ments composed of the heathen Indians, fighting under the ensign of the cross. The warrior caste stands next to the Brahmins, but the latter have the privilege of entering the army, and doubtless the Brahmin priest of the regiment dedicates the colours to his god. The Belooches, against whom the 22nd regiment fought, were Mahometans, and the crescent would be, in the battle of Meeanee, opposed to the cross. The disparity of numbers proves that rude barbarian tribes cannot stand against civilised men in possession of most destructive weapons, and disciplined into machines. Sir Charles Napier, in his address, spoke a few words to the recruits. "And now, young soldiers, a few words about drill. It is tiresome, and often disheartening, and annoys men: but remember that it is drill that makes companies, and regiments, and brigades, and divisions act together, and to strike, as it were, with great and mighty blows; it is drill which gives you the battle, and the glory of victory.” The old colours of the regiment were sent home to be deposited in the cathedral of the city of Chester. In another part of this work we have shown that this practice is from the old heathen custom, and is repugnant to the spirit of Christianity.*

* The world is indebted to General Sir Charles Napier for his description of Indian warfare, as a plain matter of business, divested of the Asiatic pomp and circumstance which have afforded such fertile sources to the painter and the poet. Europeans, on entering the field in India, must leave everything behind them that may form attraction to the plunderer, and increase the risk of being murdered. Sir Charles Napier, in the following description, doubtless gives the world the list of articles in his own portmanteau. "What does an officer want? His tent, a canteen, a second pair of breeches, a second pair of shoes, half a dozen of shirts, a second flannel jacket, a waistcoat, a couple of towels, and a piece of soap; all beyond is mere

It may be laid down as a general rule, established by universal history, that when the military standards of a nation are uplifted in war in a foreign country, there is much injustice or revenge, or the lust of conquest and rapine committed in the very act. In wars of aggression, individuals and communities deceive themselves, and are misled by false conceptions, to perpetrate cruelty and murder on innocent multitudes. Ambition, and the desire of spoil, blind the eyes of the mind of governments and of armies.

A pious and sincere Christian minister in the solemn act of consecrating military standards, at the time cannot form an idea of what services they shall be unfurled in; and could he anticipate the scenes of horror in which they may be mixed, he would pray that war should for ever cease.

There are two banners carried by each regiment; the first is the national ensign, and the other the colours distinctive of the regiment, and inscribed with the names of the great battles in which it has been engaged in various countries during past years. The national banner is the well-known union flag. As it has to be carried in the ranks, on a staff uplifted by the ensign-bearer, it must be of moderate dimensions, and its figure is a square, which allows the broad rectangular red cross to be clearly seen when spread in the breeze. The regimental banners contain in the names of victories the distinctive hieroglyphical insignia, and in the significant mottoes have some curious particulars. The colours of the fields of the ensigns are blue, green, yellow, red, buff, white, black, purple. In the upper corner of the field, next to the staff, is a small union jack. To the present date there are ninety-nine luxury, and not fit for a campaign. His regimentals he carries on his back."-Times newspaper, 6th March, 1851.

regiments of the line, numbered one to ninety-nine. The date of origin of the first regiment was as late as in the reign of Charles II., and before that reign the nation was not burdened with a standing army. It stands number one in the Army List. The history of the second regiment is remarkable, and as it is registered as the "Queen's Royal Regiment," it merits some notice here. It has on its regimental colours the names of twelve victories within the last fifty years, so that its recent services and merits are victoriously inscribed. The origin of it, however, is connected with some horrible transactions. It was first raised by Charles II., for the purpose of taking possession of, and defending, Tangiers, a sea-port on the African coast, at the straits of Gibraltar, which he received as part of the dowry of the Portuguese princess, whom he married. The transaction is an episode in the history of the wars of the cross and the crescent.

Tangiers was a Mahometan settlement taken by the Portuguese. The English regiment was called the Tangier regiment, and its commander was Colonel Kirke, who from the beginning to the end of his career was a monster of cruelty, lust, and rapine. As they had been levied for the purpose of waging war on an infidel nation, they bore on their flag a Christian emblem, the " PASCHAL LAMB," and, strange to say, the second regiment of the line on the present Army List still retains the ancient badge, with the motto, "Pristina virtutis memor." Mr. Macaulay,* in his History of James II., says, that the Tangier regiment, on account of the cruelties they inflicted on the peasantry of the West of England, after the battle of Sedgemoor, were called in bitter irony, "Kirke's lambs.” Kirke had quartered so many bodies after that battle,

* History, vol. i. p. 628, 629.

that the executioners stood ankle-deep in blood; and a poor fellow, who, to save his own life, consented. to seeth the bodies of his friends in pitch, got the byname of Tom Boilman. Some regiments have a considerable list of victorious battles in which they had taken part; and, with exception of the high numbered regiments, as the latest levied, every one has had its honours. The insignia on the regimental banners have reference to the history and service of the body. The Lion of England, the Dragon, the White Horse, the Tiger, the Rose, the Crown, the Sphinx, are the most common emblems. The regiments that were engaged in the defence of Gibraltar, against the combined forces of Spain and France, have the Castle and Key, with the motto, " Montis insignia Calpe." The twenty-fifth regiment, designated the "King's own Borderers," is rich in its insignia and mottoes-the King's Crest, the Arms of the City of Edinburgh, and the White Horse-mottoes, "In veritate religionis confido" -"Nisi Dominus frustra"-" Nec aspera terrent." We have alluded to the distinctions of honour and merit conferred on regiments, and this may be the proper place to refer to the custom of distributing war medals to the officers and soldiers, who have been engaged in some particular battle. In some cases, we believe the guns taken from the enemy have been melted, and out of the gun-metal small crosses have been formed, and distributed among the surviving soldiers. War crosses or medals have lost their character as marks of individual merit, because every person who was merely present in the battle receives the decoration, and hence the universality of the distribution brings all alike. Probably there is profound wisdom in this system, which may be designed as a satire on war and victory, by an equal reward to the

general who won, and the common soldier who fought. Horse power is an important element in fighting and gaining battles, and probably in some future distribution of war decorations, some suitable badge and collar will be assigned to those noble animals who obeyed the voice of the trumpet, and dashed into the enemy's battalions.

We have said enough to suggest thought and investigation into the subject of banners of war, consecrated by the prayers of a Protestant minister of religion. War, during the whole course of the human race, has been tried and found wanting. It is condemned by the common sense of mankind, and all the tender sympathies cry aloud against it.

We had intended to have illustrated the other two sources of sanctity to war standards, from signs in the heavens, and benedictions of Roman bishops, by adducing and citing cases recorded in history. But we find as we proceed, that we become embarrassed by the very abundance of our materials, and we experience the difficulty of selecting. A brilliant aurora might supply to a heated imagination, or to a cunning mind, as many figures of the cross, or shapes of fiery standards, as the occasion required; and it is only under circumstances, when the mind is excited by immediate danger, and fears and hopes awakened, that supernatural signs are said to be visible. The nerves are stretched or relaxed, and the senses are quick and ready to receive impressions.

As war and religion have gone hand in hand, and as standards are the symbols of predominant ideas in the minds of vast multitudes, it follows that religious rites would be performed to give a sanctity to objects regarded as the representatives of what was most interesting to man.

When the cross became in the minds