Twelve Years Of A Soldier's Life In India Part 33

"From a Lucknow letter which we publish to-day our readers will learn, with sorrow and regret, that that most able and gallant officer, Captain Hodson, who has distinguished himself on so many occasions since the breaking out of the rebellion, and whose services have been of so brilliant and valuable a character, has been killed at Lucknow. As a leader of Irregular Horse, or indeed as a soldier of any of the non-scientific forces, Captain Hodson was almost without an equal. He was one of those squadron leaders which the Indian army can alone rear up. There are few men who would have managed the capture of the ex-King of Delhi as this departed hero did. On that occasion his force was small compared to that he had to cope with; but the determined daring of the man made up for the disparity, and the old King came out of his fortification--for a strong fortification it was--and surrendered. So also with the capture of the King's sons, who also surrendered themselves, but whom Hodson found rescued when he reached them, after having completed the disarming of their band. That was a moment to test a man. But he of whom we write was equal to the emergency. The carts in which the princes were, were retaken immediately. Still the aspect of the armed Mahomedan crowd around--growing every moment more numerous--was dark and threatening. It was a situation which required prompt decision, and promptly did the British leader decide. He saw that it was necessary that his prisoners should die, and resolved himself to become their executioner: a wise resolve, for, probably, had he asked one of his own Mahomedan troopers to kill the sons of the Mogul, a refusal would have followed, and that refusal might have been acted up to by all. He adopted the wiser course, harangued his men, ordered the prisoners to take off their robes in the cart, and shot them with his own hand. Had the prisoners been allowed to leave the cart, their bodies would have been left behind; for to touch them would, by the troopers, have been considered defilement, and, left behind, they might have been fanatically paraded through the country as an incitement to a fresh rising. Besides, it was necessary that their remains should be exposed at the Kotwallie in Delhi with something of the indignity they themselves had caused to be inflicted on the murdered victims of the 11th of May."

Another published a letter with this sentence:--

"Hodson, splendid fellow, died the following day, most deeply regretted by all ranks in his regiment. He indeed was a brave soldier, a clever and truly esteemed commander. May we not say he was one of the flowers of the 'old Europeans,'

and an ornament to the Bengal army?"

The writer (in _Blackwood's Magazine_) of a series of papers on the 1st Fusileers, says:--

"Then fell one of the bravest in the Indian army, an officer whose name has been brought too often before the public by those in high command to need my humble word in praise.

There was not a man before Delhi who did not know Hodson; always active, always cheery, it did one's heart good to look at his face, when all felt how critical was our position. Ask any soldier who was the bravest man before Delhi, who most in the saddle, who foremost? and nine out of ten in the Infantry will tell you Hodson, in the Artillery as many will name Tombs.

"I once heard one of the Fusileers say, 'Whenever I sees Captain Hodson go out, I always prays for him, for he is sure to be in danger.' Yet it was not only in the field that Hodson was to be valued, his head was as active as his hand was strong, and I feel sure, when we who knew him heard of his death, not one but felt that there was a vacancy indeed in our ranks."

The _Times_ correspondent, (Mr. Russell,) in his letter of March 13th, writes:--

"When I returned to head-quarters' camp this evening, I found that poor Hodson had died the previous day, and been buried the same evening.

"He was a zealous and accomplished officer, of great bravery, ability, and determination, an excellent judge of the native character, of a humane and clement disposition, but firm in the infliction of deserved punishment.

"The last time I saw him alive he expressed a decided opinion that Government must resort to an amnesty, or be prepared for a long continuance of disturbances."

From the _Delhi Gazette_:--

"He was a perfect gentleman, an accomplished scholar, and we need scarcely add, (what our columns have so often recorded,) one of the most brilliant soldiers in this or any other army. His death is not only a severe family affliction, but a national calamity, and it will be long before the name of the capturer of the King and princes of Delhi will cease to be mentioned with honor, and remembered with regret."

From private letters of condolence, which would fill a volume, I select a few pa.s.sages, in which the writers seem to have seized with great felicity upon some of the more remarkable features in my brother's character and actions.

"It is hard to lose one upon whom all eyes were fixed, and whose n.o.ble qualities seemed so certain of recognition, and of speedy advancement to such employments as his fine natural abilities well fitted him to discharge.

"The very presence of such a man in India was an element of power apart from all official rank, and he could ill be spared from among the very few who have learnt to impersonate in themselves the power of the English nation, and to let the natives of India feel the irresistible character of that power. You must have watched him so anxiously and so proudly that, though thousands of us have done the same, none can approach the measure of your sorrow or mourn as you that he can confer no more honor on your name, but that the opportunities of the future must be reaped by other and less capable hands.

"I cannot feel easy without expressing to you the great grief and consternation with which I read the account of your brother's death. Certainly it would have been little less than miraculous if, being what he was, he had lived out this war. And yet I, for one, had always cherished a hope that I might have seen once more with my own eyes so n.o.ble and gallant a soldier.

"There is, after all, something about skilful courage which draws the heart to itself more than eloquence, or learning, or anything else, and your brother seems to have been endued with this almost more than any living Englishman, brave as our countrymen are."

"Closely have I watched, during these last few sad months, the career of that brave brother of yours. I could estimate his bold and self-sacrificing courage, and knowing as I did the sort of people over whom he had acquired such perfect sway, I knew how much a clear and commanding intellect must have been called into exercise, to aid a strong and devoted heart. What victims has Lucknow offered up to the fiendish treachery of those ungrateful men--Lawrence! Havelock! and Hodson!"

"My grief is not for him; he had done his work in that station of life in which G.o.d had placed him, n.o.bly, heartily, and as in the sight of G.o.d (would that we all did our work in half such a Christian spirit); but for you all, who were looking forward to seeing him again, crowned with the honors he had so hardly won. Well, it has pleased G.o.d that this was not to be; but there is a good hope, more than a hope, that a reward of a higher kind is his."

From one who had known him in India:--

"From the love and esteem I bore your brother, you will, I feel sure, allow me to write and express, however imperfectly words can do it, my deep and heartfelt sympathy with you and your sisters under this heavy blow. Our acquaintance was not of long standing, but had rapidly ripened into intimacy, and I look back to the days spent in his society as amongst my happiest in India. His very presence was sunshine.

"Of my admiration for his talents, and the service he rendered his country, it would be impertinent to speak,--they are of public note; but of the tender sympathies, the ready advice, the forgetfulness of self, and the ever-mindfulness of others, I may testify. His was, indeed, a rare and beautiful character, and the better he was known the more he could not fail to be appreciated."

I will add one more letter from General Johnstone, which will show that even to the last my brother was pursued by the same jealousy and malignity which had caused him so much suffering in former years:--

"He was too n.o.ble to pa.s.s through the world without detractors. The ambitious and brave envied him, because the brilliancy of his acts put theirs in the shade; I mean, those not possessed of the disinterestedness of Christians.

"The mean and despicable hated him, because they quailed before the eagle eye that could endure neither dishonesty nor cowardice. Their base slanders were in whispers during his life; now that his gallant spirit is gone, they come forward in unblushing malignity. I heard the whispers only; my indignation at learning the baseness with which this true hero has been treated is beyond all my powers of expression."

Some of my readers may be interested in a description of Major Hodson's personal appearance and manner, given in a letter describing a visit which he paid the writer a few years previously at Calcutta:--

"He was remarkably well made, lithe, and agile; in height about five feet eleven inches. His hair had slightly receded from a high and most intellectual forehead, and was light and curly. His eyes were blue, but animated by a peculiarly determined, and sometimes even fierce look, which would change to one of mischievous merriment, for he was keenly susceptible of the ridiculous, in whatever shape it presented itself; but usually his look impressed me at once with that idea of his determination and firmness which have ever characterized his actions. His nose was inclining to the aquiline, and the curved, thin nostrils added a look of defiance in noways counteracted by the compressed lips, which seemed to denote many an inward struggle between duty and inclination. These are my impressions of Hodson as I last saw him; and if you add to this an open, frank manner, that, _bongre malgre_, impressed you favorably at first sight with the owner, you will have the charming _ensemble_ that presides over my recollections of three as happy weeks as I ever pa.s.sed."

As a pendant to this portrait I give another from a lady's pen, drawn more recently:--

"There was an indescribable charm of manner about him, combining all the gentle playfulness of the boy, the deep tenderness of the woman, and the vigorous decision of the soldier.

"His powers of attraction extended even to animals; and it was touching to see his large white Persian cat following him from room to room, escaping from the caresses of others to nestle by him. I have often watched the pretty creature as he threw himself, exhausted with the day's work, on an easy chair or sofa, rubbing himself against his master, whisking the long white tail against his fair moustache, and courting the endearments liberally bestowed. Restless with others, p.u.s.s.y was at rest if established by him.

"At Delhi there was a wild, shy little kitten, which fled from every one else, but mewed provokingly whenever he appeared,--would jump on his knee with all the familiarity of an old friend.

"With his horses he had the same power of domestication.

They yielded to the sound of his voice with the instinct that seemed to convey to all that in him they had found master and friend.

"Over the natives that influence seemed almost magic. When at Umbala, on ten days' leave, in November last, the wounded and convalescent Guides (his old corps) were all day straying into the compound simply to 'salaam' the 'Sahib.'

And if, when lingering on the steps, or in front of the study door, they were questioned what they wanted, their answer would be, 'Nothing; they liked to look at the Sahib.'

And so they hung about his steps, and watched like so many faithful dogs. Especially there was an Affghan boy, (he had once been a slave,) whose very soul seemed bound up in the master who had rescued him from his degraded position, and for whom every service seemed light. He would watch his master's movements with a look of very worship, as if the ground were not good enough for him to tread.

"His joyousness of nature made him the most charming companion. There was a certain quaintness of expression which gave zest to all he said; and yet there was a reverence, too, so that, were subjects graver than usual introduced even by allusion, they at once commanded his earnest response."

It will doubtless excite surprise, perchance indignation, that one whom the Commander-in-Chief p.r.o.nounced "one of the most brilliant soldiers under his command,"--one whom all ranks of the army in India reckoned amongst their bravest and most skilful leaders,--one whom the popular voice has already enrolled amongst the heroes of the nation,--one whose name was "known, either in love or fear, by every native from Calcutta to Cabul,"--should have received, with the exception of a brevet majority (to which he was ent.i.tled for services in 1849), no mark of his Sovereign's approbation, no recognition of gallant services and deeds of daring, one tenth part of which would have covered many of Fortune's favorites with decorations.

That recognition, however, which was officially withheld, has been given in a more marked form by the spontaneous expression of the feelings of his brothers-in-arms. A committee, composed of officers of the highest eminence, has been formed at Calcutta for the sake of recording, by some permanent memorial, their admiration of his gallantry and skill, and it has been determined that it should take the form of a monument in Lichfield Cathedral.

Nor will his name be forgotten in India, even by men in office. The regiment which he raised still is "Hodson's Horse;" and by an order, published in the _Gazette_ of August 13th, is const.i.tuted a brigade, consisting of the 1st, 2d, and 3d Regiments of "Hodson's Horse."

I do not know that his warmest friends could desire any more distinguished testimony to his services.

Since these remarks were written, my brother's services have received a still more public acknowledgment. On the occasion of the vote of thanks to the Indian Army, on 14th April, 1859, both Lord Derby in the Upper, and Lord Stanley in the Lower House, mentioned his name in the most honorable manner.

Lord Stanley spoke as follows:--

"And now, Sir, having paid the tribute that is due to those who live, it is not fitting that we should pa.s.s away entirely from this subject without recognizing the services of the dead. (Hear, hear.) Operations like those which have been carried on for the last eighteen months, could not be conducted without a great and lamentable loss of life, and their loss to the public service is not one which can be measured by any numerical test, because it is always the best and bravest officers who rush to the front,--who volunteer for every service of danger or difficulty, who expose themselves to every risk, and among whom, therefore, there is necessarily the greatest loss of life. There are two names which are especially distinguished. The first is that of Major Hodson, of the Guides, (hear, hear,) who in his short but brilliant military career displayed every quality which an officer should possess. (Hear.) Nothing is more remarkable, in glancing over the biography of Major Hodson that has just appeared, than the variety of services in which he was engaged. At one time he displayed his great personal courage and skill as a swordsman in conflict with Sikh fanatics; was then transferred to the civil service, in which he performed his duties as though he had pa.s.sed his whole life at the desk, afterwards recruiting and commanding the corps of Guides, and, lastly, taking part in the operations before Delhi, volunteering for every enterprise in which life could be hazarded or glory could be won. He crowded into the brief s.p.a.ce of eleven eventful years the services and adventures of a long life. He died when his reward was a.s.sured, obtaining only that reward which he most coveted,--the consciousness of duty done, and the a.s.surance of enduring military renown. The other name to which I shall refer is a name which will always be received with feelings of special and individual interest by this House. No words of mine can add to the glory attaching to the short but n.o.ble career of Sir W. Peel. (Cheers.) He bore a name which is inseparably connected with the Parliamentary history of this country, and it was with feelings of almost personal pride and of personal grief that a great number of the members of this House received the accounts of his glorious achievements and of his untimely end. (Hear, hear.) For his own reputation he had lived long enough; no future acts could have enhanced his fame. It is England, it is his country that deplores his loss."

I have also much pleasure in stating that "in testimony of the high sense entertained of the gallant and distinguished services of the late Brevet-Major W. S. R. Hodson," the Secretary of State for India in Council has granted a special pension to his widow.

FOOTNOTES:

[69] Lieutenant Gough says, that my brother saved his life by cutting down a rebel trooper in the very act of spearing him.