THE FUTURE COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF INDIA.
(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.') Srn,—The Tinies' Indian correspondent and the Indian papers have very generally intimated that on the resignation of Lord Napier of Magdala, General Norman will take his place. General Norman is an excellent soldier, a first-rate civilian, and as one of the members of the Indian Council has done good service. As the Adjutant of his regiment, be displayed talents which marked him for future promotion, and his brilliant exploits in the Indian Mutiny are not forgotten. He never, however, commanded a brigade, is not acquainted with the tactics of Russian warfare, and would not, in my opinion, be the right man in the right place. If General Jacob, the founder of the Scinde Horse, had been living, the public voice of England and India would have immediately recognised him as the fitting man for this important post ; and as we have no General in the Queen's Service who com- bines great military experience with bodily activity, it would be difficult to name a better man as Commander-in-Chief of our vast Indian Army than the present Commissioner of Scinde. I am not personally acquainted with General Merewether, but I know that my lamented friend, General Jacob, thought highly of his military talents.
Speaking of Indian Generals, can any of your numerous cor- respondents inform me of the cause of delay in the publication of the life of Sir James Outram, the Bayard of India ? Sir J. Kaye, I am informed, BORIS few years since undertook to write a record of his splendid services, and it is a bitter disappointment to his mili- tary and civil friends, whose names are "legion," that the pro- mised life is not even noticed in the publishers' lists of "forth-
coming publications."—I am, Sir, &c., A Civuami.
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