, 

 I priz'd so well, and thought so true. L. S. C. 



