Life in India, and scenes in the mutiny : being a lecture, delivered to the n.c. officers and men of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, in the gymnasium shed, Royal Artillery Park, Halifax, on Friday afternoon, April 27th, 1860 / by H. Chalmers Miles.

  • Miles, H. Chalmers.
Date:
1860
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Life in India, and scenes in the mutiny : being a lecture, delivered to the n.c. officers and men of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, in the gymnasium shed, Royal Artillery Park, Halifax, on Friday afternoon, April 27th, 1860 / by H. Chalmers Miles. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    LIFE IN INDIA, &c. INTRODUCTION. Contrasted with my predecessors in the admirable series of Lectures which many of us have heard, and with so much pleasure, delivered in this room, I fear I may seem to labor under several disadvantages. I have but few pictorial illustrations to offer to you, scarce anything which appeals through the eye to the imagination and the intellect, and I have, therefore, to ask from you a larger share of patience, and a greater amount of attention than haye been requisite or desirable on previous occasions. My subject embraces a wide range : it is comprehensive in its design, yet minute in its details, but during the exposition I rely upon you to exhibit the intelligent bearing which has distinguished your conduct at former Lectures. Now, most of you are familiar with the outline of Hindos-' tan. It is enclosed, as you will see, by grand natural boundaries. This map, on which Sergeant Cooper* has exhausted so much time, and which , xndia, reflects great credit on his talents, shews you that the high table-land Outline a Aspect of Thibet, and the chain of the Himalayah mountains, separate its northern frontier from its western and eastern limits, which are naturally formed by the Indus on the one, and the Brahmapootra on the other, side —the two greatest rivers of India. The southern portion forms an extensive peninsula, bounded, as you perceive, by the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. India, thus generally defined, may be described as situate between the 8th and 34th degrees of north latitude, and 68th and 92nd east longitude. Now entering a little more into detail, we see at the N. TV. side Kurra- gurrachee chee, which is entitled at the present day to be called the capital of Scinde.' ** All of you may have heard how Sm Charles Napier earned immortality by the conquest of this Province, and most of you should know something ot this great General, who was not merely a hero in the highest sense of the term, but was also the sincerest and most true-hearted friend which I believe the British soldier ever possessed. No man more than he exhibited the finest qualities of a general, and few British officers attained the height of popularity which was freely accorded to the hero of Meeance and Hyderabad, not merely by his countrymen and the followers of his anny, but by penitent Sikhs and submissive Ameers. Wo next come to the Island of Bombay, which was originally part of ”i®.Jowry of Catherine, the Portugese Consort of Charles II. Majesty got it^ in 1662, and after about eight years possession, finding that he gained little by so poor a property, which had nothing to recommend It but the fact that it offered the finest harbor in India, granted it to the iLast India Company, to bo holdon at a rout of £10 in gold, payable yearly . Ihe beautiful island wliicli the East India Company grasped on such facile terms, now contains a city with a population of 400,000, has * The Schoolmaster Sergeant of the Batteries, stationed at Halifax.