أنت هنا
قراءة كتاب Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India Being Extracts from the Letters of the Late Major W. S. R. Hodson, B. A.
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India Being Extracts from the Letters of the Late Major W. S. R. Hodson, B. A.
killing? But the truth is that is not the motive, but a sort of undefined ambition.... I remember bursting into tears in sheer rage in the midst of the fight at Sobraon at seeing our soldiers lying killed and wounded."
His first campaign is over, and he goes into cantonments. The chief impression left on his mind is extreme disappointment with the state of the Sepoy regiments, which he expresses to Mr. Thomason:—
"In discipline and subordination they seem to be lamentably deficient, especially towards the native commissioned and non-commissioned officers. On the march, I have found these last give me more trouble than the men even. My brother officers say that I see an unfavorable specimen in the 2d, as regards discipline, owing to their frequent service of late, and the number of recruits; but I fear the evil is very wide-spread. It may no doubt be traced mainly to the want of European officers. This, however, is an evil not likely to be removed on any large scale. Meantime, unless some vigorous and radical improvements take place, I think our position will be very uncertain and even alarming in the event of extended hostilities. You must really forgive my speaking so plainly, and writing my own opinions so freely. You encouraged me to do so when I was at Agra, if you remember, and I value the privilege too highly as connected with the greater one of receiving advice and counsel from you, not to exercise it, even at the risk of your thinking me presumptuous and hasty in my opinions."
Acting upon these impressions, he applies for and obtains an exchange into the 1st Bengal Europeans, in which he is eighth second-lieutenant at the age of twenty-five, the junior in rank of boys of eighteen and nineteen. He feels that he has difficult cards to play, but resolves to make the best of everything, and regrets only "that the men who are to support the name and power of England in Asia are sent out here at an age when, neither by education nor reflection can they have learnt all, or even a fraction of what those words mean. It would be a happy thing for India and for themselves, if all came out here at a more advanced age than now, but one alone breaking through the custom in that respect made and provided, must not expect to escape the usual fate, or at least the usual annoyances, of innovators."
At this point an opening, of which he was just the man to make the most, occurs. Mr. Thomason writes to Colonel, afterwards Sir Henry, Lawrence, the new political agent at Lahore, introducing Hodson; and at once a friendship, founded on mutual appreciation, springs up between the two, to end only with their lives. The agent manages to have the young soldier constantly in his office, and to get all sorts of work out of him. As a reward, he takes him on an expedition into Cashmere, in the autumn of 1846, whither they accompany the forces of Gholab Singh, to whom the country had been ceded by treaty. The letters from Cashmere on this occasion, and again in 1850, when he accompanied Sir Henry on a second trip to Cashmere and Thibet, are like nothing in the world but an Arabian Night which we feel to be true. The chiefs, the priests, the monasteries, the troops, the glorious country so misused by man, the wretched people, an English lady, young and pretty, travelling all alone in the wildest part on pony-back, all pass before us in a series of living photographs. We have room, however, for one quotation only:—
"The women are atrociously ugly, and screech like the witches in Macbeth,—so much so, that when the agent asked me to give them a rupee or two, I felt it my duty to refuse, firmly but respectfully, on the ground that it would be encouraging ugliness.
"I am the luckiest dog unhung (he concludes) to have got into Cashmere. I fancy I am the first officer of our army who has been here save the few who have come officially."
Colonel Lawrence was not the man to let his young friend's powers of work rust, so on their return we find Hodson set to build the famous Hill Asylum for white children at Subathoo.
We may as well notice at once, in this early stage of his career, the man's honest training of himself in all ways, great and small, to take his place, and do his work in his world-battle; how he faces all tasks, however unwonted, ill-paid, or humble, which seem to be helpful; how he casts off all habits, however pleasant or harmless, which may prove hindrances. And this he does with no parade or fine sentiment, but simply, almost unconsciously, often with a sort of apology which is humorously pathetic. For example, when set to work on the Asylum, he writes:—
"Colonel Lawrence seems determined I shall have nothing to stop me, for his invariable reply to every question is, 'Act on your own judgment,' 'Do what you think right,' 'I give you carte blanche to act in my name, and draw on my funds,' and so forth."
Which confidence is worthily bestowed. Hodson sets to work, forgetting all professional etiquette, and giving up society for the time.
"Cutting trees down, getting lime burnt, bricks made, planks sawn up, the ground got ready, and then watching the work foot by foot; showing this "nigger" how to lay his bricks, another the proper proportions of a beam, another the construction of a door, and to the several artisans the mysteries of a screw, a nail, a hinge. You cannot say to a man, 'Make me a wall or a door,' but you must, with your own hands, measure out his work, teach him to saw away here, to plane there, or drive such a nail, or insinuate such a suspicion of glue. And when it comes to be considered that this is altogether new work to me, and has to be excuded by cogitation on the spot, so as to give an answer to every inquirer, you may understand the amount of personal exertion and attention required for the work."
Again, a few months later, November, 1847,—
"I am in a high queer-looking native house among the ruins of this old stronghold of the Pathans, with orders 'to make a good road from Lahore to the Sutlej, distance forty miles,' in as brief a space as possible. On the willing-to-be-generally-useful principle, this is all very well, and one gets used to turning one's hand to everything, but certainly (but for circumstances over which I had no control) I always labored under the impression that I knew nothing at all about the matter. However, Colonel Lawrence walked into my room promiscuously one morning, and said, 'Oh, Hodson, we have agreed that you must take in hand the road to Ferozepore. You can start in a day or two;' and here I am."
Again, in January, 1848, he has been sent out surveying.
"My present rôle is to survey a part of the country lying along the left bank of the Ravee and below the hills, and I am daily and all day at work with compasses and chain, pen and pencil, following streams, diving into valleys, burrowing into hills, to complete my work. I need hardly remark, that, having never attempted anything of the kind hitherto, it is bothering at first."
Again, in April, 1848, he has been set to hear all manner of cases, civil, criminal, and revenue, in the Lahore Court.
"The duty is of vast importance, and I sometimes feel a half sensation of modesty at being set down to administer justice in such matters so early, and without previous training. A little practice, patience, and reflection, settle most cases to one's satisfaction however; and one must be content with substantial justice as distinguished from technical law."
Again, in a letter to his brother,—
"Did I tell you, by-the-bye, that I abjured tobacco when I left England, and