Twelve Years Of A Soldier's Life In India Part 18

"MY DEAR COL. WELCHMAN,--I have great pleasure in meeting your request, to state in writing my opinion regarding my friend Lieutenant Hodson's case. Having been on intimate terms of friendship with him since 1846, I was quite unprepared for the reports to his disadvantage which were circulated, and had no hesitation in p.r.o.nouncing my utter disbelief in, and repudiation of them, as being at variance with everything I had ever known of his character. On arriving at Peshawur in March, 1855, I found that Lieutenant Hodson had been undergoing a course of inquiry before a Special Military Court, and on reading a copy of the proceedings, I perceived at once that the whole case lay in the correctness of his regimental accounts; that his being summoned before a Court, after suspension from civil and military duty, and after an open invitation (under regimental authority) to all complainants in his regiment, was a most unusual ordeal, such as no man could be subjected to without the 'greatest disadvantage; and notwithstanding this, the proceedings' did not contain a single substantial case against him, provided he could establish the validity of his regimental accounts; and that he could do this I felt more than confident. The result of Major Taylor's laborious and patient investigation of Lieutenant Hodson's regimental accounts has fully justified, but has not at all added to, the confidence that I have throughout maintained in the honor and uprightness of his conduct. It has, however, shown (what I believed, but had not the same means of judging of) how much labor Lieutenant Hodson bestowed in putting the affairs of his regiment in order. Having seen a great deal of the manner in which the Guide Corps has been employed, I can well understand how difficult it has been to maintain anything like regularity of office; and how impossible it may be for those who remain quietly in stations with efficient establishments, to understand or make allowance for the difficulties and irregularities entailed by rapid movements on service, and want of proper office means in adjusting accounts for which no organized system had been established. The manner in which Lieutenant Hodson has elucidated his accounts since he had access to the necessary sources of information, appears to be highly creditable. I have twice had the good fortune to have been a.s.sociated with him on military service, when his high qualities commanded admiration. I heartily rejoice, therefore, both as a friend and as a member of the service, 'at his vindication from most grievous and unjust imputations.' And while I congratulate the regiment on his return to it, I regret that one of the best swords should be withdrawn from the frontier service.--I remain, yours very sincerely,

"R. NAPIER."

On the receipt of Major Reynell Taylor's report, to which reference is here made, Mr. Montgomery, (then one of the Commissioners for the Punjaub, now the Chief Commissioner in Oude,) one of the men who, under G.o.d, have saved India, wrote as follows:--

"To me the whole report seemed more satisfactory than any one I had ever read; and considering Major Taylor's high character, patience, and discernment, and the lengthened period he took to investigate every detail, most triumphant.

This I have expressed to all with whom I have conversed on the subject."

All this, however, is an antic.i.p.ation of the due order of events. I must go back again to the Court of Inquiry, in order to show more clearly the injustice to which Lieutenant Hodson was exposed. The proceedings of the Court terminated on the 15th January, 1855. Till they were submitted to the Governor-General, no decision could be given, nor any report published, though every publicity had been given to the accusations made. Up to the last week in July, the papers had not been forwarded from Lah.o.r.e to be laid before him. Meanwhile, not merely had my brother been suspended from civil and military duty during the inquiry, but without waiting for the result, he had been superseded in his command, on the ground that his continuing in Euzofzai, where his corps was stationed, was inconsistent with the public interest. This will appear scarcely credible, but worse remains behind.

Ten months after the conclusion of the inquiry, in consequence of repeated applications from my brother for a minute investigation of his accounts, Major Taylor, as has been mentioned, was appointed to examine them, and on the 13th February, 1856, made his report. The doc.u.ment itself is too long and technical for publication, but the written opinions I have already quoted, of Sir R. Napier and Mr.

Montgomery, are sufficient to show that it completely established Lieutenant Hodson's innocence, and cleared him from the grievous and unjust imputations cast upon him. Yet in March, 1857, he discovered that this report had never been communicated to the Commander-in-Chief, or Secretary to Government. It had been quietly laid aside in some office, and no more notice taken. Lord Dalhousie left India, having heard all that could be said against him, and nothing in his vindication. I might give many other details ill.u.s.trative of the manner in which, even in the nineteenth century, official enmity can succeed in crushing one who is so unfortunate as to be its victim, and of the small chance which exists of redress, but I will not weary my readers with them.

I give a few extracts from my brother's letters at different times in the course of these proceedings, to show the spirit in which he bore this trial, bitter though it was, peculiarly grievous to one of his sensitive feelings on all points of honor.

In August, 1855, he wrote to me:--

They have not been able, with all their efforts, to fix anything whatever upon me; all their allegations (and they were wide enough in their range) have fallen to the ground; and the more serious ones have been utterly disproved by the mere production of doc.u.ments and books. The most vicious a.s.sertion was, that I had been so careless of the public money pa.s.sing through my hands, that I had not only kept no proper accounts, but that paper had never been inked on the subject, and consequently it would be impossible to ascertain whether or not any deficiency existed in my regimental treasure chest; and this after I had laid my books on the table of the Court, and begged that they might be examined, and after I had subsequently officially applied for their examination by proper accountants. Well, after seven months' delay, I was offered the opportunity of producing them; and thus I have now at last a chance of bringing out the real state of the case. Up to the present time, the most critical and hostile examination, lasting a month, has only served to prove my earliest a.s.sertion, and my only one, that I could give an ample account of every farthing of money intrusted to me, whenever it might please the powers that be to inquire into it. The sum total of money represented by my account amounts to about 120,000_l._, pa.s.sing through my hands in small fractional sums of receipt and expenditure.

Not only do they find that I have regular connected accounts of everything, but that these are supported by vouchers and receipts. It has been a severe trial, and the prolonged anxiety and distress of the past nine months have been nearly insupportable.

I almost despair of making you, or any one not on the spot, understand the ins and outs of the whole affair; and I can only trust to the result, and to the eventual production of all the papers, to put things in their proper light. In the mean time I must endeavor to face the wrong, the grievous, foul wrong, with a constant and unshaken heart, and to endure humiliation and disgrace with as much equanimity as I may, and with the same soldierlike fort.i.tude with which I ought to face danger, suffering, and death in the path of duty.

NAOSHERA, _Nov. 4th, 1855_.

Your two sad letters came close upon one another, but I could not write then. The blow[16] was overwhelming; coming, too, at a time of unprecedented suffering and trial, it was hard to bear up against. What a year this has been! What ages of trial and of sorrow seem to have been crowded into a few short months. Our darling babe was taken from us on the day my public misfortunes began, and death has robbed us of our father before their end. The brain-pressure was almost too much for me, coming as the tidings did at a time of peculiar distress.... The whole, indeed, is so peculiarly sad that one's heart seems chilled and dulled by the very horror of the calamity.... I look with deep anxiety for your next letters, but the mail seems exclusively occupied with Sebastopol, and to have left letters behind.

Again, to his sister, some months later:--

I trust fondly that better days are coming; but really the weary watching and waiting for a gleam of daylight through the clouds, and never to see it, is more hara.s.sing and harder to bear up against than I could have supposed possible. I have been tried to the utmost, I do think. A greater weight of public and private calamity and sorrow surely never fell at once on any individual. But it has to be borne, and I try to face it manfully and patiently, and to believe that it is for some good and wise end.

By the way, I was much gratified and surprised at seeing, in an article in the _Calcutta Review_ written and signed by Sir Henry Lawrence, a most flattering testimony[17] to my military character. Coming at such a time it is doubly valuable.

In another letter, he says:--

It is pleasant indeed to find that not a man who knows me has any belief that there has been anything wrong. They think I have been politically wrong in not consulting my own interests by propitiating the powers that be, and they know that I am the victim of official enmity in high places; but I am proud to say, that not one of them all (and indeed I believe I might include my worst foes and accusers in the category) believes that I have committed any more than errors of judgment, and that, owing to the pressure of work which came upon me all at once, and which was more than one man could manage at once, without leaving something to be done at a more convenient season.

I can honestly say, that for months before I was summoned into Peshawur for the inquiry, I had never known what a half hour's respite from toil and anxiety was; in fact, ever since I first traced the lines of the fort at Murdan, in December, 1853, I was literally weighed down by incessant calls on my time and attention, and went to bed at night thoroughly exhausted and worn out, to rise before daylight to a renewed round of toil and worry.

I remember telling John Lawrence, that, if they got rid of me, he would require three men to do the work which I had been doing for Government; and it has already proved literally true. They have had to appoint three different officers to the work I had done single-handed, and that, too, after the worst was over!

UMBaLA, _March 25th, 1856_.

Of myself I have little to tell you; things have been much in _statu quo_. Major Taylor's report, of which I am going to send you a copy, is most satisfactory. There is much which you will probably not understand in the way of technicalities, but the general purport will be clear to you.

I expect to join my regiment in about three weeks. They are marching up from Bengal to Dugshai, a hill station sixty miles from hence, and ten from Kussowlee and Subathoo respectively, so I shall be close to old haunts. I am very glad we shall be in a good climate, for though I have not given in or failed, I am thankful to say, still the last eighteen months have told a good deal upon me, and I am not up to heat or work. If the colonel (Welchman) can, he is going to give me the adjutancy of the regiment, which will be a gain in every way, not only as showing to the world that, in spite of all which has happened, there is nothing against my character, but as increasing my income, and giving me the opportunity of learning a good deal of work which will be useful to me, and of doing, I hope, a good deal of good amongst the men. It will be the first step up the ladder again, after tumbling to the bottom.

Soon afterwards, Lieutenant Hodson rejoined the 1st Fusileers at Dugshai. It may be necessary for the sake of unprofessional readers, to explain that during the whole time that he had been a.s.sistant Commissioner in the Punjaub, or in command of the Guides, he had continued to belong to this regiment, as political or staff appointments in India do not dissolve an officer's connection with his own regiment.

On April 8th he writes from Dugshai:--

... I have but little to tell you to cheer you on my account. My health, which had stood the trial wonderfully, was beginning to fail, but I shall soon be strong again in this healthy mountain air 7,000 feet above the sea.

This is a great thing, but it is very hard to begin again as a regimental subaltern after nearly eleven years' hard work.

However, I am very fond of the profession, and there is much to be done, and much learnt, and, under any other circ.u.mstances, I should not regret being with English soldiers again for a time. Every one believes that I shall soon be righted, but the "soon" is a long time coming. I was much gratified the other day by an unexpected visit from Mr.

Charles Raikes, one of the Punjaub Commissioners, who was pa.s.sing through Umbala, on his way to take a high appointment at Agra. I had no personal knowledge of him, but he came out of his way to call upon me, and express his sympathy and his appreciation of (what he was pleased to call) my high character.

He said much that was encouraging and pleasing, which I need not repeat. It served pleasantly, however, to show that the tide was turning, and that in good men's minds my character stood as high as ever.

In addition to his other troubles, my brother was suffering all this time from a dislocated ankle. He says in June:--

I have nothing to tell you of myself, save that I have to-day, for the first time for eight weeks, put my foot to the ground; I cannot, however, yet walk a yard without crutches.

DUGSHAI, _Sept. 24th, 1856_.

I strive to look the worst boldly in the face as I would an enemy in the field, and to do my appointed work resolutely and to the best of my ability, satisfied that there is a reason for all; and that even irksome duties well done bring their own reward, and that if not, still they are duties.

But it is sometimes hard to put up with the change! I am getting a little stronger on my ankle, but am still unable, at the end of five months, to do more than walk about the house. Fancy my not being able to walk 200 yards for half a year.

DUGSHAI, _Nov. 6th_.

I yearn to be at home again and see you all, but I am obliged to check all such repinings and longings, and keep down all canker cares and bitternesses, and set my teeth hard, and will earnestly to struggle on and do my allotted work as well and cheerfully as may be, satisfied that in the end a brighter time will come.

I know nothing in my brother's whole career more truly admirable, or showing more real heroism, than his conduct at this period while battling with adverse fates.

Deeply as he felt the change in his position, he accommodated himself to it in a manner that won the admiration and esteem of all. Instead of despising his regimental duties, irksome and uninteresting, comparatively speaking, as they were, he discharged them with a zeal and energy, as well as cheerfulness, which called forth the following strong expressions of commendation from the colonel of his regiment.

They are taken from a letter addressed to the Adjutant-General of the army:--

"UMBaLA, _Jan. 18th, 1857_.

... "I consider it a duty, and at the same time feel a great pleasure, in requesting you to submit, for the consideration of his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, this my public record and acknowledgment of the very essential service Lieutenant Hodson has done the regiment at my especial request. On the arrival of the regiment at Dugshai, I asked Lieutenant Hodson to act as quartermaster. I pointed out to him that, mainly owing to a rapid succession of quartermasters when the regiment was on field-service, the office had fallen into very great disorder;... and that he would have to restore order out of complicated disorder, and to organize a more efficient working system for future guidance and observance. To my great relief and satisfaction, Lieutenant Hodson most cheerfully undertook the onerous duties; he was suffering at the same time severe bodily pain, consequent on a serious accident, yet this did not in any way damp his energy, or prevent his most successfully carrying out the object in view.... It is impossible to do otherwise than believe that this officer's numerous qualifications are virtually lost to the State by his being employed as a regimental subaltern, as he is fitted for, and capable of doing great justice to, any staff situation; and I am convinced, that should his Excellency receive with approval this solicitation to confer on him some appointment suited to the high ability, energy, and zeal which I fear I have but imperfectly brought to notice, it would be as highly advantageous to the service as gratifying to myself. An officer whose superior mental acquirements are fully acknowledged by all who know him; who has ably performed the duties of a civil magistrate in a disturbed district; whose knowledge of engineering has been practically brought into play in the construction of a fort on the Northwestern frontier; whose gallant conduct in command of a regiment in many a smart engagement has been so highly commended, and by such competent authorities, is one whom I have confidence in recommending for advancement; and in earnestly, yet most respectfully, pressing the recommendation, I plead this officer's high qualifications as my best apology....

"I have, &c.

(Signed) "J. WELCHMAN, "_Lieut.-Col. Commanding 1st Bengal Fusileers_."

Quite as strong was the testimony borne by Brigadier-General Johnstone:--

"_To the_ ADJUTANT-GENERAL _of the Army_.