LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE INDIAN FRONTIER WAR.
[To vim EDITOR OF TEN "SPECTATOR:] SIR,--In your issue of the Spectator of December 4th, in a paragraph relating to the campaign in the North of ladle, occur the following words, which sum up statements that have been frequently appearing for the last few weeks in the daily papers :—" Part of his [Sir William Lockhart's] force [is] marching daily to some high valley, destroying villages, and then returning." It is difficult to realise the amount of misery which these few words imply, but it must, I suppose, include the turning adrift of thousands of in- nocent women and children in a barren, mountainous country, in this inclement season, without food, shelter, or household goods ; and, for ought one can conceive, they are now dying of starvation. I have heard it stated that these villages are mere collections of miserable huts, but even so, they are the only homes these poor indigent people possess, and no doubt they are as dear to them as our snug mansions in Kensington are to us. I had supposed that England prided herself upon the humanity of her conduct, even in war, and that the infliction of such wanton cruelty as this was forbidden to the armies of civilised nations, even when in conflict with barbarous tribes ; but it seems I was in error. Such deeds, committed by those who are acting under the immediate authority of our gracious and benevolent Sovereign, are startling and humiliating ; and I write this in the hope that you, Sir, with your well-known love of justice and humanity, will call public attention to these outrages upon both.—I am, Sir, itc., AN ENGLISHWOMLN. [Our correspondent is in error. The clansmen have re- moved their families, and know how to camp them out is safety.—ED. Spectator.]
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