an old soldier passed over, unless he has been guilty of any manifest crime, or neglect of duty.  He has always some relations among the native officers who know his family, for we all try to get our relations into the same regiment with ourselves when they are eligible.  They know what that family will suffer when they learn that he has no longer any hopes of rising in the service, and has become miserable.  Supersessions create distress and bad feelings throughout a regiment, even when the best men are promoted, which cannot always be the case; for the greatest favourites are not always the best men.  Many of our old European officers, like yourself, are absent on staff or civil employments; and the command of companies often devolves upon very young subalterns, who know little or nothing of the character of their men.  They recommend those whom they have found most active and intelligent, and believe to be the best; but their opportunities of learning the characters of the men have been few.  They have seen and observed the young, active, and forward; but they often know nothing of the steady, unobtrusive old soldier, who has done his duty ably in all situations, without placing himself prominently forward in any.  The commanding officers seldom remain long with the same regiment, and, consequently, seldom know enough of the men to be able to judge of the justice of the selections for promotion.  Where a man has been guilty of a crime, or neglected his duty, we feel no sympathy for him, and are not ashamed to tell him so, and put him down[11] when he complains.’

Here the old Subadar, who had been at the taking of the Isle of France, mentioned that when he was senior Jemadar of his regiment, and a vacancy had occurred to bring him in as Subadar, he was sent for by his commanding officer, and told that, by orders from headquarters, he was to be passed over, on account of his advanced age, and supposed infirmity.  ‘I felt,’ said the old man, ’as if I had been struck by lightning, and fell down dead.  The colonel was a good man, and had seen much service.  He had me taken into the open air; and when I recovered, he told me that he would write to the Commander-in-Chief, and represent my case.  He did so, and I was promoted; and I have since done my duty as Subadar for ten years.’[12]

The Sardar Bahadur told me that only two men in our regiment had been that year superseded, one for insolence, and the other for neglect of duty; and that officers and sepoys were all happy in consequence—­the young, because they felt more secure of being promoted if they did their duty; and the old, because, they felt an interest in their young relations.  ‘In those regiments,’ said he, ’where supersessions have been more numerous, old and young are dispirited and unhappy.  They all feel that the good old rule of right (hakk), as long as a man does his duty well, can no longer be relied upon.’