five years' service, and then what shall we be fit for? Nothing but the invalid or pension establishment. If our commanding officers of regiments were more effective, the army would be so also; but at present the class of men in general at the head of divisions, brigades, and regiments, are old and worn out, while the young and the effective are becoming noneffective from this slowness of promotion. The off-reckoning list could easily be done away with. Officers of a certain time of service should be made to retire upon some fixed salary, without burdening the gradation rolls to the detriment of the juniors, as is at present the case; and then only may we expect to get on; but, as we now stand, there is little or no hope whatever, except by purchasing out our seniors from our own resour ces. But into what a fearful amount of debt does this arrangement involve the whole army! There is scarcely a regiment but what is made to suffer very heavy stoppages in liquidation of loans, from houses of agency or the famous Agra Bank, of enormous sums borrowed to pay out some wornout Major or disgusted Captain. And yet there is no alternative but to pur chase out those above us, and, do what we will, we must borrow money, which places many in sad, sad difficulties, that they are unable to contend with. If we do not purchase, how are we to get on?

How, indeed? This mournful question it is easier to ask than to answer. We have elsewhere* laid before our readers some disheartening statistics illustrative of the future prospects of the Indian army. As to the loans of which Captain Hervey speaks, we are not sure that, in the long run, however severely they may press on young officers at the time, they are not advantageous to him. If the money be borrowed for the bonâ fide purchase of promotion, the investment, in spite of the heavy interest paid, is really an advantageous one. And if money is to be borrowed at all, surely it is better that it should be borrowed from a bank, than from a native usurer.

Captain Hervey's career has not been a very eventful one. Events are not very numerous or very exciting in the Madras Presidency. But he has something to say about two or three of the incidents of the last twenty years, which have caused the greatest excitement on the coast-for example the murder of Brigadier Coombs, and the peculations of Captain Douglas. Why the chief sufferer and the chief actor in these tales of murder and robbery should be initialized, it is hard to say. Surely their names are sufficiently notorious. They have become history. We protest, indeed, bitterly against the initi alizing system, when events of any public importance are under consideration. Why should Sir Peregrine Maitland, for example, figure as Sir P. M-? When small details of regimental life or mess gossip are to be dealt with, it is altogether another matter. But the murder of Brigadier Coombs is an historical event; and the names of all the parties, who were in any way associated with it, might have been given at

• No. 27. Article-" Bengal Military Fund."

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full length without any violation of delicacy. It appears to us, however, that Captain Hervey has told this melancholy story in a very intelligible and very interesting manner. We have never met with so ample and so graphic an account of the murder, or such full particulars of the history of the murderer, and of the closing scenes of his life. Captain Hervey was present at the time, when the fatal shot was fired, and subsequently had charge of the prisoner on main guard. Emaum Ali was a pet man in his regiment. He had saved by his heroic gallantry in action, in the Malacca campaign, the life of one of the officers of his regiment-Lieutenant Wright. He had been promoted to the rank of havildar; the officers of his corps had presented him with a gold medal; and he was an especial favourite with the Brigadier, who, Captain Hervey says, "went so far as to have the man's portrait taken, and recommended that he should be promoted to the rank of jemadar, though his recommendation was not attended to." "Little," adds our author, "did the poor Brigadier think of what awaited him, at the time he was making so much of this man."

It was early in January 1834, that the General commanding the division visited Pulnomum on a tour of inspection. One evening the troops were brigaded; but, before the exercise had proceeded very long, the brief twilight of an Oriental winter was at an end; and the ball-practice was anything but good. "The darkness and the distance caused the firing to be irregular; and the brigadier galloped up and down apparently much annoyed, desiring the officers to keep the men steady and to aim better." We continue the narrative in Captain Hervey's words:

In the mean time there was something wrong amongst the Rifles on the left. Their firing was any thing but satisfactory; and K- found fault with the young havildar, Meer Emaum Ally (already mentioned), who was particularly unsteady and careless on that occasion, so different to his general behaviour. He was such a capital shot, that he was ever trying his best, and generally managed to beat every one; but, somehow or other, he fired very indifferently on this evening; and, when K observed it to him, he gave that officer an insolent reply. His demeanour was mutinous; and K- reported him to the Major, as he rode up to that flank of the line. The Major directed the man to be brought to him the next day at orderly hour. The firing over, the brigade was broken into "columns of sections," it being so late that the Brigadier did not direct the usual precautionary measure being taken, of discharging the loaded muskets previously to returning home. He either thought it too late to do so, or he forgot it altogether. It was now quite dark; and, as we moved on, the progress of the brigade over broken ground was slow and irregular. The General drove away in his carriage; and the Brigadier directed officers.to mount, and the column to march at ease. He was himself on horse-back, standing at an angle of the road, where the troops wheeled on towards the

cantonments, the pivot of each section, as it came up, resting at the point where he stood. As we passed him, T-n asked the Brigadier, if he would come to mess and take a glass of cold claret, which would do him good after all his exertions and the heat of the day. He excused himself, saying "I have already dined, thank you, before coming down the hill, so should not be able to stand another dinner." The Brigadier was not at all in a good humour that evening, and was finding fault with every one. As I was riding by at the head of my company, he called out to me in a very angry tone of voice to change flank, as officers mounted had no business on the pivots. He was wrong there. However, it was no business of mine to argue the point with him at that moment; I was therefore just going over to the other side, when suddenly a shot was fired. I thought it was accidental; but, upon looking round,I saw the Brigadier staggering and falling off his horse. He had been struck by the ball. Then there were a scuffle and confusion, men vociferating and officers giving words of command. The Light and Rifle companies were immediately in rear of me; the Captain of the former gave the word halt, and faced his men about. Then there were a noise amongst the Rifles, and several persons shouted out "Hold him fast!"- -"Take his sword from him!"-" Secure the villain !" and so forth. I saw the Adjutant rush up to where the Brigadier had fallen, and raise him up in his arms. The whole brigade was presently halted, and there was no knowing what was to be done; some calling out to move on, and others to stand fast. I followed the example of the Light Company, and faced about also. I shortly after heard some one mention the Havildar, Meer Emaum Ali. I went up to where the confusion was, and, to my great horror, beheld the said Havildar seized hold of and pinioned by some Rifle-men, and marched off by a section of the Light Company under its Captain towards the main-guard. Presently the Major rode up, and I asked him what it was all about? He told me that the Havildar had shot the Brigadier. He struggled violently upon being seized, and tried hard to get out his sword; fortunately however one of the men had had the foresight to draw it out of its scabbard, the instant he was seized. When he found that his sword had been taken from him, he gave himself up without further resistance, but continued abusing and spitting at the men around him, as also at the Light Company Captain, calling him all the names under the sun in the Hindustani language. The poor Brigadier was in the mean time carried to his bungalow at the foot of the hill in his palanquin, which was there ready waiting to take him home. Upon being informed who it was that had shot him, he exclaimed—" Good God! what harm have I done him that he should murder me?" The medical man examined his wound. The ball had struck the bottom button of his coat, entered the stomach, and had gone out at his spine, making a frightful hole on each side. The wound was of course mortal; he survived in great agony for about five minutes, and then expired. Thus was a smart officer removed from the army by the hands of an assassin, who had experienced so much kindness from the very individual whose life he had so unjustly taken. In the mean time, the murderer was conveyed to the main-guard, and there put in irons, with strict orders to the officer in command relative to his safe keeping. When arrived in the cell, he behaved in the most frantic manner possible, throwing himself on the ground, gnashing his teeth, and beating his hand against the wall. He worked himself up to such a fearful state of frenzy, that any interference was considered dangerous, as he was a very powerful The doors of the cell were therefore closed upon him, and he was left alone. The cause of this dreadful crime was not immediately known.

man.

Truth to say, the unfortunate man was at the time and for the whole of that day in a state of excitement from the effects of opium, to which (like most Moslems) he was much addicted; and, having been amongst the Malays, who indulge in smoking that drug to a great extent, he had acquired the same habit. I remember having seen him at a wedding in the lines, the night before he perpetrated the foul deed, when he appeared to me to be much excited, with that peculiar look, which men have when under the influence of opium-his eyes shining brightly, and his whole demeanour so different from what it generally appeared. I made the remark to a native officer sitting next to me. He replied that Meer Emaum always appeared so on such occasions, but that he was not addicted to opium-eating or smoking. This, of course, I was at liberty to credit or not as I pleased, but was convinced in my own mind that all was not right. The sequel proved that I was correct, and that this man must have been quite intoxicated during the whole of the day following, which added to the exposure to the sun, the firing, and above all the reprimand which he had received from a strange officer (which K- - was), must have worked him up to the point of madness; and I verily believe that at the moment he discharged the fatal shot, he could not possibly have been aware of what he was doing, or whom he was firing at. He might have shot me, for I was close to the Brigadier when he received his death-wound; and that he did not intend to shoot the Brigadier is a well-known fact, inasmuch as, when informed the following day of what he had done, he ap peared overwhelmed, and exclaimed." What? have I really taken the life of one of my best and warmest friends? Alas! I am indeed unfortunate. However," added he, brightening up," when I meet him in Paradise, I shall throw myself at his feet, and implore his pardon; and I am certain he will readily forgive me." He intended his shot for another, and that was his commanding officer, the Major; but, not meeting him, he fired at the Briga dier. The Major, therefore, had a narrow escape. He happened to be riding at the head of the column. The prisoner declared that he had made up his mind to shoot him, from the moment that he had ordered him to be brought to his quarters at orderly hour the next morning.

The wretched man was found guilty of murder, and sentenced to be hanged. His conduct during his trial was such as to blunt the sympathies of all, who had regarded him with feelings of commiseration. He abused the witnesses, and afterwards acknowledged that he had intended to attack, in open court, with the irons on his wrist, his commanding officer (Major Winboldt), whom he had designed to shoot on the practiceground. Among the several witnesses, who crowded the court," says Captain Hervey, "was the Major of the Regiment, his intended victim. The Major was standing close to him, and he might very easily have rushed at him in spite of the sentry. I was also close to the Major, and heard a friendly whisper addressed to him on the propriety of his moving from where he stood, as the prisoner looked as if he meant mischief. The Major took the hint, and moved away. The prisoner was afterwards heard to say that it was well the Major had retired, for it was his intention to have attempted 'violence against him with the irons on his arms. His beha

viour in court showed great obduracy; and, had a feeling of 'pity existed in the breasts of any of the members, or the 'faintest wish to lean to the side of leniency, all this was done away with by his conduct. On the contrary, he assumed that species of bravado so peculiar to natives; and, instead of attempting to excite the commiseration of the tribunal before which 'he was arraigned, or of showing by his subsequent behaviour that the act, he had committed, had been done in a moment ' of excitement, under the influence of a powerful drug to which ' he was addicted, he seemed to glory in his deed." Captain Hervey gives a detailed account of the execution of the unhappy man. His body was cut down in the evening, "and, being rolled up in wax-cloth, &c. was placed inside an iron cage. 'made for that purpose; after which it was carried up the hill, ' and there suspended on a gibbet." The most astonishing part of the story is what follows. We are not surprized that Captain Hervey does not venture to say more than that he "remembers having heard" it told. The story is that an officer, stationed not many miles off, i. e. an Artillery officer at the mount, "took a strange fancy into his head of possessing himself of the skull of the murderer." With this view," writes Captain Hervey," he took a ladder, carried by his horse-keeper, and, armed with his gun, as if on a shooting excursion, sallied forth from the mount early one morning, before a soul was moving-in fact before the morning-gun was fired.

The

guard originally stationed over the gibbet had been removed some time previously; and the poor man's relations bad con⚫structed a sort of altar, on which incense was continually 'burned, decorated with chaplets; and a fakir, or religious devotee, was employed to watch the remains, and to say prayers in behalf of the deceased. The man of shot-and-shell proceed・ed to the hill aforesaid, and, arriving at the foot of it, took the ladder from the horse-keeper, and climbed the ascent solus, leaving the man to hold the horse during his absence. Arrived at the gibbet, he planted his ladder, and began to mount. He had scarcely gone up two or three steps, when suddenly he heard voices of several men calling out to him to desist, and threatening him with instant death if he went further. This was an interruption as disagreeable as it was unexpected, and, not being looked for, made the skull-stealer the more surprized; so, down he came, and, taking the lad⚫der on his shoulders, he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, tumbling and sprawling among the stones and bushes. 'At last reaching his horse, he galloped off, followed by the affrighted horse-keeper, carrying the ladder. He heard nothing