Not to be unjust to the district, let us own
that we found one ditch behind a row of
houses covered with green matter; thus
proving that it was not poisonous to organic life
to the last degree. In one there was an agitation
which suggested that its course was open,
and we found this to be really the one ditch that
has, at certain hours, a flow. It has tidal
communication with the river Lea. We understood
that a few of the best houses, five or six
perhaps, are drained into this ditch, when it
is at some distance from their windows, and
thus have what is, in those parts, to be
considered decent drainage.

We need hardly say, that the level of the
marsh ought to be no obstacle to the proper
drainage of a town built over it. If it be
worth while to put a purnp over a coal-mine,
certainly it is worth while to put one over
the place by the river-side to which the
sewage of a little town may fall, until the great
out-fall question is decided.

INDIAN IRREGULARS.

WHEN people hear of these famous Irregulars,
of Jacob's, Mayne's, and Chamberlain's
Horse, they probably form rather vague
ideas as to their appearance and discipline,
and most likely set them down as a band of
rough-riders, more picturesque than orderly,
and, like the Turkish Bashi Bazouks, less
agreeable as neighbours, than as subjects for
a sketch in the Illustrated London News.

Such is not, however, the case. There is
nothing " irregular " in these corps, with the
exception of their designation. They are
simply bodies of cavalry, recruited from a
class much superior to any from which the
"regular " regiments draw their supplies of
men, and with a certain elasticity (not laxity)
in their discipline, which gives more latitude
to individual talent and personal qualities
than the rigid precision of ordinary
regulations will permit of.

I cannot better express what I mean than
by saying that the commanding officer of an
irregular corps finds he has elbow-room.
Much is left to his discretion—and wisely so,
if he be, as he generally is, an able and
dashing officer; zealous for the well-being of
his regiment. He is allowed to choose the arms
of the corps, to pick out from the infantry such
officers as are best fitted to a service so smart
and active as that of the Irregular Horse, and
to promote deserving privates, irrespective of
that system of seniority which renders the
Subahdars and Jemadars of Sepoy regiments so
wretchedly inefficient.

A colonel of irregulars has a wide latitude
allowed him in matters concerning which the
commandant of a line regiment, whether in the
Queen's or Company's service, is a mere
automaton. He may attire the corps in red,
in green, in blue, or in orange, at his pleasure,
and every cavalry officer knows well what an
advantage is a markedly distinct uniform
when troopers of various regiments, mixed up
with enemies, are straying, skirmishing, and
galloping up hill and down dale, over a
broken country. He may furnish the
soldiers with lances, carbines, or rifle
carbines, as he thinks best; or, he may
divide the whole force into lancers and
carbineers; so as to unite the advantages of
both arms of the service. In matters
relating to remounts, forage, cantonments, and
so on, he is little hampered by interference.
He has the power, at any time, of procuring
the very flower of the linesmen to be his
subordinate officers, and hundreds of gallant
young fellows are always ready to enlist in
his favoured force. Of course his responsibility
is great in proportion to his powers,
and these may now and then be abused.
Nepotism prevails in every part of the
world; and if Mrs. Wheedle do but write
sufficiently moving letters to her cousin,
Major or Colonel Sabretasch, that officer will
give young Bobby Wheedle a commission in
his command, though Bobby cannot ride
without provoking even the grave Hindoos
to laughter, and knows little more of
Hindustani than "khana lao " (pale ale), and a
few choice terms of abuse. Moreover, a
young fellow in good odour at Government
House, be he a milksop or blockhead,
may be certain of donning the martial garb
of the Irregulars; but this is no fault of
the commandant; who, you may be sure,
will, when left to himself, prefer Jack
Spurrier, of the Fiftieth Native Infantry, who has
no qualifications but brains, pluck, and horse-
manship, to all the Honourable Frederick
Fitznoodles in the peerage.

Of the system of promotion by merit among
the natives of the corps, it is impossible to
speak too highly. To reward the longest
liver and to ignore personal qualifications is
certainly not the way to get an army well
governed. In the Sepoy regiments, seniority
carries the day over merit; and the
consequence is, that, not only are most of the
native commissioned officers a set of worn-
out, puffy, ghee-bloated cripples, but their
fellow feeling is wholly with the privates;
among whom most of their lives have been,
spent. Thus, in the recent mutiny, the same
story was heard everywhere. A Subahdar
countenanced the first outrage of the
insurrection; and, in every station, the native
officers seem to have been the ringleaders or
the puppets of the rebels. As to the question
of its being politic to give commissions to
natives at all, that will doubtless receive
consideration; but, if thus promoted, it should
certainly not be for mere length of service.
In the Irregulars, the stimulus of merit-
promotions works well. The intelligent
character of the men tends to foster
emulation, and they yield a willing obedience
to all necessary restrictions of discipline.
They are, as I said before, volunteers selected
from a class very superior to any which