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GENERAL
SIE EDWAED BEUCE HAMLEY
K.C.B., K.C.M.G.

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THE LIFE OF
GENEEAL
SIE EDWAED BEUCE HAMLEY
K.C.B., K.C.M.G.

ALEXANDER INNES SHAND

WITH TWO PORTRAITS

IN TWO VOLUMES— VOL. I.
SECOND EDITION
CONTAINING ANSWER TO COLONEL MAURICE

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MDOCCXCVI

STATEMENT BY ME EDWAED HAMLEY
IN ANSWER TO
COLONEL MAURICE'S ATTACK IN. THE 'UNITED
SERVICE MAGAZINE' FOR JULY AND
AUGUST 1895.

The follovping book, upon its appearance in June
last, was reviewed by many writers, of whom
the great majority spoke both of the subject and
the work in a tone that was highly sympathetic,
and nearly all in one that was courteous and fair.
But in the ' United Service Magazine ' ^ for July
Colonel Maurice, directing his remarks partly
against the work, but chiefly against Sir Edward
Hamley, began an attack of a character very
unusual. His observations are confined pro-
^ The only other hostile personal criticisms of Sir Edward Ham-
ley which I have seen are made by General Sir William Butler in
the ' Contemporary Review ' for August 1895. Though harsh, they
are different in character from those of Colonel Maurice. The
article, which Sir William will not deny is coloured by personal
feeling, has been answered, as it seems to me, very fully by Colonel
Gleig in the ' Gentleman's Magazine ' for November.

vi STATEMENT BY MB EDWARD HAMLEY.
fessedly to the short period of Sir Edward's
life which was occupied with the Egyptian cam
paign of 1882, and the object was to contest the
position assumed in the biography with regard
to the treatment received by the subject of it
from the commander of the expedition, who is
now Viscount Wolseley. That position is sum
marised in chapter xxv. The article, which was
marked by great acerbity, attracted that kind of
notice which unhappily is always given to state
ments at once personal and injurious ; yet, except
in very few cases, writers in the press, in alluding
to it, did no more than mention the views there
expressed, while they withheld their own. As
Colonel Maurice was the author of the official
history of the campaign in which he had himself
served, it was remarkable that his attack, made
with much earnestness and strength of expres
sion, appeared to carry so little conviction. The
July article was followed by another, which was
similarly received ; and after giving elaborate
eulogies of Lord Wolseley, this second paper
contained intimation of a third to come. The
intimation was a vulgar threat that, unless
the remarks made upon Lord Wolseley in the
biography were withdrawn, certain information
affecting Sir Edward Hamley 's reputation would
be made public in the following month.

STATEMENT BY MB EDJVABD HAMLEY. vii
In this way the attack was prolonged. The
approaching retirement of H.R.H. the Duke of
Cambridge had naturally made a general so dis
tinguished as Lord Wolseley a candidate for the
office of Commander-in-Chief, and it was possible
that the statement of Sir Edward Hamley's case
might act prejudicially against his selection. By
the development of a vigorous counter-attack the
candidate could be made to appear in the amiable
light of a forbearing and misrepresented man ;
while by expanding that counter-attack over the
interval until a decision was arrived at, and by
constantly intimating that the strongest points
of it were yet to come, the inevitable reply,
which would interfere with its purpose, might
be staved off.
Why Colonel Maurice, who describes himself
as indebted for his first public recognition to Sir
Edward Hamley, undertook such an office, I do
not know. No one had said a word against or
about him. The line which he adopted cannot
have been very acceptable to the person whom
he defended ; for Lord Wolseley is spoken of by
him as acting in a very unsoldierly and dis
ingenuous manner, and is charged with con
cocting despatches, not so as to relate the
truth, but so as to suit the palate of politicians
at home. It is his friend who makes these

viii STATEMENT BY MB EDJVABD HAMLEY.
allegations. But apart from the accusation of
things of which he must be incapable, Lord
Wolseley cannot have relished his defence.
Whether Colonel Maurice was desired to dis
continue his efibrts, or whether, on the appoint
ment of the new Commander - in - Chief being
virtually made, he considered it unadvisable to
go on with them, is not known, but he suddenly
became anxious to terminate the discussion. His
threats of making disclosures being disregarded,
he approached Mr Shand, the author of this
book. What resulted has been already made public
in ' Blackwood's Magazine ' for October of last
year. Mr Shand, who was in bad health at the
time, was induced to write a letter to the
' Times,' stating that on several points, of which
he mentioned only one, he had been led to
change his opinion. In doing this he acted
entirely on his own responsibility, and not only
without the consent of Sir Edward Hamley's
family, but with the knowledge that they dis
approved of and would repudiate his action. As
he has repeatedly expressed his regret for the
step which he took as well as for the manner in
which it was taken, I desire to say no more on
that subject.
Two passages, therefore (vol. ii. pp. 122 and

STATEMENT BY MB EDJVABD HAMLEY. ix
172), are in the present edition withdrawn. Since
they are of no great importance ; since the state
ments which they contain were never made by Sir
Edward Hamley ; and since Mr Shand, who was
responsible for them, was, when the proof-sheets
were struck off, urged, though in vain, to recon
sider the language in which they were expressed,
the reader will perhaps believe that I do not
regard their withdrawal with much concern. But
the circumstances under which they were with
drawn I regard very differently. Colonel Maurice
undoubtedly to some extent succeeded, though
not without difficulty, in what it would be false
delicacy not to call his object. His threats
when publicly made were ignored, but in the
interview which he secured, they were in pri
vate used with such effect that in the result it
appeared as if Sir Edward Hamley's friends
entertained fear of the threatened statements
being openly made. For the time it seemed
as if their cause had collapsed under Colonel
Maurice's attack, and thus a victory, transient
and only apparent though it was, was snatched
for Lord Wolseley at a critical time for his
interests. I have in the public press called upon Colonel
Maurice to proceed with his third article, but
so far he has not done so. His attack already

X STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY.
made has been of such a nature as to preclude
the conception that he left anything unsaid out
of regard to the memory of Sir Edward, and the
threat of further statements was clearly intended
to protract the effect of his articles and to in
timidate. It must be admitted that he in some
degree succeeded, and blackmail has been in
a limited sense levied. But as soon as his
arrangement with Mr Shand was made known,
it was at once stated in the ' Times ' that Sir
Edward Hamley's family had no part in it and
disowned it. It must be clearly understood that,
subject to the withdrawal of the two passages
referred to, the following book stands. The posi
tion taken up in it is maintained. As the
twenty-fifth chapter, which expresses that posi
tion, was not written by Mr Shand, it is clear
that nothing which he withdrew can affect it.
The position there assumed forms nominally
the subject of Colonel Maurice's attack, yet he
nowhere directly assails it. It is contended in
this book that the division commanded and led
by Sir Edward Hamley in person at the battle
of Tel - el - Kebir did the hardest part of the
fighting on that day, and did it well, but
received in despatches no recognition of these
facts. Colonel Maurice does not contest either
the greater severity of their fight nor the omis-

STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY. xi
sion from despatches. On the contrary, he has
to admit them, and thereby virtually admits
what the biography asserts. But he clouds the
issue. He introduces personal recriminations
of Sir E. Hamley, he makes suggestions that
tend to create a prejudice against him, and he
argues — though his argument is entirely beside
the point — that the strategical effect of what
his division accomplished in the battle was com
paratively insignificant.
If it should occur to any one that the effect
of the advance of the Second Division may have
been small or unimportant, let him devote a few
minutes' study to the plan of the fortifications
given upon p. 126 of the second volume of this
book. What it was which gave special signifi
cance to that advance will be grasped in a mo
ment. A triangle, it will be seen, is rudely
formed in the more southern part of the posi
tion. The canal serves as the base, the exterior
line of defence as far as a battery marked No. 7
constitutes one side, and the longer of two in
terior entrenchments is the other. Upon the
protection of this space Fehmi Pasha had lavished
both his skill and the vast amount of labour of
which he could dispose. This was the nut which
he intended to be too hard to crack. The exterior
line of defence southwards of battery No. 7 was

xii STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY.
not merely stronger than it was to the north,
but it was so beyond comparison. Nowhere else
did any second entrenchments exist ; but here,
commencing opposite the same battery, were two
lines which ran far back and were strengthened
with frequent redoubts. In the same proportion
as the works in this space were more formidable,
so were the other means of defence. Of the ten
battalions distributed in the trenches, six were
here ; and out of fifty - four guns north of the
canal, no less than forty -seven were mounted in
this triangle. Everything had been done to pro
tect this in preference to other portions of the
position. Now it was into this space that the
Second Division burst. They broke in at the
strongest point, where the lines of entrenchment
converged. Having established their footing
within the works, they at once attacked the
inner lines, and began an advance which was
never checked until they reached Arabi's camp.
All this they did before any other troops had
even become engaged. It requires no knowledge
of military science or history to perceive what
the effect upon the enemy of such action, so
rapid and under such circumstances, must have
been. The moral effect must have been as great as
the material one. Not only had the lines upon

STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY. xiii
which the defenders chiefiy relied been sur
mounted and rendered useless for further pro
tection, but a force was being thrust into their
centre, threatening, as it progressed, to cut off
from the station and the cultivated land — that
is to say, from the chance of retreat — the four
battalions of Egyptian troops posted to the
north. These four battalions, while waiting to
be attacked in front, must have been aware that
they were steadily being shut off from all support.
Before any other troops had reached the outer
line, the leading brigade of the division was pene
trating well into the inner one. But there is still
something further to be said. The division not
only cut into the centre of the position, but a
portion of it, turning from the direction of the
interior entrenchments, was moved southwards —
towards the canal, but within the fortifications —
and expelled the considerable force lining the
trenches of the front line on that side, putting
them to flight and stopping the fire of the guns.
Of that large triangle, which formed Arabi's vir
tual position, nearly the whole had been won and
cleared of combatant defenders when the leading
Highlanders, doubtless few in number, were col
lected on the brow of the decline and led down to
complete the work of the division by occupying
the camp and station. This was all done by the

xiv STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY.
Second Division unaided. The other sections of
the army of course played the part that fell to
them with all gallantry and efficiency, but not a
man of them crossed the bounds of that triangle
until the Second Division was master of the
whole. -^
Now these facts are not only not disputed,
but they are recorded as much in Colonel
Maurice's official history as in the biography,
and no one contests them. The profound results
which the action of the Second Division must
necessarily have produced are patent. The way
in which Colonel Maurice in his recent articles
attempts to minimise these results is this. He
says little of the greater obstacles encountered
by the division — nothing of the greater force
of men, and the infinitely larger number of
guns opposed to it — nothing of the large area
which it cleared — nothing of the moral effect
of its penetrating attack, — he leaves these things
on one side ; but he endeavours to argue that
the latter part of the advance of a single portion
of the division — viz., the Highlanders who at
tacked the interior lines — was in some measure
1 If Colonel Maurice's statement is correct, the Commander-in-
Chief and his Staff were within this space before the station was
occupied ; but they followed in rear of the Second Division, and of
course, not being combatants in the literal sense, they, if they were
present, do not affect the argument.

STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY. xv
dependent upon the action of other sections
of the army. When the First Division — coming
up at a considerable interval after the Second
— attacked the parapet more to the north, they
carried it, but were then held in check for a fur
ther period. Subsequently, with the co-operation
of the cavalry and horse-artillery, they broke up
and reduced to a mob the battalions opposed to
them. Now Colonel Maurice says that this mob,
rushing in flight towards the station, had with
other effects that of overwhelming their country
men, who, he adds, were until then gallantly
holding out in the interior entrenchments against
the Highlanders ; and he means it to be inferred
that but for this rush of fugitives the High
land Brigade could not — at least so soon —
have cleared the trenches, and would not have
been able by themselves to capture the camp
and station. That I understand to be his pres
ent contention, and by it he endeavours to
make it appear that the action of the Second
Division was of secondary importance in the
battle, and that Sir Edward Hamley's account
of it given in an article in the ' Nineteenth
Century' review, and reprinted in this book,
was wholly inaccurate.
If, in the first place, we suppose his conten
tion to be true, to what does it amount ? It
VOL. 1. b

xvi STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY.
can apply only to the last few yards of the
advance along the trenches. The work of the
Highland Brigade was nearly done before these
fugitives could have reached them. There is not
recorded the slightest evidence that they were
in need of assistance. The advance along the
inner lines had been quick and unchecked. If
at the very end the defenders gave way because
they were borne down by flying men, it can
at most have made but a few minutes' difference
in the result. As a matter of fact these fugi
tives, wherever they ran, were flying probably
quite as much to save themselves from being
cut off from the station by the Highlanders
as from terror of the First Division. One wit
ness,^ very competent to judge, asserts that
they had scarcely waited to be attacked. An
other,^ has asserted that the battle was virtually
over as soon as the Highlanders had made good
their first advance. These witnesses were not
with Sir E. Hamley's division, nor were they
prejudiced in his favour. But besides this, what
ever effect these fugitives may have had, they
can in no way have assisted in that part of
1 General Sir Gerald Graham. See 'Military History,' p. 90,
footnote. = Sir William Butler, who says that the battle lasted no more
than twenty-five minutes. See 'Contemporary Review,' Aiigust
1895, p. 223.

STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY. xvii
the action where a portion of the Second Divi
sion, moving down towards the canal, cleared
out the length of the front line on that side
and overcame the battalions that held it.
Lord Wolseley's plan for the battle — so Colonel
Maurice tells us now — had been that the Second
Division should fasten on the most formidable
works, while the decisive blow was struck by the
First Division and other forces on the enemy's
left. The design, he argues, had from the first
been that the Second Division should play a
minor r6le; and by introducing the effect of
these fugitives, he would have us believe that
events conformed to this design. Of course
those who have read the ' Military History ' will
not have gathered that this had been the plan.
For there (page 76) it is said that as the Second
Division would take the most direct line towards
the bridge, the general course of the action, it
was foreseen, would make the First Division into
a support for it, while the cavalry and horse-
artillery had other functions. The two different
versions given by the same pen of the same
scheme are very interesting. Which of these
best represents Colonel Maurice's real opinion —
whether the one deliberately recorded in a work
inspected before its publication by the Com
mander who was responsible for the scheme, or

xviii STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY.
the other, which appears eight years later in a
controversy in which it is required to colour an
argument — I offer no opinion. But if the version
given in the History is to be abandoned, and that
now put forward adopted, it can only appear that
the Second Division, destined merely to fasten on
a certain point, performed its office somewhat too
quickly and too well. It had taken nearly all
the works, silenced all but a few of the guns,
and disposed of three-fifths of the force in the
trenches, before the so-called decisive blow of
defeating the remaining two-fifths and capturing
seven guns was struck.
It is true, Colonel Maurice argues, that had not
the reserve kept in hand by Arabi been alarmed
by the disaster on their left, and also shaken
by numbers of fugitives from that quarter, they
would never have broken up. The appearance of
small bodies of Highlanders, he says, on the crest
of the hill would not have affected them. He
seems to base his argument on the evidence of
Arabi himself. But on the occasion of the battle
Arabi was a guest who came late and left early,
and left with precipitation. Whether under
circumstances which did not occur the reserve
would or would not have acted differently no
one can tell. What did happen was, that panic
took them, and the first persons to inspire that

STATEMENT BY MR EDWABD HAMLEY. xix
panic would naturally have been the fugitives who
first came in. Now, long before the left broke
up, men were flying in from the right — i.e., from
before the Second Division — reporting that the
centre had utterly collapsed, and that the heavy
works were carried. Fugitives driven by the
other division would have had three times the
distance to traverse before reaching the station,
and the tale of defeat, with its demoralising
effect, had been told there before they could
possibly arrive. Of course it may be argued that
the reserves were not near the station. Colonel
Maurice says in his August article that they
were formed on ground lying to the north of
the end of the interior entrenchment. The only
reference made in the History to their position
speaks of them as being to the south of the
same entrenchment (p. 94), as does apparently
the July article (p. 429). Yet if they were to
the north, they must have observed something
of the progress of the action on that high
ground within the works, which, to judge by
the contours on the map, was clearly visible
from such a position. The smoke would have
rendered it evident that fighting of some kind
was going on upon the highest land, and that
therefore the centre had been pierced. British
artillery was in action within the lines, and Egyp-

XX STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY.
tian batteries were being successively silenced.
There cannot fail to have been indications that
retreat to the station was likely to be cut off.
Wherever the reserves were, it is preposterous
to suppose that the panic which seized them was
unconnected with the overwhelming disaster at
the centre and on the right. To say that the
small groups of Highlanders could not have
disposed of them may be true, but then they
did not know how near a larger force might
be. Some of the cavalry, which was in reserve,
did, in fact, make a show of resistance, and did
disperse before those very groups which Colonel
Maurice says could not have alarmed them. It is
exceedingly unlikely that the men of the reserve
reasoned in any way, or considered that one part
of the British troops was more threatening than
another. They did not constitute a large force ;
they seem to have seen that the day was lost,
and they bolted without firing a shot.
If, therefore. Colonel Maurice's present state
ment be true, it will affect little, if at aU, the
question of how far the Second Division con
tributed to the victory. But then is it true?
If this great mob of fugitives rolling down really
had the result of dispersing the reserves and
annihilating the defence in the trenches, two
facts will occur to every one as necessary con-

STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY, xxi
sequences. The first is, that they must have
been seen by those who were on the spot ;
and the other, that the historian of the war
must have recorded their very noteworthy effect.
Now Sir Archibald Alison was with the leading
Highlanders throughout their advance. He
never saw these fugitives ; he saw no sign of
the defenders being overwhelmed by them. On
the contrary, he saw the men in the trenches
fighting to the last and bayoneted in their
places. And as for the History, where does
Colonel Maurice there mention the effect of
this flight ? He never mentions it at all. On
the contrary, he there says the exact reverse
of what he writes now. It stands in the History
(p. 90) that the Egyptian left, having given
way, " soon became a mass of fugitives only
so far affecting the fight further in that they
somewhat retarded the advance of the cavalry
division." "Affect" is a comprehensive word.
To say that these men did not affect the fight
is to exclude from them all further results
upon the action. The whole tone of the account
of the battle given in the History accords with and
supports this passage. There is, indeed, once a
reference made to the idea that the position where
the Highlanders were engaged was only involved
in the general confusion when the fugitives from

xxii STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY.
the left came in. But that reference is to a
mistaken supposition of Arabi's, and is made
only that the mistake may be refuted. When
Colonel Maurice wrote his History he certainly
cannot have held that the driving of fugitives
before the British right affected the progress
of the Second Division. He now says that the
evidence from all sides is clear that it did.
It would be interesting to learn if other in
stances are known where a historian has come
forward to say that all the evidence at his
disposal went to prove that a certain important
occurrence related by himself happened other
wise than as he related it.
Colonel Maurice does, indeed, mention one
incident which in his argument figures as a
useful piece of circumstantial evidence support
ing this contention. " Sir Edward Hamley," he
writes, " himself records how these fugitives
began to pour across his front from the left.
But in his calm assumption that nothing took
place which he did not see, he attributes this
to the fact that the attack of the Highlanders
had so broken the Egyptians that their resist
ance began to crumble on both sides." As Sir
Edward Hamley only once, so far as I know,
alludes to fugitives crossing the front of any
of his troops. Colonel Maurice must refer to a

STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY. xxiii
passage on p. 136 of vol. ii. of this book, where
it is said, " On our right these crowds [of
fugitives] now passed across the front of the
42d Regiment." Now, that these crowds could
only have been put in flight by the Second
Division any one can see ; for seven lines further
on Sir Edward shows that he was speaking of
a period before the attack of the other division
had in any way broken the enemy. The time
is definitely fixed. It was before Major Lugard
had silenced the battery called No. 7 on the
plan, and at that time, to quote the ' Military
History,' the Egyptian left was still formed and
resisting at various distances within the parapet
(p. 89). That is to say, there were no fugitives
coming from the left. Colonel Maurice, of course,
speaks as if two different occasions were one
and the same ; and to readers who have neither
time nor inclination to examine such statements
his argument, so made, possibly seems a forcible
one. There is no difficulty in drawing forcible
deductions if we may mould the premises as
we please.
To deny to the force which accomplished such
work any recognition of its special achievement
is an injustice too obvious to need exposure.
That injustice was done. Colonel Maurice has vir
tually to admit. He had himself, he tells us.

xxiv STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY.
been the first on the Headquarter Staff to dis
cover, at least some days after the battle, that
the attack of the Second Division had preceded
that of the First. Of course in the infantry
divisions themselves the fact was matter of
notoriety, and General Willis's statement to the
Commander-in-Chief, that his division made its
first charge in daylight, rendered it perfectly
certain to Sir Garnet Wolseley that the attack
which manifestly began in darkness was the
earlier (vol. ii. p. 149). However, Colonel Mau
rice says that he himself found it out, and that
at Cairo he worked hard to get " this justice "
done to the Highland Brigade. The expression
" this justice " signifies obviously that injustice
had been done. Moreover, Colonel Maurice was
not at that time the historian of the war, nor
more concerned than others in examining its
events. It is, to say the least, remarkable that
a body of her Majesty's troops should come to
depend for justice upon the casual exertions
of a major on the Headquarter Staff. With
this admission falls a great portion of Colonel
Maurice's contention. To argue, as he seems
to do, that Sir Edward was not personally re
sponsible for the brilliant result obtained affects
the main question in no way. The result was
secured by the division led by its own officers.

STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY. xxv
and men and officers alike were left without
acknowledgment in the published despatches of
their efforts and singular success. The attempt
to discredit Sir Edward's own share in the action
is of course designed to take attention away
from the real issue. Yet if in this bitter per
sonal attack upon the officer who commanded
the division, part or even every word were
true, the wrong done to the division itself, and
to its other officers, would be still as great
and still as shameful. A soldier's reward is re
cognition : when earned it is as much his due as
his pay. " How can you expect," Sir Edward
was wont to say — " How can you expect men
of the rank and file to strain their powers and
expose their lives when they know that the
credit they may earn may be awarded else
where ? "
The doubt which Colonel Maurice labours to
create as to whether Sir Edward Hamley really
directed his division in the battle is easily put to
rest. It is put to rest by reading the twelfth
chapter of Colonel Maurice's History. That he
was the leading and directing force of the divi
sion, as a division, is there shown, not by infer
ence or by any single isolated passage, but by
statement, deduction, and every means open to a
writer. His orders are given, his dispositions are

xxvi STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY.
detailed ; it is stated how he met the various dif
ficulties which arose, and how he viewed the
position. But though it is necessary to point this
out. Colonel Maurice in his article does not, of
course, definitely say anything so fatuous as that
Sir Edward did not command his own division.
He suggests it ; he says that Sir Garnet Wolseley
had intentions of making arrangements tending
to that result, and so on, and having said all this,
he stops short. This manner of writing may have
skill, but it lacks other qualities which are usually
valued. The foundation for all this insidious
suggestion lies in two orders said by Colonel
Maurice to have been sent by the Commander-in-
Chief direct to the brigadiers of the division in
stead of to the general — and these, we are led to
infer, were the outcome of a design by which Sir
Edward Hamley should be set aside and the
division handled by the Commander-in-Chief
Now it is not contended that these orders were
given during the battle. They are only claimed
to have been sent before it began ; and it is clear,
therefore, that whatever can be said of them, they
cannot affect anything which took place in the
action. Of the two orders, one was of minor importance
as far as this discussion is concerned. It was that
the rear brigade should close up. The reason

STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY. xxvii
assigned for this order is that the approach to the
parapet was thought to be near ; and hence
it is obvious that a message sent from head
quarters a considerable distance forward to the
general of division, to be retransmitted by him
some thousand yards or more over much of the
same ground, all being done in total darkness,
might be expected to arrive too late. The only
chance of making it effectual was to send it direct.
As it was, it does not seem to have been acted
on ; for the official map showing the position of
troops at the moment of attack (map 8, sheet 1)
represents Colonel Ashburnham's brigade as still
almost 1000 yards — i.e., its original distance — in
rear of the other. The order, moreover, was not
to put the brigade into action, as Colonel Maurice
implies, but to close up upon the leading brigade,
and thus be more readily available for the divisional
general. When it joined the attack it did so by
the immediate order of Sir Edward Hamley.
When these facts are remembered it will be seen
that the incident has none of the significance
claimed for it.
But the other order, said to have been sent
direct to Sir Archibald Alison, was for the High
land Brigade to attack, and what is said of it
merits careful examination. Firstly, let us ex
amine Colonel Maurice's position with regard to

xxviii STATEMENT BY MR EDWABD HAMLEY.
it, or, to be accurate, his two positions. In the
History the order (it is not recorded there to
whom it was given) is said to have been sent
shortly after a certain incident which occurred
during the march, and which came to an end
about 4 A.M. It would seem, therefore, that it
was issued soon after four o'clock ; but to avoid
dispute, let us only say that, as is definitely
shown in the book, it was sent before 4.35, and
probably some time before. That is what the
History states ; and since the actual attack was
not begun until 4.55, and was then begun not in
consequence of any instructions received on the
spot, but because the enemy revealed himself by
firing, it is clear that the order sent soon after
four o'clock did not bring it about. If received
at all, that order can only have been interpreted
as an intimation to press on, for it is clearly im
possible to attack when nothing to be attacked is
perceptible or within striking distance. But now
see how the matter is made to appear by Colonel
Maurice in the ' United Service Magazine.' It is
desired to create the belief that the division was
literally put into action by a means that con
veyed intentional disregard of the officer who
commanded it, and this same order is now said
to have been sent not before 4.35, but after 4.50.
It was, writes Colonel Maurice, the second of two

STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY. xxix
messages, both sent to Sir Archibald by the
Commander-in-Chief when the appearance of the
comet was mistaken for the dawn. The comet
(see the History, p. 84) appeared at 4.50. Thus,
by the elimination of a considerable period this
order is with much effect made to figure as the
immediate cause of the charge of the Highland
Brigade, which took place soon after 4.55. Let
no one say that the exact time is immaterial, and
that the fact of the order is the only point of im
portance. For Colonel Maurice's present argu
ment the exact time is of consequence absolutely
essential. If I am told that the time given in
the History may be wrong, and that the conten
tion now offered in order to injure Sir Edward
Hamley may be correct, I can only reply by ask
ing which of Colonel Maurice's statements is the
more likely to be based on unbiassed reflection ?
It is in regard to a point such as this that
Colonel Maurice finds his great advantage in
attacking a dead man. Supposing that any
order to begin the attack had been required,
and supposing that it were given as is now said,
every one will admit that Sir Edward, if alive,
could throw light upon the occasion. During his
life he never, so far as I know or can learn, men
tioned it. It is not conceivable that a man jealous
of his credit — a man who a few hours before had

XXX STATEMENT BY MR EDWABD HAMLEY.
been representing in emphatic terms that under
no circumstances could his troops act under other
orders than his own, — it is not conceivable that
at the most critical moment of all that man saw
his leading brigade put into action without his
order or knowledge and tamely acquiesced. He
who had so much to say subsequently of his
treatment, would have handled with effect a
striking breach of military etiquette and a pro
ceeding subversive of all discipline.
But no fresh order directing when the High
land Brigade should attack was required. All
instructions had been given beforehand. When
Sir Archibald Alison ordered the preconcerted
signal for the charge to be given, he did so
because he perceived that he was upon the
enemy's lines. He received no direct order from
the Commander-in-Chief.
The day before the battle Sir Archibald had,
no doubt, an interview with Sir Garnet Wolseley
in his tent. It lasted only a few minutes, and
what was then said was of the most general kind.
No instructions intended for him privately were
given to him then or at any time before the
battle. He knows of nothing having been said
or done which indicated any intention on the
part of the Commander-in-Chief to slight or
diminish the authority of Sir Edward Hamley.

STATEMENT BY MB EDWARD HAMLEY. xxxi
Any communications that may have come to him
direct from headquarters were so sent, he un
derstood, of necessity, to save time, and had
no personal significance. He is aware of only
one such communication, which simply urged
him to press on. The division of which his
brigade formed part was throughout the action
handled and directed by its proper divisional
general, Sir Edward Hamley.
This order, which I have discussed, is the basis
upon which Colonel Maurice founds his imputa
tion, that on the occasion ofthe battle the subject
of this biography was in effect set aside from his
command. What else he introduces to support
that imputation is suggestion only, or reference
to intentions never carried out. The immediate
purpose of alluding to the order in the article is
to make out that the general was during the
march "tied up in swaddling-clothes and nursed."
The infant, by Colonel Maurice's own showing
elsewhere, was not an easy one to swathe ; but
that is his contention, and we are intended to
believe, and told, that the sending of the order
to the brigadier was a premeditated slighting of
Sir Edward. But would the reader care to know
how the incident impressed Colonel Maurice six
or seven years ago, when facts were fresher
in his memory? The revised proof-sheets of
VOL. L c

xxxii STATEMENT BY MR EDWABD HAMLEY.
the History are still in existence. In them
this order is mentioned thus : " Sir Garnet,
. . . not knowing in the darkness where Sir
E. Hamley was, sent orders to Sir A. Alison
to move forward to the attack as soon as the
brigade was in hand." To this passage, by an
asterisk between the words "was" and "sent,"
the following footnote is appended : " This was
in no way Sir E. Hamley's fault, but as the only
advance intended was that of the brigade, and it
was necessary to seize the moment, the order was
sent to the brigadier." The amount of sincerity
in the contentions of the recent attack may thus
be fairly measured. Whether Sir Edward, who
undoubtedly saw the revised proof, remarked on
this portion of it, I do not know, but in the pub
lished History all reference to the order having
gone to the brigadier direct is excised and the
footnote expunged.
But if any one at any time entertained the
idea that during march or action Sir Edward
Hamley was only in nominal command of his
division, while the real direction lay with the
Commander-in-Chief and the generals of brig
ades, he may well consider what that idea must
necessarily have involved. To order a general
not to exercise his authority may be right or
wrong in itself, but it is at least a straight-

STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY. xxxiii
forward course. The suggestion that any such
honest line was taken with Sir Edward is not
made, nor can it be dreamed that, had it been
taken, he would on such terms have gone into
action. The only suggestion is that of a desire,
in an underhand way and without his knowledge,
to set him aside and to deal directly with his
subordinates. If anything so unsoldierly was con
templated, it was acted on only before the battle
began ; and it is quite certain that Sir Edward,
knowing nothing of his supposed bonds, burst
them and led his division to a brilliant consum
mation. Had the consummation not been brilliant
— had the division met defeat, one would like to
know whether he would have been at once cleared
of all blame and the world informed that no re
sponsibility rested with him. Does that issue
seem a probable one ? But to follow the con
tention. Supposing that the decision had actually
been to let him go into action believing himself in
real command, while, in fact, orders superior to
his own were in the hands of his titular subor
dinates — and that is what Colonel Maurice con
veys by saying that Lord Wolseley had found
it necessary to give private instructions before
hand to Sir Archibald Alison, — for what object
could such a decision have been taken ? To send
a general into battle with his authority curtailed.

xxxiv STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY.
unknown to himself, is to send him to almost
certain disaster. Only an exceptionally strong
character could assert itself successfully in such
circumstances. The conflict of orders and the
paralysis which must ensue would be coach-
roads for defeat. This is so obvious, that if
such a course were really adopted — of course
I only say "if" — it can only have been done
with the expectation that the general so treated
would thereby be ruined. If this were the case,
nothing of greater baseness has been perpetrated
by any one holding supreme military authority
since the order was given to set Uriah the
Hittite in the forefront of the battle.
This appalling but inevitable deduction is one
that has to be drawn from what is argued, not
on the side of Sir E. Hamley, but on that of
the defence. It follows from the contentions of
Lord Wolseley's champion. Lord Wolseley him
self, it is to be hoped, appreciates the assistance
of his friend.
In the following pages it is claimed that Sir
E. Hamley's account of the action of the Second
Division at Tel - el - Kebir is confirmed by the
' Military History.' This claim was not made
without consideration. Colonel Maurice, how
ever, energetically resists it, describing it as

STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY. xxxv
a fallacious appeal. With his main contention
concerning the effect of fugitives on the pro
gress of the division I have already dealt, and
have shown, I think, that in that point the
History accords entirely with Sir E. Hamley's
narrative, and that the contradiction is between
Colonel Maurice's earlier and later statements.
A few other points of apparent disagreement
are indeed alluded to, and may have impressed
hasty readers ; but they are of much smaller
importance, and could they all even be estab
lished, would not affect the general confirmation
which the History gives to the story in question.
The fact that Sir Edward, writing two months
after the action, did not know the measurement
in miles of the distance marched by the whole
army, and that this had been ascertained when
the History was compiled, does not concern the re
lation of what the Second Division accomplished.
An unavoidable discrepancy does in this connec
tion occur, and the most is, of course, made of it.
According to Colonel Maurice, Sir Garnet Wol
seley, when quoting to Sir Edward (see vol. ii.
p. 119) the distance to be marched as five and
a half miles, did so with full knowledge that it
was only about three and three-quarter miles,
the false distance being expressed " as a matter
of kindly courtesy " to test Sir Edward's powers

xxxvi STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY.
of calculation. The appropriateness of the com
mander of the army on that night of strain
sitting down in the desert to ask conundrums
will commend the story to critical readers. But
if we assume it to be true, cadit qucBstio. When
Colonel Maurice accuses Sir Garnet Wolseley
of intention to entrap his subordinate, he admits
the desire to injure him. We are told of other
places where Sir Edward is accused of mis
statement ; but though it is easy to find the
places, it is difficult to perceive the errors.
He says with fair exactness what, four or five
years later. Colonel Maurice himself said. It
is this latter who now tells a different story.
Nothing is more noticeable than the change
of views which has taken place in his mind
between writing his History and undertaking
a defence of the Commander - in - Chief For
instance, on p. 76 of that book he remarks
that it was obviously necessary for the march
and attack on Tel -el -Kebir to leave very great
latitude to each of the divisional generals. Now,
however, he says that during the march, at least,
absolutely no discretion was allowed to one of
these generals, and that the possible action of
a general of division in his proper work scarcely
obtains in a night attack. What was obviously
necessary before is now practically impossible.

STATEMENT BY MB EDWABD HAMLEY. xxxvii
He accuses Sir Edward of sneering that the
operation must have miscarried had the stars
been overcast. What he really wrote was, " Our
guides were the stars — had the night been over
cast the enterprise would have been impossible ; "
and so far was Colonel Maurice from differing
fcom that view, that in his History (p. 81) he
said that " the sole means of direction depended
on the stars." But now a rebuke is administered.
" In Egypt," he tells us in his articles, "overcast
stars giving no guidance are a very rare occur
rence. Even for that contingency Lord Wolseley
had provided." The sole means of direction has
been doubled. This provision, we learn, was
that the guns should move between the two
divisions, it being held that even without star
light such a mass could not go widely astray.
Yet this same Colonel Maurice had in his History
(pp. 81 and 82) said that on that very night
most of the stars actually were obscured at one
time or another, and, what is still more striking,
that the long front of the artillery was con
stantly through the night aligned on the North
Star. Moreover, the guns were in the rear, in
line with the. supporting brigades, and could by
no means have given the direction to the leading
troops, who were moving more than half a mUe in
front on a pitch-dark night. The information.

xxxviii STATEMENT BY MB EDWARD HAMLEY.
too, gathered about the fortifications before the
attack was much more detailed than he let us
know eight years ago. In the History (p. 75)
he told us that all the knowledge gained " of the
nature of the works was due to reconnaissances,
confirmed to some extent by the reports of
prisoners ? " That partial confirmation has now
developed into a trace of the work, including
the interior retrenchment and an exact profile
of the ditched parapet. Of course Sir Edward
(see vol. ii. p. 128), in dealing with the subject,
had merely conveyed that those in his own divi
sion had but a vague idea of what they were
going to attack. If the Headquarter Staff
knew so much, it seems strange that they re
served their information and did not confide it
to the sole persons to whom it would be of
service. Similarly, in 1887, it was not surpris
ing (p. 83) that rumours spread of Bedouin horse
men watching through the night the movement
of the British. Now, however. Sir Edward
Hamley's not very reprehensible look-out for the
enemy's outlying pickets is described as pro
ceeding from hypochondriacal fears. Of what
vital necessity that look-out was is brought
home to the mind when it is remembered that
an advanced work lay 1200 or 1300 yards out
in the desert. It seems clear from the Official

STATEMENT BY MR EDWARD HAMLEY. xxxix
History that such reconnaissances as were made
failed to discover this outwork, for on the two
occasions upon which it had been seen it had not
been distinguished from the main body of the
works three-quarters of a mile distant (see His
tory, p. 75), and the information received con
cerning it is described as very incomplete. The
left flank of the Second Division passed it, in
deed, but dangerously near. Had the troops
within been alarmed as the force went by it,
ample notice of the impending attack would have
been given. The assault would have been de
layed till daylight, and would have cost many
hundred more British lives than it actually did.
That in the event no alarm was raised from that
side must be regarded as one of the fortunate
accidents of war. But probably the most con
fusing of the changes by which the historian's
views of the war have been brought up to date
is one concerning the position of the Egyptian
camp, which appears to have taken bodily to
flight, and to have come down upon fresh
ground. Where it has come down it is difficult
to see — to the north-east of something, but
whether of the railway station or the retrench
ment is not clear. A plan is given, but it is
remarkable chiefly for exhibiting not where the
camp really was, but where it was not. It

xl STATEMENT BY MR EDWARD HAMLEY.
shows, indeed, the site of a standing camp, but
that is to the north-west of both station and
entrenchment, not to the north-east of them;
and, moreover, in the official plan of the battle,
the same position is marked only as a proposed
site of certain cantonments. Colonel Maurice
clearly does not mean this, but still he does not
allow us to know where the camp was ; the only
definite statement he makes is that it did not
exist where it is put by Sir Edward Hamley,
between the end of the retrenchment and the
station. There may have been some commis
sariat tents here, we learn, but the main camp
was elsewhere. On comparing this with the
History one is lost. Sir Edward, it is recorded
on p. 94, in passing from the entrenchment to
the station, led his men down through the camp
which they captured. Only one camp is men
tioned ; nothing is said there of their capturing
only a few commissariat tents. On the same
page the same position is spoken of as " the
camp with the mass of reserves and fugitives."
The reader of the History is undoubtedly led to
understand that it was the main camp which lay
here, and which was taken. But it is needless
to quote the text. Let us turn to the maps.
The plan which Colonel Maurice attaches to his
article is not reduced from that map in his

STATEMENT BY MR EDWARD HAMLEY. xii
History, which is placed there to illustrate the
battle, but from another — viz., No. 7. One
cannot resist the impression that the map pro
fessedly intended for the illustration of the
action would have been the natural one to select.
That map is No. 8. On sheet 4 of it, between the
end of the entrenchment and the station, on the
very ground where Colonel Maurice now says the
camp did not stand, are printed in letters nearly
a quarter of an inch long the words "Egyptian
Camp." ^ Even in the very short interval be
tween the compilations of his two articles, which
appeared respectively in July and August, Colonel
Maurice's ideas of certain facts relating to this
camp underwent extraordinary modification. For
in the July number of the ' United Service Maga
zine,' on p. 429, the reserves are spoken of as the
defenders of that camp which the Highlanders
captured, and which, if it existed anywhere, lay
where they went — i.e., near the station. In the
August number, p. 445, the camp has gone, I
know not where, and the reserves are placed near
some epaulments a mile to the north.
1 I have seen an excellent coloured drawing of the position made
on the spot by Sir John Ardagh. It represents the camp where
Sir E. Hamley and the official map place it. In the report of
Lieutenant Commander Goodrich of the U.S. Navy to his Gov
ernment, and in the late Mr Villiers Stuart's 'Egypt after the
War,' there are plans whioh show the camp in the same position.

xiii STATEMENT BY MR EDWARD HAMLEY.
These instances of versatility perhaps show
boldness and resource on the part of the writer
who uses them, but when a man is put to shifts
of this sort it induces the reflection that he has a
difficulty in finding other things to say. Colonel
Maurice would have found other means to prove
Sir Edward to be wrong had he had them. He
cannot willingly have contradicted his own care
fully prepared History. He felt constrained to
attack the position taken up in the following
biography, and this is the way in which he has
had to do it. The reader will judge if Sir
Edward's narrative is likely to lose any of its
authority from such criticisms.
In this defence of the Commander-in-Chief, by
far the greatest effect is produced not by argu
ments, but by strictures upon Sir Edward Ham
ley personally. Since these have, as a rule, no
bearing upon the question of what his division
accomplished, or of the absence from the de
spatches of due recognition of its services, their
introduction can only have been designed to
raise prejudice against the man. Discussion may
perhaps cease on the injustice suffered by a
person who can be made to appear detestable,
and from whom sympathy can be withdrawn.
If Lord Wolseley's defence depends upon the
amount of abuse that can be heaped on a grave,

STATEMENT BY MR EDWARD HAMLEY. xliii
he has been justified many times over. Except
that he was not personally timid, and had pene
tration enough to recognise the powers of the
author of the Wellington Prize Essay, Sir Edward
figures in these articles without one good quality.
I doubt if there are readers who will believe that
one so universally deficient could have made him
self pass during a fairly long life for a man of
many and striking gifts.
Colonel Maurice makes a singularly odious
attempt to suggest a desire on Sir Edward's
part to arrogate to himself credit really due to
Sir Archibald Alison, and to represent the two
as in a state of undeveloped conflict. Because
the latter officer withdrew one report which he
had addressed to the general of division after the
battle and substituted another. Colonel Maurice
permits himself to say that the first report was
suppressed. Sir Edward in his Diary records
that having seen this report, he pointed out that
it dealt with matter which passed under his own
observation, and which properly fell to the com
manding officer to remark on. He never suggested
that he would not forward it, but it was so de
tailed that had he done so his own report must
have covered, so to say, almost the same ground.
Another short report was therefore at once writ
ten. Sir Archibald gives the same account of the

xliv STATEMENT BY MR EDWARD HAMLEY.
incident. Having condescended to call this a
suppression of the original report, Colonel Maurice
went on to imply that when subsequently a hint
was given that the document was still in exist
ence and could be referred to. Sir Edward, unable
to face its evidence, allowed all his contentions
concerning the action of his division to collapse.
For this imputation Colonel Gleig, writing to the
' Times ' in July last, called him to account ; and
Colonel Maurice had, when pinned to the point
by a second letter, to admit that he wrote care
lessly and made no charge of disingenuousness
against Sir E. Hamley. To suggest that there
was the slightest conflict between Sir Archibald
Alison and Sir E. Hamley, or any abatement of
their friendship, is dishonest.
To other criticisms of a similar nature I do not
desire to reply. Sir Edward was a man well and
long known. Those to whom the general record
of his life is not an adequate refutation of such
insinuations will not be convinced by discussion.
Like other men, he had his faults. He was
reserved in manner, and not always conciliatory.
Overbearing he was not, but he had a powerful
individuality. An officer who served under him
described him as an exceedingly stern soldier.
He certainly made no compromise with ineffi
ciency or slackness in his subordinates, and such

STATEMENT BY MR EDWARD HAMLEY. xlv
a man is sure to have some enemies. The dis
tortion of the qualities which make up a strong
character is a device too serviceable for all but
generous opponents to reject. Colonel Maurice
took his opportunity, yet the reader is more
likely to be impressed when he handles points
of personal character than when he attacks Sir
Edward's professional capabilities. To say, for in
stance, that the latter had not thought upon the
subject of night attacks is to assert what cannot
be known. Much of Colonel Maurice's criticism
amounts simply to this, that Sir Edward was of
a different opinion to Sir Garnet Wolseley. If
this be a crime, it is one of which many officers
even now are guilty. To state that he could not
have understood mechanical orders is precisely
what no one will believe. To go on to say
that a man of great military reputation had
not realised that modern rifles are loaded at
the breech is nothing but burlesque, and it is
burlesque to affirm that long after the battle he
represented himself as having given an order
which if heard must have had an effect contrary
to that which he intended. Whatever he was
ignorant of, he knew whether he spoke sense
or not.
In trying to make out his case Colonel Maurice
is driven to these shifts. He has to represent

xlvi STATEMENT BY MR EDWARD HAMLEY.
the man in the one light which every one knows
cannot be the true one, for I do not beg the
question in saying that he was not a fool. And
mark the position in which Colonel Maurice
eventually places himself Having tried to make
out not only that Sir E. Hamley was incom
petent as a soldier, but that he was a soldier
whose incompetence was manifest in action, he
suddenly, when he fancies advantage may be
gained by it, turns round, and in a letter to the
' Times ' calls him one of the most brilliant
Englishmen who ever wielded sword and pen.
What can be made of this ? When one purpose
is pursued he is represented as more ridiculous
than Uncle Toby and far less useful. The next
day, for another purpose, he is ranked with
Raleigh and the Duke of Wellington.
To be sure, the exposure of Colonel Maurice's
methods and inconsistencies affect only Colonel
Maurice. They do not prove anything with
regard to the person whom he attacks. But
when it is seen to what devices it has been
necessary to descend in assailing the position
taken up in this book, the reader may conclude
that that position was not lightly assumed, and
that it has the support of truth.
Of course Sir Edward Hamley never had the
chance of showing what he could do as an inde-

STATEMENT BY MR EDWABD HAMLEY. xlvii
pendent general, and it is useless to compare him
with those who had. But in the single campaign
in which he held responsible command, whatever
he did he did well. For many years he had been,
no doubt, separated from ordinary military routine ;
but coming tO' the Egyptian war after a short in
terval from service on three consecutive Frontier
Commissions, where his duties lay in wild districts
and his active powers were constantly evoked,
he must have been physically in a condition of
exceptional preparation. The experiences of a
rough campaign were not only not unwonted to
him, but closely resembled the experiences which
he had for many months been going through.
Whether for the direct command of men he had
become unfitted, the record of what he accom
plished is sufficient answer. The twelfth chapter
of the ' Military History ' would dispel any such
idea. How his capacity both to handle men and
lead them was regarded by the person who beyond
all other things was concerned that the work of
the campaign should be well done, is abundantly
clear. In the attack on Tel-el-Kebir, among the
points designed to be assailed was one known to
be of pre-eminent difficulty and danger. For this
assault Sir Garnet Wolseley employed Sir Edward
Hamley. On representations made by the latter
his command was increased, Sir Garnet publicly
VOL. I. d

xlviii STATEMENT BY MB EDWARD HAMLEY.
acknowledging that he had modified his arrange
ments at Sir Edward's instance. A general does
not lightly alter his dispositions for a battle in
tended to be decisive. " They must have been
splendidly led," said Sir Garnet Wolseley again,
speaking after the action of the troops that fol
lowed Sir Edward ; and at the close of the cam
paign, in a letter — of course a private one — he
wrote, saying, " I avail myself of this opportunity
of thanking you most cordially for all you have
done towards rendering the war a success, especi
ally for the able manner in which you led your
division on the 13th inst." There was difficult
and critical work to do. The Commander-in-
Chief from the first chose one man to do it.
Events in all ways justified his choice.
Unfortunately the recognition of what Sir E.
Hamley did was entirely private, all public ac
knowledgment was withheld. That question is
discussed in the following book. Friction, no
doubt, occurred between him and the Commander-
in-Chief. He was nothing of a courtier, and
much of a critic. Some of his criticisms on cer
tain arrangements in the campaign will be found
in the second volume. They were not made in a
diplomatic manner, and their obvious truth and
force would not render them the more welcome.
Whether this friction was the cause of the strange

STATEMENT BY MR EDWARD HAMLEY. xlix
omission from the despatches of what the division
achieved is what no one knows. Colonel Maurice
— perhaps unwittingly — suggests that explana
tion. He shows on every page that irritation
existed, and though he would have us believe
that it was based on some mistrust of Sir Edward,
the facts disprove this. The occasion was too
important for risk of failure to be run. The
shadow of doubt as to his fitness would have
necessitated his being set aside. But he was
used when work had to be done. What the
work was we know. When the time came to
report on the battle, all mention of the specially
hard fighting of his men and himself was sup
pressed. Now Colonel Maurice shows only too
clearly that injustice could be done in the official
despatches ; for he admits that in points of great
importance they were misleading, and the errors
were never publicly corrected or withdrawn.
Since, then, he admits this, and since, while he
admits how much more severe was the work of
the Second Division than that of other portions
of the army, he yet defends the despatches which
say nothing of it, the inference is natural that he
considers that in this way scores could fitly be
settled. In what I have said I have gone little into

1 STATEMENT BY MR EDWARD HAMLEY.
detail. I have endeavoured, by stating the im
portant points of the case, to show that the
position assumed in the following book is the
natural and true one. But I will not conclude
without reminding the reader of how great
and strange are the number of explanations
which Colonel Maurice has to make in order
to support his contentions. He has to argue that
what he previously denied really took place. He
has to argue that a man of great military repute
and strong sense did not know even the ABC
of his profession, and could not understand what
was said and done. He has to argue that, though
intention existed for setting this sciolist aside,
he was as a concession intrusted with the task
of the most crucial importance in the campaign.
He has to argue that there was an underhand
plot to commit the real command to another
officer, who knows nothing of the circumstance.
When these arguments are launched, he has
still to face the fact that the man whom he
seeks to belittle led the foremost troops through
the strongest position to a speedy and victorious
termination. Further, he has to argue that
the general in command, whom he adulates,
took steps that tend to subvert discipline, and
that his official despatches were coloured not
to represent the truth, but to produce political

STATEMENT BY MR EDWABD HAMLEY. Ii
effect. He has to argue that when Lord Wolseley
spoke of able leading he did not mean what he
said. He has by implication to argue that his
own deliberately compiled history is inaccurate.
If the tithe part of what Colonel Maurice
now writes is true, why, when Sir Edward
Hamley openly and long challenged considera
tion of his claims, was he not silenced by the
crushing truth ?
If it was officially known that he had in any
way come short of his duty, are we to suppose
that all the authorities were too timid or too
dishonest to charge him with it ? Why, sub
sequently, was his service specially prolonged
with the assurance that his deserts were ex
ceptional? There is no answer to these ques
tions. Again, if not the tithe part, but the
whole of Colonel Maurice's contentions regarding
Sir Edward Hamley are true, this in no way
whatever explains why the hard fighting and
great success of the men of the Second Division
was officially smothered up and ignored.
The claims of a dead man may, of course,
be withstood as well as those of a living one.
Sir Edward Hamley's death gives his friends
no right to imagine that his case shall be un-
criticised, although the fact that during his life
it was not met greatly affects the position. But

Hi STATEMENT BY MR EDWARD HAMLEY.
to impute to a dead man what no one breathed
of while he lived, to impute to him vile motives
and a desire to mislead, to take advantage of
his death to say of him things which he could
and would have rebutted, and to strive to create
prejudice by referring to matters which he could
certainly have explained, have in civilised ages
always been considered base. Colonel Maurice
has conducted the attack in the way that com
mended itself to him, and my endeavour has
been to meet it. Of the methods of that at
tack and its merits the reader must judge.
EDWAED C. HAMLEY.

Readers of this biography will find in its pages
the names of many distinguished soldiers and
civilians to whom I have to return heartfelt
thanks for time and trouble most generously
bestowed. More than one of the former who
could speak with exceptional authority on some
what delicate subjects have preferred to remain
anonymous. But there is a friend to whom I
feel bound to recognise a very special debt of
gratitude. Colonel Gleig was the lifelong associ
ate and confidant of Hamley from days of cadet-
ship at Woolwich. He has supplied the personal
recollections which could have come from no other
source. His acute critical faculty and his rare
professional knowledge have been ungrudgingly
exercised in a searching examination of the
proofs ; and to him I am indebted for guidance
and suggestions in the matters that are more
strictly military and technical.

liv
Most important of all was the help of Miss
Barbara Hamley. The adopted daughter and
literary executrix of her uncle not only placed
freely at my disposal all his diaries, note-books,
and confidential papers, but, associating herself
with Colonel Gleig in the thoughtful revision of
the chapters, suggested much that was essential to
an intimate acquaintance with the real character
and innermost life of a man who had won the
devoted attachment of all who knew him well,
but who was fated to be grievously misunder
stood and misrepresented.

OAKDALE, EOENBEIDaE, Kent,
May 1895.

NOTE TO SECOND EDITION.

Injustice was unwittingly done in the first
edition to Captain Douglas Jones, R.A. — now
Colonel Douglas Jones — both as to his position
and services on the Delimitation Commissions.
Captain Jones was not only aide-de-camp to
General Hamley, but a delegate to the Inter
national Commission. He attended all the meet
ings, and in consultation with his foreign col
leagues drew up all the reports. On his return
he was specially recommended by General Ham
ley to Lord Salisbury for the promotion which he
received. When Hamley was employed on the
Turkish and Bulgarian Frontier Commission, Cap
tain Jones was not charged with the commissariat
arrangements, &c., for Major Ardagh's surveying
party. These duties were undertaken by the
interpreter, and Captain Jones, with his brother
officers, was actively engaged on the Survey.

CONTENTS OF THE EIEST VOLUME.

CHAPTER I.
THE HAMLEY FAMILY.
PAGE
Introduction — The Hamleys of Halwyn — The Ogilvys — Ad
miral Hamley — His sons — Edward's boyhood — Early traits
— Illustrating a murder trial .... .1
CHAPTER II.
THE ARTILLERY SUBALTERN.
Royal Military Academy — Cadet land — Colonel Gleig's remin
iscences — Gazetted to the artillery — Canada — Dr Bent — An
Independence Day episode — Readings — Res angustm — The
north of England — Turn for caricaturing — Eirst literary
efforts .  19
CHAPTER in.
IN GARRISON AT GIBRALTAR.
Life on the Rock — First connection with ' Blackwood ' — The
' Legend of Gibraltar ' — ' Lazaro's Legacy ' — ' Lady Lee's
Widowhood' — Letters to John Blackwood — Trip to Bar-
bary — Lady friends — Funeral of Canuelo .... 39

Iviii CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
Appointed adjutant to Sir Richard Dacres — Departure for the
East — Scutari — Letters to Miss Jones — An accident —
Varna — ' The Campaign of Sebastopol ' — Hamley at Inker-
man — In the trenches — Literary merits of the 'Campaign'
— Description of the Alma — Crimean scenery — Letters to
John Blackwood — On the eve of the Redan ... 66
CHAPTER V.
IN SCOTLAND.
Return from Crimea — Crimean honours — Leith Fort^First
meeting with John Blackwood — De Quincey — ' The Recent
Confessions of an Opium-Eater ' — Review of 'Bothwell' —
Literary acquaintances — The Sturgises • — Editing ' Tales
from Blackwood '  101
CHAPTER VI.
PROFESSOR AT THB STAFF COLLEGE.
Life at Sandhurst — Hamley's lectures — The Delanys — Work
for 'Maga'— Studies of Carlyle  118
CHAPTER VII.
LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
Offered a seat in Parliament — Hunting — The American civil
war—' Wellington's Campaigns '— " The Fight for the Belt "
— Criticisms on George Eliot and on Mrs Oliphant — W.
W. Story — Differences with Blackwood about Kinglake's
'Crimea' — Death of Charles Hamley — Captain Charles
Chesney— Appointed to the Council of Military Education 133

CONTENTS. lix
CHAPTER VIIL
'the OPERATIONS OF WAR.'
Scope of the work — DifiSculties in the study of military history
— Warfare in the days of chivalry — Communications — Con
siderations preliminary to a campaign — Questions of strat
egy — The influence of obstacles — Tactics .... 161
CHAPTER IX.
the COUNCIL OF MILITARY EDUCATION.
Chambers in the Albany — Club-life at the Athenaeum — Letters
from Von Moltke and American generals on ' The Opera
tions of War' — Commission for the delimitation of electoral
districts — Reviewing Kinglake's ' Crimea ' — Appointment
as Commandant of the Staff College . . . .179
CHAPTER X.
COMMANDANT OF STAFF COLLEGE.
The system — Changes introduced by Hamley — His interest in
the students — His recreations — Friendship with the late
Duke of Wellington — A bargain in horse-flesh . . 202
CHAPTER XI.
LITERARY RECREATIONS.
"Shakespeare's Funeral" — 'Voltaire' in "Foreign Classics"
—Leaves the Staff College  222
CHAPTER XII.
THE SYSTEM OP OUTPOSTS.
The Horse Guards and Hamley's system — Trial at Aldershot
— Publication of pamphlet — Characteristics of the system 238

Ix CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIII.
the BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
Visit to Italy— Appointed to the Turkish and Bulgarian Com
mission — The position of the frontier question — Communi
cations with the Foreign Office — Arrival at Constantinople
— The Commissioners — Delimitation work — Letter to the
Duke of Cambridge .... ... 244
CHAPTER XIV.
THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION  continued.
Travel in the Balkans — Picturesque scenery — Victims of the
war — Feelings of the population — Enmity between Chris
tians and Mohammedans — Arrival at Varna — Difficulties
with the Russian authorities, and embarkation of the horses 264
CHAPTER XV.
ON THE BOSPHORUS.
Life at Buyukdere — Delays in the completion of the topogra
phical survey — Difficulties successfully surmounted — Ap
proval of the Foreign Office — Is made a Knight of the
Order of St Michael and St George  284

ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE FIRST VOLUME.

PAGE
PORTRAIT OF GENERAL HAMLEY . . . Froiltispiece
DODDINGTON FAIR ....... 59
"trying the TROTTING MARE " . . . 6^

LIFE OF SIE EDWAED B. HAMLEY.

CHAPTEE I.
THE HAMLEY FAMILY.
INTRODUCTION  THE HAMLEYS OF HALWYN  THE OGILVYS 
ADMIRAL HAMLEY  HIS SONS  EDWAED's BOYHOOD  EARLY
TRAITS — ILLUSTRATING A MURDER TRIAL.
To write the Life of Sir Edward Hamley might
task the powers of any man. Few but himself
could have done satisfactory justice to his versa
tile genius and to the various sides of his character.
We should have been glad, indeed, had he left
an autobiography ; yet in any autobiography he
would have done himself but imperfect justice.
We should have heard but little of the delightful
personal traits which give life and colour to an
autobiography ; and we should have learned still
less of the adventures and hair-breadth escapes
VOL. I. A

2 THE HAMLEY FAMILY.
which came often enough to him in the course
of his campaigning. It was only incidentally,
and in the familiarity of unreserved conversation,
that he would recall the thrilling experiences
he seemed to have wellnigh forgotten. To do
him the justice he would have denied himself,
his biographer ought to have many qualifications
to which I make no manner of pretension. I
can only plead — if I may be forgiven the in
dispensable personal allusion — that although in
later years I was privileged to enjoy his intimate
friendship, I shall nevertheless do my best to be
impartial. No one could have had less patience
than himself with a chronicler who should ignore
his failings or his foibles.
As a staff officer of artillery in the Crimea, and
as the commander of a division in the Egyptian
campaign of 1882, his services were of a very dis
tinguished character. But it is as scientific master
of the art of war that his claims to professional
distinction are most conspicuous and exceptional.
As Professor of Military History, and subsequently
Commandant of the Staff College, he had the
charge of teaching and training the intellectual
elite of the army. These congenial occupations
were singularly favourable to the conception of
his great work on ' The Operations of War.' It
has passed through five successive editions, and

SIR EDWARD'S LITERARY GIFTS. 3
has ever since it appeared been the recognised
authority on strategy and tactics. It is difficult
to overrate the military genius and position of
a man who writes a text-book, not for the use
of mere scholars and students, but for skilled
veterans of unrivalled practical experience. He
becomes the standing counsel of leaders in the
fields which are to decide the fate of kingdoms and
the future of nations. In other departments of
literature, light or serious, Hamley was equally at
home. His command of style was extraordinary,
and his pen was as sure as swift ; in fact, his was
a brain which ever sought relief in some fresh form
of activity, and his mental energy rose superior to
circumstances. So in all the horrors and hard
ships of the Winter Campaign he found leisure for
the series of graphic letters which dramatically
told the story of the siege. He threw off brilliant
stories, which were succeeded by a delightful novel ;
he was a graceful poet, an admirable translator of
French verse, and, after he had come home from
the East, he was perhaps the most valued con
tributor to 'Blackwood's Magazine.'
It is characteristic that, with all this variety of
work, we learn little of the man from his writ
ings. His opinions are unmistakably expressed,
but his individuality is kept in the background.
Yet so dexterous an artist must have known

4 THE HAMLEY FAMILY.
well that judicious egotism would have greatly
heightened the effects. I believe the truth to be,
that to the last, whether in person or with the
pen, he could never overcome a constitutional shy
ness, which strangers certainly would never have
suspected. Reserve was often mistaken for cold
ness, and did him much injustice. Only those
who had the privilege of his intimacy, and who,
moreover, enjoyed opportunities of frequent in
tercourse, saw Hamley at his brightest and best.
He was never more fascinating than on the rare
occasions when he was led on to indulge in per
sonal reminiscences. He had an extraordinarily
quick and almost nervous sense of humour, and
no story ever lost by his telling it. He had
travelled much, officially and otherwise ; and his
habits and pursuits had brought him into contact
with all manner of men. Subtle foreign diplo
matists might have been surprised to learn how
shrewdly he had read their characters and pur
poses. It is to be regretted that he was not
more of a letter- writer ; but with the solitary
exception of his friend John Blackwood, he had
no regular confidential correspondent.
Sir Edward Bruce Hamley, though he never
boasted of it, was proud of his descent from Cor-
nishmen and Shetlanders. He showed any latent

CORNISH AND VIKING ANOESTBY, 5
pride of ancestry by the fondness with which he
used to aUude to Bodmin and the Shetland Isles.
Yet he had only revisited his bnthplace, since he
left it for Woolwich, in the course of an occa
sional Cornish tour. Those who hold to the
doctrines of heredity might have found illustra
tions to prove their case in the latest genera
tion of the Hamleys. They had the stalwart
frames and the indomitable resolution of the
Cornishmen ; as, on the other hand, they had
something of the adventurous romance of a race
which had settled among the descendants of
Norwegian Vikings. The Hamleys — there are
various spellings of the name — had been domes
ticated in Cornwall from the time of the Con
quest. With the list of their Cornish lands
they fiOled a page in Domesday Book. Those
great possessions had gradually dwindled. But
even in the beginning of the present century
they still possessed the family estate of Halwyn,
in the parish of St Mabyn. Latterly the Ham
leys had had ill-luck, even to the destruction of
their sepulchral monuments in the quaint little
church of St Mabyn. Unfortunately, towards
the end of last century the church had become
ruinous, and it was necessary to rebuild. The
restorers of that age of vandalism were even more
ruthless than now, and more utilitarian and eco-

6 THE HAMLEY FAMILY.
nomical. At the time an illegitimate member of
the House of Hamley chanced to fill the offices of
sexton and clerk. He heard with dismay of the
proposed demolition of the interior of the chancel,
and even dared to threaten the vicar with the
vengeance of the knight of the shire- if "he so
much as touched one veather of an hangel's
wing." However, the vicar had his own way,
and demolished the monuments with their guard
ian angels.
Hamley was descended from the old Scottish
house of Ogilvy through his mother Barbara.
The first of the Ogilvys to settle in Shetland was
John Ogilvy, a surgeon in the Life Guards of
King James, who went there after the battle of
the Boyne. He belonged to the Ogilvys of Mil
ton, a branch of the House of Findlater, and
he married Elizabeth, daughter of John Niven
of Luning, who brought him a dowry as a co
heiress. There was no one of Scott's novels —
and they were his favourite reading — in which
the descendant of the refugee took greater pleasure
than in ' The Pirate,' although he preferred many
of the others as works of art. He delighted in
the descriptions of the roosts and voes, and of the
free-handed hospitality of the fiery old udaller.
Bodmin and the Hamleys have been immemori-
ally connected. It was their "county town" in

THE OLD COBNISH HOME. 7
the reigns of the Plantagenets. Edward and his
brothers were born in one of the older houses,
though the family removed a few years after his
birth to a residence in the outskirts. He always
retained a warm affection for the picturesque old
borough, with the two leading thoroughfares of
Fore Street and Back Street, and the labyrinths
of steep lanes and sunless passages. A letter
written to an aunt from a mud-hut before Sebas
topol is filled with local allusions which were sure
to delight the old lady. The Hamleys had
been dying out, as they had been losing their
lands, but the grandfather left a vigorous and
promising family. The sons, for generations, had
been in the habit of serving the King, and
Edward's father entered the navy. When he
married, he naturally settled at Bodmin ; but
during the long war he was almost constantly at
sea, and the visits to his Cornish home were few
and short. Not many months before his own
death, Sir Edward happened to mention to the
present writer all he knew of his father. Few
naval officers had done more useful work : he had
seldom to make interest about going to sea, and he
died a Vice- Admiral, although, as with Rittmeister
Dalgetty, promotion " came dooms slow." He saw
much dashing service in the way of cutting out
vessels from under batteries, and capturing priva-

8 THE HAMLEY FAMILY.
teers and smugglers. For long and in successive
ships he was flag-lieutenant to the Hon. Captain
Cadogan, who was famous for putting his ship's
companies in the way of peril and prize-money.
In 1806 Lieutenant Hamley specially distinguished
himself at the capture of the Dalmatian stronghold
of Zara, which had fallen into the hands of the
French. He landed in command of the attacking
force, and hauling the ship -guns up the hills
with seaman-like skill, compelled the surrender of
the fortress. The Austrian Emperor showed his
gratitude by sending the Lieutenant the Cross of
Leopold and a medal of gold, with an autograph
letter couched in most flattering terms. The letter
was lost, but the cross and medal were treasured as
heirlooms, and were in the possession of Sir Edward
at his death. There was a sword, too, richly
damascened, which had been given up in token of
surrender by the French officer commanding the
fortress. It disappeared like the letter when the
home at Bodmin was broken up, and most unac
countably. Though, indeed, " Ned " as a child had
done his best to lose it, for the future soldier seldom
missed a chance of making prize of the tempting
weapon when his nurse's back was turned.
The Admiral had four sons. Three of them
went into the service. The fourth, who bears the
family name of Wymond, and who still survives.

MAJOB-GENEBAL WILLIAM HAMLEY. 9
was Collector of Customs in Vancouver's Island,
and is now retired, living in British Columbia.
Of the eldest, William George, who died a Major-
General of Engineers in April 1893, a word or two
ought to be said in passing. He served much of
his time in the West Indies, and to his familiarity
with their scenery, society, and customs we are
indebted for some delightful novels and tales.
It is the opinion of the best judges that, since
Michael Scott gave us ' Tom Cringle ' and
' The Cruise of the Midge,' there has been no
brighter or more picturesque book on Jamaica
than ' Captain Clutterbuck's Champagne.' He
was Acting Governor of the Bermudas in eventful
times. The blockade-runners of the American
war brought over the yellow fever in chests of
infected clothing. The epidemic came rapidly to
a head, and its ravages were frightful. Though
the islands were threatened by a Fenian descent,
the Governor got rid of all the troops he could pos
sibly spare. Each day he made a regular round
of the hospitals, till in his turn he was stricken
down. He recovered, but he never altogether
rallied fi?om the consequences of a prolonged and
severe struggle. Though his figure was command
ing and his appearance robust, his constitution
had been already shattered as a young subaltern.
Exposure during a severe winter had done the

10 THE HAMLEY FAMILY.
mischief His tent was blown away night after
night when he was employed on the Ordnance
Survey in the Ross-shire Highlands, and he had
been left shelterless till the morning. After his
return from the Bermudas his life was one long
martyrdom from sciatica and acute rheumatic
pains, when restless days would succeed the
broken nights. But nothing could sour that
sweet temper or quell the irrepressible intel
lectual energy. Enfeebled by pain, he would
pull himself together to write one of his thought
ful articles for ' Blackwood ' when he was one
of ' Maga's ' regular contributors. We are re
minded of Scott writhing on the sofa with cramp
in the stomach, while dictating ' The Bride of
Lammermoor' to Laidlaw or John Ballantyne.
For his contributions under those distressing cir
cumstances were playful and imaginative as well
as grave ; and, like Scott, his serene manhood
would assert itself the moment the paroxysms
were past.
To Charles, who entered the Royal Marines,
and rose to the rank of colonel, Edward seems
to have been specially attached. In any let
ters to members of the family he is always
affectionately spoken of as Charley. Charles
Hamley was on board H.M.S. Pique at the
siege of Acre, and served with the Fleet in the

A LATE CHRISTENING CEREMONY. 11
Baltic at the taking of Bomarsund. He was
the author of several articles in ' Blackwood,'
written from the Baltic.^ But death cut short
a promising career, and of Colonel Charles I
shall have more to say when his sorrowing
brother was in attendance on the deathbed.
Edward, who was born in 1824, was the young
est of the brothers. He was early addicted to
hero - worship, and he said he used to look on
those seniors of his as "tremendous fellows,"
when they were got up for church parade in
gorgeous Sunday raiment. Strangely enough,
he was five years old at his public christening ;
and his brother Wymond, who was received into
the Church at the same time, was three years
older, though both boys had been privately bap
tised as infants. The reason is said to have been
that the ceremony was deferred till their father
came back from one of his cruises, although that
is scarcely a satisfactory explanation.
1 " We have great pleasure in publishing the following graphic
description of the Baltic in 1855. Another admirable paper from
the same pen, 'Aland and the Baltic in 1854,' will be in the recollec
tion of our readers. The writer seems to us a worthy brother-in
arms of our gaUant friend who has, month after month, with a
regularity which no hardship, no difficulty, no labour, could in
terrupt, sent us a continuous, lucid, and often eloquent narrative
of all that has taken place in the Crimea since the landing at
Eupatoria." — Editorial Note, ' Blackwood's Magazine,' August 1855,
in " The Baltic in 1855."

12 THE HAMLEY FAMILY.
The Church of England at the time took things
remarkably easily, and Methodism had made good
its footing among the Cornish farmers and miners.
Ned while a mere child had the honour of being
made the subject of a sermon. His nurse, who
was a member of the communion of the Wesleys
and Whitefield, had taken her young charge to
the chapel, where a fervid cobbler held forth on
Sundays. The preacher had the genius of his
vocation, and seized on opportunities for improv
ing an occasion as he saw them. Ned was wear
ing one of the gold-laced and tasselled caps which
had moved his envy when worn by his elder
brothers. The orator made it the text for a pas
sionate invective against the pomps and vanities
of this sinful world.
Hamley was always an adventurous little fellow.
He used to tell his niece how one day he had
found the horse of the family doctor hitched on
to the garden gate. By help of the railings he
scrambled into the saddle, cast loose the bridle,
and trotted away. Luckily the steed had been
sobered by age and rough exercise, and the pair
were overtaken and brought back before they had
gone very far. He had a narrower escape when
he was tossed by a cow — " bunched," as they say
in the Cornish dialect. When he was landed
safely on his legs again, he calmly remarked that

MATERNAL INFLUENCES. 13
" he had been nearer heaven than ever he was in
his life." Later in life he became one of the most
enthusiastic of anglers. No distance was too
great to go in search of his favourite sport ; no
day too long and no weather too discouraging.
Already it was his chief delight to accompany
his brother Charles in the fishing among the
moorland streams, though those prolonged rambles
overtasked his strength.
But whilst Edward was a very manly and ven
turesome boy, his precocious tastes even in child
hood had set strongly towards literature. It
is little wonder that his family thought him a
prodigy. Precocious intellectual phenomena like
Master John Stuart Mill have been forced on
deliberate system in an unnatural atmosphere.
The young Hamleys were much left to them
selves ; but their mother was a woman of intellec
tual abihty as well as of high education, and she
was in the habit of helping them in their school
work, especially in their Latin exercises. In after
years they always considered they derived their
literary faculty from her. Though young Ned
read voraciously, he might indulge his caprices
unchecked like David Copperfield ; and, as with
David, aU things were pure to the little boy.
The fresh young memory is marvellously re
tentive, and he never afterwards forgot what

14 THE HAMLEY FAMILY.
he had read and enjoyed when young. In those
days good books for children were so scarce that
they were carefully studied and doubly prized.
How he would revel in those childish recollec
tions across a dinner-table at his clubs ! The old
simple books still came home to him more sym
pathetically than the most brilliant work of the
hour, much as he may have admired its genius,
and though possibly he was a familiar acquaint
ance of the author. Perhaps he had pored over
' The Arabian Nights ' almost as industriously as
over 'The Fairchild Family' and 'The Robins.'
He was barely out of the nursery before he had
begun to dream in the Forest of Ardennes, and to
disport himself in the moonlit glades of " The Mid
summer Night's Dream" with the fairies of his
favourite Shakespeare. It may be mentioned,
by the way, that he was reading ' The Arabian
Nights' the very week of his death, and they
were on the table near the sofa when he was
lying in his shroud. From the " Nights " and
Shakespeare he soon passed on to Scott's novels,
which he devoured. He used to appeal to his
mother for the interpretation of the Scotch
phrases which puzzled him, and to the end of
his life he always maintained them to be the
best books that had ever been written. But the
little volume that undoubtedly was his great-

"OUR POOR RELATIONS." 15
est favourite was the 'Evenings at Home,' by
Dr Aikin and Mrs Barbauld. There was really
nothing in the way of literature he so thoroughly
enjoyed as ' Eyes and no Eyes ' and ' The Trans
formations of Indur.' As to the former, he natu
rally objected, as critic and man of the world,
that the intelligent young observer was too
much of a prig, and that the listless Robert, if
strong enough, must infallibly have punched his
head. But for "Indur" he had unmitigated ad
miration. And, curiously enough, in the most
benevolent of Brahmins Dr Aikin had painted
Hamley's own prototype. For we are told that
Indur "was distinguished not only for gentle
ness of disposition and humanity towards all
living creatures, but for an insatiable curiosity
respecting the nature and way of life of aU
animals." Of no one could this be more truthfully said
than of the writer of that most humorously sym
pathetic of articles, " Our Poor Relations," which
naturally leads to the mention of Hamley's juvenile
devotion to pets. Whatever may be their feelings
in after-life, most schoolboys, like terriers, are the
natural enemies of cats, and generally keep a stone
in readiness to shy at the tribe of which sufferance
is the general badge. With Hamley, on the con
trary, the love of the cat was innate. The first

16 THE HAMLEY FAMILY.
of his feline friends became a local celebrity.
Being naturally meagre and lanky, perhaps owing
to a depraved taste for flies and cockroaches, this
famous animal was christened John of Gaunt by
the young admner of Shakespeare. He survived
so long and became so venerable of aspect, that he
naturally grew into " time-honoured Lancaster."
The Hamleys were then living in the country
at Kirland, and John would follow his young
master like a dog, when he took his stroUs abroad
or went to school at Bodmin. There was a point
where he would prudently turn aside into the
hedge, patiently waiting for any length of time.
There was a parrot, too, which became a valued
intimate, though the beginning of the acquaint
ance promised indifferently, when the bird, sitting
bodkin in a post-chaise, stripped all the gilt but
tons off the boy's jacket.
Few of Hamley's personal friends, except the
officers who were on his staff in his Eastern
missions, knew that he was an extremely clever
artist. No one was on terms of closer intimacy
with him than Sir Frederick Burton, the distin
guished Director of the National Gallery, and I
have it on Sir Frederick's own authority that
he had never heard that Hamley was a brilliant
master of the brush. In this, as in aU the other
accomplishments of his later life, he had shown

A TRIAL FOR MURDER. 17
his strong proclivities in boyhood. In fact, he
might boast of having been one of the first to
send illustrations to the newspapers. It hap
pened in this way : Bodmin was an Assize
town ; the state entry of the judges, with offi
cials and javelin men, was a grand event, and
the young Hamleys always made interest for
places in the Court - House during the trials.
Sir Edward was wont to recall a trial that made
a wide sensation and left indehble impressions on
his mind, — aU the more so that the murdered
man was a special favourite of a venerable aunt
of his. The victim's name was Nevil Norway.
He was a prosperous timber and corn merchant,
resident at Wadebridge. One Saturday even
ing, after attending Bodmin market, he mounted
to ride home. He never reached it, although
his horse did ; and when search was made, the
body was found in a hollow a few paces aside
from the road. Suspicion fell on two brothers :
their guilt was brought home to them, and
they confessed all the details of the murder.
They had lain in wait for their victim, and struck
him from his horse ; but aU they gained by the
transaction was a couple of halters. They had
hoped to find a large sum in his possession; but as
it proved, he had banked the money at Bodmin.
Young Hamley sketched the prisoners and the
VOL. I. B

18 THE HAMLEY FAMILY.
witnesses, and sent the sketches to a local paper,
which published them, — a very exceptional pro
ceeding in those days, and which speaks strongly
for their merit. But he had always a pleasant
knack of caricaturing, and of giving the character
istic traits of a face with half-a-dozen scratches of
a pencil.

19

CHAPTER IL
THE AETILLEEY SUBALTEEN.
ROYAL MILITARY ACADEMY  CADET LAND  COLONEL GLEIg's RE
MINISCENCES  GAZETTED TO THB ARTILLERY  CANADA 
DR BENT  AN INDEPENDENCE DAY EPISODE  READINGS 
RES ANGUSTM  THB NORTH OF ENGLAND  TURN FOR CARI
CATURING  FIRST LITERARY EFFORTS.
LiELE his brothers, Edward Hamley was educated
at the Bodmin Grammar-school under the Rev.
L. J. Boor. He seldom spoke of his school ex
periences ; but Mr Boor would seem to have been
an efficient master, and to have grounded his
pupils thoroughly. Their literary tastes came
naturally, but both William and Edward must
have been indebted to Boor for a fair knowledge
of the Classics. Thanks to their upbringing,
their surroundings, and their inclinations, the
vocation of both was unmistakably marked out.
Both went to the Royal Military Academy.
WOliam was entered there at the early age of
fifteen. Edward for some reason had the advan-

20 THE ARTILLERY SUBALTERN.
tage of two additional years of schooling. For
the reminiscences of his life at the Academy —
and for some notes of Canadian scenes which are
quoted in this chapter — I am indebted to his old
friend Colonel Alexander Gleig, the eldest son of
the late Chaplain-General of the Forces. By an
odd coincidence, on which medieval astrologers
would have put their own interpretation, Gleig
and Hamley were born on the same day, and
apparently under the same planetary influences.
At least, from the time of their making acquain
tance at Woolwich, they gravitated together
irresistibly : no cloud ever came across their fast
friendship ; it was always to Gleig that Hamley
most freely unbosomed himself; and it was to
that lifelong confidant he bequeathed the many-
drawered writing-table, at which the visitors to
his chambers in Ryder Street have so often
seen him seated. The acquaintance " soon ri
pened into the closest friendship, and I doubt if
Hamley was on such intimate terms with any
other man than myself, except with our common
friend Dr John Bent, R.A, with whom both he
and I were on affectionate terms from the year
1845 to Bent's death in 1874."
Seventeen was an unusually late age in those
days for cadets j oining the Academy. But Hamley's
rare natural ability enabled him to make up for

PUNISHMENT FOR "COOLNESS." 21
lost time and run rapidly through the curriculum.
In a year and a half he had passed out with
his commission. He had soon an opportunity of
asserting his independence and vindicating his very
decided individuality. At Woolwich, in those
days, as at all other public schools, the rule of the
seniors over the younger boys was autocratic and
tyrannical. Things in themselves perfectly inno
cent were prohibited under penalty of a severe
thrashing. For example, it was forbidden to walk
arm in arm : the cadets who infringed the rule
were declared to be " cool"; and coolness involved
summary chastisement. Very soon after Hamley
joined, he was denounced by an old cadet for
" coolness," and ordered to come to his room after
tea and bring a stick. There was no mistaking
the meaning of the invitation, and there was no
declining it. Hamley was a tall lad — as tall, per
haps, as ever he was — though, like his cat John of
Gaunt, he was decidedly lanky. But he had the
pluck, the determination, and the detestation of
anything like injustice which always distinguished
him. He was punctual to the appointment, and
asked the old cadet what he was wanted for.
It was a case where second thoughts would have
been wise and silence golden. But the senior had
committed himself and provoked his fate, and
he was very soundly thrashed for his pains, with

22 THE ARTILLERY SUBALTERN.
the cane which had been carefully selected to
suit its intended purpose. Hamley had given
offence to the older lads by his independent bear
ing, which showed itself, quite unconsciously to
himself, in many ways. He had been tried and
condemned in a Vehmgericht of the seniors, and
the executioner had volunteered, as the vindicator
of old cadet law, to bring the insolent novice to
his bearings. Now. the young revolutionist had
literally made his mark, and thenceforth he was
left to his devices. He quietly followed his
own course, and there was no further attempt to
influence it. Nevertheless he was noways ag
gressive ; and he always allowed to others the
liberty he claimed for himself
Colonel Gleig writes : —
He was on good terms with his companions generally,
but I don't remember that he particularly aifected the
company of any of them, except myself. In the last half-
year of our life at the Academy, he and I occupied the
same room, and it was there that we became sworn allies.
He used to keep me awake half the night — we went to
bed by bugle-call at ten o'clock — relating the adventures
of " Christopher in his Sporting Jacket." I don't think he
knew anything more at that time about the personality of
Christopher than I did — which was nothing. But he told
me how he had found some old magazines in his father's
house (how little he anticipated the interest which ' Black
wood's Magazine ' was to have for him, and he for it, in
after times !), and how he had read in them those delightful

AT WOOLWICH ACADEMY. 23
descriptions of Christopher North's fishing and shooting
expeditions. He used to repeat the adventures to me as
vividly as if he were describing his own.
The nights in that dormitory at Woolwich recall
Dickens as David Copperfield, and the nocturnal
readings at Mr Creakle's : —
He was always fond of reading, and always remembered
what he read with the most astonishing accuracy. We
used to have great literary discussions, lying in our beds
in the dark. For, in a second-hand sort of way, I had
picked up a certain amount of familiarity with Coleridge
and Wordsworth, whose poetry my father used to read
aloud to us ; and I knew the names, and very little more, I
suspect, of many of the writers of the day. Among these,
however, Christopher North's was not one. After we
joined the Eoyal Artillery at Woolwich, we were con
stantly in each other's rooms ; and I remember perfectly
that he read the Memoirs of Marshal Saxe, and used to
talk to me of that hero's methods, and compare them with
the little that either of us knew at that time about more
modern tactics and methods of warfare.
The future master of strategy was already
striking out a course of study for himself It
reminds us of the youthful Pitt, before he had
sought a seat in Parliament, listening to a great
oration by Fox, and suggesting in an undertone
how each successive point might be met and
answered. It has been said that Hamley, and per
haps not unnaturally, was comparatively indiffer
ent to the more trivial details of regimental duty.

24 THE ARTILLERY SUBALTERN.
Yet he never neglected them, and he could always
be trusted if anything serious was to be done,
as might sometimes be the case, even in times
of peace.
After leaving Woolwich, the subaltern, newly
gazetted to the artillery, was sent to Ireland, and
was quartered for a year at Charlemont. Old
acquaintances are stiU living there who can re
member the bright and buoyant young soldier.
From Charlemont he was ordered to Canada,
where he almost immediately availed himself of an
opportunity for showing his soldierly qualities.
When the battery had to change its quarters,
and leave Quebec for London, which was then a
dull though thriving " location," the men objected
strongly. On the march up country they passed
from grumbling to something like mutiny, refus
ing to carry their packs or even to move without
them. The chief responsibility happened to faU
on Hamley, and they were only reduced to some
sort of order by his firm energy and unflinching
resolution. At London there was no great choice of com
panions, and it was very fortunate for him —
possibly a turning-point in his career — that Dr
Bent was stationed there. Otherwise he might
have satisfied himself with his passion for field-
sports, or at best with the desultory reading

SPORT VERSUS SCENERY. 25
in which he must have always indulged. But
Bent was a man of thought and cultivation, de
voted to all manner of intellectual pursuits. Soon
they were inseparable : so when Hamley would
go shooting, Bent always accompanied him. They
agreed to differ, thoroughly understanding each
other. As to which there is a characteristic
story. Hamley was striding forward, with gun
on full cock, looking out keenly for the birds
the dogs were drawing. Bent was stalking
along at his elbow, absorbed in admiration of the
scenery. Bent. Look, Hamley, look !
Hamley {seeing nothing). Where ?
B. There!
R. Where ? What is it ?
B. There, don't you see it ? The sunshine on that
bank. H. Damn the sunshine ! I thought it was a quail.
B. Damn the quails ! Look at the sunshine.
The story is the more telling that Hamley was
really a passionate admirer of scenery, as all his
friends are aware who have had the pleasure of
country rambles with him. He may have loved
sport even more dearly than landscape and light
effects, but it was his invariable rule to attend to
one thing at a time. There is another charac
teristic Canadian reminiscence, which illustrated

26 THE ARTILLERY SUBALTERN.
the fixed determination of purpose which always
distinguished him. In this instance he kept his
word to an obnoxious farmer ; but the chronicler
of " Our Poor Relations " must honestly have
regretted the fate of the dog who discharged his
duty somewhat too impetuously.
By the by, I ought to have mentioned an incident
which occurred at London, because, like the part he played
when cadet law was so emphatically repudiated, it was
highly characteristic. He used to ride to his shooting-
ground very often, and on one of his roads there was a par
ticular farmhouse from which there used to dash out on aU
who passed a large and very savage dog. The animal had
frequently attacked Hamley's horse, and caused him great
inconvenience, encumbered as he was with a fowling-piece ;
and he had often complained not only of the dog but of
his master, who, if he saw what was going on, never tried
to stop it or call the dog off. Hamley resolved to abate
this public nuisance, and when the dog attacked him again
in presence of his master, who was deaf as usual to
Hamley's appeal, he warned him that if the dog were not
kept in he would shoot him. The man made an un
mannerly reply, and dared him to do any such thing, to
which Hamley answered, " Very well : now I give you fair
notice ; I shall shoot him."
Which he did on the very next occasion when
the dog had broken loose and the master was
looking on. Probably if it had not been a ques
tion of horse v, dog, and of a favourite horse who
was his daily companion, he would never have

BUFFALO ON INDEPENDENCE DAY. 27
committed himself to the rash threat. He was
a youth besides, and hot in the temper. But
later in life he never said what he did not mean ;
and when he once declared he would do a thing,
that thing would infallibly be done.
On another occasion we see the future soldier
and strategist extricating himself from a situa
tion of danger and difficulty by a happy union of
audacity and science. He had gone with a com
rade to admire the Falls of Niagara, and they
had crossed the river to Buffalo on the 4th of
July. They had forgotten that the Americans
were celebrating Independence Day. Buffalo,
like most border towns, swarmed with roughs,
and even early in the afternoon the patriots
had been celebrating the immortal memory of
Washington with bumpers of " Bourbon " and a
variety of drinks. They " spotted the Britishers,"
who were walking up from the ferry, resented
the unseasonable invasion, and began to jostle
them. The youths of two-and-twenty were in
dignant at the unprovoked assault, and soon
found themselves in the thick of a very serious
row. They succeeded in retreating into a hotel ;
but they were beset, like the pilgrims in "Vanity
Fair," by a mob that increased in numbers and
fury. There were pleasant suggestions of tar and
feathers and of riding upon rails, and it was clear

28 THE ARTILLERY SUBALTERN.
that the rioters meant serious mischief It was
in vain that some Americans of the better class
tried to persuade their countrymen to hear reason.
A dozen of the most violent forced their way into
the house, and things were looking very black.
Then Hamley stepped forward to speak for self
and friend. The speech was short, but much to
the purpose, and nothing could have been more
nervously masculine than the peroration : " Gen
tlemen, it's a cowardly thing for a dozen men
to attack two. However, I have not the least
objection to fight you one at a time ; I am quite
willing to do that." What might have been the
issue of the ordeal by battle it is impossible to
say. Hamley, though tail, was still slightly built ;
and although his constitution afterwards hardened
so as to be only shaken and not shattered by
the prolonged hardships of the Crimea, at that
time he was far from robust. But the better-
minded of the Buffalo folk kept the others in
talk while the hotel-keeper assisted the escape
of the foreigners. They promptly executed a
movement to the rear through the back premises ;
and " monstrous glad we were," says his friend,
" when we found ourselves well out on the river
on our return to the Canadian shore."
Hamley's circumstances, then and immediately
afterwards, were singularly favourable to study ;

A MORNING DIP. 29
and at an age when many men seem to try their
best to forget everything they may have learned,
his education was steadily progressing. The heat
of summer on the shores of Lake Erie is as intense
as the winters are severe. It was in one of the
hottest of summers that he found himself there
with his two dearest friends. Gleig, who was
quartered elsewhere, had got leave for a long visit.
Each morning they made a very early party to
bathe in the Canadian Thames, on which the
Canadian London is situated. Hamley was in
the habit of requisitioning the battery horses,
which they rode full gallop down to the river,
arrayed in little more than the airy costume in
which they had tumbled out of bed. Honi soit
qui mal y voit was their motto, and the primitive
inhabitants of what has since become a fashion
able town saw no scandal in the practice. After
bath and breakfast, they were kept close pris
oners by the sun. Prolonged siestas alternated
with private readings ; they were all three more
or less argumentative and critical, as heat and
languor would allow ; and it is easy to conceive
how those appreciative studies of " the best
authors " must have helped to develop Hamley's
tastes. Gleig, possibly as being the most effective
reader of the three, was told off pretty regularly
for duty. He can recall an incident and a very

30 THE ARTILLERY SUBALTERN.
amusing coincidence which shows how close was
the attention they paid, and how indelible were
the impressions that were left on those fresh and
susceptible memories. One day he was reading
" The Bridge of Sighs," when he came to the
couplet — " Perishing gloomily.
Spurred by contumely."
He stretched a point in the pronunciation of
" contumely," in order to excite Bent, who was
listening to Hood's poem in his most exalted
mood, an amiable intention in which he was quite
successful. Bent, with his somewhat romantic
temperament, took the matter up very seriously ;
Hamley, who, like Childe Harold, was of lighter
mood, chaffed and laughed. Years afterwards the
old cronies had come together again one day on
the banks of the Tchernaya, on another party of
pleasure. Gleig was in command of one of the
field-batteries ; and Bent had come to do duty as
a medical officer of superior rank. Hamley, who
was then on Sir Richard Dacres' staff, had taken
out Bent to make a peaceful reconnaissance, and
to give him a glimpse of the Russian positions.
They made a long detour in walking their horses
out, but in returning they passed within range
of the enemy's works, when the Russians opened
fire. Naturally they turned their steps in the

A DIFFICULT START IN LIFE. 31
direction that would most quickly take them
out of range, and after a little while Hamley
observed that they had been instinctively quick
ening their pace more than he thought was be
coming. So he pulled up, and laying his hand
upon Bent's shoulder to check him, said, " This
won't do. Bent ; they'll say we are spurred by
contumely." " Well," was the retort of Bent, " that is better
than perishing gloomily."
The triumvirate was broken up by Bent's death
in 1874 ; but his memory was fondly cherished,
and Hamley would always speak of him with
the warmest affection, nor did he ever forget
or ignore the great debt of gratitude for the
direction his early friend had given to his studies
and pursuits.
Such intellectual intercourse as that, with the
sohtary study from childhood to early manhood,
was to bear abundant fruit. The res angustCB
domi was to prove a blessing in disguise. The
Admiral had many calls on his purse, and after
the expenses of education at the Military Academy
had been paid, Hamley was thrown on his own
resources. Consequently he made his start in the
service heavily handicapped. In those days con
fiding tailors and outfitters seem to have been in
the habit of giving generous credit, and it may

32 THE ARTILLERY SUBALTERN.
be presumed that they charged proportionately,
if not usuriously. It was several years before the
self-reliant young officer had shaken himself free
from his debts. They weighed upon him, and he
was eager to be relieved of the burden. With
all his resolution, and with the adaptive power
which was to turn his many talents to account, he
would never have succeeded as soon as he did had
he not been singularly favoured by circumstances.
In garrison in Ireland, in Canada, and at first in
England, he had compensations for having little of
lively military society, for he could go very much
his own way. There were no messes with lavish
entertainments, and bands playing in the ante
room. By the way, to the last Hamley detested
music at dinner, the rather that he was some
what deaf on one side of the head. It was fatal,
as he declared, to all pleasure in conversation ;
and the only occasions on which he was known
to seem grudging, was when an emissary coming
round with the plate at some public banquet or
hotel table d'hdte appeared to add insult to in
jury. His personal habits were simple in the
extreme ; and although he afterwards became an
intelligent connoisseur in cuisine, and delighted
in giving little dinners and soigne breakfasts, he
could make himself happy after a frugal meal
through many a quiet evening, with his favourite

A LIQUIDATION SCHEME. 33
books for the companions of his solitude. But
as Scott remarks in his journal, after expatiat
ing on the satisfactions of solitude, no man was
ever meant to live alone, and even genius must
be stimulated by converse with its fellows, and
the assurance that congenial society is within
reach. Hamley was generally fortunate in find
ing some comrade of whom he could make a
crony. It was at Carlisle that he formed his
intimacy with Gage, and I well remember that
his feelings almost overpowered him on the eve
of his going down to General Gage's funeral at
the romantic seat of the family, which shelters
under the Sussex Downs. At dinner the day
afterwards he indulged half-abstractedly in many
fond reminiscences of their long acquaintance ;
and during his protracted sojourn at Folkestone
when his health had failed, there was no one
whom he saw with more pleasure, or of whom he
spoke with more kindness, than the widow of his
old comrade.
On his return to England, after nearly four years
spent in Canada, he was quartered first at Tyne-
mouth and afterwards at Carlisle. It was then
that, in City language, he contemplated a scheme
for the liquidation of his liabilities, and for securing
himself against pecuniary anxieties in the future.
Probably the idea had long been simmering in
VOL. I. c

34 THE ARTILLERY SUBALTERN.
his brain, for he must have been conscious of his
intellectual gifts, and of his rare facility of ex
pression with the pen. He determined to try his
luck in the field of literature : and half a century
ago that field was less crowded, and consequently
more inviting, than now. He devoted himself to a
course of incessant activity, and of almost ascetic
self-restraint. The activity came pleasantly, for
his energy was indefatigable, and there was never
a man who had less of the lotus-eater about him ;
but it must have been a sore trial in those nor
thern counties to resist the seductions of sport.
He brought good introductions, and might have
made many acquaintances. He might well have
been tempted by the shooting on the Cheviots
and the Keeldar moors, by the angling in the
Coquet or the Eden and the upper waters of the
Tyne. He might have found endless historical
subjects for his brush in such priories as Brink-
burn, or such fortalices as Ford or Warkworth.
So far as I can learn, he never cast a fly at that
time, or opened a colour-box. He was set upon
the single purpose of making a fair literary start.
Still, it may be remarked in passing that if he
did not go abroad with colour-box and camp-stool,
he did sometimes dash off sketches with pencil or
pen and ink. As has been observed, he had a
pleasant gift of caricaturing, which, although lat-

PORTRAITS IN CARICATURE. 35
terly he used it with great discretion, undoubt
edly made him more than one unforgiving enemy.
There would often be a laugh over a dinner at
the Athenaeum, when Hamley passed an envelope
across the table on which he had scratched down
the portrait in outline of some grave ecclesiastic
or dignified judge. Perhaps the sketches were
not more than clever. But it was always note
worthy that he gave prominence to the trait or
the feature which seemed to indicate the inner
nature of the subject. To use the word " victim "
would do him injustice, for those sketches had no
tinge of malevolence. He never exaggerated a
personal defect, and what he caricatured was the
character and not the man. One of the earliest, and
apparently not the least successful, of his efforts
is an excellent example of that. When he joined
his regiment, among the most conspicuous figures
at Woolwich was a colonel of Horse Artillery, an
old Waterloo man. The veteran passed his time
promenading in front of the barracks, surveying
the soldiers who went by, with glances that made
them tremble. He was the terror of the mess
waiters, and indeed of aU save his few intimates ;
and he habitually indulged in language of the
most terrific character. No young officer would
have dreamed of addressing him, yet it was sur
mised that his bark was worse than his bite, and

36 THE ARTILLERY SUBALTERN.
that really at heart he was a kindly old fellow.
Hamley drew him in that double aspect, and hit
him off to the life ; so much so that the sketch
passed from hand to hand, and was shown at last
to its subject by one of his familiars. The colonel
chuckled, and was so much amused that he forth
with took the artist into favour, even occasionally
condescending to challenge him to take wine — an
honour he had never vouchsafed before to any
youngster of similar standing.
But to revert to Hamley's beginnings in
literature. Any intelligent aspirant begins by
drawing, if he can, on his personal experiences.
Hamley had no lack of immediate material. His
first article was " Snow Pictures," which was the
narrative of a shooting expedition from Quebec
into the Highlands of Maine, in the company of
some Indian hunters. It professes to be a letter
from Lieutenant Michael South, and is more real
istic than imaginative. In fact, for his matter he
relied chiefly on his memory. Nevertheless there
are effective pictures of his English companion,
of the Indian guides, of the romantic scenery, the
sport, and the bivouacs beneath the pines. This
paper was soon followed by 'The Peace Campaigns
of Ensign Faunce,' and both were offered to 'Fraser,'
or 'Regina,' which was then at the height of its
popularity, and the formidable rival of ' Maga.'

FIRST ESSAYS IN LITERATURE. 37
When he was busied with the biography of Faunce,
at Carlisle in 1849, the anxious author read the
opening chapters aloud, speculating with a friend
on the chances of their being accepted. His
satisfaction was immense when he knew that
the novel had taken the editor's fancy. And he
rejoiced with better reason than many of his
aspiring confreres in Letters, who have found a
first success pave the way to fllusion and dis
appointment. He had fallen upon a veritable
vocation, and had found inexhaustible sources
of interest. Henceforth his circumstances were
to be easy if not affluent, and he could write
with a light heart and in the fulness of agree
able anticipations. In all his after work he was
to show rapid and steady progress. His early
efforts, as was natural, were crude enough. " No
one has read the rubbish, I am glad to say,"
was his own subsequent criticism on the Cam
paigns of the Ensign. That was of course a
fagon de parler, and even in the maturity of
his judgment he must have regarded his maiden
effort with a certain pride. For notwithstanding
looseness of construction in the plot, superfluity
of gratuitous digressions, the pedantry of profes
sional prolixity, and not a few florid affectations
in the style — in short, in spite of the faults which
are inevitable with a clever artist, at the outset

38 THE ARTILLERY SUBALTERN.
the story was brightened by sparkles of wit and
frequent flashes of rollicking fun. There are
dramatic bits of description, and telling touches
of satire. 'Ensign Faunce' had never the hon
our of a reprint, so we can only say " Peace be
to his memory." But there and in the " Snow
Pictures " there are the unmistakable signs of the
excellences the writer subsequently developed.

39

CHAPTER IH.
IN GAEEISON AT GIBEALTAE.

LIFE ON THE ROCK  FIRST CONNECTION WITH BLACKWOOD 
THB ' LEGEND OF GIBRALTAR '  ' LAZARO's LEGACY ' 
' LADY lee's WIDOWHOOD '  LETTERS TO JOHN BLACKWOOD 
TRIP TO BARBARY  LADY FRIENDS  FUNERAL OF CASUELO.

In 1851 Hamley got his promotion, and had orders
to join his battery in Gibraltar. It was no unwel
come change from the quiet of Carlisle and the grey
skies of "Rocky Cumberland" to the sunshine of
tawny Spain and the bustle of a great garrison.
He revelled in the picturesque scenery on either
shore of the Straits, and his letters show how
heartily he enjoyed the riding expeditions into
the Sierra of Ronda and through the cork-forests,
with the streams brawling down over the cliffs
which skirt the coast from Gibraltar to Tarifa.
There were shooting trips to Tangiers, where Sir
John Drummond Hay had always a welcome for
sporting officers from the Rock. Tangiers and the
neighbourhood were very different then from what

40 IN GARRISON AT GIBRALTAR.
they are now. The picturesque town was only
accessible by the cattle-boat, which regulated its
sailings according to weather and freight ; and
there were but two small hostelries, one kept by
a Frenchman famous for his cuisine, and the other
by a cleanly Scottish woman. If the visitor had
not made arrangements beforehand, he might
have to put up with rough accommodation. But
the shooting was excellent : there were quail and
snipe in profusion, and battues for wild boar were
arranged for within a short ride of the gates. So
at Gibraltar Hamley had both sport and scenery in
perfection, and whether he gave his mind to the
one or the other, he always had pleasant occupa
tion. But these expeditions only lent occasional
variety to what might have been a monotonous
existence. As every one knows, Gibraltar is a
magnificent precipitous promontory, connected
with the mainland by the sandy isthmus of the
Lines. The Calpe Hunt, established in 1817, was
the great excitement of the sporting soldier, and
well-bred fiery little barbs were cheap and plentiful.
But Hamley was a heavy man to mount, and, as
we have seen, he had little money to spare. He
did not care greatly for racquets, which were the
standing resource of those who did not devote
themselves to billiards and whist, cigars and
siestas. What perhaps pleased him most was

LIFE ON THE BOCK. 41
the animated panorama of Jews, Turks, and here
tics, mingling with the Christians in a babel where
every language was spoken. Nothing could be
more interesting to the student of man and man
ners than the sun-burned types of all the races
from Cairo to Fez, and Tetuan to Timbuctoo.
Then there was something more than a colour
ing of romance in the venturesome audacity of
the smugglers who did lucrative business with the
" scorpions " of the Rock. The free port, which
supplied all southern Spain with contraband goods,
was perpetually being watched by the guarda
castas from Algeciras, and sea-fights sharply con
tested and captures threatening international com
plications were incidents of continual recurrence.
AH this Hamley carefully noted as matter for
immediate literary inspiration, and long after
wards a scene from the turmoil in the market
place was brought in most effectively by way of
illustration in the scathing review of ' Lothair.'
For it was now that he fairly launched out
on the literary career. The comparative seclu
sion of his successive quarters served him well
in laying broad and solid foundations. In those
days there were no circulating libraries, and the
man who desired the newest books must borrow
or buy. There was an excellent garrison library,
which received, as we learn from one of Hamley's

42 IN GARRISON AT GIBRALTAR.
letters, a monthly box from Longmans. But the
earnest student cannot read comfortably in pub
lic ; he must live in familiar companionship with
his volumes, however few they may be. So it
was that Hamley came to ground himself thor
oughly in Shakespeare and the old dramatists ;
in Milton, Dryden, Pope, and the modern poets ;
in Richardson and Fielding, and the classical
novelists ; in such unrivalled biographies as those
by Boswell and Lockhart. He read again and
again, mused and inwardly digested ; and such
was the remarkable tenacity of his memory,
that had he been struck blind he might have
been left poor, but by no means destitute.
Alexandre Dumas boasts in ' Mes B6tes ' that
the fidelity of his recollections spared him the
necessity for references ; and he proceeds to
prove the point by making three egregious
blunders. Hamley might have made the boast
with better reason, and he might have ventured
to transfer whole passages to his own writings
without the trouble of verification. Moreover,
he had the advantage of being always in admir
able intellectual training. The Rock was wont to
be renowned for unbounded hospitality, and the
messes, to say the least, were extremely con
vivial. But Hamley was temperate almost to
abstemiousness : he would pride himself on din-

THE EARLY DAYS OF 'BLACKWOOD.' 43
ing with half a pint of light claret even in
the depressing London fogs. If he drank the
less, perhaps he ate the more, and, thanks to
his excellent digestion, his powerful and muscular
frame was always well nourished. When he
was bracing himself for a severe literary spurt,
he would put himself for the time on short
allowance. So at Gibraltar, although his atten
tion to duty recommended him to the special
notice of his chief, who selected Hamley for his
aide-de-camp in the Crimean campaign, he got
through a great deal of writing as well as read
ing. It was the more to his credit, that the
climate is enervating and relaxing for eight
months of the twelve, and that he resisted the
seductive example of a society that let the world
slide when not actually on duty.
In those days the monthly periodicals of any
note might almost have been told off on the
fingers of one hand. No one among them was
more powerful or more popular than ' Black
wood,' which had gone forward, increasing the
prestige it had gained through the versatile
talents of Wilson and Lockhart, with a host of
more or less able contributors. The rollicking
' Noctes Ambrosianse,' with their exuberance of
fun and frolic, had their faults — the faults chiefly

44 IN GARRISON AT GIBRALTAR.
of the exhilaration of youthful spirits, and of an
impetuous fancy that was hard to bridle ; but
with their brilliant blending of wit and eloquence,
pathos and humour, satire and tenderness, with
their picturesque and Burns -like delineation of
Scottish scenes and character, they had made a
wide and deep impression.
As we have seen, " Christopher in his Sporting
Jacket " had been the favourite of Hamley's boy
hood. ' Blackwood ' had early established a repu
tation for dramatic stories and bright social
sketches and essays, as many of the most popular
novels by celebrated authors had first appeared
in its pages. Hamley's youthful admiration for
' Blackwood ' had doubtless been deepened during
his residences at Tynemouth and Carlisle, for
' Maga, ' with its northern and national tenden
cies, was doubly a power to the north of the
Trent. So we find him writing to John Black
wood in the spring of 1851 : "As a boy it was
my great ambition to be a contributor to ' Maga,'
whose pages I used delightedly to study whilst
yet in corduroys." We know not why he did not
carry out his original intention of offering Black
wood ' The Peace Campaigns of Ensign Faunce ' :
possibly his innate modesty held him back. Be
that as it may, he was now to make ventures
which more than realised his young dreams of

DELANE AT PRINTING-HOUSE SQUABE. 45
ambition, for neither he nor his editor could have
foreseen how long, how close, and how mutually
advantageous this new connection was to prove.
' Blackwood ' owed much to the brilliancy of its
contributors ; but the most brilliant of the con
tributors were the foremost to acknowledge how
much contributions and Magazine owed to the
editor. The late John Blackwood was so unas
suming that few beyond his immediate circle recog
nised his rare and remarkable qualities. He and
John Delane of the 'Times' had lived together
as young men in London, in one of the houses
between St James's Square and Pall Mall. After
the death of Barnes, one afternoon Delane burst
into their sitting-room with a " By G — ! John,
what do you think ! I'm editor of the ' Times.' "
To outsiders, the selection seemed hazardous,
for Delane was as yet a lad. As he said long
afterwards, with justifiable pride, in answer to
a question as to whether he had not shrunk
fi:om the responsibility, — " Not I : and that is
the worst of you young fellows of this genera
tion ; you are scared by the very shadow of
responsibility ! " Delane went to be dictator in
Printing-House Square ; and never, according to
universal consent, was self-confidence more amply
justified. His hastily scratched notes were models
of pregnant brevity. He could give a lead in

46 IN GABBISON AT GIBBALTAB.
a couple of lines, and there was a witty or
weighty suggestion in each hurried sentence.
Time was more than money, and never a second
went to waste. Blackwood, who had gone back
to Edinburgh to conduct the Magazine, was in
some things Delano's double, and in many his
antithesis. But as the one was the prince of
English journalists, so the other was par excel
lence the model magazine editor. He loved to
take life leisurely — he had no reason to do other
wise — and he wrote his letters deliberately and
methodically. But no point of importance was
ever overlooked, and as he made the feelings
and interests of his contributors his own, they
knew that their work was sure to be gener
ously appreciated. They believed, besides, so
firmly in the sincerity of his friendship that
they forgave him any amount of frankness. He
was the centre of what was in the best sense
a select literary ring. It was not in any way an
unlimited mutual -approval society : the art of
log-rolling was as yet non-existent ; but all the
members felt themselves united by a common
interest and a common bond of loyalty. Anon
ymity was as yet strictly observed. But if one said
anything discriminatingly appreciative of another,
either the letter or an extract was duly forwarded.
And whether in his Edinburgh home, at Strath-

A MODEL MAGAZINE EDITOB. 47
tyrum near St Andrews, or on his visits to Lon
don, Blackwood was the most genially hospitable
of men. At breakfast, luncheon, or dinner when
in tovm, he was always bringing two or more
contributors together, so that the seeds of future
friendships were being sown broadcast, and affin
ities came to be closely attracted by their common
sympathies and tastes. All who have been habit
ually connected with the Magazine will own that
they have been indebted to that connection for
hfelong friendships and delightful intimacies,
although the survivors have been paying the
inevitable penalty — for death has of late years
been busy in the companionship. Consequently,
what has been said is no digression : on the
contrary, it is essential to estimating Hamley's
relations, not only with his old intimate and cor
respondent "the Editor," but with many others
of his most cherished friends.
It is curious to note how quickly the relations
with John Blackwood passed from the begin
nings of ceremonious formality through successive
stages of growing geniality, into terms of the
most warm and cordial unreserve. Years were
to go by before they met ; but when they did
meet, there were no barriers to be broken down
between men who seemed superficially to have
little in common. It was a pleasant sight to see

48 IN GABBISON AT GIBBALTAB.
them when they came together latterly in Lon
don after a separation. If they talked but little
at first, both were brimming over with content
ment. The twinkle in Blackwood's eye from
beneath his shaggy eyebrows, and the puckering
of the corners of his kindly mouth, were answered
by the beaming smiles that softened Hamley's
somewhat stern features. As they committed
themselves to the glow of recollections, they were
fairly carried away, till the listener might almost
fancy himself assisting at a revised and modern
edition of the " Noctes." So many of their com
mon friends were, or had been, celebrities ; each
had his store of illustrative reminiscence ; and
there were the memories besides of many lively
literary symposia between archi episcopal St
Andrews and the Staff College at Sandhurst.
The first letter to Blackwood was a formal
communication as to some contribution of William,
the eldest of the brothers, who was then in the
West Indies ; and so little did the editor then
know of the Hamleys, that he confounded their
personalities and Christian names. But the ice
being broken, Hamley soon wrote again on his
own account, sending the poem of " Michael
Angelo and the Friar" on approval. The poem
duly appeared ; but it seems strange that Hamley,

"MICHAEL ANGELO." 49
knowing that the special attractions of the Mag
azine lay in travel, adventure, and sparkling
fiction, should not have followed up the earlier
contributions to 'Eraser' with something in
similar vein. Nevertheless, " Michael Angelo "
was appreciated as it deserved to be. The dia
logue is a really noble conception, and must
have been suggested by the spirit of lofty
ambition which always animated the writer.
The minds of both painter and monk are
alike set on immortality ; but the friar is con
tent to pursue the quiet tenor of his way, con
soling himself for self-denial upon earth with
the blissful assurance of a happy eternity. He
ought, on conventional principles, to have had
the best of the argument, when he asks why
the layman, bound by no vows, should sac
rifice the shadow for the substance, and barter
contentment for fame. But in a fine climax he
must bow his head and listen in. reverential
silence to the impassioned speaker, who has veri
tably seen in visions of the night that Judg
ment and the appalling dies ircB of which the
pious recluse had but vaguely dreamed.
The poem was printed, but Blackwood, with
his instinctive perceptions, had recognised in the
new recruit possibilities that might be turned
to more practical purposes. No doubt he had
VOL. I. D

50 IN GARRISON AT GIBRALTAR.
been referred to 'Regina,' and had looked back
over the pages of ' Fraser' for the " Snow Pictures"
and 'Ensign Faunce.' There is a letter dated
Gibraltar, 11th August 1851 :—
Deae Sie, — In your note to me you observed that a
story of Gibraltar life ought to be amusing. I send you
one, a " pretty slight drollery," illustrative of the scenery
and the garrison life, pretty much as they now appear,
though I have cast my tale at a more picturesque period.
If you like it, and it suits your Magazine arrangements
to publish it at once, the MS. is, I believe, ready for
printing, — but if the publication is deferred, I should be
glad to see a proof.
For Hamley had one great advantage in for
warding articles from distant quarters, which
were often written under all manner of diffi
culties. His handwriting was admirably firm and
clear, so that the arrival of one of his manuscripts
was never the signal of a stampede in the printing-
office with the compositors, as the irritated man
ager protested was the case with more slovenly
contributors. And when once a piece of work
had taken shape in his brain, he would dash it
off with glowing facility. For example, his
' Diary of the Egyptian Campaign ' is a model
of lucid simplicity. The "Legend of Gibraltar"
was the first response to Blackwood's request,
and he says in one of the letters that it was
thrown off in three evenings. Yet the thought

THE "LEGEND OF GIBRALTAR." 51
and care which were given are evidenced in a
hasty note : — GiBEALTAR, 8iA September.
Deae Sie, — Thinking over the story I sent you, the
" Legend of Gibraltar," it struck me that the catastrophe
was rather too sudden — that I had married my grand
father rather too unceremoniously. I now send another
scene to throw it into better perspective. This will reach
you in time for insertion if you are going to publish
it in the September number — as I hope to learn from
you by the mail that has just left England. — Believe me,
yours faithfully, Edwaed Hamley.
Whether the suggested alteration was made or
no, I cannot say : it is clear that he followed with
thoughtful anxiety the fortunes of the little story.
His mind was speedily relieved. "The Legend"
delighted the editor, and made a great hit with
the public. The present writer can remember,
when it appeared, the shouts of laughter it pro
voked in a country-house, and the eagerness with
which it was passed from hand to hand. In fact
it was a capital piece of genially satirical comedy,
and one cannot help suspecting that the char
acter of Major Flinders had been taken in some
measure firom the chronicler himself The major
is an ardent devotee of Shakespeare : the major
takes a personal interest in the cookery of the
savoury Spanish dishes: the major is loath to
hurt a wasp : and when the horses are gored in

52 IN GARRISON AT GIBRALTAR.
the bull-ring of Algeciras, his feelings get alto
gether the better of him. Indeed the major
seemed so reahstic to one prosaically minded
soldier that, as his creator writes gleefully in
the letter acknowledging the cheque, —
" Fancy the Governor, a very matter-of-fact old gentle
man, going out into the picture-gallery with ' Maga ' in
one hand and a candle in the other to look for my grand
father Major Flinders, and expressing his wrath at not
finding him. He imagined the whole thing to be really
a veracious narrative."
Apropos to the portrait - gallery, there is a
charming touch as to a larger canvas, the master
piece of an artist ofthe olden school, " representing
a council of officers held during the siege, where,
notwithstanding the gravity of the occasion and the
imminence of the danger, not a single face in the
intrepid assembly wears the slightest expression
of anxiety or fear, or indeed of anything else."
" The Legend " was quickly followed by " Laz
aro's Legacy," and in this case the sequel was
certainly not inferior to its predecessor. The
writer recommends special attention to the Span
ish phrases, and the " vulgarious talk" put in the
mouths of the inferior personages, — " for dreadful
are the pangs of an author when a pet sentence is
turned into nonsense or deprived of the point by
the alteration of an important letter." That " vul-

"LAZARO'S LEGACY." 53
garious talk," which caused natural anxiety, was
the most ludicrous and characteristic part of the
story. Our old acquaintance, the major, is lively
and entertaining as ever, and the matrimony into
which he was rather shabbily betrayed has in
no way staled his infinite jest. But surely the
private broken loose from discipline was never
better drawn than in the respectable Mr Bags and
his worthy comrade Bill. Multiply them by
many, and magnify their opportunities for evil,
and we can realise the worst scenes of the Pen
insular war after the storming of Badajoz and
Ciudad Rodrigo. In the Gibraltar story there
are no horrors, but only the ludicrous side of
licence, although it was no joke to the unlucky
victims. But the climax of cleverness is in the
comically artistic way in which just retribution
is finally distributed. The grasping old usurer
is shelled and burned out of the stores he had ac
cumulated against the extremities of the famine :
and Mr Bags, who has invested his portable pil
lage in a cannon's mouth, sees the fruits of his
industry scattered to the winds when the gun is
discharged at the Spanish gunboats.
Sending off " Lazaro's Legacy," Hamley wrote :
" We wiU now, I think, have done with my grand
father, for fear he should get tiresome." We can
avouch that there were readers who sincerely

54 IN GARRISON AT GIBRALTAR.
lamented the major's premature decease ; but
Hamley dismissed him with the more com
placency, that already he was engaged on a
more ambitious piece of work, and soon his
novel of ' Lady Lee's Widowhood ' had taken
complete form in outline. The author was im
petuous and the editor was cautious. Hamley,
adopting a dashing strategy, hoped to carry the
Magazine by assault. He despatched a couple of
parts of a story that would probably extend to
ten, and sanguinely suggested that they should
be printed forthwith if there were an opening.
Blackwood admired and approved, but naturally
hesitated to give his promising recruit carte
blanche. Indeed, even when the fifth part of the
story was forwarded, he writes as if the decision
was still in suspense. In reality the novel was prac
tically accepted, but the editor was frank and out
spoken in his criticisms, and took exception to
some of the details. It is interesting to foUow
the course of the correspondence, which shows,
besides, the decision and foresight of Hamley's
manner of working. Scott declares repeatedly
that he could never stick to a plan : that his plot
would change with the inspiration of the moment,
and that his most disreputable characters invari
ably ran away with him. Hamley sends twice a
minute description of the development of the plot

AT EUROPA POINT. 55
and its incidents, and it did not undergo any
substantial alteration. All was mapped out as
methodically as any novel of Wilkie Collins or
Charles Reade. Most men would have found their
surroundings singularly unfavourable to light and
sparkling work, for the imaginative tempera
ment is generally stimulated by the bustle of
active life and the society of congenial spirits.
But Hamley congratulates himself on the ample
leisure that was given by solitude and com
parative isolation. In the midsummer of 1852
he says, —
I am now stationed with my company, in our turn, at
Europa Point — a part of the Eock removed by a couple of
miles from the town and very lonely — which is favourable
to work. It is, moreover, much cooler here than in the
city — something like ten degrees of difference — and there
fore a far healthier spot in the summer, so that I am much
pleased with the change, although my society consists
chiefly of monkeys and rabbits, the aborigines of Europe.
Yet although he could easily dispense with the
ordinary mess company, he sadly missed such
familiars as Gleig and Bent, with whom he could
have discussed his work and consulted. More
over, he was fretted and hampered by the distance
from literary headquarters. The mails were few
and precarious ; the rates of postage were heavy,
and often important packets were forwarded by

56 IN GARRISON AT GIBRALTAR.
private opportunities, with considerable doubt as
to the ultimate delivery. Gibealtae, lith Sept. 1852.
My deae Sie, — I was very glad to get your long-
expected note this morning, for it was exactly what I
wanted. I have no literary friend here with whom to
discuss my projects, for most of my companions in arms
are, to say the truth, much better judges of brown sherry,
black eyes, and Cuba cigars than of composition. This is
unfortunate ; because talking over characters and incidents
gives them a reality, which they want so long as they are
confined to the brain that imagined them. I will now
give you a sketch of the design, and I am glad to observe
that your objections are such as would disappear in the
course of the story.
Two main features in the plot are taken from real life.
A certain peer was lately here in his yacht, who, in youth,
for some offence noways dishonourable, as I believe, was
tilrned adrift by his father. He enlisted in the Life or
Horse Guards, and served as a trooper for some time under
a feigned name; afterwards a commission was procured
for him by his mother's friends in a regiment serving in
India ; and now, by his father's death, he enjoys a title
and estate.
From this I took the idea of Corporal Onslow. I
thought I had sufficiently indicated, from his first appear
ance at the Heronry, that he was by chance in a position
below his station.
Finish it I certainly shall, because so much being done,
the idea would haunt me till completed ; and, moreover, I
think the capabilities of the design such, that, if well exe
cuted, it would have certainly an original, perhaps a strik-

"FULL-FLAVOURED" PASSAGES. 57
ing, appearance. And if, as I said, you will take the pains
to give me the benefit of your opinion, I shall take it as a
great favour. Meantime I shall look at the whole by the
light you have already thrown out. The Corporal seems
particularly to stick in your throat: but besides the instance
I have given, where truth is stranger than any fiction, I
could name others, where gentlemen have served in the
ranks. What would you say to the Honourable Mr C 
being flogged at Chatham for some blackguardism he had
committed, while serving in a line regiment in which he
had enlisted?
Mr Blackwood's objections to the dashing scape
grace, who had enlisted and received promotion in
the — Light Dragoons, must have been overruled,
for Onslow figures as he was originally conceived.
It may be remarked, by the way, that Lever paid
Hamley the compliment of transferring him to
his 'Davenport Dunn' as Conway "the Crusher."
Hamley bowed more submissively to minor pro
tests. Living a garrison life, he would appear
to have forgotten that ' Maga ' lay on the tables
of manses and parsonages, and that the decorous
classes were its most valued patrons. For in
his next note is this paragraph : —
You shall not have to complain any more of " full-
flavoured " passages. I remember one in the first part, in
Bagot's interview with the Squire, which I thought at the
time you might object to : at the same time it was char
acteristic, and gave reality to the scene. I hope you will
not require much to be blotted out.

58 IN GARRISON AT GIBRALTAR.
Nevertheless he possessed the susceptibilities
without which neither novelist nor poet is likely
to attain distinction. He writes in another letter :
I shall be very glad to get proofs of the early Nos., and
will carefully correct them; but I hope that the alterations
you speak of will be as few as possible, as I have a great
horror of tooth-drawing and amputations. However, many
things will strike you as reader that may have escaped me
as writer. Thackeray may be quoted as a distinguished
exception, but very few novelists, whether soldiers
or civilians, have been capable of illustrating their
own works. Hamley himself sketched the illus
trations to the first edition of ' Lady Lee,' and
very deeply was he interested in having them:
satisfactorily rendered by the engraver. As a
characteristic specimen of Hamley's sketches in
comical vein, we reproduce here the humours of
" Doddington Fair," and give at the end of the
chapter, " Trying the Trotting Mare," which
formed the vignette on the title-page ofthe
novel. This is one of several letters on the
subject of the illustrations : — Gibealtae, 9t7i Deo. 1853.
My DEAE Blackwood, — The etching is extremely well
copied in every part, except the principal one — the lady's
face. Besides the fault in the mouth you notice, and have
requested him to alter, the line of the nostril goes too much
upward to the eye, aiding the downward turn of the mouth

I ,-:^

J

:f ^

RECEPTION OF 'LADY LEE'S WIDOWHOOD.' 59
in giving a disdainful look. The eyes are two blots, and
should be made lighter. These alterations the engraver
could easily make. An additional line outside Julius's
right shin to make the leg thicker, and another ear to
the cat, wouldn't cost him two minutes' work, and would
be an improvement. All the rest is excellent, and so the
engraver seems to think from the prominence he has given
to his name, which would have been better placed at the
bottom of the page. The two faces I feel most doubtful
about his rendering are Orelia's in " the Eestoration " and
Kitty's when Bagot is holding her chin : both are mixed
expressions, requiring much nicety to catch.
By that time, and, indeed, considerably earlier,
the " Dear Sir " had passed into the " Dear
Blackwood," and thenceforth the letters multiply
in something like arithmetical progression, and
the friends, indulging in much playful badinage,
speak their minds with the utmost freedom. The
care, the thought, and the correspondence be
stowed on ' Lady Lee ' were amply rewarded. The
novel was warmly received : it has gone through
five editions, and the writer had the satisfaction
shortly before his death of seeing it renewing its
youth in a cheaper and more popular form. The
success it won was so well merited, that we must
always regret that Hamley did not follow it up
in a field in which he excelled. Often latterly,
when the time hung wearily on his hands, he
thought seriously of occupying himself with
another novel. But with him, unfortunately, it

60 IN GARRISON AT GIBRALTAR.
was a case of ce n'est que le premier pas, and he
stood hesitating over the trouble and drudgery
of thinking out a satisfactory scheme. Had he
followed Scott's great example, and dashed boldly
in medias res, he would have fallen back into
a pleasant pursuit, and novel - readers would
have been great gainers. For all the critics,
with the solitary exception of the ' Spectator,'
were agreed that in ' Lady Lee ' there was won
derful freshness with a rare lightness of touch.
Nothing can be more ludicrously dramatic than
some of the scenes, such as the free fight in the
streets of Doddington — which was Bodmin —
or the mess dinner at " the Bush." Possibly
Lady Lee herself and her dignified friend Orelia
have some of the stiffness of lay figures, though
there are life and nature enough in the third
of his feminine triumvirate. But the soldiers,
and especially the sporting soldiers, are hit off
to the life, which is the more noteworthy
that Hamley's habits had never taken him to
Tattersall's, and that he had been quartered far
away from Newmarket and the Shires. Bagot
Lee is a masterpiece in his way, and yet the
jovial old reprobate is so cleverly and pleasantly
drawn that we cannot withhold a sneaking sym
pathy, when his sins have at last found him
out and landed him in the depths of despair.
Yet here again, as in the " Legend of Gibraltar,"

A DISASTROUS TRIP. 61
we see Hamley vindicating himself, when he
asserts the dignity of his profession in the nobler
military types. We doubt not that the novel
was all the more appreciated by Blackwood for
the buoyant vivacity and the perennial flow of
fun by which it is distinguished. No man had
more profound faith in the literary judgment of
" the Editor " than the late Colonel Laurence
Lockhart. But the humorous author of ' Doubles
and Quits ' and ' Fair to See ' used always to say
that he mistrusted " the Editor's " passion for light
comedy. " He wfll laugh," Lockhart would declare,
" till he forgets to criticise : but it is lamentable
when jokes chance to miss their mark — and then
the public don't care to be always grinning."
Hamley seems to have stuck very steadily to
the desk in the intervals of duty when in garri
son, nor did he indulge much in social frivolities.
But he frequently took short leave — one spring
he spent several weeks in the Sierras of Granada
— and there is a characteristic description of a
shooting expedition to Barbary, which came off
in the Christmas week of 1853. Gibealtae, \2th Jan.
My deae Blackwood, — . . . Our trip to Barbary was
rather disastrous. In the first place, we were roused a
morning or two after our arrival by a report that our
cutter, which we had left snugly moored to the river's
bank the night before, was in danger of being swept away
by a flood, and rushing out half -naked we had the pleasure

62 IN GARRISON AT GIBRALTAR.
of seeing her borne down the current to the sea, where
she sank. Luckily there were no stores on board except
most of our shot. Then we had infamous weather and
bad sport. Christmas day we spent in a tower belonging
to the Bashaw, unable to move for the weather. Our
stores were almost exhausted, for we had intended to be
back by Christmas, and we had the prospect of remain
ing all night without fire, light, or anything to drink.
Luckily somebody groping about discovered a candle-end,
with the assistance of which we fished out a bottle of
brandy, so we made a festive evening — rather dismal, I
must say, but that is not unfrequentiy the case even with
Christmas parties at home, with all appliances and means
to boot, which we had not. To crown our misfortunes,
we started in a trading vessel for Gibraltar, which first
went aground and was afterwards becalmed, so that we
spent three days and nights getting across (tho' the dis
tance is little more than thirty miles), and had very little
to eat, nothing to drink, and never took our clothes off
the whole time. Letters which we found on our return
wishing us " a merry Christmas " we could afford to laugh
at then, being comfortably established in our quarters ;
but such compliments at the proper time would have
sounded like very cutting irony. I'm afraid there were
very few merry Christmases this year in Gibraltar, for
our supplies being cut off in great measure from Spain,
the poorer classes are in great distress, painfully short
both of fuel and food, and the troops have salt provisions
four days in the week.
At Gibraltar he appears to have had few male
friends and no intimates. It was eminently
characteristic of him that, next to the children,
who were irresistibly attracted to him, he took

BECOLLECTIONS OF HAMLEY. 63
most readily to sympathetic women. He always
delighted in feminine society, though his confi
dence was not given very readily. But it is
evident from his letters that he unbosomed him
self with more unreserve to ladies than to any
man, with perhaps the exceptions of John Black
wood and Colonel Gleig. I am indebted to two
of the good friends he made on the Rock for
sketches of the unassuming and studious young
captain. Miss Jones, now Mrs Harry Smith,
knew him well, and afterwards they kept up a
desultory correspondence. These are her rather
abridged recollections : —
Captain Hamley was very thin and angular, and looked
much taller than he was. He was a very reserved, quiet
man, and though liked had few if any intimates. He
went out into society a good deal, but always as a
looker-on rather than taking part. He did not dance
much, though he went to every ball, and he did not
dance well. He came to the Eock with the reputation
of being very clever, satirical, and given to drawing
caricatures. I never saw but two — one of himself and
one of me. He spent a great deal of his time in writing,
and largely availed himself of the garrison library. He
had at one time very pretty quarters high above the
town, and took great pride in his garden. Most people
stood in awe of him, owing to his silent ways and stiff
manner, and from his taking but little part in things
around him, and never taking the trouble to talk, except
to a few. He was, however, much thought of for his
talents, and acted as judge-advocate on more than one im-

64 IN GABBISON AT GIBRALTAR.
portant court-martial. His constant companions in the
town were his cats, and out of the town his dog Canuelo
(Spanish for cinnamon), a brave setter. He rode much,
alone with his dog. He was a good horseman, fearless,
but with a perfect understanding with his horse. He
joined all the large riding - parties that were a feature
in Gib. life in those days. He had a most tender heart
behind his stiff manner, and many were the kind acts
he did to the wives and children of his' company.
Mrs Stopford, a daughter of Sir John Bur-
goyne, says very much the same, remarking that
she always refused Hamley for round dances, as
he danced them indifferently, and there was an
awkward disparity in their heights. But when
she sat out with him, as she was always delighted
to do, he made himself extremely agreeable ; and
young as she was at the time, she saw how much
there was in him. As for Mrs Smith's por
traiture, it is Hamley himself — in course of evo
lution — as Gleig had sketched him at the College
and in Canada, and as we knew him afterwards,
even when he had mixed much in the world and
had attained the highest ranks in his profession.
And Mrs Smith relates one eminently character
istic incident, which would have made a capital
subject for one of his own stories of Gibraltar.
One night there were strange noises on the
heights, and mysterious lights were seen flitting
about one of the upper batteries, which were left

FUNERAL OF A FAITHFUL DOG.

65

unsentinelled. The drums beat to arms, the gar
rison was alarmed, and a search expedition was
sent out to scale the rock. It came upon a
funeral. The faithful Canuelo had died sud
denly, and his mourning master with his servant
were laying the departed to rest in a spot be
lieved to be safe from disturbance.

TRYING THE TROTTING MARE.

VOL. L

E

66

CHAPTER IV.
THE CEIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
APPOINTED ADJUTANT TO SIR RICHARD DACRES  DEPARTURE FOE
THE EAST  SCUTARI  LETTERS TO MISS JONES  ^AN ACCIDENT
 VARNA  'THE CAMPAIGN OP SEBASTOPOL '  HAMLEY AT
INKBRMAN  IN THE TRENCHES  LITERARY MERITS OP THE
' CAMPAIGN '  DESCRIPTION OP THE ALMA  CRIMEAN
SCENERY  LETTERS TO JOHN BLACKWOOD  ON THE EVE OF
THE REDAN.
In noticing the years that Hamley passed on the
Rock, I have dwelt almost exclusively on the
beginnings of his literary work, partly because
evidently it greatly preoccupied him, and partly
because his letters to his friend and publisher are
chiefly concerned with the literary pursuits into
which he had thrown himself with characteristic
enthusiasm. But it would be doing him gross
injustice to suppose that he was in any way
neglectful of his professional duties. Literature
only occupied his leisure : and throughout his
life his indomitable determination of purpose

SIGNS OF WAR IN THE EAST. 67
was directed to the attainment of military dis
tinction. The best of his brilliant intellect was
given to subjects which were to serve as a pre
paration for the great work on which his repu
tation as a consummate master of strategy is
solidly established. There are many passages ih
the letters in which he apologises for the delay
of promised contributions on account of the ex
igencies of military service. Then he wiU. con
gratulate himself on the immediate prospect of
" ample leisure," and write more industriously than
before, in the excitement of exchanging one form
of activity for another. But there was no more
earnest soldier in the garrison, as assuredly there
was none more intelligent. He was to receive a
very flattering proof of the way in which his ser
vices had been regarded by his superiors, from the
man who was most capable of appreciating them.
For months the storm- warnings in the North had
become more threatening, and the Mediterranean
garrisons had been excited by anticipations of
stirring times and of an expedition to the East.
Hamley had more than once written, with the
natural impatience of a young and aspiring officer,
on the vacillating and dilatory policy of Lord
Aberdeen. Subsequently, in the exercise of
more deliberate judgment, he shows very clear
ly, in the first chapter of ' The War in the

68 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN,
Crimea,' that it was Russia and not England
which had been drifting into the war. But
whether the Czar or the English Premier was
to accept the responsibility, in the beginning of
1854 war with the Russians was a foregone con
clusion. Colonel Dacres, afterwards Sir Richard
Dacres, was the Commandant of Artillery at
Gibraltar. He had been informed that he was
to command a division of artillery in the expedi
tionary force, and apparently he lost no time in
offering the adjutancy to Hamley. The first
notice of it is in a letter to Blackwood, dated
8th March :— Gibealtae, 8th March.
My deae Blackwood, — This must be a short and hur
ried note, for I am in a great bustle at present. Two
prospects present themselves to me. First, Colonel Dacres,
who is to command a division of artillery in Turkey,
wishes me to accompany him as Adjutant, and has written
both officially and privately applying for me in the strongest
terms. As he ought, according to all precedent, to appoint
his own Adjutant, there would seem no doubt of my suc
cess but for a private hint that another man had been
talked of at Woolwich, where nothing is done without a
job ; but we hope the other man is only meant to come in
in case of Colonel Dacres not wishing to take an officer
from here, which the official notification of his appoint
ment authorised him to do.
To-day's mail brought me the chance of another ad
jutancy, at Woolwich. This I have accepted in case of

APPOINTED ADJUTANT TO COL. DACRES. 69
not getting the other ; but whether the end of the month
will see me on my way to Constantinople or to Woolwich,
it is impossible to foresee. I hope the former.
There is no direct correspondence as to the
appointment, but his niece, Miss Barbara Ham
ley, happens to remember a conversation when
Sir Richard Dacres, then well stricken in years,
recalled the circumstances with a significant de
tail. What Sir Richard said was to the fol
lowing effect : " I had been struck by your uncle's
abilities, and at that time I sent for him. I said,
' Hamley, I should like to take you with me to the
Crimea, if you know French well.' The answer
was, ' If you will only take me, sir, I shall set
to at once and learn.' " Dacres was satisfied with
the assurance : Hamley went to work next day,
and his subsequent translations of the verses of
Voltaire show how thoroughly he had inspired
himself with the spirit of the language.
But it would seem to have been his destiny to
find obstacles cropping up on each occasion when
advancements or appointments were offered him,
however conspicuously his qualifications might
mark him out for some special post. Now, his
suspense was relieved in little more than a fort
night ; and while actively occupied over the
urgent business of kit and outfit, he is already
changing front in his literary schemes, and shap-

70 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
ing his strategy according to the change in his
circumstances. Gibealtae, 25th Ma/rch 1854.
My DEAE Blackwood, — To-day's mail decided my
movements. I am to go to Turkey as Colonel Dacres'
Adjutant. We have received no intelligence as to the
day of our departure for the East ; but as private letters
say the Artillery were embarked on the 18th, we shall
probably see them here before long. In the meantime I
am busied with preparations.
Will it be asking too much if I beg you to strike a
rough balance of the edition of ' Lady Lee,' supposing it to
be not yet all sold ? Horses, and equipments, and bills on
leaving Gibraltar will demand more ready cash than I
have, and if you could conveniently, during the month of
April, put £100 or thereabout to my credit with Messrs
Cox & Co., Craig's Court, I should take it as very kind.
I am ashamed to talk of money matters to you, who have
always been so liberal, and would not now do it on any
account but that I think the sale of the 1000 copies you
spoke of will already have secured me more than the
sum I mention ; and considering the exigency, you will, I
know, excuse my saying anything on the subject.
I shall let you know of our movements in Turkey ; and
if I can write in an Extended form on the subjects of in
terest which will present themselves, without overstep
ping the bounds of official reserve, you shall have some
letters from the field and incidents of the campaign for
'Maga.' I had projected and commenced some papers,
which were to have taken the form of a biography of an
imaginary hero, with some discussions on art ; but of
course my present prospects put an end to all ideas re
quiring time and thought to develop them. I hope I

PROMISED NEWS FROM SEAT OF WAR. 7l
shan't lose the thread of the design before I come back ;
but at any rate I shall get a fine supply of new ideas on
active service, which will come in with good effect here
after, so that, even in a literary point of view, I expect
the campaign will be not without profit to me. On other
accounts I have every reason to congratulate myself on
the field which opens to me ; and my position on the Staff
will be more agreeable and advantageous than that of a
regimental officer. I shall see service against enemies
more creditable to contend with than Chinese or Caffres,
and, in fact, think myself very lucky. The selection
itself is flattering. My friends in England will, I fear, be
much disappointed, for they expected me home immedi
ately to take the Woolwich adjutancy ; but that of course
I did not allow to weigh with the appointment I have been
so fortunate as to get.
Before he embarks on the transport which
was to take him to the East, I may go back
to a playful letter which explains his views
as to matrimony — views which, perhaps unfor
tunately for him, he was never to realise. At
any rate, his immediate prospects confirmed him
in his previous resolutions ; though he had
reason to envy his friend's matrimonial happiness,
when he had made the acquaintance of the lady,
to whom some of the most lively of his more
confidential letters were to be addressed.
Gibealtae, 1st Fehrvary.
My deae Blackwood, — First let me congratulate you
warmly on the event you apprised me of in your last. By
the time this reaches you, you will have made some pro-

72 THE CBIMEAN CAMPAIGN,
gress in your honeymoon, and will have realised the first
bloom of the happiness you promised yourself. That it
may go on increasing steadily in permanent qualities after
the novelty is worn off is my sincere wish aud expectation.
Thanks for the hope that I may some time join the ranks
of you married men. I hope so too ; but it is scarcely de
sirable while I am knocking about the world with no more
prospect of settling than the Wandering Jew. Bardolph,
you know, was of opinion that " a soldier is better accom
modated than with a wife," and I am inclined to agree with
him. At the same time I have observed that old bachelors
in the army are generally miserable and not very respect
able beings : this you will easily understand, as the ex
perience of the last week or two will have caused you to
look on bachelors with great compassion.
There are some amusing notes to Miss Jones
from Scutari and Varna. He had one special
reason for writing to her, for he had bought her
favourite riding-horse, and Jim was one of his
chargers through the campaign. Jim had been
sent to bid farewell to his mistress, the evening
before he was shipped for the East. The first of
the letters is from Coolali Barracks, on the Asiatic
shore of the Bosphorus. Hamley sends by way of
souvenir a flower he had gathered from the grave
of Achilles on the plains of Ilium, and then he
passes from classical sentiment to the common
place in a lively description of his quarters : —
We are in a huge cavalry barrack that the Turks have
vacated to make room for us, leaving it perfectly bare and

AN UNFOBTUNATE ACCIDENT. 73
empty, except of fleas and cats, both of which swarm in
every room. Of course the society of the latter visitors
quite compensates me for the annoyance of the others.
There is a Turkish commandant who is to have his head
cut off, without judge or jury, in case the building is burnt ;
so whenever we want anything, we set fire to some straw
in the passage, and the old gentleman, rushing in, followed
by his pipe-bearer, in a dreadful fright, immediately com
plies with all our demands. But the straw is all burned
now, so we must devise some other means of persuasion.
I am writing on a table made out of a door which I pulled
down in the passage, which is the only article of furniture
except a chair I brought with me, and a hammock hung
in the corner, which has broken down three nights suc
cessively. But I have spent little time in my room, for
the Colonel and myself have been fully occupied with
looking after the force here — about 700 men and the same
number of horses : splendid animals they are, and deserve
all our care.
It is lamentable to turn to the pages of his
Crimean Narrative, where the tender - hearted
writer deplores the fate of those " splendid ani
mals," as they died by inches of starvation and
overwork in lingering agonies.
He was unexpectedly detained in the Coolali
barracks by a mishap which he describes in an
affectionate letter to an old relative at Bodmin.
The accident was an awkward one, and might
have had more serious consequences, had it not
been for the sufferer's robust constitution. As
it was, it troubled him in the Crimea from time

74 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN,
to time, although never actually incapacitating
him : —
I was enjoying capital health, when on the 8th of this
month [June] I met with a most unfortunate accident.
The division had gone out for a march, and as I was riding
past some infantry in a narrow lane. General Adams' horse
struck out and kicked me on the shin, breaking the bone.
I was lifted off my horse and laid down by the roadside
for the surgeons to examine my leg, and the Prince [the
Duke of Cambridge] sent his servant to the camp for a
party of the Guards to carry me home, which they did on
a garden-door. My leg was set, and is now doing uncom
monly well. I have never had much pain nor any fever,
and my health and appetite are as good as before. The
worst of it is that the army is on the move for Varna, so
that I shall be left almost alone here and miss the opening
of the campaign. In six weeks more I hope to be with
them again, and many people think that there will be no
fighting before that. Sir De Lacy Evans told me he did
not think we should see the Eussians these two months.
I hope not, as then I shall not lose any of it, and shall
not regret my accident so much.
Sir De Lacy Evans' prognostications were more
than realised, and the invalid's convalescence was
not delayed by any worry as to missing oppor
tunities of distinction. In little more than the
six weeks he was out of the hands of the surgeons,
and had gone on to Varna to join his chief. For
a letter from Varna Bay of the 26th August
describes the fearful outbreak of cholera which
had fallen like a Black Death on the camp and

BEFORE SEBASTOPOL. 75
the fleet, and which he has dramatically described
in his volumes on the war : —
Whatever befalls, it is better that the fine army should
fall in the field than be destroyed by sickness and climate.
I don't observe any great enthusiasm among the troops ;
but that will come, no doubt, with the first sight of the
enemy. That he kept his own health so well must be
attributed in great measure to the cheerfulness
with which he accepted inevitable hardships.
A letter from the lines before Sebastopol, writ
ten in mid- winter, gives a humorous account of
the subterraneous luxury in which the writer was
living : —
The Colonel and myself are now underground in what
you would consider a very inferior kind of cellar, but
which we look upon as a very superior residence. It is
made by digging a deep trench and roofing it with poles
and branches. It has a chimney, which is a comfort when
it does not smoke, and a nuisance when it does. This we
prefer to living in tents, especially as tents are liable to
be blown away, — an event which happened at daybreak on
the morning of the 14th, in the great hurricane, when in
every camp might be seen a multitude of wretches sitting
up in bed half-naked, holding their fluttering bed-clothes,
while their effects were borne away on the tempest to
wards Sebastopol. This cannot happen to us now: the
only thing to apprehend is, that as our roof is nearly on a
level with the ground, some runaway horse or drunken
soldier may blunder through it on to our table or beds.

76 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
We get on pretty well, though the Colonel frets a good
deal after his wife, and clean shirts, and cream in his coffee.
I have an uncommonly nice cat, and it is a great addition
to our circle.
It was fortunate for the ardent reader that,
in the fulness of occupation, he was compara
tively indifferent to books. Literature of any
kind was even more hard to come by than the
delicacies which were sometimes within reach of
a well-filled purse. He talks o£f Sting his birth
day and the arrival of his friend Bent with
turbot, turkey, and champagne, and he goes
on : —
Mr Wright, the senior chaplain, of whom I see a good
deal (owing probably to my serious turn and reverential
demeanour), has a great number of books which have been
sent to the army from home ; but on looking at the backs
of them, I suspect some old ladies and gentlemen have
been weeding their libraries, and getting a reputation for
benevolence at small expense.
Finally, though in defiance of chronology,
another letter to Miss Jones may be quoted,
written from Leith Fort after his return, show
ing the trouble and cost he incurred for his
furry favourites, and the staunchness of his
friendship for his " poor dependants." It proves,
too, how firmly he could attach women to him,
for Lady Dacres did him a troublesome piece of
service, which few men so self-contained would

'THE CAMPAIGN OF SEBASTOPOL.' 77
have dreamed of asking, unless in the assurance
that the trouble would really be a pleasure : —
My cat Topsy has had some marvellous adventures.
She was left in Lady Dacres' charge, and was put in a box
with a small family to be conveyed on board ship at Bala-
klava. On the way the cart was upset, the box broke, the
family dispersed, and Topsy in a panic ran up a drain,
and could not be got out before the ship sailed. Lady
D. came home inconsolable. The subject was still too
painful to both of us to be dwelt on, when I saw her and
Sir Eichard during my late visit to town. Judge of my
surprise at receiving a note from her, to say that Topsy
and all her family were safe, and just about to arrive in
England.

-'C3-^'

But for a time, with such exceptions as these,
the personal narrative is merged in the letters
regularly despatched from the Crimea, which ap
peared in ten successive numbers of ' Blackwood's
Magazine,' and were republished as ' The Cam
paign of Sebastopol.' Notwithstanding that he
wrote more deliberately in ' The War in the
Crimea' in 1890, it is to be regretted that the
earlier volume has long been out of print. Even
now one can read with all the excitement of a
romance what Kinglake has styled that soldier
like narrative. Nothing can be more impres
sive or more picturesquely dramatic than those
rapid pictures dashed off on the spot, of the ter
rors of a war and the horrors of a slow siege. No

78 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
detail escaped him which can give life and vivid
colour to the story : the general situation with
its shifting scenes is seized and indicated with
rare lucidity ; and the predictions he hazarded
as to the course of events are wonderful examples
of scientific prescience. When he wrote on the
subject again after the lapse of a generation, he
could declare that he had nothing to correct or
explain away. He was one of the first of the
modern war correspondents — and certainly one of
the most remarkable. There is no need for
drawing contrasts or comparisons. But it is to
be remembered that writers of unsurpassed bril
liancy like Russell were specially sent out to the
Crimea for the purpose, and the letters to their
journals were their sole business. Hamley, in the
brief and precarious intervals of active duty,
dashed off his flying despatches under the most
unfavourable and depressing conditions. They
were penned after long days in the saddle, under
breezy canvas or in dripping mud-huts by the light
of a flickering candle, when fatigue was getting the
better of him. These letters were carefully pre
served and bound in a volume by Mr Blackwood.
They are closely written on either side of sheets
of letter-paper. Yet there is scarcely an erasure
and seldom an alteration. It is the same in his
Diaries of the Egyptian Campaign, and nothing

HAMLEY AND KINGLAKE AS AUTHORS. 79
demonstrates more conclusively that he had the
genius of authorship. The thoughts shaped them
selves in his brain, and the words flowed from
his pen with scarcely sensible effort. In that
respect he was the antithesis of his friend King-
lake. Though their styles were so widely different,
each valued the remarkable qualities of the other.
Kinglake, though he had some slight contempt
for any workmanship at all hasty or superficial,
would often speak with hearty admiration of
Hamley's intuitive perception, and the instinctive
precision with which he arrived at satisfactory
results ; as Hamley, in ' The War in the Crimea,'
bears honourable testimony to the indefatigable
industry of Kinglake, and the care with which
he arranged his information, so as to make battle
details intelligible as they had never been before,
even to those who had fought or commanded in
the actions. Kinglake would polish and revise,
till proof-readers and compositors were driven to
the verge of lunacy : Hamley needed barely to
revise at aU, and we read his work, like the
Waverley Novels, almost as originally written.
It is perhaps not surprising that the author of
the " Legend of Gibraltar " and of ' Lady Lee '
should describe picturesquely, even when writing
under difficulties. But we are specially struck in
the third of the letters by the acute intelligence

80 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
with which the future author of ' The Operations
of War ' indicates the novel features of the cam
paign on which the Allies were about to enter.
He explains how the old conditions of warfare had
been modified by the presence of steam. It was
possible now to advance with a floating base of
operations which accompanied the march, and
to dispense with the drain of guards for long-
drawn lines of communication, liable to be cut at
any point by the enemy. Of course some appre
ciable risk is inseparable from the most carefully
planned operations, and had a reverse in the field
been followed by such a hurricane as sank the
vessels in Balaklava harbour, the transports
would have been scattered, embarkation would
have been impossible, and a mishap might have
resulted in disaster. So, when things were ap
proaching a crisis, he discusses and criticises the
various designs attributed to the chiefs of the re
spective armies, which, as the adjutant of Dacres,
he had exceptional opportunities of learning. He
sets forth the arguments urged, as was supposed,
by Niel and the French Emperor, by Pdlissier and
Lord Raglan : he gives them impartial considera
tion, and, so far as may be, he is confirmed by
actual history, by Kinglake and Todleben, in the
opinions expressed, on the spur of the moment,
with modest confidence. Latterly he had lost

OUTSPOKEN CRITICISMS. 81
faith in Lord Raglan. There can be no indiscre
tion now in quoting a passage from a private
letter, dated 28th May 1855, when he may have
been suffering from liver, and was apparently out
of temper. At least he speaks as disrespectfully
of the policy of the Premier as of the strategy of
the Commander-in-Chief : —
My Lord E. goes on in his old careless fashion. He is
a most courteous old gentleman, with an extraordinary
faculty of letting the most important affairs slip off his
mind like water off a duck's back, without any uneasiness.
I hope fortune will befriend him and us in our future
enterprises, for he is past mending as a General.
As to Lord Palmerston, he remarks : —
I am disappointed in old Palmerston. He seems to
meet every difficulty with a joke, replying like Jack Fal-
staff "with a fool-born jest," as if Grimaldi had taken
Kemble's place in a tragedy.
Generally, however, he made the most generous
allowance for the difficulties of the Ministers, and
of the high military and naval officers who were
responsible for the conduct of them, whatever
may have been his own views as to the right
method of conducting the war or of the wis
dom or unwisdom of particular operations.
Writing deliberately for the public, he never
loses his head amidst the hardships and horrors
of the campaign. He may incidentally blame
VOL. I. F

82 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN,
Lord Raglan for being influenced by Sir Edmund
Lyons in his unfortunate preference of Bala
klava to Kamiesch, when the French general
had offered him freedom to choose. But the
choice once made. Ministers, generals, and soldiers
were alike the victims of circumstances, or at
least of that sudden change of plan which had
transferred the war from the banks of the Danube
to the Tauric Chersonese. Everything, as he
repeatedly points out, turned upon a sufficiency
of forage. He does not even blame Commissary-
General Filder, who was given up as a scapegoat,
when the Commissary's forethought was subse
quently impeached by the M'Neill Commission.
Filder had been making his arrangements to
supply an army upon the Danube. The decision
to make the descent on the Crimea took him
and every one else by surprise. A stream of
transports began to set towards Balaklava, and
great quantities of supplies, most of them prac
tically unavailable, were either landed or in the
holds. For after the beginning of the rains
there were seven miles of mud between the
harbour and the front. The horses were dying
of starvation or disease ; transport was being
brought almost to a standstill ; and conse
quently the troops had to do terribly severe
duty on short rations, and wellnigh in rags. As

WINTER HORRORS. 83
the numbers dwindled rapidly from day to day
with disease and exposure, the strain on the
survivors became more exhausting. Yet in a
letter written in the depth of the winter, Hamley
maintains that even had all the horrors been
foreseen, that winter campaign would still have
been wise. For though Sebastopol lay open to
the north, the losses of the Russians in their
efforts to relieve it were immensely out of pro
portion to those of the Allies. English prisoners
sent into the interior had reported that at one
time the road from Sebastopol to Simpheropol
was literally strewn with corpses. Hamley, on
the strength of authentic returns quoted by
Lord Lansdowne in the House of Lords, esti
mates the total Russian losses at 240,000 men.
In a summer siege we must have fallen into
Niel's plans and invested the place, with unknown
masses of the enemy pressing on the rear of the
besiegers. In fact, the conclusion is that the
game of war is always a calculation of chances,
and at best a choice of difficulties. In this case,
though the soldiers at one time were dying like
rotten sheep, and although Hamley has described
with vividly painful realism the scenes in the over
crowded hospitals at Scutari to which sufferers
were looking forward as an earthly paradise, he
holds, nevertheless, that our strategy was amply

84 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
justified by the results. Essentially a soldier,
and never sparing either himself or his subordin
ates, as will be seen when he was commanding a
Division in Egypt, he had no notion of making
war with rose-water. So he quotes with appro
bation the speech of Marshal Vaillant on the
respective qualities of Canrobert and P^lissier
as commanders, as he sympathetically appre
ciated Pdlissier's sturdy independence and iron
resolution : —
Pdlissier will lose 14,000 men for a great result at once,
while Canrobert would lose the same number by driblets,
without obtaining any advantage.
As he sums up in ' The War in the Crimea ' : —
The army once before Sebastopol and dependent on a
military system so deficient in much that is essential, no
arrangement or forethought within the scope of human
intelligence could have averted the disasters which
followed. Apparently a few years before his death, for
the notes are on paper stamped with the address
of his rooms in Ryder Street, he drew out some
memoranda which may have been intended as
material for a memoir. They are only too brief,
but at least they give a list of the engagements
at which he was present, and make exceptional
mention of his remarkable escape at Inkerman,

A MARVELLOUS ESCAPE. 85
when, as he says, he had given himself up for
lost : —
At the beginning of the Crimean war. Colonel (now
General Sir Eichard) Dacres, being appointed to the com
mand of a division of artillery in the field army, selected
me to accompany him as his adjutant. In that capacity I
served (in the 1st division of the army, commanded by
the Duke of Cambridge) at the landing in the Crimea, in
the action on the Bulganac, at the battle of the Alma,
where my horse was wounded under me by a cannon-shot ;
at the action of Mackenzie's Farm, at the battle of Bala
klava, and at the battle of Inkerman, where my horse was
first shot by a musket-ball and then killed by a cannon-
shot passing through him and throwing him on me — a
sergeant who extricated me had his leg carried off in the
act — and a second cannon-shot passed through my horse
on the ground. It was at this time that, passing on foot
along what Mr Kinglake in his History calls " the Kitspur,"
a ridge thrown out from our position towards the enemy,
I found myself suddenly almost enclosed by a large
Eussian force, before which our men, whose ammunition
was exhausted, were retreating out of the Sandbag Battery.
Being very lame from a recent accident, I almost gave
myself up for lost ; and after a vain attempt, in which the
late Lord Balgonie of the Guards joined me, to rally some
of our people, I succeeded with great difficulty in getting
past the enemy and regaining our position. Subsequently
I caught in succession two masterless French horses, both
of which were wounded in the course of the battle. In
the brevet given for this engagement, I was promoted to
the rank of Major.
The commanding officer of the artillery of the army.
Colonel Strangways, having been killed in the battle.

86 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
Colonel Dacres succeeded him, and I became his first
aide-de-camp. In that capacity I continued to serve
throughout the campaign, being present in the actions in
the trenches and at the French battle of the Tchernaya,
where I rode with the Sardinian cavalry.
Neither in the memoranda nor in ' The Cam
paign of Sebastopol' does he mention — and it
is characteristic of his modesty — the part he
played in the battle of Inkerman. Fortunately
his friend Kinglake, in gathering up the inci
dents of the protracted struggle, gives him his
due meed of praise. For when he brought up
the guns which formed the half of Paynter's
battery, he showed his tactical skill by acting
promptly on his own initiative, and bringing
them to bear with telling effect : —
Captain Hamley had come up with three guns, and he
now so placed them in battery on the eastern slope of
Mount Head, that, whilst commanding a great sweep to
wards the front, their left was well covered from the fire
of the enemy's artillery by the crown of the hill. When
our soldiery had so far drawn off as to leave a clear front
for the gunners, it appeared that the troops which had
fought against Adams were more or less hanging back, for
none, or scarce any of them, as yet could be seen moving
up towards Mount Head. Therefore bending his mind
for the time to a column 600 yards off on the farther side
of the Quarry, Captain Hamley plied it with round-shot,
and presently saw the force break, then turn to its left,
and drop hurriedly down into the shelter of the Eavine ;
but after a while, troops supposed to be part of the same

HAMLEY'S TACTICS AT INKERMAN. 87
force came climbing up on the right bank of the Eavine,
and at length also some of the men who had combated
Adams began to appear on the slopes. They moved cau
tiously, and hung in the brushwood, undertaking to skir
mish a little, but attempting no decisive advance. Upon
such of the enemy's people as were near enough to be
worthy of fire Hamley opened with " case," and they were
quickly repressed.
Preceded, as it was, by the withdrawal of our troops
from the Kitspur, this happy use of three guns placed the
contest for a moment on exactly that kind of footing
which was desired by men basing their tactics on the
strength of the Inkerman ground. With the means of
extending their batteries to the Fore Eidge after the
manner just shown them by Hamley, and some 4000 in
fantry either guarding already or else close approaching
their heights, our people had resources enough for the
defence of their natural stronghold in front of the Isth
mus ; and, if only they had resisted the lure of the Sand
bag Battery — now loved more than ever, because in the
enemy's hands — they must have been henceforth secure —
not, of course, against the chances of war, but — against
the necessity of having to fight under desperate con
ditions. Except as regards the brief and successful operation
thus conducted with three pieces of cannon by Captain
Hamley, the commanders of all the three batteries which
had been newly brought up found berths for their guns
on Home Eidge, and there kept them in action alongside
of the other artillery.
Necessarily the soldier who was perpetually
under fire had many other narrow escapes, which
are not recorded in his letters ; and, indeed, it is

88 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
a striking illustration of the chances of war that
he was never seriously wounded.
On one occasion he was attending Sir Richard
Dacres on an official visit of inspection to the
trenches. The sergeant who guided them took a
wrong turning in the dark, when, as they were
retracing their steps, a shell exploded in the
gallery they ought to have followed. The gallery
collapsed, and had it not been for the sergeant's
mistake the party would assuredly have been
buried in the debris. No writer ever gave a
more vivid idea of the dangers and difficulties of
driving parallels towards a fortress — of the ex
citement of men plying their tools in the dark,
who know that they may be mining over the
matches in counter-mines, or piercing the thin
partition which separated them from their listen
ing enemies. Yet even these subterraneous scenes,
where death came to the labourers in the most
appalling shapes, he enlivens with a certain grim
drollery. There is a good story of a gallant British
general of Engineers who had gone to examine the
Russian works from the nearest French parallel.
As he peeped over the gabions and sandbags, all
went tolerably pleasantly for a time. Then a
concentration of Russian bullets made things more
lively. The Briton heard the Frenchmen chuck
ling, and began to suspect something. Look-

PRINCE woronzoff:s champagne. 89
ing up, he saw a bottle on the parapet behind.
The French had been in the habit of enlivening
the monotony of trench-work by setting up empty
bottles to draw the Russian fire, and now the
marksmen in the rifle - pits were responding to
the usual challenge.
Hamley himself had reminiscences of amusing
interludes, which recalled the rollicking Penin
sular experiences of Charles Lever's Hibernian
heroes, of Old Monsoon and the capture of the
King of Spain's sherry ; as when a flying expedi
tion of light cavalry and mounted gunners made
a casual raid on the cellars of Prince Woronzoff.
The Prince's celebrated Crimean champagne had
become the prize of the war : each man had
ballasted his holsters with a couple of long-necked
flasks, and the expeditionary force, as it with
drew at a trot in the moonlight, might have been
followed up by the fire of exploding corks and a
trail bestrewed with empty bottles.
Before passing from ' The Campaign of Sebas
topol,' it may be worth while to call further atten
tion to it, as evincing the writer's remarkable
literary skill. Indeed, had Hamley been less
versatile, he would certainly have left a deeper
and more lasting mark in lighter literary work
than that of the professional strategist. Apart
altogether from its value as a sketch-history of

90 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
the war, from the picturesquely dramatic point
of view ' The Campaign ' is admirable. No trifle
escapes the author which can assist the reader's
intelligence, and as the panorama of the siege
rapidly unrolls itself, we see each of the shifting
scenes enacted. No scene is more impressive
than that in the tragic prologue to the piece,
in the gloom of the plague -stricken camp when
the cholera had broken out at Varna. The
man who, seeking relief from depressing thoughts,
saunters forth for a stroll in the twilight,
sees silent groups in all directions, digging
shallow graves within musket - shot of the
tents. On the land, at least, the living could
bury their dead out of sight. But where the
vessels were moored in Balchick Bay, the corpses
too hurriedly committed to the deep would come
up again in a ghastly resurrection, and float and
decompose beneath the gangways. There is the
welcome relief when the ships have their sailing
orders. Then when the shores of the Crimea
have been sighted, there are the nocturnal
attempts at disembarkation in overloaded craft
and stormy weather through the heavy surf
Had the Russians been prepared to meet the
descent in force, it can hardly be doubted the
attempts must have been a disastrous failure : —
At night the rain came down in torrents, and the troops

DIFFICULTIES OF DISEMBARKATION, 91
on the beach were drenched. Bad as their situation was,
I envied it. At eight in the evening I had left the trans
port with another officer in a man-of-war's boat, which,
assisted by two others, towed astern a large raft, formed
of two clumsy boats boarded over, on which were two
guns, with their detachments of artillerymen, and some
horses — two of my own among them. The swell from the
sea was now considerable, and made the towing of the
raft a work of great labour. As we approached the shore,
a horse swam past us, snorting, and surrounded by phos
phorescent light as he plashed rapidly by. He had gone
overboard from a raft which had upset in attempting to
land. The surf was dashing very heavily on the sand,
though it was too dark to see it. Fires made of broken
boats and rafts were lit along the beach, and a voice hailed
us authoritatively to put back and not attempt to land, or
we should go to pieces. Unwillingly the weary oarsmen
turned from the shore. The swell was increasing every
moment, and the raft getting more and more unmanage
able. Sometimes it seemed to pull us back, sometimes it
made a plunge forward, and even struck our stern, while
the rain poured down with extraordinary violence. It
was a long time before we reached the nearest ships, which
were tossing on the swell, and not easily to be approached.
The first we hailed had already a horse-boat alongside,
with Lord Eaglan's horses, and needed assistance, and two
or three others which we passed were unable to help us.
By this time the raft was fast filling with water, and the
men on it were much alarmed ; and our progress was so
slow that we took at least ten minutes to pull from the
stern to the stem of the Agamemnon. At length a rope
was thrown us from a transport near, whose bows were
rising on the swell like a rearing horse ; and, getting the
artillerymen who were on board her out of bed, we hoisted

92 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN,
in our horses and guns ; but the gun-carriages, too heavy
for our small number of hands, were lashed down to the
raft, which was allowed to tow astern of the ship, and
which presently sank till the water was up to the axles,
when the Agamemnon sent a party and hoisted them on
board, and the raft shortly after went to pieces. A horse,
which had been swimming about for two hours, was also
got safely on board. It was a grey, said afterwards to
have been given by Omer Pasha to Lord Eaglan.
After the victory of the Alma, when the jubila
tion was tempered by regrets for fallen comrades,
follows the description of a field of battle. We
see the dead lying in swathes as they had fallen,
cut down by the cannon-shot or mutilated by the
shells : —
Where the struggle was hottest on the part of the
French, our allies left a stone inscribed "Victoire de
I'Alma," with the date. The English left no monument
on their fatal hill; but it needs none. The inhabitants
will return to the valley, the burnt village will be rebuilt,
the wasted vineyards replanted, and tillage will efface the
traces of the conflict ; but tradition will for centuries con
tinue to point, with no doubtful flnger, to the spot where
the British infantry, thinned by a storm of cannon-shot,
drove the battalions of the Czar, with terrible slaughter,
from one of the strongest positions in Europe.
The advance over the Katcha and the Balbek
tells the sad story of a peaceful population sud
denly surprised by the unfamiliar miseries of a
hostile occupation. At that time, after the long

MORTALITY AMONGST THE HORSES. 93
peace, those incidents for readers in England had
the painful sensation of novelty. But certainly
no war correspondent except Hamley would have
dwelt sympathetically on the troubles of the do
mestic favourites. He admired the cats who
clung with " feline tenacity " to the forsaken
hearths, calmly suckling their kittens in the sun
shine, and indifferent, so long as mice were plen
tiful, whether the village was held by Russians
or English. Amid his graver preoccupations, he
stopped to pick up one abandoned orphan, and
carried a small black kitten on his holsters,
feeding it with biscuits ; but during one of his
temporary absences the little creature gave its
benefactor the slip. So nothing can be more
pathetic than the picture of the sufferings of the
starved and overtasked horses when the siege
was dragging out its weary length : —
Perhaps the most painful feature in the dreary scene
was the number of dead and dying horses scattered, not
only round the cavalry and artillery camps, but along the
various roads which traversed the position. Some had
fallen and died from fatigue, some perished from cold,
some from starvation. Once down, a horse seldom rose
again. After a few faint attempts he lay still, except for
a feeble nibbling at the bare ground ; then he would fall
over on his side, and, stretching out his legs, would so end
his career, leaving a smooth space in the mud where his
head and neck had moved slowly to and fro, or where his
hind-leg had scratched convulsively before he died. Some-

94 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
times an ownerless horse, probably too lame and unser
viceable to be worth inquiring after, would linger about
the neighbourhood of an encampment. Day after day he
would be there, waiting patiently, wondering perhaps why
no hay nor corn came, getting thinner and thinner — nobody
could relieve him without robbing his own horse, on whose
strength and condition his own efficiency depended — un
til, after wandering to and fro over the barren spot, if no
friendly hand could be found to send a bullet through his
head, he would drop and die there a lingering death. It
was impossible to traverse the position in any direction
without seeing many carcasses — some swollen and bloated,
some mere skeletons. Here and there would be seen the
curious spectacle of a horse's bones covered only with his
loose, collapsed hide, all the flesh, muscles, and even ribs,
having disappeared — which would be explained presently,
when, on passing the next carcass, a gorged dog would put
his head out from the hollow arch of the ribs, and, after
looking lazily at the comer, return to his horrible feast.
These spectacles never ceased to be painful, though custom
diminished their effect; for, a few months before, the sight
of a dying horse would have haunted me for days.
These sights, and others that are described, on
the skeleton -strewn plateau, remind us of Alp's
walk round the walls of beleaguered Corinth, for
Hamley in his faithful and literal descriptions
always showed no little of the imagination of
the poet. There is a terribly realistic chapter
on the disposal of the invalids, and the lament
able state of the ambulance transports and the
Scutari hospitals. We are told how those of the

THE HOSPITALS AT SCUTARI 95
sick who were in the worst extremity were sent
from the front to the ships, tied on to broken-
down cavalry horses, which could ill be spared
from the provision and ammunition trains : —
Few sights can be imagined more melancholy than
that of a troop of cadaverous, feeble, suffering beings,
wrapped up in their blankets, swaying to and fro in the
saddle, or crouching on the necks of the horses which bore
them slowly towards the longed-for haven, where they
might hope for some remission of their misery.
That haven was in the distant hospitals at
Scutari ; and as to what they were, before Miss
Nightingale with her corps of ministering angels
revolutionised the overcrowded wards and the
kitchens, it wfll be best shown by an extract
from ' The War in the Crimea.' It would be
difficult in a few concise sentences to make us
more sympathetically realise the fate of those
who had thought themselves most fortunate : —
Scutari, the longed-for haven, was for weeks the very
climax and headquarters of suffering — crammed with
misery, overflowing with despair. In those large cham
bers and long corridors lay thousands of the bravest and
most miserable of men. Standing at the end of any of
the galleries, one looked along a deep perspective, a long
diminishing vista of woe. . . . The tenant of each bed
saw the pain reflected in the face of his comrade opposite ;
fronting each was another victim of war or cold, starva
tion or pestilence. Or frequently the sick must read in
the face before him, not the progress of fever or the

96 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
leaden weight of exhaustion, but the tokens of the final
rest to which he was himself hastening. With each
round of the sun nearly a hundred gallant soldiers raved
or languished out their lives.
The writer's irrepressible sense of humour will
break out in these pathetically graphic letters ;
but besides that, there are rifts in the gloom and
occasional gleams of brightness. Hamley, in his
single-minded attention to his immediate purpose,
might have shown himself indifferent to scenery
when shooting quails in Ontario with his friend
Bent ; but the horrors around Sebastopol gave
infinitely enhanced charm to the rare enjoyment
of the beauties of nature. He describes with the
enthusiasm of an artist, when defining the Allied
positions, the rosy-coloured cliffs which buttress
the domed roofs and the minarets of the Monas
tery of St George ; he paints in lurid colours a
stormy sunset seen on the eve of an impending
assault, when the fast-repeated flashes from the
opposing batteries were mingling with the lumin
ous glare of the blazing tints on the horizon.
Superstition might well have taken the menac
ing vision for an omen of the carnage that was
to come off on the morrow. But we may turn
for relief to the more cheerful recollection of a
spring ride along the verdant downs to the east
ward of Balaklava. Doubtless, as he says, the

DESERTED VILLAGES. 97
long suffering and deadly monotony on the dreary
heights of Sebastopol enhanced the beauties of
the view. A smiling May, within the last week
or two, had been scattering flowers broadcast over
the landscape : —
Below us lay the valley of Baidar, stretching from the
edge of the sea-cliffs on our right to the distant mountain-
range, where it wound round out of sight. Like the fabled
vale of Avilion, it was "deep-bowered, happy, fair with
orchard-lawns" ; flowery meadows, sprinkled with trees
and groves, reminded me, in their fertility and expanse, of
the Vega of Granada, as seen from the mountains behind
the city. Two red-roofed villages, embowered in trees,
stood at some distance apart in the midst of the valley,
but no inhabitants, nor cattle, nor any kind of moving
thing, gave life to the scene, — it was beautiful as a dream,
but silent as a chart. No corn had been sown for this
year's harvest ; the only tokens of agriculture were some
farm- waggons discernible through the glass at a distant
point of the valley. The villages were not only deserted,
but, as some visitors had ascertained a day or two before,
quite denuded of all tokens of domestic life.
As that briUiant narrative of the war not only
appeared in ' Blackwood,' but was subsequently
republished, I have only endeavoured to indicate
its most impressive features. But extracts from
two of the rare private letters may perhaps be
appropriately introduced by way of supplement.
The first of them is dated from Eupatoria, on
the 13th September 1854:—
VOL. I. G

98 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
My deae Blackwood, — The combined forces left Bal
chick for the Crimea on Thursday the 7th, and to-day at
3 P.M. we have anchored off Eupatoria, which either has
or of course will surrender forthwith — and no great con
quest either — without firing a shot.
We have had capital weather across the Black Sea.
. . . The coast is low and level, and easily swept by the
ships' batteries, so that there is no doubt of our effecting
our disembarkation without loss ; but I don't think 'twill
be commenced this evening, as 'twill be dark in less than
two hours, and a small part of the army, if landed, would
be liable to be overwhelmed by the Eussians in a night
attack, supposing them to have a force on the march to
oppose the landing. We were visible yesterday from
Sebastopol, and perhaps forces from there or about there
may be now on the way to contest the disembarkation.
I sincerely hope they will do so, as on a flat beach like
this we should meet them at an immense advantage,
backed by the heavy guns of the ships, which could throw
a far greater weight of shot than anything they could
bring by land to oppose us in the way of artillery. Late
though it is in the season, I see no difficulties in the way
of an advance on the fortress : whether we shall be able
to take that by assault is another matter, but I hope and
think we shall.
Our right, I should suppose, would rest throughout the
march on the sea, thus securing that flank of our com
munications with the ships, on which we rely for pro
visions and stores, and their support in case of a battle.
I should suppose there would be at least one great action
in the open field before we invest the town, which is
thirty miles from here, and in the field 'twould be heresy
to doubt of success. The English three-deckers and part
of the rest of the squadron — French, Turkish, and Eng-

ANTICIPATIONS OF SPEEDY VICTORY. 99
lish — sailed past us last night to keep the Eussian fleet
in Sebastopol from molesting our landing. . . . We are
weak in cavalry, having only, I believe, brought four
light regiments and the French none. To-morrow we
shall be on Eussian soil, and shall commence what must
be, I should think, a most remarkable and bustling cam
paign. If I get safely through it, you shall have fullest
particulars for ' Maga ' at the earliest moment.
The next passage proves that at that time
neither Ministers at home nor the best-informed
men in the expeditionary force had contemplated
the possibility of protracted operations : —
One way or another, it must terminate soon, for the
weather is already cold, and winter will be upon us in
earnest with the end of October. But to beat the Eussians
in the field, — to invest and storm Sebastopol in spite of
the forces doubtless assembled around it, and to destroy
the fleet in the harbour there, — 'twill be a glorious business
if well carried out, and if any troops can do it ours can.
His opinion of the quality of the troops was
more than justified; yet almost exactly a year
afterwards we come on another note written from
the camp before Sebastopol. It is dated Sep
tember 7; and most men in the circumstances
would have been preoccupied with their own
affairs, and probably deferred their correspond
ence. Hamley begins by quietly and pleasantly
congratulating his friend on the birth of a
daughter, and goes on : —

100 THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN.
My deae Blackwood, — . . . This is the eve of the
assault : at noon to-morrow the French go at the Malakoff,
and as soon as their success is evident we attack the Eedan,
and the French on the left enter the works before the town.
The task of the French is much easier now than on the
18th June, as they are only a few yards from the ditch
either of the Malakoff or the bastions before the town;
but we are pretty much where we then were, owing to the
stony nature of the soil. But this time we shall have a
fierce cannonade from daybreak to shut up the Eussian
guns, and as we shall not advance till the French are in
the Malakoff", I have great hopes that to-morrow will see
us in possession of the south side, or at any rate of some
of the most formidable works. My place will be with
General Dacres in the trenches. I wish the garrison
would quietly slip off in the night and save the butchery.
I believe the poor devils have been suffering a good deal
lately from want of provisions, and this tremendous can
nonade must have made the town a great shambles. I
don't quite see our way when we have got the south side,
as their formidable batteries on the north side will render
the occupation of it unpleasant, but hope that the Czar
will no longer think it worth while to prolong the contest
here, and either make peace like a wise man or leave the
Crimea.

101

CHAPTER V.
IN SCOTLAND.
EETTJRN FROM CRIMEA  CRIMEAN HONOURS  LEITH FORT  FIRST
MEETING WITH JOHN BIiACKWOOD  DE QUINCEY  ' THE
RECENT CONFESSIONS OF AN OPIUM-EATER '  EEVIBW OF
' BOTHWELL '  LITERARY ACQUAINTANCES  THB STURGISES
 EDITING ' TALES FROM BLACKWOOD.'
Hamley came back from the Crimea in January
1856 with a high reputation. Except when de
tached on a brief mission to Constantinople, he had
never been absent for a day from active duty, and
he had been present in every engagement, even
in that of the Tchernaya, where he rode as an
amateur with the Sardinian cavalry. As he has
told us in the memorandum already quoted, after
Inkerman he got the brevet majority, and the
Duke of Cambridge, who commanded his division,
made honourable mention of his services in a
special letter to Lord Raglan.

102 IN SCOTLAND.
Various honours were awarded him on the
conclusion of the war. He received the brevet
of Lieut. -Colonel, the Crimean medal with four
clasps, the Sardinian and Turkish war medals, and
the orders (Companion) of the Legion of Honour
and the Medjidie. General Dacres, who was his
staunch friend as well as his immediate chief,
pressed his claims repeatedly for a Companionship
of the Bath, which would appear to have been
unreasonably and inexplicably delayed, but which
was eventually bestowed for those Crimean ser
vices. On the whole, he had come off well. He
might deem himself happy in having escaped
death or mutilation, and his constitution had
stoutly resisted the incessant strain of hardships
and privations. Probably that was owing to
habitual temperance, and to the admirable diges
tion which could accommodate itself to rough
and scanty fare. Yet he carried away one
unpleasant souvenir of the campaigning in the
sleeplessness which often troubled him in after
years. It might have been supposed that in the
Crimea his rare hours of leisure would have been
amply occupied by the war-letters which regularly
appeared in ' Blackwood.' Nevertheless he con
trived to find time to contribute two other
articles. One of these came in naturally enough.

"NORTH AND THE NOCTES." 103
It was a review of the ' Poetry of the War,' a
little volume which he had welcomed in his hut
on the plateau. But the other was on a subject
altogether apart : it was a revival of the old
literary recollections which have been alluded to,
and a tribute to the memory of one of his boyish
idols. John Wilson had died, and the death
suggested to his ardent admirer a delightful
essay on " North and the Noctes." Had the
Professor been spared for a few months longer,
the two men who had so much in common in
their love of literature and their passion for
sports would have met. For by a somewhat
singular and very fortunate Providence, the bat
tery Hamley commanded on his return was
ordered to Leith Fort. Then the editor and
contributor for the first time came together, and
the regard which had been rapidly strengthen
ing through their correspondence quickly ripened
into closely affectionate intimacy. Their subse
quent letters increased in number, as has been
said, year after year, and Blackwood could have
given no more conclusive proof of the value he
attached to Hamley's friendship and judgments.
For few of his contributors had reason to com
plain of his troubling them with any superfluity
of communications. Meantime, however, nothing
passed between them in the way of correspond-

104 IN SCOTLAND.
ence but frequent invitations to dinner, and even
these speedily ceased. Blackwood had more than
his share of the old Scottish hospitality, and
Hamley knew he was sure of a welcome at aU
times and seasons in the house in Randolph Cres
cent. Then Professor Aytoun, who lived hard by,
was wont to drop in on a similar footing ; and De
Quincey was also an occasional guest, although at
that time the intimacy with that strange, eccen
tric, and capricious genius had cooled down to a
certain extent. De Quincey was then residing in
a suburban village to the south of Edinburgh ;
but though his family affairs were under affec
tionately careful management, he was by no
means free from the pecuniary troubles which
Burton has humorously described in ' The Book-
Hunter.' Nor did he ever hesitate to seek from
his friends the assistance in any shape which he
would readily have given had their respective sit
uations been reversed. William Blackwood, the
present head of the publishing House, remembers
his first introduction as a boy to De Quincey.
He chanced to be at his lessons in the bathroom
of his uncle's house, Randolph Crescent, which
was fitted up as a small sitting-room, when one
of the servants introduced an odd-looking little
gentleman, who was far too excited to stand on
ceremony. With unlooked-for agility, he sprang

THE OPIUM-EATER. 105
into the empty bath, begging that the cover might
be drawn over him. It was De Quincey with the
bailiffs at his heels, and he lay perdu in the bath
till the quest was over. It seems odd that Aytoun
did not make use of the incident in one of his
humorous ' Tales from Blackwood,' which used to
delight the editor. Perhaps the author of " The
Glenmutchkin Railway" and the creator of the
impecunious Dunshunner shrank from violating
the sanctities of that hospitable roof-tree. But
the humorous side of the Opium - Eater must
have struck Hamley forcibly and at once, for
it suggested the first of his contributions from
Leith Fort. It took shape and form in the in
imitable parody which appeared as " The Recent
Confessions of an Opium-Eater." The "Con
fessions," with their pleasantly incisive satire,
should be read in connection with the thoughtful
and serious essays on the philosophy of Carlyle,
with his mannerisms and affectations. For
Hamley could wield with versatile address the
various weapons of wit, ridicule, or mockery,
whether in kindly play or in sober earnest. Here
the local colouring is exquisitely apposite, for the
scene is laid in a garret in those crowded rookeries
of the Old Town which always impressed Hamley
as powerfully as Scott. A practitioner in the
out-of-doors medical school of Burke and Hare

106 IN SCOTLAND.
stumbles across the dreamy philosopher, and in
vites him in all good-fellowship to come in and
partake of refreshments. The generous host, under
the guise of port, fills a flowing bumper of lauda
num ; his seasoned visitor, draining it, awakens to
the suspicion that he has fallen into a trap, but
finds his faculties wonderfully brightened. There
is an exchange of glasses and liquors while the
entertainer has stepped aside, and it is the acolyte
of the anatomical theatre who drops beneath the
table. A line before he threw off the sparkling
story shows the thought and care Hamley
bestowed on his lightest work, rapidly as it
was written : —
Thanks for the loan of the ' Opium-Eater ' and ' The
Selections, Grave and Gay,' with a view of catching the
old gent's style and executing the little j'eu d'esprit we
planned over the poldowdies. That little note you sent
me of his was quite characteristic, and I shall preserve it.
When he had left Leith for Woolwich in the
spring of 1859, the letters became frequent.
There are warm thanks for all the kindnesses
he had received, and many pleasant allusions
to the friends he had made in Scotland. There
was no one of them whom he liked and admired
more than Aytoun, and many are the references,
more or less intelligible, to lively evenings with

A PBINTEBS' F ABE WELL ADDBESS. 107
the Professor. There is a note written after
wards, accompanying a review of ' Bothwell ' : —
Sunday Night.
My DEAE Blackwood, — Here is a short review of
'Bothwell,' all of which I have written for publication.
The fun is of a sort that Aytoun himself will smile at,
and it will probably attract readers more than grave
eulogy. The Cavalier himself asked me to notice the perpetual
fixing of the Editorship on him.
It appears that the staff in Blackwood's print
ing-office had presented him with an address on
the occasion of his leaving. He writes in
March :—
I regret that I omitted to mention how obliged I felt
for the assistance which those charged with the printing
and correction of my manuscript have always rendered
me. Despatched as the sheets generally were at the last
moment when it was possible they could arrive in time
to be printed, they were nevertheless given to the public
with scarcely the displacement of a comma.
The praise was undoubtedly well deserved, for
the compositors and readers in that office can
do nearly as much for the most crabbed hiero
glyphics. But Hamley's handwriting, under all
circumstances, was so remarkably clear that even
novices could scarcely have taken serious liberties
with it.

108 IN SCOTLAND,
If he had been given a choice of stations after
Leith, he could not have pitched on more agreeable
quarters than Woolwich, and afterwards Dover. In
the one he was almost resident in London ; at the
other, within easy reach of it. The writer of the
narrative from before Sebastopol would for many
reasons have been welcomed by distinguished men
of letters. But introductions from his friend
Blackwood landed him at once among the old
connections of the house, and in the inner circle
of contributors. One of his first visits was to
Delane, " when the great man gave me far more
time than I could reasonably have expected." In
fact, Delane took a strong fancy to him, and their
relations never ceased to be cordial. It is the
more remarkable that he never became a contri
butor to the ' Times,' although latterly his letters
on military and political matters had the honour
of leaded type. Some years afterwards Mow
bray Morris, who then managed the journal, was
so delighted with the humour of " Our Poor
Relations," that he eagerly inquired as to the
anonymous writer, saying that he would be worth
any money to the paper. Morris and Hamley
knew each other well; but the inquiry led to
nothing in the way of business.
One of his first visits in London was to Samuel
Warren, who received him " with such cordiality

LITEBABY FBIENDSHIPS. 109
as I had no right to anticipate," and having given
him an exceedingly agreeable dinner, insisted on
his coming back to dine again next day. ' Ten
Thousand a- Year,' although some of the senti
ments are satirised by Thackeray in the Snob
Papers, as it is one of the longest, was one of the
most briUiant novels that ever were written. It
makes law proceedings light, and party politics
entertaining. Hamley laughs genially in his con
fidential letters at the humorous traits in the
character of the clever novelist, whom he always
styles the Q.C. Once he mentions that he has
been obliged to decline an invitation because he
has engaged himself for two or three days to Sir
Edward Bulwer Lytton. That was the first of
many visits to Knebworth, and Sir Edward used
to drop in frequently on Hamley when he had
established himself in chambers in the Albany.
Then there is a lively note, telling how he made
the acquaintance of Katie Stewart (Mrs Oli
phant). Mrs Oliphant said that Hamley had
been charged with 'Katie Stewart,' as she had
been taxed with ' Lady Lee's Widowhood ' ; where
upon he politely remarks that the exchange of
rdles would have been all to his advantage.
There are numerous allusions to pleasant dinners
with Thackeray, to whom Hamley was indebted
for his fortunate introduction to the Sturgis

110 IN SCOTLAND.
family, in which he always found a second home,
and where he was at once adopted as one of the
circle. There is mention in a letter to Blackwood
of an exceptionally successful dinner given at
Greenwich by Hamley, at which the great novel
ist was in his most genial mood, and the life and
soul of a lively company. Indeed guests and host
were so loath to part, that the symposium was
prolonged into the summer morning. The ac
quaintance ripened into mutual esteem, and
Thackeray's surviving daughter has a grateful
remembrance of Hamley coming as the first
visitor, with simple and heartfelt condolences,
upon her father's sudden and lamented death.
Hamley had the most cordial admiration for
Thackeray's genius, although it never appears
to have influenced his own style, or rather the
forms of his humour, like some of the best and
earlier of the novels of Dickens. In fact, as Scott
had been the passion of his boyhood, so Dickens
was the delight of his maturer years. He would
dramatically repeat whole scenes and pages with
out misplacing a word ; and when he threw him
self into the parts and characters with enthusi
asm over the dinner-table, you might fancy that
Bob Sawyer or Micawber had come to make one
of the party. Highly respectable members of
the Athenaeum might be named whom Hamley

THE STUBGIS FAMILY. HI
insisted on identifying with the portraits by the
master, and the comical illustrations of Cruik-
shank or Phiz. With Dickens likewise he was
on terms approaching intimacy, and references to
their social intercourse will be found in some re
collections of Hamley by his friend Mr Locker
Lampson, which have been kindly placed at my
disposal. About this time are the first allusions to the
Sturgises, through whom he had the privilege
of making the acquaintance of some of the most
distinguished Americans, for Mr Sturgis had been
the American partner in Barings' house. In
Mount Fehx, "their beautiful place on the
Thames near Walton," he was carefully nursed
through an anxious illness ; and the elder son
of his earlier friend was left one of his executors.
Mr Julian Sturgis writes that there is little
to say of the days at Mount Felix, simply be
cause they passed pleasantly and uneventfully.
But what he does say gives a most engaging
picture of the genially-minded soldier who was
so steadfast in his friendships, and who was never
so thoroughly happy himself as when making
the happiness of animals or children : —
His visits there were times of rest. He came often,
and was amusing and amused ; and I remember him once
saying, with a moment's regret, that he was always very

112 IN SCOTLAND.
idle there. His friendship for my parents was very true
and strong. In his last letter to me he reminded me that
my father had said to him that their friendship had
endured for thirty years without a shadow. He was
introduced to them when he had just come back from
the Crimea by Thackeray, who spoke of his rare union
of conspicuous gallantry and cleverness. Many years
later he introduced my father to Dickens, to their mutual
satisfaction, giving them a dinner at his club. The friends
whom he made at Mount Felix, and whom he would not
have met so intimately anywhere else, were eminent Ameri
cans — Mr Motley, Mr Charles Francis Adams, Mr W.
Story, and others. One may suspect that his friendship
for Mr Motley and Mr Story, whom he knew best, was a
distinct gain to him, modifying a certain prejudice against
Americans, more common in his youth than now.
He always came at Christmas, and entered with zeal
into the business (it was characteristic of him to treat it
with more apparent gravity than the serious business of
his life) of amusing the children. One Christmas he ap
peared as Father Christmas himself, disposer of gifts ;
another, he invented the character of Mincepie, " grandson "
of Father Christmas, who was represented by the youngest
son of the house. Mincepie delivered a long rhymed ad
dress which Hamley had taught him.
For all the children, as for all the dogs and cats of the
place, he had names of his own, so that new acquaint
ances waiting for words of wisdom from him or comments
on some great battle lately fought, would be surprised by
very grave inquiries for the " Good Excellent " or the
" Hodiglio." He often reminded us how, at one of the first
of these Christmas meetings, when the baby of the family
was careering round the lighted tree with a sort of chant
of joy, Thackeray stood mopping his kind eyes and said,
" I have never seen anything so affecting as that little boy."

EDITING 'TALES FBOM BLACKWOOD.' 113
Writing playfully, as he always wrote to Mrs
John Blackwood, in July 1857, he says : —
At Monckton Milnes' I made the acquaintance of Lady
Morgan, a very singular and highly diverting old person,
who used formerly to get frightfully abused and called
shockingly unparliamentary names in the Magazine, but
she don't seem to bear malice.
That he fancied the elderly " wild Irish girl "
might have owed him a grudge, shows how
thoroughly he had identified himself with the
Magazine. Next day he entertained a party
at Greenwich in honour of Mr Stephens, author
of ' The Book of the Farm,' who, owing probably
to some association with turnips, is always styled
the Swede, and who " conscientiously tasted and
compared twenty-two different sorts of British
fishes." There was an illustrious novelist in
"a state of great hilarity, who affectionately
took leave of me eight times on parting."
But notwithstanding social distractions and
military duty, he found time not only for literary
work, but for something like literary drudgery.
He had undertaken to select and edit the stories
which formed the first series of the ' Tales from
Blackwood,' and he resolutely bestowed infinite
thought and trouble on the selection. He had
mapped out the whole programme of the twelve
numbers, and carefully weighed the rival attrac-
vol. I. H

114 IN SCOTLAND.
tions of an embarrassment of claims. Had he
been bred a publisher he could not have discussed
more practically considerations of length and
the wisdom of variety. He goes on : " Some
good papers which are of doubtful tone, like
' Charles Edward,' it will be better to postpone
till the prestige of the series is assured." And
on reference to the arrangement of the tales in
the volumes, we see that his advice was almost
implicitly followed. He received substantial
proof of his labours being appreciated. He
writes on March 26 a characteristic letter of
thanks, which indicates that as yet he had no
superfluity of riches : — March 26, 1859.
My deae Blackwood, — Your too generous estimate of
my small services reached me yesterday as I was starting
for my cottage, and on getting there I found myself des
titute of writing materials, or I should have acknowledged
your kindness at once, as I much desired to do. To say
truth, the supply was very welcome, as I don't know how
I should else have come down with the ready on starting
as a householder. I sincerely hope that a magnificent
success for the speculation will quite justify your liberal
ity, for which, as for all your warm and constant friendli
ness, I feel more your debtor than I can well say.
The first number is very prepossessing outside and in.
The only additions I can think of as desirable are very
slight, and such as I am no better judge of than the mul
titude of your readers — such as Aytoun's name after the
"Glenmutchkin" on the outside cover; and a fly-leaf

A COUNTBY GENTLEMAN. 115
with the name of the next tale interposed between the
stories, which would have the effect of the white table
cloth with the empty and clean plates between the courses,
keeping the fish from treading too closely on the heels of
the joint, and the latter from being too familiar with the
pastry. I drank success to the series and its projectors at
dinner to-day, which meal I took at the club, having re
turned to town after my lecture to make some few last
purchases before finally settling to rustic life. I feel
quite like a country gentleman already, and shall hardly
be surprised to find myself Justice of the Peace commit
ting poachers to prison and lecturing rural Lotharios on
the heinous offence of getting trustful young women in
the family-way. I am rather pleased with the cheerful
though somewhat quaint aspect of my abode, but shall
withhold my self-congratulations till they are authorised
by the seal of Mrs Blackwood's approbation, as I trust
they shortly will be, for I shall consider all my arrange
ments incomplete till you and she have come under the
roof. I will revise a set of lectures forthwith as for publica
tion, and send them to you. I rounded off the first set
to-day, and they have been very well received.
Puck's constancy to my memory in recognising my por
trait after an interval which to her immature ideas must
seem longer than the time Penelope waited for Ulysses,
is honourable to the sex and touching to me.
There is another letter on the 10th April,
which proves that the series had been eminently
successful from the start ; and indeed it has made
the most sparkling of the tales as familiar as the
most popular novels which have been passed

116 IN SCOTLAND.
through the Magazine. Yet the strategist was
alive to the advantages of advertising, and in sub
sequent notes he reverts to the propriety of push
ing the series in all directions, and enlisting the
sympathies of an interested press. Possibly the
opening paragraph in the following communica
tion may refer to some other piece of work : —
loth April 1859.
My DEAE Blackwood, — I am most agreeably surprised
at the result of the division of plunder, and not the least
element of my satisfaction is to think that our past en
terprises are not altogether unprofitable to you. I hope
we may yet make many more successful forays with still
more brilliant results.
I return Mr Hardman's ^ capital letter, and shall do my
best when next in his neighbourhood to become acquainted
with so eminently agreeable an old gentleman as I expect
to find him. It will be a good move to put what he says
of Coleridge at the head, as you propose. I shall be very
curious to see the sonnet. Do you think the English
public are sufficiently aware of the publication of the
series ? Scarcely any advertisements of it have caught
my eye. I should like to make a few corrections of my
tales, — what do you think of a few prefatory remarks ?
From the quantity of reading necessary for exactness,
some of it not very easily attainable, and the difficulty of
writing and reading coherently while unsettled just before
I came here, I find myself still going on in a hand-to-
mouth sort of way with my lectures. I can't endure the
^ Author of " The Student of Salamanca,'' and some admu'able
Spanish stories — all published in the Magazine.

STAFF COLLEGE LECTUBES. 117
idea of ofi'ering anything to my class which is crude or
flimsy, and therefore they are not evolved so rapidly as I
could wish. But as soon as I have got a fair breathing-
space I will revise a set of lectures exactly as I should
wish them published, which will be a little different in
parts from what I address to my class, and send them to
you, unless you are here in the meantime with Mrs Black
wood, an event I am looking forward to with the greatest
pleasure. I think you will find me pretty snug for a
wretched outcast of a bachelor — in fact, I'm afraid Mrs
Blackwood will look on it as a piece of impertinence for
one in my forlorn condition to presume to get on so
smoothly. . . .

118

CHAPTER VL
PEOFBSSOE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
LIFE AT SANDHURST  HAMLEy's LECTURES  THE DELANYS —
WORK FOR 'maga'  STUDIES OF CARLYLE.
The last letters are explained by their being
dated from Sandhurst. The early spring of 1859
saw the commencement of Hamley's connection
with the Staff College. It had been established
as a separate institution in the previous year. It
had taken the place of the Senior Department of
the Royal Military College, which had been lat
terly carried on under the superintendence of Sir
Patrick MacDougall, and it was to be conducted
in the new building with similar objects — namely,
to qualify exceptionally capable officers for Staff
duties. The change was effected on the recom
mendations of a commission, sent to examine and
report on similar institutions on the Continent.
The commissioners were Colonel YoUand, R.E.,
Colonel Smythe, R.A., and the Rev. Mr Luke,

PBOFESSORSHIP OF MILITARY HISTORY. 119
who was subsequently Dean of Durham. They
visited the Ecole Polytechnique of Paris and the
military colleges of Berlin and Vienna, — and Mr
Luke, after parting from his colleagues, paid a
visit to Turin. The report spoke so strongly of
English deficiencies, and its recommendations
were so sweeping, that the Secretary at War
hesitated to accept it ; but its recommendations,
in the end, were substantially adopted. At the
suggestion of friends, Hamley, with some hesita
tion, applied for the Professorship of Military
History. Although he had made his mark with
intelligent soldiers by the ' Letters on the Crimean
Campaign,' he had not as yet turned his par
ticular attention to the systematic study of
scientific soldiering. And we fancy only the few
who were in the secret knew that some re
markable military articles in ' Blackwood ' were
from Hamley's pen — though the review of De
Bazancourt's ' Narrative of the Campaign ' had
been so highly esteemed in the War Depart
ment at Berlin that it had been promptly
translated into German.
Strangely enough. Military History had been
, only then introduced as a subject of study. In
fact, the College seems to have hitherto occupied
itself with anything rather than the science of
war. General Napier, who was Director of Studies

120 PROFESSOR AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
at the Cadet College when Hamley received the
appointment, writes with regard to that : —
Military History being a subject to which the attention
of officers had not generally been much directed at that
time, including, as it does, a knowledge of strategy and
tactics, it was necessary to select an officer of talent and
of more than ordinary acquaintance with the subject, able
also to point out to the students the objects of the various
campaigns on which he was delivering the lectures, as well
as the manner in which these operations were conducted,
showing when and why they were successful, and where
and why they failed.
Such an officer was found in Lieut.-Colonel Hamley,
who was accordingly appointed Professor, and who filled
the post for six years with the greatest advantage to the
officers, as will be allowed by all who studied under him,
and who listened to his lectures with rapt attention and
interest. How well he was qualified for such an appoint
ment will be evident to every one who reads his work on
' The Operations of War,' which is still the text-book for
the College, and is acknowledged to be the best work upon
the subject in the English language.
I am sorry I have no record of the various campaigns
upon which Hamley lectured, but they embraced all the
most important campaigns of Napoleon, Wellington, and
others. He visited many of the fields in person. I my
self, when commandant of the College, had the advantage
of going over with him the fields of Napoleon's campaigns
of 1814, one of the most remarkable campaigns of that
great soldier.
No appointment could have suited him better.
At Sandhurst he was again established within

A TRUE SPORTSMAN. 121
pleasant reach of London, and of the society on
which he began to be more dependent. His
attention was not only directed but compelled
to those professional studies in which he always
took the keenest pleasure, and in which he
must have had the consciousness of superior
insight, although assuredly he did not foresee
the methodical development his genius was
destined to give them. Moreover, although
essentially a London man, and a man of society
who loved the sharp contact of flint and steel
in the flashes of sparkling conversation, he was
inclined, as he says in one of his letters, to be
the dilettante country gentleman. The sur
roundings of Sandhurst are singularly charming.
He was never happier or more content than
among the sights and sounds of the country.
He was in sympathy with the whole animal
creation ; he watched their habits and studied
their idiosyncrasies. But he was no mawkish
sentimentalist, and he delighted in shooting,
fishing, and hunting. He shot well, and, with
the characteristic determination which defied bad
weather and ill-luck, had always been a skilful
and successful fisherman : with the rod he beguiled
many an hour that might otherwise have been
very weary, in the wilds of Asia Minor and the
Highlands of Albania and Macedonia. As he

122 PBOFESSOB AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
sketched and painted besides, his out-of-doors
resources were endless. And with his many-sided
character he made himself thoroughly happy in
the company of his country neighbours. He hated
fools, he had no tolerance for presumption, and he
could never endure self-complacent bores. But
no one so intellectually gifted had so little of in
tellectual pride ; and as for personal vanity, or
the arrogance of official position, he had nothing
of either. Like Dr Johnson, he could talk runts
on occasion, and indeed he had found a sympa
thetic affinity in the jovial author of ' The Book of
the Farm.' He was always at home with each
sporting and hospitable squire, in the farm, the
stable, the cookery, the cellar ; and his interest in
all these matters was far from affected, for there
was no mistaking his uncompromising frankness.
With the bookish parson he was still more in his
element, and all the more if, like Love Peacock's
Dr Opimian, the parson prided himself on his
port, so as to show that he had Christian charity
for the foibles of the flesh. It is not to be
doubted that he was the scholarly Captain Fane
who beat up the quarters of the Rev. Josiah in
' Lady Lee's Widowhood,' nor that he had been
as a subaltern the original of the light-hearted
Bruce who entertains the venerable bookworm
at mess.

A CHABMING LETTER-WRITER. 123
As more than enough has been said by way of
preliminary, Hamley may be left for a time to
go on very much with his own story. His life
as the Sandhurst lecturer was uneventful. He
did not help to make history, as at Tel-el-Kebir ;
nor was he laying out the lines of future political
geography, as when he was tracing the new fron
tiers of the shrunken Turkish empire. But the
letters written in sequence to the same trusted
friend are really autobiographical. Their charm is
that they are the easy letters of a modern school,
without the elaboration and polish of a Walpole
or De S^vignd. Their style is the man : they
are dashed off without reserve, without arrange
ment, and it might almost be said without
thought, for the thoughts had been matured
and came intuitively. In their way they are all
the brighter reading on that account, and they
show the writer in a clearer and pleasanter light
than any amount of formal biography. Those
who called Hamley cold and cynical will see
reason to change their opinion. He did not
wear his heart on his sleeve, yet he laid it
very open to his intimates. Some of his free
remarks on his contemporaries must in prudence
be suppressed, lest they should ruffle unneces
sarily the susceptibilities of survivors. But the
satire is genial and never ill-natured. And what

124 PROFESSOR AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
can be more humorously delightful than the
picture of celibate domestic bliss when the
student and "cynic" is at home with his dogs,
his cats, his owl, and his squirrel ? He had the
magnetic touch that makes all the animated
creation akin ; and had he chanced to have been
born in a different sphere, he might have rivalled
Van Amburgh in the education of lions, or made
a competency by winning the affections of per
forming dogs. With it all, he might have taken
Strafford's "Thorough" for his motto.
Two things must strike one especially in his
letters — the zeal he brought to his professional
work, and the infinite pains and labour he be
stowed even on anonymous and fugitive articles
in a periodical. Unfortunately, the Blackwood
correspondence for six months is missing. So the
first allusion to the new appointment is incidental.
" The opening lecture went off very well, and was
extremely well received by the authorities. The
class was interested and attentive."
The next note, which must have been written
afterwards, has no date. It contains the first
notice of the three Essays on Carlyle, to which
he devoted immense attention — the matter is
roughly drafted in his commonplace-book — and
of which he perhaps thought more highly than
of anything he ever did, ' The Operations of

RURAL DELIGHTS. 125
War' scarcely excepted. He had been reading
much and writing rapidly, as was his custom.
Blackwood had been urging him to send an
article for a particular number. " I had no time
to read over the article, which you wiU see was
finished in great haste, as the matter rather grew
on me, and there were several screws in it which
would have been the better for tightening, so
that I quite tremble to see it in print."
Sandhuest, 22cJ April 1859.
When are you and Mrs Blackwood coming to see me ? I
wish you were here to enjoy the beautiful weather, which
I am basking in under my own fig-tree. I have been
putting flower-seeds in the ground, — an operation which
has been watched with great interest by all the numerous
small birds in the neighbourhood, who will probably
promise themselves petunias and sweet-peas for breakfast
to-morrow. I am surrounded by rural sights and sounds : a strong
band of nightingales performs every night, a cuckoo is
hard at work just now, and I have just been obliged to
leave this to help in driving out a sow with a young
family that had made an inroad into the kitchen-garden.
So domestic have I become that I haven't been in London
these three weeks. . . .
Mr and Mrs Delany wHl take the greatest care of you
and Mrs Blackwood when you appear.
Mr and Mrs Delany were a worthy couple who
superintended the Professor's bachelor establish
ment, and there are many friendly references to

126 PROFESSOR AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
them in subsequent letters. Hamley was a kind
and most indulgent master, and he had always
the happy art of attaching his servants. He
reaped his reward, as we shall see, in his last
lingering illness. The Delanys would seem to
have deserved his regard. Mr Delany got on in
the world : he speculated in house property to
advantage ; and ultimately he became the pro
prietor of his master's cottage ornee. 20th May 1859.
Cayley has been very sultry this past week. The grass
field in front has been cut, and added greatly to the
general fragrance. I took out the squirrel to show my
governor last Sunday, and he bolted in among the laurels,
and while I was in pursuit of a frog, which I mistook for
him in the shade of that retreat, he made off and was
lost for some hours, creating general consternation — Mr
Delany distracted, Mrs Delany in tears, Eebecca a small
Mobe, Earey wringing his hands, and Tabitha apathetic :
finally he descended from the summit of an oak on Mr
Delany's outstretched arm, and restored calm to the
household. By that time the Blackwoods had paid their
promised visit, and made acquaintance with his
family in fur and feathers, and with his servants.
"Rarey wringing his hands" was a figure of
speech, for he and Tabitha were a pair of favourite
cats whose ffirtations were to lead to a family
scandal.

REVIEWING 'THE DUTCH BEPUBLIC 127
In the next note we may accept as a pleasant
fancy sketch his representation of himself as the
voluptuous lotus-eater. We are reminded of Scott
protesting to Morritt that he was the most in
dolent of mortals, when he was driving half-a-
dozen horses abreast, and bewildering the critics
by his phenomenal velocity. His remarks as to
reviewing ' The Dutch Republic ' are among the
innumerable proofs of the scrupulous conscientious
ness he brought to his undertakings. Most men
with the half of his reading and capacity would
have dashed off the article incidentally in the
ordinary course of business.
My place is still most pleasant — in fact, pleasanter
than before, as the flowers are luxuriant ; the may in the
hedges is replaced by honeysuckle. I don't do much else
than bask and enjoy myself.
We will think over the Carlyle parody when the
weather changes. At present I am a kind of clean and
unverminous lazzarone, and consider basking to be the
correct way for an intellectual and responsible being to
spend his time.
Sturgis asked me the other day if I thought you would
review his friend Motley's 'Dutch Eepublic' Probably
the subject would suit well. I haven't read the book
myself, and don't know how I should like it ; besides, I
don't know that I am at all a judge of historical subjects :
but if you haven't any one at hand to do it, LU read it if
you wish, and see what's to be done. However, you have
many much better up to that special work, and it is not
exactly what I would choose.

128 PBOFESSOB AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
There is nothing of " log-rolling " in the fol
lowing letter, for the relations of Hamley with
the Parson of Eversley were by no means in
timate. Probably " the atrocities " have refer
ence to the philanthropic Radicalism, or Christian
Socialism, of 'Alton Locke' : — Sandhurst, 16th July 1859.
My DEAE Blackwood, — I hope you have so far for
gotten the atrocities of Kingsley as to publish the en
closed : besides, it is not all eulogistic, and rather an
essay on classic poetry than an encomium on Andromeda ;
and if there is too much praise, you can with all the better
grace serve him out on another occasion without seeming
prejudiced or bloodthirsty.
I am extremely obliged to you for your kind eff'orts
about the terrier, but don't give yourself too much trouble
about it.
I have read a vol. of Motley, and think with you 'tis
most readable and entertaining. I don't know if I have
much faculty in appreciating history (very necessary to a
reviewer), but will see if the ideas for a paper on the
subject suggest themselves.
I'm afraid I'm hardly sufficiently up in contempo
rary politics for the parody you speak of. At any rate,
as my class returns on Monday after their brief holiday,
I shall be too much on lecturing thoughts intent to
have a minute to bestow on more amusing topics just
now. The Editor was propitiated, and the article
pleased : —

ADMIBATION FOB LOBD TENNYSON. 129
22d July.
I'm very glad you like the paper. ... It needed no
sacrifice of honesty to put in a compliment to Tennyson,
of whom I am a warm admirer ; and if a notice of his
poems should at any time be desirable for the Magazine,
I would gladly undertake one which his best friends would
consider laudatory.
For the conductors of ' Maga ' had long before
reconsidered the hasty judgment which North
in the ' Noctes ' had put in the mouth of the
Ettrick Shepherd, that Alfred would always
remain a promising lad. As for Hamley, in his
later relations with the Laureate he had many
opportunities of expressing his heartfelt admira
tion ; nor did he deem it the least of his hon
ours that Tennyson should have addressed him
in the Prologue to " The Charge of the Heavy
Brigade." My deae Blackwood,— I haven't been so lucky as to
hit upon any idea likely to work into a light paper for the
present month. This I regret very much, as I should have
liked above all things to respond to your wish; but I
fancy that I can no more speak " upon compulsion " than
Jack Falstaff could, and must be content to take the ideas
on their own terms when they choose to visit me. . . .
I doubt if Motley's book is at all in my line, as I have
never been quite able to appreciate the peculiar merits of
an historian. Still I like the book very much, and on
closer perusal may discover food for a paper ; but if you
have anybody ready and able to do it handsomely, I
should advise you to set him to work.
VOL. I. I

130 PBOFESSOB AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
The terrier is in high favour at Monte Felice. He
seems of a reserved and shy disposition, and is always cut
ting away to the farm across the road ; so at meal-times
he is tied to the Commander-in-Chief's chair, and in the
intervals is picketed on the lawn. He is delightfully
ugly- Mrs Sturgis requests you will send by an early oppor
tunity his third pair of legs. He is called " Bruce," greatly
to my disgust, — intended as a compliment to me, and at
the same time an allusion to his Scottish extraction. I
propose to change it to " Centipede,'' as more appropriate
to his figure.
The "Commander-in-Chief" was Mrs Sturgis,
for it was always a sign of love or of affectionate
regard when Hamley called any one " out of their
name."
15th September 1859.
My deae Blackwood, — Bulwer is a trump of the first
magnitude. He wrote to my brother last week, offering
him the CoUectorship of Customs in the new colony of
British Columbia, which he accepted. lith October.
1 have been reading Carlyle — not without disgust. He
is an incorrigibly bad boy, and I think we shall have to
birch him for his present offence. 18th October.
The Commander-in-Chief and Sturgis came down on
Saturday evening to pass Sunday with me. We drove to
hear your friend Kingsley preach: the Commander-in-
Chief has a certain mysterious admiration for htm.
I thought he did not particularly distinguish himself.
We had a pleasant little dinner-party last evening, at

BEVIEWING CABLYLE'S WOBKS. 131
which I heartily wish you and Mrs Blackwood could have
assisted. This morning they departed, to the grief of the
household — Delany's dog, cats, squirrels, and owl, not to
mention mine.
The children — four-footed and two-footed — were
brought in after dinner, and excited great interest. One
of them, the owl, is much more like a cherub than most
people's children, consisting almost entirely of head and
wings. Earey is an immense cat, and has taken advantage
of his intimacy with Tabitha to seduce her.
Sandhubst, 12th November 1859.
My deae Blackwood, — You were right in ascribing my
neglect in not immediately answering your letter to an
intention to send a paper. I had begun one on Carlyle,
but I find that to do it justice, and treat him as a writer
of so much notice should be treated if any effect is to be
produced, I must read the previously existing biographies
of Frederick, and also some of Carlyle's former produc
tions, which I have seen nothing of this long while, in
order to show that by acquaintance with his writings and
mode of thought I am qualified to do him justice. I can't
get the books here, and must therefore go up to live in
town for a few days and read them ; and to do this so
hurriedly as would be necessary for next number, would
be probably to produce a paper which I should regret to
find afterwards might have been much better. . . .
Tou will say (with an appeal perhaps to the infernal
powers). Why didn't I read the necessary books before ?
But up to a few days ago I worked night and morning
finishing my half-year's course of lectures, reading students'
notes, and preparing questions — all against the approach
ing examination. For every lecture I write I have to
read twenty rdsumds or parodies of it, and read them care-

132 PBOFESSOB AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
fully too, as the credit affixed to each tells on the writer's
place in the class. . . .
As to a story, I wish I could say I had one so far
hatched, or even warm in the egg, as to be likely to flap
its wings when Bulwer has done crowing in January.
It would be in vain to promise that; but this I will
promise, to look up materials and try for a good subject
immediately. These once arranged, I shouldn't be long
doing something.
I wish I was fairly into it : the conception is much more
bother to me than the gestation or accouchement.
The confession about the story is unfortunately
significant. If he had gone forward as resolutely
with works of the imagination as he did when he
was riding to hounds, or when leading the 2d
Division at Tel-el-Kebir, he would have added
alike to his income and reputation, and the novel-
reading world would have been so much the richer.
But, as was said before, he had never patience
to woo the fancies, which seldom come unsought,
and still more rarely conform themselves to the
exigencies of attractive fiction, without the sys
tematic and laborious thought which is irritating
or repugnant to the romantic temperament.

133

CHAPTER VIL
LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
OFFERED A SEAT IN PARLIAMENT  HUNTING  THB AMERICAN
CIVIL WAR — ' Wellington's campaigns ' — " the fight for
THE belt ''  criticisms ON GEORGE ELIOT AND ON MRS
oliphant  W. W. STORY  DIFFERENCES WITH BLACKWOOD
ABOUT kinglake's ' CRIMEA '  DEATH OP CHARLES HAMLEY
 CAPTAIN CHARLES CHESNEY  APPOINTED TO THE COUNCIL
OP MILITARY EDUCATION.
Soon afterwards he was engrossed by graver
preoccupations. It appears that already he was
entertaining the ambition of a parliamentary
career ; and had he broken himself to public life
in 1860, there can be no doubt that his success
at Westminster would have been greater. Over
tures were made to him, through his brother,
from the electors of his native town. The sit
ting member for Bodmin intended to retire, and
for the next election had promised Hamley his
support. He was tempted, and hesitated ; but
after weighing the matter deliberately, he came

134 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
to the conclusion that it would be wiser to de
cline. The chances at the time were bad or
doubtful ; and, moreover, he was engaged in
preparations for his lectures and in mastering
the professional subjects which he had hitherto
studied desultorily. Consequently he decided to
wait for the more convenient season which was
not to come till time hung more heavily on his
hands and he was seeking some fresh outlet for
his superabundant energy.
That energy would always find vent in one way
or another. In February there is the first men
tion of his hunting, and very characteristic it is.
He had made the acquaintance of the Mileses
of Bristol, through his friend Lady MacDougall,
a daughter of the family, and had gone on a visit
to their beautiful place near Clifton. No one
enjoyed more heartily the luxuries of country
life, with fair sport and congenial company, and
in that house he was thoroughly at home : he
found " splendid scenery, fine pictures, and a
very pretty notion of comfort and hospitality."
" One object in going was to hunt with the Duke
of Beaufort's hounds. I took Laurel, who went
over the stone walls as if he had been used to
them all his life, though I don't know that he
ever saw one before, except that which bounds
my front garden." He was a heavy-weight;

MILITABY OPINIONS OF THE AMEBIC AN WAB. 135
he had a soldier-like seat, but he was a singularly
bold rider. Weight or no weight, he would do
his best to be well to the front ; and his courage
would have been rash, and almost reckless, had he
not been in the habit of considering his horses.
About midsummer the Professor of Military
History began to occupy himself over the Ameri
can civil war. The playful passages in his
familiar letters are interesting, as expressing, in
free and unconventional fashion, the opinions de
liberately expressed in his lectures. Many of the
chapters in ' The Operations of War,' which led to
correspondence with the most distinguished Ameri
can generals, show how carefully he had looked
into the matter ; and it is but fair to remark,
that afterwards he bestowed high praise on the
subsequent strategy of the Northern leaders. For
in the beginning science was on the side of the
South. And there was nothing he despised and
detested more than the bounce and bluster of
civilian journalists seeking to explain away mis
takes and mishaps after a premature chorus of
jubilant crowing : —
The Manasses business certainly was the greatest joke in
the world. Taken with the swagger beforehand, there is
nothing in farce equal to it. I hope the Cavalier [Aytoun]
wiU indite a ballad on the subject. The Confederates seem
to be aware that they might possibly, if they were to at-

136 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
tack a position, find no better enemies than the Federals.
In fact, with such troops, the odds are immensely in favour
of the side which awaits the attack.
Grave as were the issues involved, and although
the losses on either side were already appalling,
he hesitated to treat the subject seriously. On
12th December he answers Blackwood's sugges
tion of an article : —
It appears to me that the calm judicial style is alto
gether unsuitable to the discussion of American affairs.
If their proceedings — civil, military, and popular — met the
derision they deserve, they might come to a more correct
estimate of their own position ; and when they saw they
were making themselves ridiculous, they might cease this
absurd war.
And in more than one letter he proposes that
Aytoun should throw off a set of American ballads
& la ' Bon Gaultier ' : —
"The Battle of Bull's Cousin's Eun," "The Song of
the Pennsylvanian Patriot," &c., ought to be as good as
"The Snapping Turtle."
That only indicates that, like some of our
shrewdest soldiers and most far-sighted states
men, he had failed as yet to gauge the strength
and earnestness of the Americans of the North.
As for their dash and courage, Laurence Oliphant,
who had been present as a correspondent in both

"WELLINGTON'S CAMPAIGNS." 137
wars, used to compare them with the Germans in
the French campaign, and to the disadvantage
of the latter. Hamley felt the contempt of the
professional strategist for the ill-directed efforts
of heterogeneous masses of undisciplined levies.
Nor, as Julian Sturgis remarks, was he alto
gether free from the popular prejudices against
our American friends. Long before the ter
mination of the war, he had come to the con
clusion that the Northern American, like the
Gascon, could plan and fight as well as swagger ;
and he learned to distinguish more dispassion
ately between types and classes when he had
been privileged to enjoy the friendship of some
of the most illustrious Americans resident in
England. In the spring of 1860 he found a more sympa
thetic subject in two articles on "Wellington's
Campaigns." They were the outcome, of course,
of synchronous lectures at the Staff College, and
of another which was the first he delivered at the
United Service Institute. They were intended to
give a bird's-eye view of the campaigns as a guide
to the intelligent perusal of the bulky military
histories, and they are models of masterly an
alysis and condensation. The pains the writer
bestowed on their revision was extraordinary.
With a view to their republication he directs

138 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
attention to the most trivial mistakes ; and if
some unimportant word fails to convey his exact
shade of meaning, he insists on having it altered.
That is worth noting, to prove that although
opinions may be disputed, in all his work on
military subjects he is thoroughly reliable in the
most minute details. The criticisms on the
Waterloo campaign, which are repeated with
striking effect in ' The Operations of War, display
his invariable independence of judgment, and must
have been something of a surprise and a shock to
idolaters of the Iron Duke who had been educated
in the profound belief in his infallibility. Sdgur
and others have told us that the elan of Napo
leon's genius had been broken by long strain and
confirmed ill health ; but in the chorus of praise
on Wellington's generalship, perhaps no English
writer of serious reputation had hitherto struck a
discordant note. Blackwood seems to have been
startled by the audacity of Hamley's strictures,
and his letter elicited this answer : —
Sandhurst, April I860.
My deae Blackwood, — I have studied everything that
is recorded of any consequence about the Waterloo cam
paign, and you may rely upon the correctness of what I
have written. The truth is, that neither the Duke nor
Napoleon appeared at their best in it. The Duke's mis
takes have always been glossed over by English writers,

"THE FIGHT FOR THE BELT." 139
but the only effect of that is to diminish the value of the
authority of those writers. Napoleon's want of vigour at
several points of the campaign was remarkable in one
usually so wonderfully prompt and active.
The same letter adverts to another famous in
ternational combat. The Professor of Military
History regrets that he had no early intelligence
of the movements of the combatants in the great
battle between Heenan and Tom Sayers.
I am very sorry indeed that I missed the fight. Though
it was known in London the night before that it would
take place, yet no one was aware of it in the country. I
reached Farnboro' about an hour after it was over. I
would have given anything to see it. Motley and I were
very nearly having a combat last night on the merits of
the national champions.
Nevertheless, in mock heroics, he celebrated " The
Fight for the Belt," and the courage of the cham
pions, though deploring " the impotent conclusion
which left the laurel in suspense."
About the same time he sends his comments on
George Eliot's last novel. We fancy many people
will be inclined to differ from him and the editor,
or the editor's critic, on the comparative interest
of 'Adam Bede' and 'The Mill on the Floss,' and
not a few may dispute the dictum as to the in
feriority of the aunts and uncles to Mrs Peyser.

140 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
For, as to the very best of Mrs Peyser's sayings,
it generally strikes one that something of the sort
has been said before. SANDH0EST, 2d May I860.
I agree with your critic in thinking ' The Mill ' superior
in interest to ' Adam Bede,' and Maggie TuUiver a more
captivating personage than any in the former.
If George Eliot knows the original, I should be glad of
an introduction.
Bob Jakin is first-rate, especially as a boy ; but none
of the Dodsons come up to Mrs Poyser. Unlike most of
the critics, I like the last volume best. It would never
have done to let Maggie marry young Wakem; but I
think she might, after a decent interval, have been allotted
to Mr Guest. The flood scene strikes me as dreamy and
unreal — wanting a few literal touches to make the reader
thoroughly enter into its vicissitudes. Compared with the
distinctness of the rest, it seems to me vague and fleeting.
However, a second reading may alter my opinion.
At that time our military authorities were seri
ously alarmed as to the intentions of the French
emperor. They feared that the war-frenzy of his
army might force his hand, and that a declara
tion of hostilities in the following year was more
than possible. There is a curious notice of a visit
by a French admiral to Portsmouth, who had
come over ostensibly to inspect the Queen's yacht,
as Louis Napoleon intended to buUd a similar one.
That gallant officer was hospitably entertained,
and, apparently in a moment of expansion after

THE ARMSTRONG GUN. 141
dinner, he had confided to his hosts that France
would assuredly attack us in the spring. Con
sequently, the invention of the Armstrong gun
attracted special attention in military circles.
Hamley went with his friend MacDougall — after
wards General Sir Patrick MacDougall, since,
unhappily, dead — then the Commandant of the
College, to witness the trials of the new weapon
at Shoeburyness. They were conducted by Gor
don, the brigade - major — the elder brother of
Gordon of Khartoum — who had been Hamley's
fellow aide-de-camp in the Crimea.
We had the gun thoroughly explained to us, and saw a
ntimber of shots fired. The performance exceeds what I
expected ; so does the simplicity of construction ; and I
feel pretty confident that no other Government could turn
out a similar article, or one equally formidable. I wish
both army and navy were thoroughly supplied with it,
and then I think we might snap our fingers at our dear
friend over the way.
The year 1862 and those immediately succeed
ing were uneventful. He was watching with keen
interest the vicissitudes of the American war,
which suggested subjects for the lectures and a
succession of articles for the Magazine. But
from the many letters in 1862, two interesting
passages may be extracted. The first refers to
Mrs Oliphant, of whom he was almost as warm

142 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
an admirer as the author of ' Eothen,' who, to the
very last days of his life, was always eagerly
looking out for the latest of her innumerable
novels. ' Salem Chapel ' struck me as very like George Eliot's
style, and I see many critics ascribe it to her. But the
former story of Carlingford appeared to me indubitably
Mrs Oliphant's, and as I suppose both your lady novelists
would not write under one title, I conclude that this is
not George Eliot's, but a very successful imitation, of
which, indeed, I think I see traces in the story. If so, it
is an additional proof of Mrs Oliphant's cleverness and
ability for producing something much more popular than
anything she has yet achieved.
As to the last sentence, it may be observed
that, though Hamley had Scotch blood in his
veins, he never seemed adequately to appreciate
the early Scotch novels by which Mrs Oliphant
first gained a reputation. Yet there were a fresh
ness, a brilliancy, and a pathos in ' Mrs Margaret
Maitland ' and ' Adam Graeme,' which have surely
never been surpassed in any of her subsequent
work, save possibly with the exception of ' The
Minister's Wife.' By a letter of 29th Septem
ber, we learn that it was he who introduced Mr
Story to 'Maga,' — he usually styles Mr Story
" the stone-cutter," — of which the versatile Amer
ican sculptor was soon to become a valued con-

W. W. STORY. 143
tributor. Although at first, strangely enough,
the connection hung in suspense, and might have
been abruptly severed, had Story been less per
severing. Perhaps because the brilliant author
of the ' Roba di Roma,' like Hamley himself, had
broken ground in poetry in place of prose. In
subsequent letters Hamley reminds Blackwood
that Story is still awaiting an answer to offers
of a tale or other articles : — 29th September 1862.
My deae Blackwood, — Mr Story, the American
sculptor, who is here, read to me yesterday a poem of
his which I thought very good, and likely to suit the
Magazine ; and finding that he would like much to OA'er
it to you, 1 volunteered to submit it. He has written a
good deal, I fancy, for the ' North American ' and other
Transatlantic periodicals, and would like to send you a
contribution now and then from Eome, where his studio
is, having a proper respect and admiration for ' Maga.'
He is a very clever and very good fellow, the artist of
the Cleopatra and Sibyl, the two most successful statues
at the International ; but he is a red-hot Northerner.
We may imagine that the two friends had
many a warm argument at Mount Felix, for
Hamley was then a red-hot Southern sym
pathiser. In his letters his hopes and wishes
were fathers to his thoughts, and he is frequently
predicting that the drain of men and money in
the North must dash the enthusiasm of the

144 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
dollar - loving Yankees, or drive the Western
States to follow the South into secession. On
that subject he was in cordial agreement with the
line taken by the Magazine ; and, indeed, most of
the articles on American affairs, whether political
or military, were written by him. But in January
1863 there was a passing difference of opinion
with the Editor on a subject on which the soldier
was specially well informed, and in which both
were deeply interested for various reasons. Black
wood had brought out the first volume of King-
lake's great work. It was natural it should be
sent to Hamley for review, for he was not only
the most competent of possible critics, but being
an intimate friend ofthe writer, had frequently dis
cussed the Crimean campaign with him. Never
theless he saw objections to undertaking the work,
for, with all the admiration he was willing to
express, he could not indulge in unrestricted
eulogy. As a master of strategy he differed
from Kinglake on many essential points ; and
setting aside the honesty of conviction with
which he could never be persuaded to tamper,
he had too much regard for his professional rep
utation to let opinions from which he dissented
pass uncontradicted. Moreover, as a man of the
world, he suggested that, even in regard to the
financial aspects of the matter, the feehngs in

KINGLAKE'S ATTACK ON FRENCH EMPEROR. 145
well-informed military circles ought to be taken
into account, and as to these he could speak
from personal knowledge. The correspondence,
from which I give various extracts, which have
as much interest now as then, does equal credit
to both parties. Hamley stood manfully to his
guns, at the risk of making some trouble with
Kinglake ; and Blackwood, who was nothing if
not straightforward, had the sound sense to give
the reviewer carte blanche. But the passages
from the correspondence speak for themselves ;
and, besides, they give such a revue intime as
even Hamley did not think it necessary to sub
mit to the public. Mount Felix, 28* Jan. 1863.
My deae Blackwood, — I was on the point of writing
you about Kinglake's book. I think it the most enter
taining history I ever read — the style brilliant, and every
page interesting. A great deal of the matter, especially
the military part, is worthy of all praise. But there are
some of the opinions with which I cannot agree, and
which, as a reviewer, I could not pass by without seeming
very partial or very blind. The historian's dislike to the
French Emperor, as we knew before, amounts to a craze,
and it has led him into numerous inconsistencies, and
rendered a great deal of the portion of his book in which
he accounts for the motives of the war quite incorrect.
The chapter, too, in which he describes the Coup d'Stat,
besides being unnecessary to the history, is a lampoon.
But at the same time it is quite as piquant and amusing
VOL. L K

146 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
as the rest, and I should do full justice to the literary
merits, though bound to except against some of the
reasoning and conclusions. With this exception I should
have nothing but praise to bestow.
Now, as you have published the book, I do not know
how far you would consider yourself bound to maintain
its opinions in the Magazine. It certainly would not
have suited the Magazine, I imagine, to launch out in
that personal and bitter way against the Emperor, nor do
I think he deserves it; and had the book issued from
another house, I should have had no doubt of producing
a notice in which you would have concurred. As it is, I
should think a perfectly fair review might be perhaps
better for the book than a purely eulogistic one, con
veying an impression of candour, without in the least
checking curiosity about it, — rather, in fact, piquing it.
If, then, this would suit you, I shall be very happy
indeed to write the review, and should indeed regret not
to do so.
Hamley, speaking according to what was known
at the time, is severe on the famous chapter on
the Coup d'etat. After the confessions of De
Maupas and other authoritative revelations, it
certainly cannot be characterised as a lampoon,
although the scenes have doubtless been coloured
by Kinglake's picturesque imagination. But the
author always maintained its substantial accuracy,
and there was nothing he had written — ' Eothen '
not excepted — which he regarded with greater
complacency, as nothing used to gratify him more
than to lead him to discuss it ; and it may be

MILITARY OPINIONS OF KINGLAKE'S 'CRIMEA.' 147
true that an old grudge against the Emperor,
dating from the days when they used to meet in
Lady Blessington's salon and elsewhere, gave an
agreeable piquancy to his serene self-satisfaction. 16th Feb. 1863.
My deae Blackwood, — Since I despatched my MS. to
you I have had an opportunity, which I had not before,
of hearing what people are saying of Kinglake's book.
The feeling about the attack on the French Emperor is
very general : it is considered out of place, absurdly ex
aggerated, and mischievous. People say that he has been
a faithful ally to us, and that it would be a misfortune to
alienate him or the feeling of the French people, as these
personalities are calculated to do.
Military people are also objecting in many cases to what
is said about themselves. The Duke of Cambridge, I hear,
is furious. The Scots Fusiliers have called a meeting to
consider how best to contradict the statement of their
conduct at the Alma. Everybody, however, admits the
cleverness of the book.
As a narrative, I think, as I have stated, that it is ex
cellent ; as a history, violently prejudiced, and by no means
reliable. The article seems to have been held over for
very deliberate consideration. There is a final
letter — the longest Hamley ever wrote to Black
wood — which deserves to be quoted. It assures
us that in cases where he appears to be unduly
severe, at least he gave conscientious expression
to deliberately matured convictions.

148 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
Blackwood was as firm in opinion as himself:
neither one nor the other was free from strong
prejudices, but both would give way gracefully on
sufficient cause being shown. Mount Felix, 20th February 1863.
My deae Blackwood, — When you desired me to take
my own line in reviewing Kinglake's book — and if I had
not done so I could not have honestly done it at all — I
made it my first consideration to write what would suit
the Magazine. I was not aware that your opinions about
the French Emperor were so nearly like Kinglake's as
they appear to be. At any rate, I had never seen any
thing in the Magazine which seemed at all to coincide
with his views. I therefore wrote what I considered a
perfectly just review in this particular — inclining, indeed,
so far to the author, that nothing I have said at all ade
quately expresses what I believe to be the general feeling
respecting that part of the book. But while wishing to
write what would suit the Magazine, I also considered
that it was perfectly right and reasonable that you should
wish to have all the praise given to a book which you had
yourself introduced to the world that it fairly deserved,
and I therefore bestowed it in such measure as is not, I
daresay, exceeded in any other critique. I now see by
your remarks that your opinion of the merits of the work
is much more unqualified than mine. I perfectly recog
nise its animation and entertaining quality and excellence
as a composition and narrative. But I do not see how
any one can avoid concluding that it is violently preju
diced, and that it is deficient in some of the essentials of
history. As to the attacks on Louis Napoleon, to call them unfair

REVIEWING KINGLAKE'S 'CRIMEA.' 149
expresses but feebly what seems the general verdict. In
accounting for what seems the personal feeling that dic
tated them, people talk of grounds of animosity, which are
no doubt mere absurd rumours, but which serve to show
that there is necessity felt to account for them in some
way. . . . What your grounds are for supposing that he
means to sell us I don't know. I daresay if our interests
and those of France were in conflict, he would not hesitate
to sacrifice ours. But hitherto there is no instance of bad
faith that anybody can point to. If he wished to injure
us, what opportunity like the time of the Indian Mutiny,
when we had not a soldier in England ? — and in this
American business it would have been easy for him to
make political capital at our expense, but he has not done
so. What would follow if he were unseated nobody knows,
but it is extremely unlikely that in the state of things
that would ensue we should be more secure from the
hostility of France or on better terms with her than we
now are, while France herself would indubitably suffer.
If this be admitted, it is impossible to see the good policy
of exciting the dislike and distrust of the Emperor, as
such a course, if generally taken, could not fail to do.
But I do not consider this the only fault of the work.
For so clever a man, Mr Kinglake appears to me singu
larly deficient in judgment and logical power. His opin
ions are no doubt often strongly and clearly expressed,
but then they very often contradict each other. There is
hardly any positive view which he takes of an important
point which might not be refuted from his own book.
Moreover, he gives to many personages and incidents an
importance quite disproportionate. Look, for instance, at
the biography of General Airey, given at a length and
with a minuteness which would be almost extreme in the
case of a great historical personage. . . .

150 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
These being my views, I dropt out of sight when I
wrote the review all those which, while unfavourable, were
not in my opinion absolutely essential to the justice of
the estimate, and I was therefore in hopes that the paper
would be approved by you throughout, as it was carefully
considered throughout and carefully written.
There is no part of it which I should of myself have
wished to cancel ; but I am most desirous that we should
be in accord, and of course we have in common the
desire of making the paper as suitable as possible to the
Magazine, and I will therefore consider your marginal
suggestions seriatim. . . .
I have quoted the first part of the letter at
length, merely omitting unimportant sentences.
Such temporary disagreements left no shade of un
pleasantness behind, for only a month or two after
wards came another amicable controversy which
places both the correspondents in a singularly
favourable light. It is an agreeable episode in
the "amenities of literature" to see editor and
contributor bandying a handsome cheque back
wards and forwards ; and the motive which led
Hamley to lay himself under a pecuniary obliga
tion is but another of the innumerable proofs
that the most kindly and affectionate of hearts
was beating under a cold exterior. Former letters
are full of references to his brother Charles.
Captain Charles Hamley had contributed, like
William and Edward, to the Magazine ; and I

CAPTAIN CHARLES HAMLEY. 151
have been told that John Blackwood used to say
that, had he lived, he would have equalled, or
even excelled, his brothers as a writer. I believe
that from boyhood he had been Edward's favour
ite brother. He had served at sea with great dis
tinction, but his dash and courage were combined
with a singularly sensitive nature ; his constitu
tion had never been strong, and latterly his health
had been failing. It is delightful to see how his
brother always says for him what he was too
modest to say for himself; how habitually the
friendly editor is reminded that Charlie is dis
posed to self-depreciation, but only needs encour
agement to do admirable work. Now he was lying
on his death-bed at Plymouth, and Edward Hamley
had hurried from Sandhurst to assist in nursing
him. Till he had breathed his last, his devoted
brother threw all business aside, and was always
within call of the sick-chamber. The sad circum
stances that drew them closely together strength
ened the ties with his brother's widow, whom he
had always regarded with much affection. Cap
tain Charles had married Miss Hanbury Williams,
whose cousin subsequently served as Hamley's
aide-de-camp in Egypt ; and whether he gave the
dying man a promise or not, from that day he
virtually adopted the little orphan daughter. He
writes from Plymouth on May 14 to say that his

152 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE,
brother, knowing the end was near, was anxious
to set his affairs in order for the sake of his
wife and child. For himself he was desirous that
his brother's last moments should be soothed by
the consciousness that all his worldly affairs were
in order. So he asked whether further use was
likely to be made of the tales and articles which
had been published in the Magazine. As a
rule, such contributions are of little or no further
value. But Blackwood, though often a negligent
correspondent, never dallied when it was a ques
tion of serving a friend or evincing his regard
for an esteemed contributor. Plymouth, 18th May,
My dear Blackwood, — I cannot sufficiently thank you
for your prompt and friendly reply. It will greatly con
tribute to set my poor brother's mind at ease. He bids
me thank you warmly, and say how liberal and generous
he thinks your oifer to be, and begs you to consider every
thing he has written your own ; and in his thanks for your
most friendly generosity I wish warmly to join.
The remainder of the letter shows how entirely
the writer was preoccupied by his brother's Al
ness, and how thoughtfully and affectionately he
was endeavouring to lighten the trouble of his
sister-in-law. The next announces the death : —
22d May 1863.
Nothing could surpass the devotion of his wife to the
last, and she now shows no less admirable good sense than

A GENEROUS CHEQUE. 153
feeling. It must be a great consolation to her to receive
the sympathy that the event has called forth from all
classes with whom my poor brother had any relation.
The men and officers of his division, and all his acquaint
ance, and those any way connected with him, high or low,
all testify the same feeling of uncommon regard. He was
a thoroughly noble character, and I wish you could have
personally known him. Some of his latest sentences were
to beg me to convey to you the feelings which he was
unable to express himself, for your ready and generous
response. In the autumn Hamley wrote again and at
length, to explain that he had regarded the
money received as a loan rather than a business
transaction, that his single thought at the time
was to ease the mind of a dying man, and that
now his brother's affairs had been settled and
sums had been unexpectedly received from other
quarters, it was his own anxious desire and
that of the widow that the advance should be
repaid. He sends a message from Mrs Charles
Hamley : —
It has often dwelt upon my mind, and I always in
tended when the sum should be mine, to speak to you on
the subject of repaying it. I shall be glad to hear that
Mr Blackwood's ready generosity (the kindness of which
I can never forget) had not resulted in loss to him.
Accordingly a cheque is enclosed for the amount

154 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
with interest. The cheque came back by return
of post ; and there, it may be presumed, a trans
action equally honourable to both was closed, so
far as the mere pounds and shillings were con
cerned. As Hamley had the interests of the Magazine
warmly at heart, he was in the habit of exercis
ing his sagacity in detecting the literary promise
of writers who had still their spurs to win.
Blackwood was indebted to him for not a few
invaluable introductions. We have seen that
he had stood sponsor to Mr Story, and in the
years 1864 and 1865 successively he was the
means of opening communications with two sol
diers of genius who were both to make them
selves names in literature. Hozier, the historian
of the Franco-German war, belonged to a Lanark
shire family, and was not unfrequentiy to be seen
in Edinburgh ; so Hamley writes : —
19th Feb. 1864.
My deae Blackwood, — If you meet a man named
Hozier, formerly in the Artillery, now a lieutenant in
the 2d Life Guards, I should be glad if you become
acquainted. He is a pleasant fellow, passed through the
Staff College lately with great Mat, and might become a
useful contributor, especially as war correspondent.
The forecast was fully realised, and the Maga
zine was indebted to him for many valuable con-

"THE BATTLE OF DORKING." 155
tributions. Shortly afterwards his services were
engaged by the ' Times ' as its war correspondent
with the Prussians, when they crossed the Riesen-
gebirge into Bohemia, and the result was his
history of the Seven Weeks' War.
In the following spring Hamley gave the second
introduction, which placed the Magazine in con
nection with the Chesneys : —
I enclose a letter from Captain Charles Chesney, E.E.,
my successor in the Professorship at Sandhurst, who, I be
lieve, wants to become a contributor. He has written a
very good account of the war in Virginia, has very clear
and sensible views, and doubtless would be a very useful
auxiliary. Captain Charles had won Hamley's warm ap
proval as the author of various important works
on military topics. Two or three years after
wards his gifted brother — now General Sir George
Chesney — enrolled himself among the contribu
tors. It may be interesting, although perhaps
slightly irrelevant, to advert to the episode
which at once placed Sir George among the
first in the foremost rank. The answer to the
suggestion that he should send a military story
was " The Battle of Dorking," which, as I have
reason to know, was thrown off with extraor
dinary rapidity. A new generation has risen
up since it was written, but Blackwood and

156 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
his Magazine seldom made a more happy hit.
The brilliant jeu d'esprit was read and talked
about by thousands who scarcely appreciated
the rare dramatic power, but were irresistibly
impressed by its vigorous realism. It brought
home to a nation of peaceful and money-getting
islanders the domestic and pecuniary risks they
ran in the event of a successful invasion ; it did
much to revive the dormant military spirit of a
people who are essentially a warlike race ; and it
gave an extraordinary impulse to the volunteer
movement. Besides that and many anonymous
articles. Sir George Chesney passed three of
his novels through the Magazine, and experts
have pronounced that the best pictures of the
Indian Mutiny are to be found reflected in the
scenes in the first volume of ' The Dilemma.' It
was pleasant to see the pleasure and pride which
Blackwood took in his pet contributors. He
seemed to regard them affectionately as indulged
members of his family ; but I never remember his
face beaming more brightly than one forenoon at
the Burlington Hotel, when the author of " The
Battle" had dropped in, and was of course im
pressed for luncheon. He stole look after look at
the man he admired, and the liking was blended
with gratitude and admiration. So at another
quiet luncheon at the "Garrick" he had wel-

RETIREMENT FROM STAFF COLLEGE. 157
comed and regaled Sir Garnet Wolseley on his
return from the Red River Expedition, which its
commander had chronicled in contributions to the
Magazine. But on that morning at the Bur
lington, Blackwood had a double reason for being
in high spirits. For he had triumphantly pro
duced the first part of ' Daniel Deronda,' bought
at a price which he did not regret, for he was
sanguine as to the reception of the novel.
From the passage recommending Captain Ches
ney, it wiU be seen that Hamley had ceased at
that time to be Professor at the Staff College.
It was retirement, not resignation. In the pre
vious year he had written : — 15th April,
My deae Blackwood, — I am sorry to say that I have
been told officially that on my promotion to regimental
Lieutenant-Colonel, which will be immediately, I am to
join the regiment. I knew there was a regulation to that
effect, but I did not think it would be acted on, because
there are already more lieutenant-colonels of Artillery
than they know what to do with.
The authorities here have made pressing application
that I should be allowed to remain ; but the same request
having been refused in another similar case, it could not
be granted in mine. They have now applied to keep me
here till the end of this term (June), and as it would be
very inconvenient for the College that I should leave in the
middle of a course of lectures, it will perhaps be allowed.
I am just going to town to learn what my destiny is to
be — Woolwich, I imagine, in the first instance.

158 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
He was gratified to know that the military
authorities were reluctant to part with him, nor
could he foresee the flattering circumstances under
which he would be recalled. His destination, as
it proved, was Dover, and he hoped he should
like his new quarters.
As it turned out, he found more leisure there
than he had expected, and, consequently, threw
himself with redoubled energy into his work on
'The Operations of War.' Doubtless it gained
greatly by being thought out assiduously while the
recollections of the Sandhurst lectures were still
fresh in his mind. There is much correspondence
about the arrangement of the book — indicating
how carefully the most minute details had been
considered — and especially as to the choice of an
attractive title, to which he attached no little
importance. He talks of hunting two days in
the week, but otherwise he seems to have lived
as much in seclusion as when writing ' Lady Lee '
at Europa Point.
The citizens would be little flattered by his
impressions of their venerable Cinque Port, and
he found nothing to tempt him down from the
heights in the well -intended overtures of its
society. But the period of his probation was
limited to the time that was needful for the
completion of the magnum opus. In a letter of

APPOINTED TO MILITARY EDUCATION COUNCIL. 159
December 1865, intimating the despatch of the
concluding chapters, he also announces that new
prospects were opening. The Duke of Cam
bridge, without application, had nominated him
to fill an impending vacancy in the Council of
Military Education. " It would be a great ad
dition to my means, as the pay is made up to
£800 a-year, which is high as military appoint
ments go."
There was some vexatious delay, but Colonel
Elvryn having decided to retire, Hamley received
the appointment. 23rf March 1866.
My deae Blackwood, — I am sure you will share my
satisfaction at being appointed member of the Council of
Military Education. It is a better position in every way
than my present one, and quite doubles my income. I
must live in or near town. The Duke had a lev^e to-day,
which I attended for the purpose of inquiring about the post,
and was told very graciously that I had been selected. The
Duke nominated me of his own accord, which was kind.
Nothing could be more antipathetic to his
energetic temperament than illness or inactivity.
But he always acquiesced in the inevitable with
cheerful resignation, and before his death he was
to have signal opportunity for proving the temper
of his passive courage. So in the autumn he
writes an amusing letter, making characteristic
fun of a doleful state of things, and full of allu-

160 LIFE AT THE STAFF COLLEGE.
sions to the book he studied as a second Bible
and unfailing source of inspiration. Doubtless he
had sought consolation in Shakespeare through
the weary days of slow convalescence : —
ZOth October 1866.
My deae Blackwood, — I have been humiliatingly ill —
unable to do anything in my own behalf except swear, and
given over body and limbs, and what small portion of soul
I had left, which is scarce worth speaking of, to a lady of
the Gamp persuasion, without whose concurrence I could
perform no function whatever beyond breathing. I am
now, however, beginning to take notice, as they say of
lively infants, can walk across the room in quite a respect
able totter, and dine on fowl and mutton, instead of lemon
ade administered through a spout. I seem to be reversing
the process of Shakespeare's seven ages ; for whereas a few
days ago I was very like the usual representative of the
" last scene of all," I have now rejuvenated into the lean
and slippered pantaloon, my youthful hose exceedingly
baggy, and my shrunk shanks like anatomical preparations.
Under Mount Felix diet I expect to get back ere long the
fair round belly of the Justice, and when I have once more
retrieved my position as a soldier full of strange oaths, I
shall there remain.

161

CHAPTER VIIL
'THE OPEEATIONS OF WAE.'

SCOPE OF THB WORK^DIPFICULTIES IN THE STUDY OF MILITARY
HISTORY  WARFARE IN THE DAYS OF CHIVALRY  COMMUNICA
TIONS  CONSIDERATIONS PRELIMINARY TO A CAMPAIGN — QUES
TIONS OF STRATEGY  THB INFLUENCE OF OBSTACLES — TACTICS.

No soldier need desire a nobler monument to his
memory than ' The Operations of War.' No man
could have written it who was not endowed with
a very rare combination of qualities. It can only
be adequately appreciated if we consider the wide
range of the field and the vast scope of the sub
jects. We are amazed at the firm grasp of mem
orable facts and suggestive points, at the effective
grouping, the assimilation, and the consolidation.
The powerful intellect has seized on each happy
illustration that suits the immediate end in view,
and the tenacious memory is ready with every
fact that may serve the purpose of comparison
or contrast, for enforcing an argument, for praise
VOL. I. L

162 'THE OPERATIONS OF WAR.'
or for condemnation. The whole progressive
science of the modern art of war is comprehended
in the great work, — not chronologically, which
would have been far easier for the writer, although
puzzling and confusing to the student, but throw
ing clear light upon each consecutive stage, so as
to make principles and practice pleasantly intelli
gible. Intricacies and complications arising out
of changing circumstances are disentangled, and
everything falls so naturally into methodical
arrangement that we may be almost inclined to
underestimate the literary adroitness. Yet the
chapter on " Outposts," of which, apropos to a
field trial at Aldershot, a cursory sketch is given
later on, may suffice to indicate the variety of
conditions and incidents presented by campaign
ing in a single aspect. This comprehensive and
exhaustive military history embraces everything
to be considered in working out strategical or
tactical problems, — from the temperament of the
hostile commander and the moral and quality of
his troops to the topography of the country,
the state of the weather, and even the farming,
the forestry, and the manner of fencing the
enclosures. In other words, the writer impresses on his
readers that matters apparently the most trivial
may influence or decide momentous issues, and

PLAN OF 'THE OPEBATIONS.' 163
that nothing can be unimportant to a responsible
soldier. Consequently ' The Operations ' illus
trate the combination of gifts and acquirements
which, when leavened by the instincts of genius,
makes a great general. But Hamley dwells on
the due distribution of responsibility, descend
ing through successive degrees, so that each
officer in charge accepts his share of the burden ;
and the whole machine is working smoothly
and harmoniously, making the nearest possible
approaches towards arriving at perhaps an un
attainable ideal.
A great feature of the work is that it is
divested of professional pedantry : it investigates
the science of Modern War, as it has been
evolved and developed by the progress of civilisa
tion, of industrial enterprise and scientific inven
tion. Yet the preliminary glances at the mode
of warfare under the feudal system, when Ed
ward III. and the chivalrous Black Prince were
carrying fire and sword into France and Castile,
are so picturesque, that we are somewhat tan
talised by the necessity for dismissing the subject
in a few brief sentences.
In a biography of Hamley it is perhaps advis
able, if not indispensable, to give some faint idea
of the work on which his reputation is solidly
established. Fortunately an incompetent civilian

164 'THE OPEBATIONS OF WAR.'
is spared much embarrassment by referring to his
own eloquent and pregnant introduction, which
elucidates his method with masterly precision.
The preface to the fourth edition modestly in
dicates his special qualifications for the task. He
mentions, though it seems superfluous, that he
had carefully followed, with a view to revision
in later editions, the course of all operations in
recent campaigns. " The American CivD. War, the
Austrian War of 1866, the Franco-German War of
1870, have all in their turn furnished illustrations
and subjects of comment." If little notice had
been taken of the Turkish and Armenian cam
paigns, it was only because they suggested little
new matter. For many years, he reminds us, as
Commandant of the Staff College, he had enjoyed
an advantage which, to the expositor of military
operations, could scarcely be overrated. " It has
been a most important part of the Commandant's
duty to direct the exercises of officers studying at
the College, on actual ground, and on a supposed
plan of continuous operations, as if they were
acting under a general in a campaign." So we
may presume that he seized opportunities of
rehearsing deliberately on a field of peace the
operations which interested him in contemporary
war. The introduction begins by exposing the diffi-

ADOPTION OF NEW METHODS. 165
culties which had hitherto attended the study of
military history. Such standard works as those of
Napier and Jomini presuppose an amount of pre
liminary knowledge which the reader in all proba
bility does not possess. Nor would he be greatly
helped if he turned to elenientary treatises, which
are for the most part obscure in attempting to be
scientific. " The earnest student is then in this
dilemma, that he requires a knowledge of theory
to understand the facts, and a knowledge of facts
to understand the theory." From that dilemma
it is Hamley's object to extricate him, explaining
the principles and theories by presenting illus
trative facts. He has succeeded so well that not
a few of the chapters are most fascinating reading
for intelligent civilians. He merely makes cursory
allusion to obsolete systems. Organisation and
discipline have now been brought to a high pitch
of perfection ; the improvement of communica
tions and the introduction of rapid and assured
means of transport have revolutionised all the
old conditions of campaigning — in fact, the field
of observation, though stiU embarrassingly broad,
has been cleared for professional and even popular
study on definite and recognised principles. In a
few lines he supplies a key to his programme : —
Taking our stand, then, on modern military history,
let us suppose that the field were not trackless. Let us

166 'THE OPERATIONS OF WAR.'
suppose that paths were traced on it which should all
lead to a result. Let us suppose, in fact, that from amidst
the mass of records certain campaigns and battles should
be selected which should be representative operations, each
involving and illustrating a principle or fact, which, when
elicited and fully recognised, will serve for future guid
ance. Here we should have the matter at once greatly
simplified; and this is what has been aimed at in the
present work. The reader will be required to take no
opinions on trust: certain operations will be selected,
detailed, explained, and what lessons they afford deduced,
till in this way a theory shall be formed on facts and
experience which the student may confidently use for
general application. And these comments and selections
are intended to follow each other in such order that, with
each step, footing may be gained for a further advance.
He begins the work by fixing a starting-point.
Allusion has been made to his brilliant sketch of
the merciless mode of warfare in the days of
"chivalry." Drawing on the romantic pages of
Froissart, he describes how war used to be made
to support itself by rapine, so that while the
victims of the ruthless inroads were reduced to
misery and starvation, the troops of the con
querors scarcely suffered less when operating in
districts already devastated. Consequently, in
the absence of magazines and of regular sup
plies from a base, the operations were necessarily
crippled and limited. There could be no cohe
rence, either in the defence or attack. Beyond

ORIGIN OF STANDING ARMIES. 167
the walled cities, which formed so many centres
of resistance, the strongholds of the nobles were
in the most inaccessible situations, and, where
possible, on isolated or impracticable heights.
The army was not an integer, bub an aggre
gation of discordant or incongruous units, which
seldom formed effective combinations except when
mustered for a pitched battle, and which fell to
pieces on slight provocation. When each peasant
was in the habit of carrying weapons, and the raw
levies were drawn from an agricultural tenantry,
discipline, as we understand it, could scarcely
exist. With the strengthening of the power of
the Crown and the subjugation of the great
feudatories, we have the origin and the nucleus
of standing armies. It was to the soldiers en
gaged for fixed periods and receiving regular pay
that Edward I. and his grandson were indebted
for the battles they won in France and Scotland.
As the countries were tranquillised, and some
protection was extended to industry and com
merce, communications were opened up. When
efficient artillery could be transported along
practicable roads, the walled towns ceased to
be places of refuge. Then the engineer had
come to the front. The great cities were con
verted into formidable fortresses, and other posi
tions began to be selected for fortification which

168 'THE OPERATIONS OF WAR.'
might impede an invader's advance or shelter a
retreating army. Then we have the days of
leisurely campaigning and long sieges, when the
artilleryman was playing the deliberate war-game
against the engineer ; when armies, according to
rule, would withdraw into winter quarters, and
when the capture of a single commanding fortress
was considered the satisfactory result of a season
in the field. Next there was another stage,
" as the military machine grew more manage
able":— It was discovered that it was more profitable to occupy
an enemy's territory than to devastate and plunder it, and
that the readiest way to bring him to terms was to beat
his armies. Improved roads and vehicles enabled large
bodies to move more freely — improved cultivation gave
them more abundant means of subsistence. Fortresses
were watched, or " masked," by detachments ; and Fred
erick and Napoleon, preferring manoeuvres in which they
were confident of their skill, to the tedious process of
sieges, moved deep into the heart of the theatre of war.
Napoleon, in the height of his prestige, owed
his career of unexampled success to the unprece
dented celerity of his movements. He reverted,
so far as practicable, to the old plan of making
the war support itself, and when advancing with
scarcely a check, through rich and fertile coun
tries, he could dispense with the cumbrous trains

NAPOLEONS MILITARY TACTICS. 169
of provision- waggons. A system which set pru
dence at defiance and ignored the possibilities of
defeat, could only have been carried out by that
daring and self-confident genius who succeeded
in inspiring .his soldiers with his own faith in his
star. In fact, it fatally broke down when he
sustained reverses, and when his troops were
campaigning under inferior leaders in the rugged
sierras of Spain. But even Napoleon established
magazines at the base of his rapid operations, and
at certain important positions on the lines of his
advance. As a general rule, " the first prepara
tion for war was the establishment of great
depots and magazines, and these were collected
in places that were secured from the enemy's
attacks, either by natural defence or artificial
fortifications." Many of the most suggestive illustrations are
drawn from the great wars of the Consulate and
French Empire, and even from the campaigns
of Marlborough, in which unrivalled military gifts
anticipated modern ideas or inventions. Indeed
some of the most generally interesting pages are
on the fighting in Flanders, on the Danube, and
in the Peninsula. But all is arranged so as to
elucidate the revolution that has been brought
about by the multiplication of roads and railways,
and the improvements in cannon and small arms.

170 'THE OPERATIONS OF WAR.'
Bringing figures and close arithmetical calcula
tion to bear, Hamley impressively explains the
reason for the adoption of a particular strategy
which is somewhat puzzling at first sight, or
seems to run counter to accepted rules. As, for
example, had Napoleon, when advancing on
Brussels to interpose between Wellington and
Blucher, concentrated his forces on a single road,
we are told that the interminable column would
have covered nearly fifty miles, altogether irre
spective of its baggage and stores. Moreover,
the calculations, so carefully worked out, are
instructive, as they show the exactness of the
premisses from which he reached his conclusions,
and they give force to his remarks as to the
influence of steam in simplifying and facilitating
operations by sea and land.
The effect of railways in modifying the condi
tions of war is made manifest in ways we are apt
to overlook. Not only are they available for for
warding troops, as they have wellnigh superseded
the unwieldy transport trains ; but they relieve
an army of its sick and wounded, and so "the
commanders are lightened of some of their
heaviest cares." The importance of assuring
communications and supplies, and of everything
that facilitates freedom of movement, is admir
ably expressed in a striking simile, which should

MAINTENANCE OF COMMUNICATIONS. l7l
be borne in mind as a commentary on many of
the subsequent chapters : —
It is extremely difficult to persuade even intelligent
auditors that two armies are not like two fencers in
an arena, who may shift their ground to all points of the
compass ; but rather resemble two swordsmen on a narrow
plank which overhangs an abyss, where each has to think
not only of giving and parrying thrusts, but of keeping his
footing under penalty of destruction. The most un
practised general feels this at once on taking a command
in a district where his troops are no longer supplied by
routine; or, if he does not, the loss of a single meal to
his army would sufficiently impress it on him. While
distant spectators imagine him to be intent only on
striking or parrying a blow, he probably directs a
hundred glances, a hundred anxious thoughts, to the
communications in his rear, for one that he bestows on
his adversary's front. Perhaps no situation is more piti
able than that of a commander who has allowed an enemy
to sever his communications. He sees the end of his
resources at hand, but not the means to replenish them.
Is he to spread his troops to find subsistence for them
selves ? How then shall they be assembled to meet the
enemy ? Shall he combine them for a desperate attack ?
How, if that attack fails, are they to be fed ? He will
then have no alternative but to make the best terms he
can, or see his army dissolve like snow.
Part II. deals with the considerations which
must precede the opening of every campaign, —
and these are often far from being purely mili
tary : with the arguments that must be weighed

172 'THE OPERATIONS OF WAR.'
before deciding to assume the offensive or to
stand on the defence : with the relative advan
tages of railroads to the invading and defending
forces : with the selection of the governing object
of the war and the choice of the most favourable
theatre of operations. As usual, the writer's in
timacy with history supplies copious illustrations.
Even in the case of Continental nations the alter
natives in selecting the theatre are sure to be
sufficiently embarrassing. But with English sea-
power the difficulties are immeasurably increased,
and " much more," says Hamley, "is it incumbent
upon England to summon her most sagacious
chiefs to council before committing herself to
one of the numerous avenues which her maritime
ascendancy will offer for her choice."
In Part III., and in the subsequent sections,
principles and theories are reduced to practice,
and we come to the study of complicated questions
of strategy. The writer lays down the general
laws which should regulate operations in the
manifold relations of opposing armies. He not
only analyses the conduct of the commanders in
memorable campaigns or engagements, praising
or blaming, as the case may be ; but he indi
cates and discusses the various alternatives that
were open to them. Nothing, for example, can
be more interesting than his strictures and

STRATEGICAL MOVEMENTS. 173
speculations on the Waterloo campaign ; on the
movements, actual or possible, of the French
marshals, MacMahon and Bazaine, after the first
German victories ; ^ , and of the fighting in Amer
ica, when North and South were being schooled
in warfare by bitter experiences. In a couple
of paragraphs, he concisely describes his plan
of arrangement, which is equally systematic and
comprehensive : —
Strategical movements will be considered as having the
following objects : 1st, To menace or assail the enemy's com
munications unth Ms base ; 2d, To destroy the coherence and
concerted action of his army, by brealdng the communications
which connect the parts ; 3d, To effect superior concentrations
on particular points. And as, whichever mode a general
may adopt, it is essential that he should always maintain
his own communications with his base, so the part of the
subject first discussed will be the circumstances by which
the security of those communications will be specially
affected. . . .
The circumstances which it is necessary to know in
order to understand the position of the opposing armies at
the outset of a campaign, are first briefly recounted ;
then the fronts, the bases, and the lines connecting them
are defined ; next the plans of the generals on each side
are discussed. Then the operations of the campaign are
related in the simplest and most methodical form, with
out comment ; for not only is the course of the operations
rendered clearer by keeping the commentary separate, but
the student is thus at liberty to exercise his own faculties

1 Criticised in the fourth edition of ' The Operations of War.'

174 'THE OPERATIONS OF WAR.'
in accounting for the movements. Lastly, the situation at
each stage is commented on ; and as every campaign fur
nishes examples of many points of war besides that which
it has been specially selected to illustrate, these are noted
and discussed. Deductions, which seem to be of par
ticularly wide application, are presented in a definite form
for future use ; but nothing is offered in that shape, unless
it is so far supported by fact and argument as to have a
title to the reader's assent.
Take, as a single example of his vigorous and
pointed method, an illustration of concentration,
as virtually multiplying numbers and increasing
striking power : —
So long as there is constant communication between the
supreme directing authority and his dispersed subordinate
leaders, so long may a coherent impulse be given to all the
portions of an army. But when the intervention of a
hostile force destroys this communication, the action of
every part is checked. Combined action is the aim of a
commander-in-chief, and combination is impossible when
concert is destroyed. Nor is the apprehension which
paralyses a commander who is thus separated from his
colleague the result merely of uncertainty. For had
Beaulieu from Voltri, or the Archduke from Teugen,
advanced boldly on the enemy, each would have en
countered a victorious and superior army. It would seem,
therefore, that, under such circumstances, the only prudent
course is to effect a reunion with the utmost promptitude,
and that the advantages of the concentric position of the
interposing army are substantial, and are only augmented,
not altogether caused, by the moral effect of the situation.

FEATURES OF FAMOUS BATTLE-GROUNDS. 175
The importance and interest of Part V., on
" The Influence of Obstacles," may be appreciated
by a glance at the first chapter, which is intro
ductory to the rest. It summarises, from the
military point of view, the geographical con
figuration of some of the most famous battle
grounds in the world — of Northern Italy, Spain,
and the Central States of the American Republic.
To a great extent that configuration invariably
confines operations to certain lines and certain
definite limits ; yet it is shown that this re
striction offers rare opportunities, which may
be turned to signal account by the instincts of
genius and by prompt decision, — as in the
memorable campaign of 1814, in Champagne,
when Napoleon, withdrawing before overwhelm
ing forces, nevertheless carried off the honours
of the war. The natural obstacles, — the moun
tain-ranges, the rivers and the forests, — with
the means and opportunities of using or over
coming them, are discussed from every conceiv
able point of view. But perhaps the most in
teresting and thoughtful of the chapters is that
on the changing value and employment of for
tresses, which is a summary of the history of
modern fortification. It is explained how the
strongholds, which from time immemorial had
been the fiercely contested pivots of international

176 'THE OPERATIONS OF WAR.'
warfare, began to lose their value, when invading
armies with facilitated transport could pass them
and press forward to decisive battles. After a
Marengo or a Jena, all the enveloped fortresses
would surrender to the victor without a blow,
and their garrisons would be sacrificed as pris
oners of war. Yet we are reminded that the
scientific fortification of frontiers is still indis
pensable as ever, and the principles are care
fully expounded on which modern defences must
be devised : —
The student will find it an excellent lesson in strategy,
and one taxing his acquirements, to take a map of any
country — France, Spain, Turkey — and devise for it an
efficient and economical system of fortresses, always re
membering that these must be placed where they combine
the conditions of security from attack with the command
of those points in the theatre which are of chief strategical
importance. For to place the fortresses in the most
efi'ective situations, he must know well the features of the
country, and be able to recognise and deal with the many
problems it may suggest, under various circumstances, as
a possible theatre of war — problems such as it has been
the object of this work to state and discuss.
The latter part of the work is devoted to Tactics.
Tactics which go necessarily into technical detail
may be supposed to be less attractive matter than
the strategy, which is often the romance of sensa-

IMPOBTANCE OF MOUNTED BIFLEMEN. 177
tional history. Yet the writer's literary skill is
nowhere shown to greater advantage than when
he indicates how old and well-approved methods
had to give way to the irresistible forces of inven
tion. Infantry, cavalry, and artillery were all
constrained to recast their parts in an action,
when the range of field-guns was being steadily
increased, and the fire of the quick-loading rifles
became murderous. If a general persisted in
attacking in the old column formation, his steadi
est troops took the matter into their own hands
by scattering and seeking for shelter, if indeed it
was not decided for them by virtual extermination.
Under pressure of stern facts, venerated traditions
gave way, and the solid columns were dissolved
into swarms of skirmishers. Battalions, when
broken up into scattered sharpshooters, offer no
fair mark to isolated batteries. Cavalry, although
horse must be opposed to horse, have fewer deci
sive opportunities than formerly on a battle-field ;
but they are of more service than ever as scouts,
for requisitioning, and for drawing an impene
trable veil around the movements of the army to
which they are attached.
Hamley strongly advocates the multiplication
of corps of mounted riflemen, capable of perform
ing the duties both of cavalry and infantry, while
VOL. I. M

178 'THE OPEBATIONS OF WAB.'
combining the swift mobility of the one with the
formidable fire of the other : —
The nature of the service would render it especially
popular with the active, the enterprising, and the am
bitious ; and (supposing we were desirous for once of
devising something in war, instead of copying foreign
examples in the way that Chinese artists copy Italian
pictures) it would not be easy to lead the way more
effectively than by organising a force of mounted rifle
men.

179

CHAPTER IX.
THE COUNCIL OF MILITAEY EDUCATION.
CHAMBERS IN THE ALBANY  CLUB-LIFB AT THB ATHENiEUM 
LETTERS FROM VON MOLTKE AND AMERICAN GENERALS ON
' THB OPERATIONS OP WAR '  COMMISSION FOR THB DE
LIMITATION OF ELECTORAL DISTRICTS  REVIEWING KING-
LAKb's ' CRIMEA '  APPOINTMENT AS COMMANDANT OF THB
STAFF COLLEGE.
The Council of Military Education had been
established in 1857. It consisted of the Com
mander-in-Chief as ex officio President, a Vice-
President, and four members, of whom one was
a civilian. Of its numerous duties the principal
were, — the appointment of Examiners for the
Military examinations, and Professors and In
structors at the Military Colleges ; the conduct
of examinations of officers for the Staff College,
general Staff, and the advanced class at Wool
wich. Reports of progress were to be laid be
fore the Council. It was abolished in 1880, when
the present Military Education Department was
formed.

180 THE COUNCIL OF MILITABY EDUCATION.
Hamley had established himself in comfort
able chambers in the Albany, and for the first
time he was living in London society. He took
very kindly to the new life, and his rooms soon
were the favourite resort of a few familiar
and congenial friends. He had barely settled
into his new quarters before he was elected
to the Athenaeum by the committee. He was
highly gratified by the compliment, for which,
he says modestly, he was greatly indebted to
the good offices of his friend the Chaplain-
General. He could hardly have foreseen at
the time how much the Club was to be to
him. Self-condemned to celibacy, he made it
his home, and thenceforward it influenced and
modified his habits. It has at least the excep
tional advantage of bringing together distin
guished men of every profession, or of no profes
sion, who meet upon absolutely neutral ground,
irrespective of wide differences of opinion. The
mingling of castes, callings, and creeds exactly
suited the new member. He might be ultra-
Conservative in certain of his convictions, but
he was catholic in tastes and sympathies. He
was soon on pleasant and easy terms with ac
quaintances in all circles. His soldierly frank
ness recommended him to everybody with whom
he had anything in common. Radical Ministers

AT THE ATHEN^UM CLUB. 181
and members of Parliament smiled at his good-
humoured abuse of themselves and their measures.
In the billiard -room or smoking-room (though
he did not smoke, he was constantly in the
smoking-room) he would indulge in humorous
licence of speech with the solemn philosophers
whose writings were held in reverence all over
the civilised world, but when he happened to
take them seriously they listened to him respect
fully. The truth was, he was fond of treat
ing playfully the men whose genius and in
tellectual acquirements he most admired, and
the subjects in which he was most deeply in
terested. His company at dinner was eagerly
sought after. Hayward, and his old ally and
strategical antagonist Kinglake, Chenery the
accomplished editor of the ' Times,' the late Sir
Wihiam Gregory, and the gifted Sir Edward
Bunbury, were among his familiars. Of these,
with perhaps the exception of Kinglake, there
was no man he appreciated more highly than
Bunbury. He was a frequent guest at Barton,
the family seat of the Bunburys, famous for
its Reynoldses and the collection of the Dutch
masters, and it was always a rare intellectual
treat to hear Hamley and Bunbury discussing
the fine arts. He used his friend, besides, as a
classical dictionary of reference ; and Bunbury's

182 THE COUNCIL OF MILITABY EDUCATION.
unrivalled memory was an unfailing resource in
verifying a quotation from Homer or Horace.
After dinner he loved to take a lounge round
the tables. Now he would be talking dogma
— or, possibly, the contemporary drama — with a
liberal - minded divine ; now he would be dis
cussing politics or sport with a member of the
Cabinet ; and again he would get so seriously
interested with anybody over anything, that
they would sit absorbed in conversation tiU the
lights were turned down and the silence in the
deserted dining-hall was otherwise unbroken.
In that and the following year he had more
than one very gratifying proof of the widespread
popularity and success of his ' Operations of War.'
There are sundry interesting and flattering let
ters from American generals ; and, in especial,
his somewhat severe strictures on Sherman's
campaigning in Georgia led to a correspondence,
and afterwards to what would have ripened into
friendship had the soldiers lived within reach
of each other. Hamley writes : —
I have received a letter through the Secretary of the
American Legation from Sherman, in which he thinks I
might be induced to modify my chapter on his operations,
for reasons which he gives. That was a very handsome
way of meeting objections, for most men who have at
tained to such eminence are content to wrap themselves

LETTER FROM VON MOLTKE. 183
in their dignity and make no reply — not even " D — n
your eyes ! " — to their critics.
The letters may perhaps be most appropriately
introduced in this place, with no strict regard
to chronology.
A communication from Von Moltke may claim
precedence. It was forwarded through Colonel
Walker — afterwards General Sir Beauchamp
Walker, since dead — who had been our military
attache at Berlin during the Franco - German
war, and had accompanied the staff of the
Crown Prince during the march on Paris : —
Satwrday.
My deae Hamley, — I enclose you a letter from General
Moltke. At the Foreign Office you will flnd a roll of
maps, of which he begs your acceptance, so please send
for them before they are lost in the all-devouring maw
of that most ill-regulated office. I am particularly de
sired to tell you that they are as yet quite in the rough.
Those published with the official account of the campaign
will be lithographed, and will also contain the positions
of the troops. — Yours truly, Beauchamp Walkee.
The enclosure might have been written by an
Englishman, and indeed the writer had married
an Englishwoman ;— - Bbblin, Ma/rch 15, 1867.
My deae Sie, — I have received from Col. Walker
a copy of your work on 'The Operations of War,' for

184 THE COUNCIL OF MILITARY EDUCATION,
which I beg you to accept my very best thanks, and at
the same time my sincere congratulations as author of
so valuable and interesting a work.
It may not be uninteresting to you to have accurate
maps of our late battle-fields: I have therefore sent a
copy of all we have as yet published to Col. Walker,
with a request to forward them to you through the
British Embassy. I beg you to accept of them as a
token of the pleasure your work has given me, and of
respect for its author. — I remain, my dear sir, your
obedient servant, V. Moltke.
There is an undated letter from Colonel Wal
ker, apparently written previously, but which
was suggested by the correspondence on the
' Operations ' : —
My deae Hamley, — You are quite right in what you
remark about the reserves at Koniggratz. The only use
to which they were put was to attempt to retake Chlum
and Eosberitz with them.
If you like to send me the proofs of your additional
chapter, I will do what I can to correct them; and if
you want any information which I can supply, just note
the points and you shall have it. General v. Moltke is
very much pleased with yonr attention in sending him
the work, and begs that I will give you his best thanks.
You have done well to establish a good relation with this
thinking man. He told me last night that the official
account of the campaign would soon be ready.
Could you not get leave to see my despatch No. 96, of
the 2d Nov. 1866 ? I really believe (with some errors)
it to be as clear and nearly as correct an account as has

LETTERS FROM GENERALS LEE AND SHERMAN. 185
yet been written of the events of 2d - 3d July 1866.
Don't scruple to write if you want information. — Believe
me, my dear Hamley, very truly yours,
Beauchamp Walkee.
Would you like Benedict's ordre de bataille for the 3d
July ? I sent a translation of it last week to Cooke.
On 14th June 1866 General Lee wrote to Mr
John Sturgis requesting that a copy of the work
might be forwarded to him.
His subsequent letter to Hamley is remarkable,
as coming from that illustrious and dashing com
mander, who had played his conspicuous part in
the war from the most purely patriotic motives.
After some preliminary civilities he goes on : —
The subject of your book is one full of difficulties.
Whatever can lessen or remove them will be of service
to those who resort to the arbitrament of arms. Man
kind would greatly gain if nations would refer to the
judgment of reason, rather than the decision of the sword,
the settlement of disputes. — With great respect, your
obedient servant, E. E. Lee.
The first communication from General Sherman
was indirect. It was addressed to Mr Benjamin
Moran, the United States Minister in London : —
Headquabtees Militaey Division op the Missouri,
Saint Louis, Mo., March 16, 1867.
B. MOEAN, Esq.
Deae Sie, — I take the liberty of mailing to you five
copies of a report of mine recently printed by order of

186 THE COUNCIL OF MILITARY EDUCATION.
Congress, which will be found in the series of the Eeports
of the Committee on the Conduct of the War, but a few
copies were bound separate, of which I send you five:
one for yourself ; one for George Hooper, Esq., who sent
me his volume through you ; one for Col. Hamley, whose
volume I received from you ; one for the U.S. Club, and
a spare copy. This is not a real report, but is a com
pilation of letters selected out of my letter-books, and
designed to show how and when ideas and plans origin
ated. The time is not yet ripe for History, but in time
enough data will be collected convenient for the hands of
our Napier when he turns up.
A good many of the English commentaries and criti
cisms err, because it is impossible for them to see why
well-established principles of war had to be modified to
suit the peculiar geography and forest nature of our
country. Thus, I think, if Colonel Hamley were to
visit the ground about Dalton and Eesaca, he would
modify his chapter treating of my dispositions there.
Though I divided my force (generally, but by no means
always, a violation of a rule of war), Johnston could
not have fallen on M'Eherson without doing just what
I wanted — viz., let go forts and parapets, and a natural
position that might have cost me 20,000 men to have
dislodged by a direct attack. Johnston could not make
a detachment large enough to endanger M'Pherson, who,
on the defensive, would have had the woods and range
of hills at Snake Creek in his favour, and I had good
roads by the rear to reinforce M'Pherson in one march.
I like to see these criticisms, however, as they show
that the rest of the world is interested in our youthful
imitations of their grand games of war. — I am, with great
respect, your friend, W. T. Sheeman,
Lt.-Genl, U.S.A.

HAMLEY AND GENERAL SHERMAN. 187
Hamley answered and acknowledged it on
12th April 1867:—
Geneeal, — Permit me to thank you for your courtesy
in sending me your report, which receives great additional
value as coming from yourself and bearing your auto
graph. Permit me also to express my satisfaction, in
the interests of military science, at finding that a com
mander so eminent is willing to discuss with critics his
own successful operations.
The chapter in my book on the campaign in Georgia
was written at a time when it was very difficult to obtain
in this country accurate information of its details, and I
became aware, soon afterwards, that some of these were
erroneous. Nevertheless, the errors were not of a character to
prevent it from remaining an example (all the better for
being recent and unhackneyed) of what I wanted to illus
trate — namely, the case of dislodging an army by operat
ing with a detachment against its rear.
Nor were these errors of detail, so far as I knew them,
such as to affect the general estimate of the operations.
After having the pleasure of seeing your report, and
also your letter to Mr Moran relative to it, I find that
you had made dispositions on the 10th May to direct an
attack through Snake Creek Gap with an overwhelming
force. This is the course which, in my comments, I
ventured to indicate as the right one. I shall in a future
edition record this, and with great satisfaction, as showing
that my opinion was supported by the practice of so great
an authority.
With regard to the remarks which you have done me
the honour to convey through Mr Moran, — 1st, that it was
not a fault to divide your force ; 2d, that Johnston could

188 THE COUNCIL OF MILITARY .EDUCATION.
not have fallen on M'Pherson without letting go his hold
of his position ; 3d, that a front attack on Johnston was
inexpedient, — I venture to observe that, freely admitting
all these points, I do not see how they invalidate the
general conclusions.
It was said of Csesar that " it was difficult to argue with
the master of thirty legions." So I should find it hard
to dispute the opinions or object to the practice of a
general who has commanded a great army with such
brilliant results.
I beg again to thank you for the great favour you have
done me in sending your letters on the campaign, which I
shall study with great attention, and I am sure with great
profit. — I have the honour to be. General, your most obe
dient and obliged, E. B. Hamley, Colonel,
General Sherman replied in due course : —
Headquarters Military Division of the Missouri,
Saint Louis, Mo., May 10, 1867.
Colonel E. B. Hamley,
British Army, London.
Deae Sie, — Mr Moran of the U.S. Embassy at your
Court did me the favour to transmit your most acceptable
letter of April 12, and I assure you that it gave me
pleasure, as I did not expect the matter would engage
more than a passing thought to you. In common with
some of our best officers I had read your most valuable
work, to which my attention was called last summer by
some of the officers at the mess in Quebec, and Mr Moran
soon after transmitted me a copy. I beg you will under
stand me as really complimented by treating our American
campaigns as worthy of being grouped with those of your
European world; and if ever I expressed a quahfied
opinion, it was because you had at that early date been

HAMLEY AND GENERAL SHEBMAN. 189
compelled to use statements of facts derived from our
current newspapers, instead of waiting for the slower but
more exact official papers.
I have no doubt you in England appreciate the situa
tion of our military officers. Our education at West
Point resembles that at the ^ficole Polytechnique of
France, and after graduation we serve as lieutenants in
some small garrison, taking the chances of very slow
promotion by seniority. It is seldom we see assembled
under arms a full battalion ; and before our war of rebel
lion I had never commanded, save on parade, more than
four small companies. After thirteen years of continuous
service in an artillery company I had reached the rank of
captain of the staff, the pay of which was so inadequate
to the support of a small family that I was in a measure
forced to resign and attempt their support by other means.
So that when war was upon us and had to be met, most
of us had only theoretical knowledge of " grande guerre."
I don't think any of us claim to be great generals, in the
strict sense of that term, or to have initiated anything new,
but merely to have met an emergency forced on us, and to
have ceased war the very moment it could be done.
I beg you will consider me as one who fully accords to
you the right to criticise strictly anything that will illus
trate the principles of our art, which we, as military men,
must claim to be based on principles as everlasting as
Time. Your work shall always have a place in my
library, along with those of Napier, Jomini, and others
of all nations who have afforded us, a new people, with
models for imitation. — With great respect,
W. T. Sheeman,
Lt.-Genl. U.S. Army.
In the summer of 1869 is the acknowledgment

190 THE COUNCIL OF MILITARY EDUCATION.
of the receipt of the second edition of the book,
with its revisions and corrections; —
Headquaeters Army op the United States,
Washington, D.C, July 29, 1869.
Colonel E. B. Hamley,
British Army, London.
Deae Sie,— I had the honour to receive yesterday your
valued favour of June 30, with a copy of the second
edition of your volume on ' The Operations of War,' &c.
I beg to assure you of my sincere thanks for this act of
courtesy, and am much pleased at the manner in which
you have received my former letter. The change you
have made in the text is more than satisfactory to me,
and I shall be pleased to bring to the notice of the officers
of our army a book that, in my judgment, is worthy its
title and of our profession, which I am pleased to see you
place among the highest. I agree with you perfectly
that the modern improvements in the railroad system,
in the telegraph, &c., in no manner qualify the great
principles of war, but make their application the more
important, and impose on all military officers the positive
duty of studying these principles the closer, because by
their means war will be more rapid in its inception and
execution, leaving no time to study up after the event.
It occurs to me, and I mention it in your interest, that
so valuable a book ought to be put in a smaller compass
as to size of volume, without omitting a paragraph, or the
least part of it ; also, the leaves should be cut before
binding; also, the maps should be bound in leaves the
same as the text, even if you have to put two or three
leaves where you now have one map.
It is the case with our officers, and I believe with yours
on foreign stations, that the weight of baggage is limited,
so that many line officers would be unable to carry with
them so large a book.

TRIBUTE FROM GENERAL BARRY. 191
Again tendering you my thanks, and offering to re
ciprocate in case you suggest anything subject to my
control, I am, &c., W. T. Sheeman,
General U.S. Army.
Finally, in 1870 there came a gratifying tri
bute from General Barry, Commandant of the
Headquarters, Artillery School, U.S.A. : —
Port Monroe, Va., May 27, 1870.
Colonel E. B. Hamley, Eoyal Artillery,
London, England.
Colonel, — Without the pleasure of a personal acquaint
ance with you, but simply as an act of professional comity,
I take the liberty of addressing this note to you to say
that, after mature consideration and previous experience
with the works of Jomini, Duf our, and Mahan, it has been
determined to adopt the second edition of your work on
the Art of War as a text-book in the department of Mil.
Hist., Art of War, &c., &c., as taught at this institution.
Discussing, as your work does, the salient military
events of modern times, and from a more modern stand
point, discarding most of the useless trammels of the
ancien rigime, it possesses unusual elements of excel
lence, and commends itself as being altogether better
suited to our purposes here than any other work.
I have caused to be ordered from your London pub
lisher about thirty copies for the use of the young offi
cers who compose the class at the Artillery School for this
year; and hereafter I presume we will require about
twenty copies annually. — With high respect, I remain.
Colonel, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
William F. Baeey,
Colonel 2d Regt. Artillery,
Bvt. Maj. Gen. U.S.A. Comdg,

192 THE COUNCIL OF MILITARY EDUCATION.
What General Barry calls a "formal note" was
accompanied by another, thanking the author of
the ' Operations ' for a friendly and respectful
notice. He expresses " the gratification which it
is natural for a soldier to feel on finding his views
and labours appreciated by a professional brother
— albeit a stranger, and of another country.
Then Hamley vrites to Blackwood in mid
summer : — •
Prince Frederick Charles, the Commander of the Second
Army, has been here incog. I dined with him one day
at the Junior, where he was Hozier's guest — very affable,
flattering, and communicative, so far as imperfect English
would allow.
A more ambiguous compliment, which gave him
considerable annoyance, was paid by his colleagues
of the Education Council. The authorities of
the Boyal Military Academy at Woolwich had
petitioned the Council for the institution of a Pro
fessorship of Military History, and suggested that
Hamley's 'Operations' should be the principal text
book. The Council, apparently after some hesita
tion, assented to the professorship, but declined to
approve the adoption of the ' Operations.' Both
their objections seem unreasonable enough, and,
naturally, Hamley was satisfied with neither. The
first was, that it would be improper or indiscreet
to recommend the work of a colleague ; the second.

A PLEASANT OCCUPATION. 193
that it was beyond the capacity of the cadets.
Hamley sent in a protest against the decision,
which, privately, he professed himself unable to
understand, adding, however, that he suspected no
unfriendly motives. But though a firm believer in
the power of the press, and although he had re
course to it on future occasions as a last resource
against — what he considered — injustice which
could not be otherwise redressed, now he resolved
to move no further in the matter. The Directors
of the Woolwich Academy were still insisting, so
his case would have been a very strong one. But
he said that letters in the papers would be un
pleasant to himself; they would probably annoy
the Commander-in-Chief, to whom he was grateful
for his appointment ; and above all, it " would be
detrimental to the public service of the depart
ment, which requires free and constant com
munication among us."
In a letter written from Bridport in October,
we find him enjoying an autumn holiday at the
public expense. He had been nominated one
of the Commissioners for the delimitation of
electoral districts under the provisions of the
recent Reform Bill, and he would often talk after
wards of that pleasant outing in the western
shires, when, with sketch-book and fishing-rod as
parts of his luggage, he made acquaintance with
VOL. I. N

194 THE COUNCIL OF MILITARY EDUCATION.
much enchanting English scenery, and had hospi
table welcome in many a picturesquely situated
mansion : — Bridport, 3d October.
My deae Blackwood, — It's an ill wind, &c. ; and
certainly I did not expect, when we were canvassing and
abusing the New Eeform Bill in Burlington Gardens, that I
should personally derive any benefit from it. Benefit it is,
however, so far, that I am getting air, exercise, occupation,
and a pleasant holiday, and am paid for it to boot. My
colleague, Ollivant, is a crony of your friend Skene. . . .
We spend about two days in each town, exhaust the
information about the borough, and then move on. When
ever we get a chance we walk from place to place, and
have footed it through some very pretty scenery. There is
remarkable apathy in all the places we have visited (Wilts
and Dorset) on the part of the new householders to be
admitted to their rights.
Although frequent applications are made for the exten
sion of boroughs, they never come from those who would
thus become part of the constituency, but are always made
by other people from local party reasons.
The year 1868 was a somewhat idle one so far
as literature was concerned : with a single excep
tion, the only contribution to ' Blackwood ' was a
review of George Eliot's ' Spanish Gypsy.' He
says in his letters, after touching upon minor
defects : —
All the writer's power of thought and style is put forth
in the poem. A great deal of the verse is excellent,
though, judging from the songs, I should say that blank

"DREAMS IN THE INVALIDES." 195
verse was not her strong point — the versification is not
always good, but the songs are most musical.
The story I think open to some objections, though I
shall not allude to them in the review. Several charac
ters are elaborately introduced, but have no influence on
the plot. Further, Isidor, who seems to promise to be a
powerful agent, is not so, and the cast of thought and
dialogue is essentially modern.
The other contribution was what he calls an
" unlucky " poem of his own, which seems to have
received sharp criticism from Blackwood. The
poet may have been annoyed, but he took the
criticisms in good part, and " Dreams in the
Invalides " appeared in due course.
There is a good deal of interesting correspond
ence on the second instalment of Kinglake's
' Crimea.' Hamley expresses warm admiration of
the style, but he took exception to some import
ant statements. Especially, he said that " the
Flank March " conveyed a false impression, owing
to the desire to exalt Lord Baglan. He refers to
his own letters on the campaign, which the his
torian seemed to contradict, although without
actually naming them ; and he adds, " I shall cer
tainly not correct the testimony of my own senses
by the light of his theories."
Again, read my account of the charge of the Heavies,
which I saw, and you will find he omits the whole episode
of the Turkish guns firing on part of the Eussian cavalry

196 THE COUNCIL OF MILITABY EDUCATION.
force. Yet it was surely as important a matter for a
chronicler as the question whether a cut or a thrust was
given by a particular swordsman. My idea of his method
of work is that, with the assistance of strong prejudices
and queer crotchets, he forms an arbitrary enough concep
tion of any particular event, and accepts what coincides
with his own view, rejecting all other testimony.
These objections were strongly expressed, with
reference to the proposal that he should review
the volumes in ' Maga.' The upshot was that,
after intimation of his intention, and obtaining
Blackwood's assent, he responded to the over
tures of Henry Reeve, and undertook the work
for the ' Edinburgh.' Subsequent articles on
the History, with the exception of that on
vol. vi., appeared in the same periodical. Very
noteworthy articles they are, and Mr Reeve ap
preciated them highly as examples of incisive
criticism, with exceptional knowledge of the facts.
For Hamley was nothing if not thoroughly hon
est, and neither friendship nor self-interest would
deflect him by a hair's-breadth from the straight
path of conscientious duty. With regard to the
first article, he felt that Blackwood might natur
ally be annoyed by its frankness — not only as
clashing with his own opinions, but as likely to
check the sale of the book.
I felt the strongest desire to find that I had nothing
but praise for it. . . . But sorry as I was, on reading the

APPOINTED COMMANDANT OF STAFF COLLEGE, 197
book, to find so many things I dissented from which, had
I seen them earlier, might probably have deterred me from
writing the review, yet I could not but in conscience
express my disagreement with many of the military
views. The following autumn (1869) brought an un
pleasant change in his prospects. The Report of,
an Education Commission had recommended the
supersession of the Council by the appointment of
a Director-General. No doubt Hamley's feelings
were strongly against a change which must oust
him from a desirable post ; but he likewise ob
jected on public grounds, believing that it would
open a door for jobbery, by transferring all the
patronage of appointments to the War Ofiice.
That reason made him philosophically resign
himself to the inevitable, as the step was sure
to find favour with the military authorities.
Early in the spring of 1870 the Council ceased
to exist ; but just as that door was closed,
another and a more inviting one fortunately
opened. He was ruefully contemplating the
prospect of rejoining his brigade in a worse posi
tion than when he left it, when he learned that
he had been recommended to the Duke of Cam
bridge, by the new Director-General and by the
Secretary at War, as Commandant of the Staff
College. Nothing could, of course, have coin-

198 THE COUNCIL OF MILITABY EDUCATION.
cided more pleasantly with his inclinations, but
for some little time he was kept in suspense. The
Commander-in-Chief, who had always been his
very good friend, was understood to be hesitating
lest the appointment of an artilleryman should
give umbrage to the linesmen, though it seems
only natural that such a post should be bestowed
on a member of one of the scientific corps. Inde
pendently of his scientific recommendations for it,
the arguments in Hamley's favour were strong.
His seat at the Council had familiarised him with
the systems of military education in their details,
and as he had already filled a chair at the College,
he could enter immediately on the duties with the
knowledge which the most able outsider must
take months to acquire. The press spoke out
unhesitatingly in his favour, and he was always
grateful to Mr Cardwell, who strenuously urged
his claims.
Notwithstanding professional anxieties, that
year he sent two notable contributions to the
Magazine. The one was " Our Poor Relations,"
to which reference has already been made. With
his affection for the brute creation, he put his
whole heart into it, and a brighter jeu d'esprit
has seldom been thrown off. One might say
that every sentence sparkles : if the essence of
wit is humorous surprise, the little book is witty

HAMLEY'S BEVIEW OF 'LOTHAIB.' 199
in the extreme ; and whether the passages are
humorous or pathetic, we are struck by the
quaint originality of the fancies. The article
having had an extraordinary success, it was
republished in book form, with grotesque illus
trations by Ernest Griset. One or two were
by Hamley himself, although he modestly ex
pressed a fear of provoking invidious comparisons.
The other contribution was the scathing review
of 'Lothair,' which, as it clashed with a very
general chorus of praise, excited all the greater
sensation, — the rather that the great chief of the
Conservatives was scarified in the staunch old
Tory Magazine. Possibly dispassionate judges
win be of opinion that this was a case of the two
sides of the shield. The reviewers, who wrote
currente calamo in the morning and weekly
papers, were on the look-out for the beauties,
of which there were very many, and were eager
or willing to praise — the Conservatives from
loyalty, the Liberals from a sentiment of chiv
alry. In the monthlies and the quarterlies,
which more deliberately weighed the book, praise
and censure were more impartially distributed.
Froude admired it heartily.^ The late Lord
1 See " Eeminiscences of James Anthony Froude," by John
Skelton, C.B., LL.D., in 'Blackwood's Magazine' for December
1894 and January 1895.

200 THE COUNCIL OF MILITARY EDUCATION.
Houghton's review in the 'Edinburgh' was a
model of judicial severity tempered with genuine
admiration. But Hamley evidently had been
chafed by the affectations of the style and the
Arabian Nights' extravagances, which he deemed
to be strangely and grotesquely misplaced in a
social novel of the period. He gave free rein to
his satirical fancy, and having dipped his pen
in vinegar or gall, was greatly pleased with
the results of his efforts. He had written before
hand : —
' Lothair ' seems to me such horrid trash that it cannot
be taken seriously, and the only way to treat it is by jeers.
I have just met Lord Lytton at the Athenseum. He has
not read it, but he says that people who have spoken
to him of it, friends of Disraeli, all talk of it as I did —
viz., the gaudiest trumpery that was ever printed.
Delane at least, who was no bad judge, differed
from these gentlemen ; and Disraeli — though they
were then bitterly opposed in politics — seized the
opportunity to write him a letter of warm thanks,
not only for the favourable notice in the ' Times,'
but for the opinions conveyed in a private note.
But whether one agreed with Hamley or not,
it was impossible to help laughing over the ar
ticle, or admiring the easy play of wit, and the
bitter mockery which reminds one of Voltaire.

RECEPTION OF BEVIEW OF 'LOTHAIB.' 201
It is certain that the novelist smarted under
the stings, and Hamley writes Blackwood on the
6th July: —
As to the 'Lothair' paper, I never dine anywhere
without hearing it talked of, and it is mostly ascribed to
Lever.

202

CHAPTER X.
commandant of staff college.
THE SYSTEM  CHANGES INTBODUCBD BY HAMLEY  HIS INTEREST
IN THB STUDENTS  HIS EECREATIONS  PBIENDSHIP WITH
THE LATE DUKE OP WELLINGTON  A BARGAIN IN HOESE-
ELESH.
In 1870, with a lightened heart, he went back to
the Staff College as Commandant instead of Pro
fessor. There he passed seven of the happiest
and not the least useful years of his life. When
the obstacles which had opposed the appointment
had been smoothed away, he had no cause for
complaint. The authorities gave their confidence
generously, and he had practically a free hand.
He entered upon the duties of his command under
exceptionally favourable circumstances. It had
been understood that there was ample room for
reform in the system, and that radical changes
were highly desirable. His commission was
signed in July, only three months after the
issue of revised Regulations for the College,

IMPBOVEMENTS EFFECTED AT STAFF COLLEGE. 203
which had been framed to give effect to the
recommendations of the Royal Commission of
1868-69, on the education of officers. The Com
mission was at first presided over by Lord de
Grey, and afterwards, from February 1869, by
Lord Dufferin. One of the changes introduced
was an increase in the number of students from
thirty to forty. The experiences of the past
had shown the necessity for an extension of the
practical exercises of the officers on the ground,
and it was at the instance of the Royal Com
mission that the Commandant was charged with
himself directing these exercises. As to the
manner in which he availed himself of his oppor
tunity, I am enabled to quote an authority who
can speak with special knowledge of the facts : —
This duty [that of superintending the field exercises]
he accepted as a most important one, and under his guid
ance and personal direction the fullest development was
given to this part of the instructions. Various improve
ments were introduced by him into the course of small
reconnaissances made in the vicinity of the Staff College ;
and the system of extended reconnaissances, which had
been somewhat curtailed from a reduction of the sum
voted for their execution, was re-established. In one and
all of these most valuable experiences for soldiers being
trained to be practical staff officers in the field, Colonel
Hamley (as he then was) brought to bear his thorough
and practical grasp of the subject. The advantages that

204 COMMANDANT OF STAFF COLLEGE,
resulted, not only to the officers themselves but also to
the public service, can hardly be over-estimated, and they
are still in operation. In 1871 we find him employed at
the head of his officers, sketching ground, reconnoitring,
and taking notes of the operations in connection with
the campaigning during the autumn manoeuvres of that
year. But it was not alone the training of the officers
in these more practical portions of their duties as staff
officers that underwent a lengthened development during
Hamley's term of office. As a past professor at the
College (of Military History) he took a special interest
in, as he had a special knowledge of, this branch of
study, which he largely extended. He gave, indeed,
to all the work a personal impress, which was of the
greatest benefit to all concerned — to professors as well
as students; and good work or honest endurance was
recognised by him, as surely as careless or indifferent
work. A man of reserved character and few words, he
but seldom gave expression to commendation, but where
blame was in his opinion attributable for careless or bad
work, he did not shrink from awarding it. If in passing
such strictures upon officers his manner of address was
sometimes blunt and even severe, this was attributable to
manner alone, which seemed to be aggravated by the
necessity for the performance of an unpleasant duty
which he would far rather have avoided. Behind it was
a nature that never failed to be appreciated and admired
by those who knew Hamley sufficiently well to get behind
his reserve. The short period of residence at the Staff
College — two years — did not render this practicable for
many at the time ; but few can have failed to recognise
the ability and practical nature and force of character of
the Commandant under whom they were privileged to
receive their training.

IMPROVEMENTS EFFECTED AT STAFF COLLEGE, 205
The Commandant's hands were strengthened
by the fact that the students, for the most part,
were zealous officers eager to learn, and they
readily fell into the new ways, none the less that
the revolution enlivened the monotony of their
residence. I am indebted to General Montague,
who was one of the number, and who was subse
quently to distinguish himself in South African
warfare, for another account of the former system,
with the alterations then introduced : —
Prior to 1870 candidates passed through the College by
means of marks — given, first by the professors for the
essays set by themselves ; second, by the College for work
done in class. When a minimum of 1800 was gained,
the pass was secured. This led to two evils. First, there
was no incentive to further work when the 1800 marks
were gained, except among the more ambitious, when a
fierce competition ensued for first place among the chosen
men. Second, many of the marks being dependent on
the professors, men took to writing essays which they
hoped would fall in with their views, rather than the
more original work which was asked for. Eiding was
taught in a perfunctory manner, and those officers who
did not wish to keep horses could hire for the day when
the work was essential. This was essentially a false sys
tem for men educating for the Staff, a mounted service.
Colonel Hamley at once instituted many changes.
Among others — ¦
1. System of marks being published was abolished, men
merely being noted as passing out in order of seniority
of regiments.

206 COMMANDANT OF STAFF COLLEGE.
2. Students could now pass " with honours," or simply
pass. 3. The course consisted of four terms, each winding up
with an examination on the whole of the subjects which
had been taught during the previous term. A man failing
to qualify at any of these examinations was dismissed.
4. The commandant took personal charge of the senior
division in certain subjects out of doors.
5. Each student was obliged to keep a charger, to be
passed by the commandant.
6. Students attended riding-school daily, to be passed
by a cavalry officer, instead of twice a-week, during the
whole two years.
7. Colonel Hamley met professors and students to fix the
minimum necessary to secure the " pass " and " honours."
This was much appreciated by all concerned.
8. Hunting was encouraged, leave from most classes
being easily obtained for the purpose. The change in the
riding-school method was excellent, officers exerting them
selves to learn and get out of the school. After six months
of the new system, four officers were dismissed as incom
petent for Staff duties — one for his inability to ride, an
event I believe never to have happened before.
Hamley's manner was unquestionably brusque,
and sometimes he might have made a disagree
able communication more pleasantly than he did.
But he expected to find in others the same in
flexible sense of duty which actuated all his own
conduct, and, as has been very justly remarked
in the memorandum I have quoted, from sheer
kind - heartedness he was in haste to despatch

PERSONAL INTEREST IN STUDENTS. 207
any unwelcome piece of business. There can be
no question that, as Commandant, he was highly
popular with all zealous students. As has been
said, they knew that he spared no pains : they
found him an entertaining and most instructive
companion on flying expeditions ; and they ap
preciated the inestimable value of his practical
teaching in the field. The facility with which
leave was granted when the hounds met, shows
the wise administration of a man of the world,
who knew that while books were all very well,
the students of the College were being educated
for action. And there is a passage in one of
his letters which indicates the sincerity of his
attachment, and how anxiously he followed the
fortunes of his proteges d'elite. He complains
sadly of some of his best men being used up in
the malarious jungle warfare with the savages
of Ashanti. A letter to Blackwood, written in
the midsummer of 1871, expresses his feelings
as to the work he initiated and thoroughly
enjoyed : —
I am full of business just now, for the time is at hand
for taking my flock on various expeditions. Towards the
end of this month we ride in parties to the Thames, for an
imaginary warlike operation. Then I shall be out with
them under canvas in the September campaign, and after
that into Suffolk on a military sketching expedition of ten
days or so. The D. of Wellington talks of giving me some

208 COMMANDANT OF STAFF COLLEGE.
shooting, but I shan't have much opportunity of enjoying
it, certainly not in September.
Again in the autumn : —
You might have observed in the papers that I had a
busy time of it in the autumn manoeuvres, having to play
the double part of umpire and director of my young men
who accompanied me into camp and were exercised in
practical Staff business. We had a not disagreeable and
very improving time. A few days afterwards we set off
to Suffolk on our annual reconnaissance, and had dreadful
weather — returning here a fortnight since. I am now at
work again — cutting down trees, planting, turfing, &c., as if
I were a country gentleman with a proper desire of hand
ing down his estate in good condition to his children.
But however much he was engrossed by his
duties, material comfort was by no means ne
glected. The Commandant had an excellent
house near the College, and the veteran cam
paigner bestowed much care on the selection of
his personal staff. He had a housekeeper and
cordon bleu who received liberal wages, and who
must have rather resembled Mrs Greene in ' Lady
Lee's Widowhood,' save that she never got the
upper hand of her master. He declared that he
was lapped in luxury, and by way of constant
companions, beyond his books, he had the dogs
and cats that cumbered the hearthrug. He took
infinite pleasure in his garden, and in many pas
sages of his correspondence he talks of acquisi-

SELECT BREAKFAST-PARTIES. 209
tions to his territorial domains, measured by roods
or yards, and of the extensive improvements he
was carrying out on the property. In fact, as
few men had so many resources, he was never at a
loss for occupations that interested him, and so, in
the sympathy of common pursuits, he made friends
in all classes of the community. If his manner
to some may have seemed austere or reserved,
in reality he was the most sociable and unassum
ing of mortals. At Sandhurst and off duty, he
led the happy life of a country gentleman. He
was always a welcome guest at many of the neigh
bouring houses, and he delighted in arranging
pleasant little dinners himself, at which the wines
could invariably be relied upon, and where the
menus had been carefully thought out. Breakfast-
giving was rather a specialite of his — especially
when he had chambers in London. Notwithstand
ing the illustrious examples of Rogers and Lord
Houghton, we hold it an uncomfortable form of
hospitality, and it is to the credit of any middle-
aged wit if he can be animated over tea or coffee
at 10 A.M. But a tSte-a-tSte breakfast with Ham
ley was a pleasant beginning to the day, even in
November fogs or December frosts. The host,
fresh and radiant from bed and bath, was always
at his brightest and best. The dishes were as
good and original as the talk. For the enter-
VOL. I. O

210 COMMANDANT OF STAFF COLLEGE.
tainer prided himself, with reason, on a system
of spirit-lamps, &c., by which the plats he had
elaborated or invented were transferred to the
table at the moment of perfection. He was a
master in the manipulation of oysters, anchovies,
&c., and Mr Micawber could not have surpassed
him in the seasoning of a devil. Knowledge of
any kind is sure to come in usefuUy sooner or
later, and his staff found the advantage of those
culinary studies over bivouac fires when employed
on delimitation commissions, and detached from
the cook. None of the neighbours seem to have
taken more cordially to him than the late Duke
of Wellington ; and when at a later period his
Grace offered a prize for the best essay on a
military subject, he requested Hamley to under
take the duty of umpire — a responsibility which
he accepted. A letter of 11th June indicates the
interest the Duke took in the publication : —
My deae Duke of Wellington, — I have compared Mr
Hildyard's corrections with his paper ^ — they are all such
as will be at once made by the printer. I think, therefore,
it will be well to send the whole of the Essays forthwith
to Messrs Blackwood, with instructions to forward a proof
of each individual paper to its writer for final revision,
except Mr Hildyard's, which has already been revised by

1 Mr Hildyard, now Colonel Hildyard, the present Commandant
of the Staff College.

INVITATIONS TO STRATHFIELDSAYE. 211
him in proof, — these revised proofs to be returned direct
to Messrs Blackwood to save time, and to spare your
Grace unnecessary trouble. I will write a short paragraph
descriptive of the circumstances under which the pub
lication was undertaken, and send it to your Grace — for
insertion, if you approve, as a notice to the reader, — it
will be too short to be called a preface.
Mr Blackwood, writing to me a few days ago, inquired
what had become of Mr Maurice's Essay, which he had
expected weeks ago. The delay, therefore, is due entirely
to the writer, not the publisher. If he does not make
despatch, the other essays will tread on the heels of his —
which will serve him right.
I was going to take my niece to Ascot to-day, but the
weather has defeated that project, and no doubt many
similar ones. — I am, your Grace's most sincerely,
E. B. Hamley.
He was asked to Strathfieldsaye to shoot out
lying pheasants in the hedgerows in the opening
days of October — an invitation he was compelled
to decline, as he was engaged in Sussex for the
wedding of his fi?iend Mr Harry Sturgis with
the Speaker's daughter. But the Duke, who was
fastidious and capricious in his friendships, had
come to entertain a great affection for Hamley,
whose humour he heartily appreciated, and thence
forth the invitations and visits to Strathfieldsaye
became more and more frequent. Hamley, for
the most part, found himself tSte-d,-tSte with his
Grace, or in such select company as that of the

212 COMMANDANT OF STAFF COLLEGE.
Lord Chief-Justice Cockburn. Many a good story
he had to tell of those symposia, and of the shoot
ing and the al fresco luncheons which preceded
them. The Duke had an infinite fund of drollery;
he was fond of dwelling upon a joke which hit
his fancy, and would write Hamley a series of
notes, elaborating it through a succession of
stages. Sir Patrick MacDougall was good
enough to supply amusing reminiscences of what
he calls their jolly companionship : —
The Duke's whimsical nature made him very congenial
to Hamley, who used to return from his frequent visits
to Strathfieldsaye full of the latter's stories. I here
select a virtuous specimen. The Duke speaks : " At one
time my father's extreme popularity was rather em
barrassing. For instance, on leaving home each day he
was always intercepted by an affectionate mob, who in
sisted on hoisting him on their shoulders and asking
where they should carry him. It was not always con
venient to my father to say where he was going ; so he
used to say, ' Carry me home, carry me home ; ' and so he
used to be brought home half a dozen times a day a few
minutes after leaving his own door."
Some of the Duke's remarks about his heroic
father may be discreetly suppressed, but there
is another and characteristic anecdote which is
worth repeating, though I rather think it has
been published before : —
The great Duke had appointed a sitting for his picture
for the morning of the day on which his brother, Lord

THE CHAPLAIN-GENERAL, 213
Wellesley, died. The artist appeared at the appointed
time, saying he was not sure if he ought to have come.
The Duke soon set him at his ease. "Yes," he said,
alluding to his brother, " he is gone. An agreeable man
when he had his own way."
No little inducement in going to Strathfield
saye was that the good old Chaplain - General
was established in a house in the neighbourhood.
The Duke, like his father, had a sincere affection
and admiration for him. On the 26th November
there is a lively account of a visit they paid to
the Commandant at the College. He writes to
Blackwood : —
I have had two of your correspondents — namely, the
Duke of Wellington and the Chaplain-General — here from
Saturday to Monday. The Duke is well pleased, quite
elated in fact, by the success of the two volumes. I hope
the second is doing well. He is a most cheery old gentle
man, and very easy to amuse. The first day we dined at
the Mess ; the Sunday I had a little party for him here,
and he was quite happy. He went to the College chapel
to hear his particular friend the Chaplain-General preach,
and slumbered throughout the sermon in full sight of the
congregation. The Chaplain-General is looking wonder
fully strong and well, and is as young in his mind and
ways as ever. They saw the Kriegspiel played at the
College. I asked Maurice and his wife to dine, and the
Duke was much pleased with the winner of his prize.
Probably the Duke's last correspondence was
with Hamley. He wrote him five notes in a

214 COMMANDANT OF STAFF COLLEGE,
single week, and the last came little more than
a fortnight before the invitation to the funeral.
The friendship with Sir Patrick MacDougall
began with the establishment of the Staff Col
lege in the new building. It soon became
close as it was constant, and some of Ham
ley's last letters were addressed to one of his
most cherished companions. Beyond strong per
sonal sympathy, they were drawn together by
common tastes — soldiering, fishing, and broad
culture. Many were the trips they made in
company ; many the fishing excursions at home
and abroad ; and together they had gone over
many of the European battle-fields. Sir Patrick
wrote : —
Our first acquaintance was when I had been appointed
first Commandant of the College, and Colonel Hamley,
just home from the Crimea, and even then with a literary
reputation, was my first Erofessor of Military History.
From that day to the day of his death, our close friendship
never suffered a moment's interruption. He took a house
near the village of Sandhurst, where he used to assemble
very agreeable dinner-parties. He was a perfectly ideal
travelling companion, as I frequently experienced. One
indispensable qualification of such a companion is that he
must be unselfish, and Hamley had not an atom of self in
his composition. We visited Antwerp with its pictures
and history, and of course the field of Waterloo ; afterwards
Heidelberg, the Black Forest, carrying our fishing-rods
and knapsacks to Wildbad. At this place Hamley, while

SIR PATRICK MACDOUGALL. 215
engaged with a good trout, shouted out suddenly, " Bring
me the landing-net," when a German, who was looking on,
but did not understand a word of English, smartly picked
up the net and gave it. Another excursion we made to
Yorkshire ; and I shall always preserve a fond memory of
a walk from Keighley over the moors, when we talked
Shakespeare the whole time, convincing me that he had
entered more into the mind of the poet than most of the
commentators — an opinion he amply justified when he came
to write " Shakespeare's Funeral." Whatever the subject,
he so informed it with instruction that it was a pleasure
to listen to him. During these many journeyings to and
fro, I had ample opportunities of observing how fortunate
I was to have such a companion, with a sense of the
ridiculous so acute that it made him delightfully entertain
ing, and with serious knowledge so various and extensive
that it was a privilege to hear him lecture privately on
painting and Shakespeare. Of modern writers, I think
Dickens was his favourite, because his writings lent them
selves to his sense of fun more than others.
Both Sir Patrick and Hamley were connoisseurs
in horseflesh — otherwise the latter could never
have described to the life the turf experiences of
Bagot Lee and his sporting Mephistopheles ; and
one of Sir Patrick's recollections as to an un
fortunate bargain is both amusing and illustra
tive, for Hamley cared little what he rode. In
1869 MacDougall was living at Winchester when
Hamley was at Sandhurst.
The Commandant used to pay me frequent visits, either
to try horses or to have a gallop with Mr Dean's harriers.

216 COMMANDANT OF STAFF COLLEGE.
At that time the very celebrated character of the name of
Mr John Tubb owned a splendid range of stabling at the
back of the barracks, and his stables were always full of
splendid horses to look at, but few of them were fit to ride
on account of some trick of temper. " The vicious Eogue,"
called by Hamley Diogenes because he came from a " Tub,"
was bought by Tubb at Tattersall's for £16, and afterwards
sold to Hamley for £60. I was much struck with the quiet,
sensible expression of the Eogue's face, and I was told by
a vet. whom I employed to look at the Eogue, that he
was the most genuine horse he had ever known Tubb to
possess. Having got so far, I resorted to a method I have
always employed since I attained powers of discretion in
making acquaintance with a new horse, by having some
pieces of sugar and apple in my pocket to give him. The
Eogue met my advances most affably ; then I proceeded to
mount him. I rode him over some small fences, and
brought him back quite delighted. I sent for Hamley,
who was greatly pleased; but he told Tubb, unless the
horse would go in harness he would not suit. Tubb's ex
pressive features showed some signs of dismay. However,
he assured Hamley he went like a lamb in single harness.
The horse was tested then and there : he really went like
a lamb, and was passed and purchased.
The subsequent correspondence may serve as
a useful warning to novices who fancy they have
been exceptionally fortunate in picking up a good-
looking horse for a trifle : —
My deae MacD., — I am going to tell you a little
history about our friend Diogenes, because experience in
horseflesh is always worth acquiring.
As I told you, I rode him several times, reconnoitring

A BAD BARGAIN. 217
with the class, and he always went capitally. But one
day I started alone ; and he began, as soon almost as I left
the stable, to stop short, and when touched with whip or
spur, to become restive and show symptoms of fighting, as
if it were a habit. Inquiring of the groom, I found that
the equine philosopher had reared several times, as he
expressed it, "frightful." Since then I rode him in the
school, and at a field-day among rifle-popping and big
guns, when he behaved perfectly well. His style of going
seemed to improve, and I got more and more pleased with
it, but the doubt about temper caused me to inquire at
Tattersall's. I found he was sent up under the name of
" Oxford " from Lord Macclesfield. I wrote to his lordship ;
and his note being pretty and to the point, I transcribe it :
" Lord Macclesfield presents his compliments to Col.
Hamley, and begs to say that the horse ' Oxford ' is the
most vicious rogue that he ever met with, and that he very
nearly killed one of his sons, and he would strongly advise
him not to keep him.",
The worthy Tubb, no doubt, had an inkling of his char
acter — hence his keeping him idle in the stable, and tak
ing so many precautions about putting him in harness.
Question is, what to do with Diogenes ? Do you suppose
the respected Tubb would buy him back ?— at a low price,
of course ; or shall I send him to Aldridge's ? Or is it
justifiable to sell him at all, or to prolong his valuable life
at the risk of others ? Meanwhile I am like Mr Fickwick
after the gig was knocked to pieces, " with a dreadful
horse that I can't get rid of." — Yours ever,
E. B. Hamley.
The difficulty and the questions of casuistry
were solved by what looked like a special inter
position of Providence. The eccentricities of

218 COMMANDANT OF STAFF COLLEGE.
Diogenes grew upon him, and his character
became notorious in military circles in the dis
trict. Whereupon a daring young subaltern of
Horse Artillery wrote from Aldershot, with an
offer of £30, made in full knowledge of the offen
der's misdeeds. He and Hamley went together to
Reading, where the horse was standing at livery.
The livery-stabler was only too eager to get rid
of him. He said he had nearly killed his best
rider, and that no man in England could sit
him, if he wished to throw him off. " Thus far
Tompkins ! " Hamley faithfully repeated the tale
to the would-be buyer, saying that he would not
sell, but would send the animal to Tattersall's.
" The V. R. was then brought out by my groom,
from whom, after several rears and kicks, he
broke away, and went trumpeting about the
public thoroughfares with the bridle trailing, and
his tail not merely erect, but curling like a pug
dog's over his back, with all the hair on it falling
the wrong way." Notwithstanding, the venture
some lieutenant was pleased with his looks, and
lowering his bid by a fiver, persisted in desiring
to possess the horse. He said that if Hamley
declined to sell, it would give him the trouble of
attending the auction. " His ambition is to hunt
him : if he fails, he says he will sell him at Tatt's,
and lose nothing ; and as he seems a knowing

A SLIGHT MISTAKE, 219
youth, this is likely enough." So, remembering
that there were rough-riders and brakes at
Aldershot, Hamley salved his conscience, and
somewhat reluctantly got rid of the "dreadful
horse." Another story of that period Sir Patrick re
lates, and Hamley's niece remembers how her
uncle used to delight in it. Perhaps he had
embroidered it in the manner of his friend the
Duke of Wellington, and it is a pity it was
not turned into a " Tale for Blackwood." Briefly,
Captain Brook, " a dear friend and comrade,"
was then the riding-master at the Cadet College.
Hamley had christened him the Murmuring
Brook, on account of his incessant complaints
to the War Office. Desiring to enter one of his
sons at WeUingtoii College, and before he had
made acquaintance with the localities, starting
one day to walk to the College from the station,
Captain Brook caught sight of the Broadmoor
Criminal Lunatic Asylum on an adjacent height.
Confounding one establishment with the other,
he walked up and rang the bell. As Hamley
used to tell the story, —
He asked the porter if he could see the Principal.
When the latter appeared. Brook thought him a queer-
looking figure for an instructor of youth. Brook said,
"I wish to put my boy under your charge, if you can

220 COMMANDANT OF STAFF COLLEGE,
take him." " Oh yes," said the man ; " is he a bad case ? "
" Bad case ! " said Brook ; " what the devil do you mean ?
There's not a better boy in England ; the only thing I fear
is, he may be too old." " Why, how old is he ? " " He is
eighteen." " Pish ! we take them up to eighty." " Why,"
says Brook, again in high dudgeon, " if he does not come
here till eighty, what time do you suppose he is going to
get his commission ? "
A reminiscence in different vein relates to a
dinner some years later at Hamley's chambers
in Ryder Street : —
I had the pleasure of meeting Kinglake and Count
Streldcky, when the conversation turned on the resem
blance between French and English fiction-writers, taking
Daudet for the French, Dickens and Thackeray for the
English examples. For instance, we may feel convinced
that Daudet in 'Fremont Jeune,' when he wrote a de
scription of the scene where Eisler discovers his wife's
guilt, must have had in his mind the scene in 'Vanity
Fair' where Eawdon Crawley surprises Lord Steyne.
Similarly, it is probable that Daudet in his charming
creation of little Ddsir^e had in his thoughts Dickens's
Doll's dressmaker. In discussing the comparative merits
of the three, I think Kinglake gave the pas to Thackeray ;
Hamley supporting Dickens, for the reason that his pe
culiar fun lent itself more readily to Hamley's humorous
instinct than the other; while I held that Daudet was
the equal of either.
Hamley had happened to remark on the num
ber of French atheists always present in London,
when Count Streldcky mentioned his experience

A MEETING OF FRENCH ATHEISTS, 221
of a meeting he had attended from curiosity in
Leicester Square. After listening for more than
an hour to several speakers, all of them launch
ing out in furious tirades against the Almighty, a
mild old gentleman with quavering voice meekly
asked leave to say a few words in favour of "le
bon Dieu." The cry was immediate and unan
imous, "A laporte!"

222

CHAPTER XI.
liteeaey eeoeeations.
" Shakespeare's funeral " — ' voltaire ' in " foreign
classics"  LEAVES THE STAFF COLLEGE.
ALTHOuan he was engrossed by his official duties,
and with all the distractions of field-sports, horti
culture, and friendly visits, in these years litera
ture was by no means neglected. In the way of
his professional work was a new edition of ' The
Operations of War,' which was imperatively de
manded by contemporary events. He had fol
lowed with the closest attention the Franco-
German campaigns, with the latest developments
of scientific strategy. The knowledge he had
been imparting to his "young men" suggested
new and important chapters, and notably that
upon " Sedan and Metz." As he sat in his chair,
or while carrying on the field practice at Sand
hurst, he had been playing a single-handed Krieg
spiel, and imagining how he would have directed
matters had he been on the spot and in command.
He was fond of relating how, during those critical
days when the German armies were closing in

BAZAINE' S RETREAT EXAMINED. 223
upon Metz, he gave his ideas to two friends who
were dining with him — one was Mowbray Morris
of the ' Times,' and I believe the other was Cap
tain Hozier — as to how Bazaine might have con
ducted a retreat with comparatively little loss.
Afterwards he found his suggestions confirmed by
no less a person than Von Moltke in the official
narrative of the war, published at Berlin.^
1 The Franco-German War of 1870-71. By Field-Marshal Count
Helmuth Von Moltke. Translated by Clara Bell and H. W. Fischer.
Battle of Vionville, Mars-la-Tour (Aug. 16).
The 6th Division of the Prussians had been sent forward to Etain,
by Mars-la-Tour, to obstruct, if possible, the northern road to Ver
dun, on the supposition that the French had begun the retreat.
The underlining of " if possible " is mine. The Prussian forces were
then facing the East.
" The position of the French was one of great advantage. Their
left flank was protected by the fortress of Metz, the right by for
midable batteries and a strong force of cavalry. They might safely
await an attack on their centre.
" Of course the march to Verdun, even under cover of a strong
rear-guard, had to be abandoned. If the Marshal had been resolved
to proceed, he would have had to engage and get rid of the enemy
in front of him.
" It is difBicult to decide, from a purely military point of view,
why this alternative was not taken. There was hardly a doubt that
only part, and probably only a small part, of the German armies
could as yet have passed the Mozelle, and when, in the course of the
day, the Divisions which had remained at Metz arrived, the French
were decidedly the stronger. But it seems that the Marshal's first
object was not to be forced away from Metz— almost his entire con
cern was for his left wing. By constantly reinforcing the flank, he
massed his Guards— part of the 6th Corps— in front of the Bois des
Ognons, from whence no attack was made. We are tempted to
fancy that political reasons alone induced Bazaine, thus early in the
game, to attach himseK to Metz.''
As to that, attention should in fairness be directed to Mr Archi
bald Forbes' closely reasoned article in the ' United Service Maga-

224 LITERARY RECREATIONS.
Among other things he had written his " Shake
speare's Funeral," which is not only, perhaps, his
most brilliant piece of work, but is the expression
of his intense poetical sympathies and of the pro
found thoughtfulness of his literary temperament.
He worshipped Shakespeare's transcendent genius,
though he did not scruple to criticise him freely
in " False Coin in Poetry " ; and, as Sir Patrick
MacDougall has remarked in his ' Recollections,'
he had steeped himself in his own interpretation
of the inner meanings of the plays. Each of the
creations was a veritable individuality to him,
which he sought to realise and analyse. In short,
he had searched his Shakespeare as we are told
to search the Scriptures, and no one need under
take a pilgrimage to Stratford who does not
admire and delight in " The Funeral." In brief
space, and in indirect fashion, all the catholic
characteristics of the bard are brought out, —
his intuitive penetration, his broad and sympa
thetic appreciation, the flow of his genial humour,
and the simplicity of the pathos. To the grand
artist nothing was common or vulgar that might
serve to illustrate the manifold types of humanity.
The originals of the Shylocks and Dogberrys were
zine' for February 1894. There Mr Forbes argues, in personal
knowledge of the ground and the circumstances, that the pro
gramme marked out by General Hamley for Bazaine's army was
impossible of performance. The conditions which the fulfilment of
that programme demanded were non-existent.

"SHAKESPEARE'S FUNERAL." 225
to be seen within a stone-throw of New Place.
So Hamley fell in with the master's humours, and
gave prominence to the humble countrymen and
town's folk who, irrespective of clime or speech,
had furnished him with many an immortal subject.
Genius had made us forget the almost ludicrous
incongruity of transferring the uncouth Warwick
shire rustics to Greece or the enchanted isle of
the Tempest, as the dewberry, with its purely
local name, was made to blossom and bear fruit
in the hedgerows of Attica. There is an interest
ing letter, in which Hamley defends his own con
ceptions, in answer to certain objections : —
9th March 1873.
My deae Blackwood, — It would have pulled the idea
to pieces sadly, and have taken some of the pith out of it,
to have omitted them. Bearers are not, I imagine, chosen
commonlyfor their respectability — funeral entertainments,
like all others in those days, generally ended in a carouse
— and it seemed to me a kindly notion, and suited to our
idea of the poet, that he should name for the office (in
stead of leaving it to the choice of the sexton) those poor
townsmen of whom he had already taken so much note as
to put them in his works. The omission of this trait, as
well as others touched on in the last scene, would have
been, in my view, a dead loss. That last scene, too, was
necessary to the rounding off of the idea as I had con
ceived it. I am therefore much pleased that on reconsider
ation you agree with me that it should stand. Except as
bearers, there was no way in which these additional Shake
spearian personages could have come into the paper.
VOL. I. P

226 LITERARY RECREATIONS,
But Hamley happily illustrated, with a cynical
humour of his own, the circumstances which the
poet had cheerfully accepted. Nothing can be
more comically clever, or more touchingly true to
the facts, than the picture of that sublime genius
living apart in the unsympathetic atmosphere of
the everyday world. Sir Thomas Lucy, the Justice
Shallow of Charlecote, rides in to grace the burial
of a man of decent estate, and who had a right
to quarter the arms of Arden. His worthy son-
in-law, "good Master HaU," confesses that he
cares little for the fond extravagances of his well-
meaning father-in-law, whom he regards with the
contemptuous affection of a practical man ; and
even his loving daughter, like the good vicar of
Stratford, is sorely exercised over the condition of
the poet's soul. He had not only squandered time
and talents on the plays that were but vanity, or
worse ; but, in his indiscreet charity, he gave alms
indiscriminately, and was never neglectful of the
vicious and the ungrateful. And apropos to the
Kit Slys and the Bardolphs — the parish gossips,
the paupers, and the loungers — what can be more
Shakespearian than the scenes at the funeral, with
the parade and simple self-revelation of selfishness,
greed, and petty ambitions !
In the spring of 1874 he expresses his opinion
as to the great Conservative victory at the elec-

LIBERAL AND CONSERVATIVE COALITION, 227
tions. He always maintained that Lord Derby,
as a statesman, and even as a party leader, made
a fatal mistake when he took his " leap in the
dark," and he held with Mr Lowe that no move
in that direction should have originated with the
Conservatives so long as the bulk of the new
electorate was uninformed and uneducated. The
dissolution had come as a surprise, and I believe
Disraeli was the only leader of the Tories who
had anticipated the probability. Coming up
to town one day from Hughenden a few weeks
before, he had declared emphatically that it was
quite on the cards that there might be an im
mediate appeal to the country. Hamley writes
on 13th February : —
What an astounding series of political events — from
Gladstone's coup to Benjamin's majority ! It certainly
looks as if the Caucasian had been justified in descending
to look for his " residuum," but I don't believe in it for all
that. Much of the reaction against the Liberals is terror
at the warnings given us in France and Spain.
It seems to me that there is so much to separate Lib
erals and Eadicals, foolishly classed hitherto as of the
same party, and so little difference between Liberals and
Conservatives, that a coalition of the latter is the right
thing to give a strong Government and to discredit demo
cracy and demagogism. The chief obstacle is in the lead
ers—who could scarcely be brought together with cart-
ropes after blackguarding each other on the hustings in
the discreditable way they have done. It is a great pity

228 LITERARY RECREATIONS.
that my little plan of putting them in a bag together and
dropping them over Westminster Bridge is not altogether
feasible. Thus he had already forecast the coalition of
the Conservatives with patriotic Liberals, though
no man could have foreseen the particular evolu
tion which was to be the proximate cause of the
alliance. Again he says, on February 2d : —
The best thing about the Ministry is, not that we shall
get better administration, for that may or may not be,
but that it shows a change of feeling in the people, and is
a guarantee that the shooting of Niagara is postponed.
Personally, the only man he regretted in the
outgoing Cabinet was Mr Cardwell, to whom he
was not only greatly indebted for his position at
the Staff College, but for support and encour
agement in enlightened reforms. A letter of 12th
March refers to the Ashanti Expedition, which
he had followed with interest, although the strat
egist had rather a contempt for semi -barbaric
warfare. But not a few of his pupils had gone
to Africa, and several of the most promising were
on the General's staff. He pays a graceful com
pliment to Sir Garnet Wolseley : —
Most of my officers have written me their experiences
from time to time. Wood, who came with despatches,
is already in England. Maurice, who was considered of

THE ASHANTI EXPEDITION. 229
too weak constitution to stand the work, has passed
through the ordeal almost better than anybody, being
the only one who never was ill. The conduct of the
Expedition is meeting with the praise it deserved, as
being altogether excellent. It is the end of it, from the
first battle to the march back, that specially signalises
Wolseley's quality as a commander, resolute as well as
careful. He goes on to condemn the burning of Coo-
massie as a political mistake, if not a positive
crime : —
Acts of destruction are dangerous precedents, and
may easily become very inconvenient. The charges of
treachery against the Ashanti king are simply childish:
there is no evidence of any deceit except such as has
always been considered praiseworthy in the case of one
defending his country and capital from invasion.
In a letter of the following week he says
again : —
It is pleasant to see the unanimity with which the
press praise Wolseley, whose conduct of the business
was as good as possible. They got away just in time
— there was a deal of sickness at the end. I met one
of my late officers the other day. He went out a strong
young fellow, and has come back an elderly cripple.
Another letter touchuig upon a friend's tragedy
—which he was naturally inclined to view with
favour — shows that he had reflected on the prin
ciples of dramatic criticism, and formed decided
opinions of his own. It may be remarked, by the

230 LITERARY RECREATIONS.
way, that afterwards, when an involuntary idler
in London, he was not disinclined to accept the
position of dramatic critic to one of the leading
journals, for he was a regular frequenter of the
theatres, and loved to assist at first nights.
My notions about a tragedy are, that the subject and
personages should command sympathy — that the situa
tions should be striking — that the story should appear
in the most vivid light — and that it should afford ample
scope for poetry. At any rate, some of these conditions
appear indispensable. It is hardly necessary to say a
word as to the subject and personages of "  "; and if
my friend has made a bad choice, what shall we say of the
setting ?
On the other hand, he gives warm praise to
Sir George Chesney's novel of ' The Dilemma ' : —
I don't know that any novelist has ever before made
the course of true love run over such obstacles. The
whole work strikes me as superior to all of the day.
At that time he was bringing the whole
strength of his conscientious energy to bear
upon a little work of his own. Seldom has more
scrupulous care or more anxious thought been
bestowed on so small a volume. Blackwood had
been following up his series of the Ancient
Classics — a novel idea which has since been ridden
to death — by a similar series devoted to the clas
sical writers of the Continent. He asked Hamley

A STUDY OF VOLTAIRE. 231
to undertake ' Voltaire,' nor could he have made a
better selection. Hamley's ' Voltaire ' must strike
one as a masterpiece of comprehensive condensa
tion. Though necessarily and tantalisingly brief,
the interest is marvellously sustained. The writer
holds the balance steadily between the fanatical
abusers of the misunderstood sceptic and his still
more extravagant devotees. His own intellectual
tendencies were severely analytical, for he was
slow to receive on faith what was not susceptible
of material proof I would not be misunderstood,
for Hamley accepted the great doctrines of the
Christian creed ; and I know that he always
earnestly desired that his faith and hopes in the
future might be strengthened. Latterly, nothing
interested him more than the works of dispassion
ate and logical divines which treated with broad
liberality that all -important subject. But he
admired the brilliant audacity of the champion of
free thought and frank speech. His own indig
nation was excited by the flagrant social and
judicial abuses against which Voltaire waged
unsparing war. He points out that the philo
sopher of Forney was a sound Conservative so far
as all things secular were concerned. He attacked
neither the Crown nor the State as institutions.
And in his assaults on the Church, as Hamley
remarks, his earlier writings, if unorthodox, are not

232 LITEBABY RECREATIONS.
irreligious. His theistic views were less pro
nounced than those of Mr Mill. He set out by
fiercely assailing the superstition, fanaticism, and
corruption of the clergy, in an age when profligate
laymen engrossed the richest benefices, and when
members of the Sacred College and princes of the
Church gave the worst possible example to the
feudal autocrats in the provinces. As the struggle
waxed warmer and his power was recognised, his
bitter sarcasm became more and more envenomed :
he launched out recklessly in blasphemous
ribaldry, and so gained, not undeservedly, his
reputation as the prince of mockers and scorners.
All that is brought out with striking effect ; and
Voltaire is, besides, sketched successively as the
man of the world, the dramatist, and the philo
sophical historian. Hamley prided himself, with
reason, on the poetical translations, which reflect
the spirit and sense of the original with a suffi
ciently close if not literal rendering. Voltaire's
cynical humour had much in common with his
own, and he undertook the volume as a labour
of love, being already tolerably familiar with the
Frenchman's innumerable writings. But he un
hesitatingly declined a similar proposal as to Ra
belais ; for, strange to say, he never appreciated
the wittily grotesque extravagances of the jovial
Cur^ of Meudon : —

A SHOAL OF LETTERS, 233
It is very difficult to understand either his language or
his wit in the degree necessary to do him justice. I never
read any of his French, except so much as is quoted in the
translations, but that shows how idiomatic and peculiar
it is ; and I should scarcely think that any but a born
Frenchman would be competent to make him thoroughly
intelligible. In fact, even with translations that exist, I
have never succeeded in appreciating the humour which
has made his name so famous. 7th December 1876.
My dear Blackwood, — You asked if I liked the notion
of doing Voltaire. I have been working at it with great
interest. I have made a good many translations of speci
men passages ; and if these are reasonably done, he ought
to be recognised as a really good poet, of a type different
probably in many respects from the popular English idea
of him. ... It will be better not to put in a sketch of his
life complete, but rather to let it run on with his works.
No doubt publishers like zeal in an author,
especially in so distinguished a specialist as
Hamley, who might well be disposed to take
things easily and trust much to his name and
verve. But Blackwood, who had as little love
for letter - writing as Johnson for clean linen,
while the 'Voltaire' was in deliberate course
of incubation must have been inclined to curse
his friend's earnest enthusiasm. The letters
with regard to the matter, and to emendations
in the proofs, might have made up half-a-dozen
similar Volumes. He had taken infinite pains

234 LITEBABY BECBEATIONS,
with a subject that suited his taste, and his hopes
of a favourable reception were high. The pub
lication only brought disappointments and mor
tifications. He had forgotten that one small
member of a numerous family has little chance
of respectful notice. Not a few of the papers
ignored him ; others disposed of him in a para
graph among the minor critiques. It is more
surprising that some of the reviews were " slight
ing " and others " insulting," for the book not
only sold remarkably well, but, as I have en
deavoured to argue, may safely stand on its
merits. The reasonable conclusion is, that busy
reviewers merely skimmed the pages, and wrote
rather with regard to the Deist's popular repu
tation, than to this novel and intelligent concep
tion of his real character and the veritable scope
of his work.
In the summer of 1877 Hamley's time at the
Staff College had expired : he was only continued
as Commandant tiU his successor should be nom
inated, and he had the cheerless prospect of
evacuating his comfortable quarters and quit
ting a congenial occupation. About this time,
when the Russian army had failed again and
again to carry the position of Plevna, so stub
bornly defended by the Turks under Osman
Pasha, Hamley was sounded as to his readi-

REMOVAL TO LONDON. 235
ness to take service under the Russian Govern
ment. But his sympathies were not with the
Russians in their attack upon Turkey, and for
this and other reasons he declined to consider
the proposal.
Promotion to the rank of Major- General did
not console Hamley much for want of employ
ment — though, as he carelessly remarks, it did
him no harm. " I have no prospect of an ap
pointment " (22d October), " and scarcely expect,
or indeed wish, for the Military Educational one "
(for which several of the leading journals had ad
vocated his exceptional claims) — " though I could
not afford to refuse it. But there may be one on
the cards before long that would suit me better."
The post alluded to was that of Chief of the Mili
tary Intelligence Department, to be vacated by
his friend General MacDougall in the following
spring. " Most of the officers employed there
have been trained by me, and my rank now quali
fies me for it." The appointment was bestowed
elsewhere. He broke up his home at Sandhurst,
and sorely against his will came to London as a
soldier in involuntary retreat. He writes Black
wood, from the Athenseum, on New Year's day :
" Yesterday I exchanged my country mansion for
a humble bedroom in this neighbourhood. My
family is dispersed — Dandy gone to Gleig's from

236 LITERARY RECREATIONS.
whence he came, the pug to a lady at Sandhurst,
and my horses to Wokingham. The cat, Mr
Ruffie, remains in Lady Alison's charge." For
his friend Sir Archibald Alison had succeeded
him as Commandant, and he had the satisfaction
of knowing that the College was not likely to
deteriorate under the new direction. As it hap
pened, Colonel Alison only remained there for
six months — though, in the expectation that he
would serve his fuU time, he had relieved Hamley
of his furniture. In the autumn Hamley made a
flying trip to the Highlands, wandering about with
knapsack, sketch-books, and fishing-rod ; and in
the winter he delivered a lecture on the defence
of the Afghan frontier at the United Service
Institution. Things have greatly changed since
then, on the initiative and under the direction of
Lord Roberts and Sir George Chesney ; but few
who heard him will forget the lucidity with which
he demonstrated the complex problems of the
situation, and indicated the comparative advan
tages of three possible lines of defence, finally
falling back upon a concise exposition of the only
plan which at the time was practicable. " I
much dislike," he said, " any kind of public ad
dress ; but being pressed by the Committee, I felt
I could not refuse the challenge : if I call myself
a strategist, I ought to behave as such." And

AFGHAN FRONTIER DEFENCE. 237
in the brief discussion which followed the lecture,
his views were generally accepted by experienced
Indian generals, more or less familiar with the
ground, and who had made a special study of the
question. The manner of the delivery was singu
larly impressive : nothing was advanced without
conclusive or plausible reason, and it was evident
that the lecturer was giving expression to the
deliberate convictions that had been carefully
thought out.

238

CHAPTER XIL
THE SYSTEM OF OUTPOSTS.
THE HORSE GUARDS AND HAMLETS SYSTEM  TRIAL AT ALDER
SHOT  PUBLICATION OP PAMPHLET  CHARACTERISTICS OP
THE SYSTEM.
But there had been an episode in the autumn of
1876 which demands something more than a pass
ing notice among the comparatively unimportant
incidents of the year. There had been many ref
erences in his letters to his ideas as to a better
system of instruction in outpost duty, to which
he necessarily attached extreme importance, as
ensuring the safety of armies when on the de
fensive in the field, and contributing greatly to
the success of offensive operations. He had
been elaborately explaining the system in his
lectures, and had given a very lucid outline of
it in ' The Operations of War.' The Aldershot
authorities had arranged to give it a regular
trial on a certain day. That was brought to

TRIAL OF NEW OUTPOST SYSTEM. 239
the knowledge of the Commander-in-Chief, who
intimated his intention of being present. Subse
quently came a telegram from the Horse Guards
to change the day.
Had I been consulted, as in fairness I should have
been, I should have chosen different ground for the test,
and should have liked a rehearsal, as neither troops nor
officers had ever tried it before. Nevertheless, the result
was to convince me and everybody else who understood
my system that it had proved its efficiency. Not so,
however, the authorities of the Horse Guards, who did
not understand it, never having even heard of my
pamphlet. With the Duke of Cambridge's ejaculation,
overheard on the ground, Hamley would pro
bably have cordially agreed. "If this is right,
Airey, what we have been doing all our lives
is wrong ! " But he complained that at the
close of the manoeuvres, when men had gathered
round the Duke to hear the usual comments,
the opinions of the umpires were never called
for. That was an altogether exceptional de
parture from the custom, but his Royal High
ness spoke out with his habitual frankness,
pronouncing strongly against the innovation.
" Only in such a way as to show that he did
not half understand what had been done. I
was allowed, at Airey's instance, some words
afterwards, and gave my view very decidedly.

240 THE SYSTEM OF OUTPOSTS.
but that will hardly set the matter right."
His system, as has been said, is fully explained in
one of the most instructive and fascinating chap
ters iu ' The Operations of War.' Although it had
been practised to some extent in recent campaigns,
and notably by the Germans in their invasion of
France, yet, as he explains elsewhere in ' The
Operations,' the conditions of even the Franco-
German war had only necessitated its partial
adoption. It excited so much interest among
soldiers, that it was subsequently republished
in pamphlet form under the title ' Outposts,'
and the pamphlet passed immediately through
two editions. It is at once so lucid and pic
turesquely illustrative of the various operations
in modern campaigning, that it may be read with
advantage and interest by any civilian who is
interested in the study of military history. It
graphically depicts the position of an army feeling
its way and guarding against surprise or attack
when advancing through hostile territory in face
of a formidable enemy.
Though the work is strictly technical, there is
nevertheless a suggestion of the romance of war
in the presentation of the scenery of countries
the most diversified in character, with the ex
planations of the various military advantages or
drawbacks of hill and dale, woodland and marsh.

MODIFICATIONS IN OUTPOST WORK. 241
or of highly cultivated districts, with their vil
lages, farmhouses, and enclosures. In showing
how outpost work may be modified by changing
circumstances, the writer brings his own know
ledge and strategical insight within the compre
hension of the most inexperienced subaltern.
First, he indicates the functions of the triple line
of outposts, — the sentries, the pickets, and the
supports. Theoretically all are supposed to be in
ready touch, so that any pulsation in the outly
ing feelers is transmitted directly to headquarters.
It is shown how by ready calculation on well-
ascertained principles, and by rapid examination
of the ground to be guarded, theory may be
promptly translated into practice. Hamley points
out how the available men may be economised,
by making the most of natural obstacles. There
is much in the choice of ground, and in the skil
ful use of the cover, which may be advantageous
or the reverse, according to circumstances. He
indicates when cavalry and field-guns may be
profitably employed. He explains under what
circumstances the outposts should fall back, and
when it may be well to offer resistance, remem
bering always that the army must not be drawn
prematurely into an engagement on ground dif
ferent from that selected by the general.
These remarks merely give some idea of the
VOL. I. Q

242 THE SYSTEM OF OUTPOSTS.
circumstances to be considered, and of the num
erous difficulties to be grappled with. The
essentials to maintaining an efficient guard
are concert, coherence, and an intelligent direc
tion, embracing the whole wide circle of opera
tions. Under the old system these conditions
were too generally ignored or neglected. The
troops told off for duty were taken almost at
haphazard from detached battalions, and the
command of parties and pickets was intrusted
to officers who took their turn of duty in the
ordinary routine. Hamley held that, on the con
trary, " the men and officers for the duty cannot
be too much accustomed to work together. A
line of suitable extent (say, two miles) would be
best confided to an entire battalion, with its own
colonel for commander. ... In the case of large
armies, each battalion should be taken from the
corps or division placed in rear of the space to
be covered by it." Each of the supports should
furnish its own pickets and from different com
panies, so that the picket would rally on its own
company. When the advanced-guards are over-
fatigued, they should be relieved by a fresh
battalion or other homogeneous body — the troops
so replaced falling back into the reserve. Re
sponsibility should be distributed among capable
officers, selected for their special qualifications.

DRAWBACKS IN ALDERSHOT EXPERIMENT. 243
So the commander of outposts would only have to
issue general instructions : for himself, he should
occupy a fixed post, where he could always be
found to give special orders ; and " he should
establish the most rapid possible communication
with the main position, either by signals, tele
graph, or relay." In fact, the dispositions are to
be as the radiating threads of a spider's web,
with the controlling force established in the
centre. It will be clear from this brief resume of
the system that an impromptu trial at a camp
like Aldershot, even if made with all due de
liberation, could scarcely be a fair one. From
the nature of things, such an experiment could
not be satisfactorily conducted except with forces
which had already been in harmonious training,
and so, as we read between the lines of the
pamphlet, we see that the materials were non
existent at Aldershot. It is but natural that he
should have felt and expressed himself strongly
on a hasty experiment foredoomed to failure,
from circumstances he might foresee but could
not control.

244

CHAPTER XIIL
THE BULGAKIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
VISIT TO ITALY  APPOINTED TO THB TURKISH AND BULGARIAN
COMMISSION  THE POSITION OP THB FRONTIER QUESTION — ¦
COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE FOREIGN OFFICE  ARRIVAL AT
CONSTANTINOPLE  THB COMMISSIONERS  DELIMITATION WORK
 LETTER TO THE DUKE OP CAMBRIDGE.
In January 1879, having no immediate prospect
of employment, he took advantage of his enforced
idleness to pay what he intended to be a pro
longed visit to Italy. He had long desired to
visit Rome, and he hoped to pass the spring in
Naples and Sicily. But man proposes and Pro
vidence disposes, and all his plans were suddenly
upset. Before leaving England, Hamley had heard
with regret that Colonel Home, the English
Commissioner for the delimitation of the Turkish
and Bulgarian frontier, was dangerously ill. At
Genoa he saw the announcement of the Commis
sioner's death, but he had no idea at the time

HASTY RECALL FBOM ITALY, 245
that the event immediately concerned him. He
had gone on, and had spent a month in Rome
under circumstances singularly unfavourable to
enjoyment and sight -seeing. He wrote rather
dolefully that the weather was phenomenally
cold and wet, — that the galleries were gloomy,
and the Campagna miry.
The climate did not suit him, and altogether
he felt ill and out of sorts. Then he got a stimu
lant he did not expect, and we hear no more of
languor or indisposition. On the 5th of March,
as he was sitting down to dinner at his hotel, a
telegram was handed to him. It was a despatch
from the War Office, proposing that he should
succeed Colonel Home, and asking for an imme
diate answer. The telegram had been accident
ally delayed, and the answer was sent immediately.
That same night he started for England, and on
the morning of the 8 th he was in London. A
few days later he wrote to Blackwood : "I would
rather have gone to Zululand or Afghanistan, but
I am glad to get any professional employment of
a respectable nature, and to have the offer of
what is not distasteful I consider lucky." Cer
tainly the authorities could not have made a
more fortunate choice ; and beyond the flattering
testimonials he received, the best proof of their
appreciation of his services was, that he was con-

246 THE BULGABIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
tinued in a similar capacity on two subsequent
Commissions. His talents and his distinction in
his special studies recommended him ; and he had
an iron will, indomitable energy, a keen eye, and
unrivalled aptitude for recognising the strength
and weakness of positions. He had many oppor
tunities of exhibiting his readiness of resource
and his cool - headed promptitude in awkward
emergencies. Yet he could be patient when
necessity arose, and control himself under pro
vocation. All that is said in these sentences is
borne out by Colonel Everett, now the head of
the topographical section of the Military In
telligence Division, to whom I am indebted not
only for invaluable information, but for many
good stories of the adventures of the Commis
sions. For Colonel Everett, like his late chief,
is an excellent raconteur, and both had the happy
knack of making the best of things and finding
amusement in situations sufficiently serious. Col
onel Everett says that Hamley's straightforward
character soon asserted an ascendancy over his
colleagues, and even over the Russian, who was
practically commissioned to oppose him. Had
he sought to meet subtlety with subtlety he
would undoubtedly have been out - manoeuvred.
Occasionally, in the actual details of the delimi
tation, he might resort to a ruse de guerre, but

RUSSIAN DESIGNS ON BULGARIA. 247
that was all fair warfare. At the Council Board,
or in consultation, he always spoke his mind,
kept the purpose of the Commission before his
colleagues — which was to assure Turkey a de
fensible frontier — and supported his suggestions
with arguments which it was exceedingly difficult
to refute. His position was a strong one, and he
held to it tenaciously and with success. The Turk
was naturally willing to be guided by him. The
neutral Commissioners were honestly anxious to
despatch their task quickly to the best of their
ability ; and Colonel Bogulaboff, who represented
the Czar, could hardly avow that his veritable
purpose was to keep a practicable road to Con
stantinople. At that time neither the Czar nor any one else
could foresee the subsequent development of events
in Bulgaria. The Emperor Alexander made sure
of the gratitude of the emancipated Bulgarians :
he counted on their future ruler as the Governor
of one of his own provinces, and regarded the
country as a Russian outpost. Nor was it then
surmised that Eastern Roumelia would be joined
to Bulgaria in a few years by the force of patriotic
or popular sentiment. Consequently, the neutral
European Powers were inclined to strengthen a
fortified natural barrier which would tend to
assure European tranquillity. Consequently, too,

248 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
the memorandum which Hamley drew up on the
situation has lost much of its value. StUl there
are some points of permanent interest which
I shall endeavour to select. In fact, he had
begun and carried on to considerable length a
narrative apparently intended for publication.
It is continued to the end of the proceedings by
a rough diary of daily incidents. As no one
could describe better than himself, there is a
strong temptation to transfer to these pages the
fragment as it stands ; but on the whole, and
with regard to the sense of proportion, it seems
more advisable to single out the more character
istic passages. Some of these tell the connected
story of the mission, or indicate the difficulties
that were successfully surmounted. Others give
graphic and vivid descriptions of the Turks, and
their relations to the subject races ; of the con
dition of Bulgaria immediately after the War ;
of the scenery, from the picturesque and the
strategic point of view, through which the Com
mission travelled ; and of the romantic or ludicrous
incidents which lent variety to monotonous work.
Above aU, the writer sketches with his habitual
acuteness the notable dignitaries with whom he
was brought in contact, and contrasts the fighting
and sterling qualities of the Turks of the lower
orders with the apathetic indifference of the ruling

THE TREATY OF SAN STEPHANO. 249
classes and the corruption of the Government.
As to the abuses of the Turkish administration,
his strictures were still more severe when he was
sent to delimit boundaries in Asia.
The preliminary memorandum indicates the
circumstances which induced the Powers to agree
to the Commission : —
When Eussia had advanced through the Balkan penin
sula in 1877-78, destroying or driving back the Turkish
armies and enclosing Constantinople in her lines, she
forced on her defeated antagonist the Treaty of San
Stephano. By this instrument only a small strip of
European territory was left to Turkey, hardly a sixth of
that she had possessed at the beginning of the war ; and
this strip, with her capital, would be at the mercy of the
enemy in another war.
Not only the ancient traditions of the balance of power,
but the instinct of self-interest, caused the Great Powers to
meet in Congress at Berlin, in order to prevent Eussia
from gaining the vast accession of power and influence
which the execution of the treaty would have bestowed
on her.
When the Congress had roughly redistributed
the conquered territories, skilled topography was
essential for defining the new frontiers, and a
committee of military delegates was constituted.
New maps were to be made, for there was no
rehable and official map of Turkey. The best in
existence was by the Austrian cartographers,
and as it only marked five miles to an inch, it

250 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
was impossible to lay on it anything more than
an approximate frontier line. That was the map
used by the delegates, but the different frontiers
were still subject to determination on the ground,
so that they gave perpetual matter for dispute.
Then the different frontiers to be traced are
described ; but that with which we are concerned
had special importance, as it was to be regularly
fortified for the defence of Turkey.
By the first article of the Treaty of Berlin,
Bulgaria was constituted an autonomous princi
pality, subject only to the payment of tribute,
and the sovereignty was purely honorary. The
Bulgarian Coimnission must be military, because
the boundary was to be capable of defence.
What it had to delimit was — (l) the frontier
on the side of Roumania, from Rakovitza on
the Danube to a point east of Silistria, and
thence by the shortest line to a given point on
the Black Sea. (2) The northern and north
western boundaries of Eastern Roumelia along
the Balkans. (3) The boundary of Roumeha to
the new frontier of Servia. The Commission
had met at Constantinople in September 1878,
and Colonel Home of the Engineers was then
the English delegate. Prehminary difficulties
brought the proceedings prematurely to a stand
still. As Hamley puts it, — and no doubt he

LETTER TO LORD SALISBURY. 251
writes feelingly, for he had to face the same
trouble himself, —
To the Eussian diplomatic and military mind, it
seemed that Bulgaria might be made almost as useful
in a future invasion as if it were Eussian ; that the hos
tility of the races, being judiciously fomented, wHl always
be ready to fructify into convenient quarrel ; that when
Eussian troops should again cross the Danube, they would
find themselves in the territory of a humble and devoted
ally ; and that it was therefore expedient by all means to
conciliate and aggrandise Bulgaria.
When the delegates at last went slowly to
work, they were obstructed by the fluctuating
policies of the Powers, as well as by the objections
gratuitously raised by the Russians. So the de
limitation was little more than begun when the
Commissioners agreed to go into winter quarters.
It was to reassemble on the 15th April 1879, and
then Colonel Home had been replaced by General
Hamley. On 20th March he received an official communi
cation from Lord Salisbury, enclosing the Royal
Commission. In acknowledging it, he made the
following suggestions : —
Major-General Hamley to the Maequis of Salisbury.—
{Received March 20.) London, March 20, 1879.
My Lokd,— I have the honour to inform you that I
have considered, with due reference to the information

252 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
received from Commandant Lemoyne respecting the work
done by the Eussian topographers on the Bulgarian fron
tier, what number of officers it will be necessary to take.
Being informed that I cannot count upon having the
services of Lieutenant Chermside for the Commission,
I recommend that four officers, in addition to Major
Ardagh,^ should be appointed for the work of verifying
the Eussian map, and of making good any defects or
omissions in it. The difficulty and extent of the frontier
render this number the smallest with which the work
could be done with reasonable despatch.
It seems to me most desirable that the party, which
with its servants, drivers, &c., will be of some strength,
should be accompanied by an assistant-surgeon, who, by
prompt attention to slight feverish or other climatic com
plaints, might keep the whole party in working condition,
and obviate the sickness or invaliding of some of its
members. — I have, &c., E. B. Hamley.
The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary
gave him several interviews.
Lord Salisbury was particularly and personally in
terested in the success of the Commission, having been
one of our plenipotentiaries at the Congress. I received
all the encouragement I could gain from frank confidence
and assurances of support, but he did not conceal that he
thought the situation dubious and unpromising. He
spoke of the difficulties of dealing with Eussia in this
business, of which the course of her representative on the
Commission gave sufficient evidence. He understood she
was about to assert the pretensions of Bulgaria to the

^ Major Ardagh was already chief ofthe Topographical Staff.

SELECTION OF BRITISH STAFF. 253
whole southern slope of the Balkans. The disturbed state
of the country might cause serious obstacles ; and, in fact,
the Eastern Eoumelian Commission had been compelled
to desist from its work by armed Bulgarian mobs. The
physical difficulties of country and climate were also
looked on as formidable. Indeed all the conditions were
so unsettled that he must leave me to do the best with
them I could, after better acquaintance on the spot, for
executing the provisions of the treaty.
In an interview with Colonel Stanley, the Secretary for
War, he observed that he had always considered it expedient
to have as Chief Commissioner an officer of higher rank
than that of colonel, and who would consequently possess
an influence more commensurate with the interest our
Government felt in obtaining fair terms for Turkey. . . .
I was treated with great liberality. All officers that I
applied for were given me, and all necessary expenses
were sanctioned.
It was known that Eussia was making for her own
purposes a survey of the new frontiers, and that the maps
would probably be available for the purposes of the
Commission. But whether they were such as would be
serviceable to us, we had no means of knowing. I there
fore asked for a staff sufficient to undertake a considerable
amount of work in the absence of assistance from the
other Powers, and which would in any case, if needful,
serve to verify and correct the work of the Eussian
topographers. The staff selected was strong and efficient.
Major Ardagh, who had resumed his employment at
the Intelligence Department of the War Office, was to
return as head of my topographical staff. He brought
from that department Lieutenant Hare, a very accom-

254 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
plished interpreter, who spoke French thoroughly. Both
these officers had been under me during my command of
the Staff College, as well as Captain Douglas Jones, E.A.,
who now accompanied me as aide-de-camp. To avoid the
objection of choosing none but officers of Artillery and
Engineers, I was glad to be able to apply for Captain
Everett, an excellent topographer, who had also been at
the Staff College in my time. Being still in want of an
officer, I applied to my successor at the College, and
Captain EUes, E.A., a student there with whom I had no
previous acquaintance, joined me at Constantinople.
As it seemed extremely probable that the
services of a doctor might be in requisition,
the party was completed at Constantinople by
Dr Exham, a young assistant - surgeon from
Netley. Accompanied by Major Ardagh, Hamley left
London, and their steamer anchored in the Bos
phorus on the 4th of April. Off the plains of
Troy they were boarded by Dr Schliemann, who
came to fetch a fellow-labourer in archseologfical
research. That visit, with its associations, may
have suggested to Hamley the classical reflection
in one of his letters, that in his ignorance of local
feeling, and even of the physical features of the
Balkans and the bordering districts, he was
plunging like the Argonauts into the unknown.
Strange changes were visible in Constantinople
since he had seen it twenty -four years before.

CHANGES IN CONSTANTINOPLE. 255
There were the same miscellaneous and vociferous
mobs in the filthy and ill - paved streets ; the
population had been increased and the squalor
aggravated, for the long war had left famine
behind, filling Stamboul with troops of homeless
fugitives. But cheap steamers were hurrying
to and fro on the Bosphorus, to the imminent
peril of the frail caiques, and the true believers
had taken to travelling by tramcars drawn by
steam-engines. " Perhaps the most interesting
visit Avas to the English cemetery at Scutari,
now a beautiful spot and carefully tended. Large
grassy mounds marked the spots where I remem
bered to have stood by open graves, where the
corpses of those who had died in the great hos
pital hard by were brought up by the cartload
and buried wholesale." The Mosque of St Sophia
in its dilapidation and decay seemed to have
shared the fallen fortunes of the shattered em
pire. Sir Henry Layard was at the British
Embassy, with Mr Malet (now Su' Edward) for
first Secretary. General Sir Collingwood Dick
son was military attache, specially sent out dur
ing the war. But the high official with whom
Hamley's mission brought him into more im
mediate relations was the British member of the
International Commission for the Organisation of
Eastern Roumelia. Few Englishmen can boast a

256 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
more distinguished record, or have done more to
deserve well of their country, than Sir Henry
Drummond Wolff, who, after having made a
brOliant reputation at home as a Conservative
politician and statesman, has filled the most im
portant diplomatic posts in Europe and the East,
distinguishing himself by rare tact and ability ia
bringing to a successful issue the most deHcate
international negotiations. From the first, his
intercourse with Hamley was cordial in the ex
treme. His counsels and oriental experience were
of infinite utility, and as he warmly appreciated
the value of Hamley's work, so he urged his
claims for adequate recognition on the Govern
ment. Hamley had gone from the great Mosque to
pay visits of ceremony to some of the Turkish
ministers : —
I observed the same tokens of decay in some of the
public offices. There was evidently no money to spare
for paint, plaster, glazing, and waU-paper. The ablest
public servants of Turkey are for the most part either
Greeks or Armenians. They, as a rule I should say, are
rather subtle than wise^rather shifty than foreseeing.
The Foreign Secretary, Carathcortory Pasha, thin, some
what pinched of aspect, had not the presence or manner
of a strong administrator, but was quite conversant with
the business I had come upon, having represented Turkey
at the late Congress. . . . He begged me to discuss the

256 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
more distinguished record, or have done more to
deserve well of their country, than Sir Henry
Drummond Wolff, who, after having made a
brilliant reputation at home as a Conservative
politician and statesman, has filled the most im
portant diplomatic posts in Europe and the East,
distinguishing himself by rare tact and ability in
bringing to a successful issue the most delicate
international negotiations. From the first, his
intercourse with Hamley was cordial in the ex
treme. His counsels and oriental experience were
of infinite utility, and as he warmly appreciated
the value of Hamley's work, so he urged his
claims for adequate recognition on the Govern
ment. Hamley had gone from the great Mosque to
pay visits of ceremony to some of the Turkish
ministers : —
I observed the same tokens of decay in some of the
public offices. There was evidently no money to spare
for paint, plaster, glazing, and wall-paper. The ablest
public servants of Turkey are for the most part either
Greeks or Armenians. They, as a rule I should say, are
rather subtle than wise — rather shifty than foreseeing.
The Foreign Secretary, Carathcortory Pasha, thin, some
what pinched of aspect, had not the presence or manner
of a strong administrator, but was quite conversant with
the business I had come upon, having represented Turkey
at the late Congress. ... He begged me to discuss the

258 THE BULGABIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
majority might be against him, when he 'was to conform
to it. This caused him to venture on few expressions of
opinion, to reserve his vote frequently, and to refer often
to Berlin. Colonel Orero, the Italian, was a quiet and
sensible man, who said little, and kept himself
in the background, but Avas inclined to back
Hamley. For the consultations generally turned
on the conflicting views of the Englishman and
the Russian.
The two members who, by common consent, were re
garded as representing the chief opposing interests.
Colonel Bogulaboff and myself, though often of neces
sity in disagreement in debate, always remained excellent
friends. He was young for his rank, probably under
thirty, had served in the late war and in Circassia, and
had done a great deal of that diplomatic work to which
Eussian officers take so kindly. He was of a shrewd
rather than a powerful intellect, with an expression of
countenance more energetic than reflned, and his tone in
our discussions was often aggressive, owing to the con
fidence he felt in the support of his Government. But
his object was always too clearly revealed, and he arrived
at it rather by insistence than by finesse.
The Pasha did not take a part in our debates commen
surate with the interests he represented. He was a
plump, good-natured man, of grave aspect, had served
under Osman Pasha at Plevna, spoke a little French,
and had been in Paris. He was decidedly dull, but
good-tempered and not bigoted. Stolid and inoffensive,
he appeared to have been instructed to support my views,
at least by voting for them.

THE PASHA AND HIS STAFF. 259
With regard to the Pasha, Hamley has a good
story which tells pleasantly against himself
Yet in circumstances when another man would
probably have given serious cause of offence,
few were inclined to take offence with him : —
Observing him sign his name as " M. Tahir," I said,
" Quel est votre nom Chritien, Bxcellence ? " " Comment ? "
said the Pasha, with a look of surprise. I perceived my
mistake, but did not mend it by changing the form of the
question, — " Je veux demander quel est votre nom de
iapt^me ? " " Comment ? " said the Pasha again, more
gravely than before. I then recollected that I was as
much out of time with my hearer as Portia when she talks
to Shylock of the Lord's Prayer, and at length elicited by
a question more aptly framed what his first name was —
Mehmet. The Pasha was attended by several officers
for topographical purposes, and by a handsome
and highly accomplished Armenian gentleman,
who spoke French like the most refined Parisians,
and was in the habit of thinking in that lan
guage. There were long and wearisome pre
liminary discussions as to how far the frontier
might be settled, previous to actual inspection
of the ground. Finally, unanimous assent was
given to the resolution proposed by the Austrian
delegate, — that the general tracing of the boun
daries should be discussed, in order to deter
mine what the disputed points might be, so that

260 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
these might be referred to their several Gov
ernments by the Commissioners who had only
restricted powers. On Hamley's proposition,
communicated to Lord Salisbury by a despatch
of 18th April, and concerted in an informal
conference with his Turkish, Austrian, German,
and Italian colleagues, general principles of the
delimitation were agreed to. Briefly the partage
des eaux, or watershed, was to be followed :
the questions in dispute were likely to arise in
including on the northern side of the southern
boundary certain salient positions effective for
defence. Although snow still lay deep upon the hills, on
the 29 th April the English topographical party
was despatched to complete the survey of the
Balkans to the west of Samakow. Major Ardagh
was in charge, and Hamley had found an invalu
able interpreter in Mr Cullen, son of an English
physician in Constantinople, who already knew
the country well, and had been an eye-witness of
some of the worst of " the Bulgarian atrocities."
" I had purchased horses in Pera — small and
strong— for the whole party, and I sold them at
the end of the business at no great loss." Before
leaving Constantinople himself, he found time to
visit Baker Pasha, who was then engaged with
nearly 40,000 Turkish troops on the lines of

LETTER TO THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE. 261
Tchatchaldja, intended to protect the capital from
invading forces passing the Balkans. That visit
is described at length in a letter to the Duke of
Cambridge, who had expressed a desire to receive
occasional communications. It is unnecessary to
give the letter in full, and I shall merely select
some extracts as to the strategical and political
importance of the lines, and the qualities of the
men employed in constructing them : —
Major-Geneeal Edward B. Hamley to H.RH. the
Duke of Cambridge. Constantinople, 12th May.
Sir, — At Tchatchaldja the position is viewed from the
side of the enemy, who, having reached from Adrianople
a long line of high and steep heights, crossed by very few
roads and very difficult of passage, would then see it
before him, across a flat valley from three to four miles
wide. As the heights on each side recede considerably from
the valley, the defensive line is for the most part, in this
portion of it, quite beyond extreme cannon-range from the
heights reached by the enemy. The road from Tchat
chaldja to the position runs across the valley through
a marsh, which, according to the season, is from half a
mile to a mile in extent, and is impassable.
The position, which, as the crow flies, is at an average
distance of 35 miles from Constantinople, traverses a
peninsula, which from the Sea of Marmora to the Black
Sea is at this point about 26 miles wide. But as the
flanks of the position rest on two lakes, each separated

262 THE BULGABIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
from one of those seas only by a sandbank, its actual
fortified extent is thereby narrowed to about 16 nules.
. . . From the main ridge parallel to the vaUey, a number
of spurs run out into the valley : the position lies along
the crests of the spurs, the lower parts of which form each
an uncommonly perfect glacis. The general principle of
the defence is to place a work on the crest of each spur,
sweeping the glacis and the valley, and another farther
back, where it can command the part of the valley which
runs up between the spurs.
Describing the positions and armaments in
detail, he pronounces the lines virtually impreg
nable, the points which nature had left compara
tively assailable being strongly defended by triple
works. As to the troops : —
These works have been constructed by the troops imder
the direction of Baker Pasha, who planned and traced them.
The battalions are chiefly 'mustaflz,' or men of the last
reserve, who, taken from their homes for the war, have
been detained to labour on the defences. Nothing could
have been more deplorable than the condition of these men
during the winter, — in miserable tents on those bleak hills,
the country everywhere deep in mire, rations and clothing
very scanty, firewood fetched by the men from a great
distance through the mud, and no hospital ; and nothing
could have been more admirable than the cheerfulness
with which they continued their labours in these circum
stances. In fact, their patience, energy, discipline, and
uncomplaining spirit surpass what would have been dis
played under such conditions by any other troops. Nor
is their physical inferior to their moral excellence:
although shabbily clad, they are now well fed, and a finer

LETTEB TO THE DUKE OF CAMBBIDGE. 263
body of men it would be impossible to find, — immensely
broad and deep in shoulder and chest, far above average
stature, manly of bearing, and intelligent of aspect.
It would appear that beyond the mere military result,
the existence of such a line of defences must exercise an
immense influence on the affairs of Europe. An impreg
nable line of defence at that distance from Constantinople
assures the existence of Turkey as a European Power. It
may also be expected to produce a beneficial effect on in
ternal affairs by affording that guarantee for national
existence which is a necessary condition of national
development.

264

CHAPTER XIV.
THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION — Continued.
TRAVEL IN THE BALKANS  PICTURESQUE SCENERY  VICTIMS OF
THE WAR  PEELINGS OP THB POPULATION  ENMITY BETWEEN
CHRISTIANS AND MOHAMMEDANS  ARRIVAL AT VARNA 
DIFFICULTIES WITH THB RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES, AND EMBAR
KATION OP THE HORSES.
The Commission set out on the 13th of May.
With the attendants, equipments, and train of
baggage animals, it made a formidable party.
In one of his lively letters to his niece he de
scribes an amusing incident de voyage: —
We slept at Adrianople — not in the city, however, but
in the train. I saw somebody in red-striped trousers
extend himself on the opposite sofa of the carriage, and,
being half asleep, concluded it was Captain Jones. I
thought his legs very short, and could not account for
his head in relation to them. I also came to the conclu
sion that nobody ever snored so loud, and wondered how
Mrs Jones could stand it. In the morning light, however,
I discovered that my companion was the Pasha.
The second night was passed at Philippopolis,

TALE OF TUBKISH ATROCITIES. 265
the capital of the new province of Eastern Rou
melia. " The singularity of this town is that it is
built round the sides of a high steep rock, which
crops up abruptly through the wide flat valley
of the Maritza." Hamley had his lodging on the
summit of the rock, in comfortable quarters placed
at his disposal by Sir Henry Drummond Wolff.
He looked down on the Maritza, which reminded
him of the Thames, though storks in place of
swans and the herds of shaggy buffaloes tended
to dispel the fond illusion.
This city had been in the preceding year the scene of
great cruelties practised by the Turkish governor. My
interpreter, Mr Cullen, told me he had seen a procession
of Bulgarians marched along the street under Turkish
escort, and on arriving at a sign, lamp-post, or other con
venient projection, a halt was made, a prisoner hung on
the extemporised gibbet, and the march resumed to the
next one. He described the Bulgarians as submitting
absolutely without complaint or resistance, and had re
marked that each was run up motionless like a stuffed
figure, a grey shade which presently came over the un
covered face showing when life was extinct. A hundred
and five had been thus dealt with at once. He had
remonstrated with the Pasha, representing that all these
men could not have been guilty of offences worthy of
death, — to which the Pasha simply rephed that to be a
Bulgarian was a sufficient crime.
The strong cavahy escort was furnished by the
Russians, and the real start was made on the

266 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
18th May for Tatar Bazardjik, where there was
a large Russian camp. In fact, the Russians in
sisted on taking excessive care of the delegates,
considerably to Hamley's annoyance. There was
a guard of a dozen men in the courtyard of the
house he occupied ; sentries were posted before
and behind, and he could not saunter out into
the street without having an armed party at his
heels. As the Russians supplied the escort, so a
Bulgarian official was charged by the Russian
authorities with providing transport.
His zeal in our service was so great as quite to extin
guish any sympathy he might have had for his Bulgarian
brethren, whom he impressed most ruthlessly, along with
their oxen and arabas, carrying them off from their labours
in the fields, sometimes for days, while their families
were left in ignorance of what had become of them.
These arabas were often drawn by black and hideous
buffaloes, with enormous flat curled horns and colossal
limbs, and the picturesque procession moved slowly
onwards to the melodious screeching of innumerable
wheels. A squadron of Eussian dragoons, headed by
the band with trumpets and kettle-drums, led the ad
vance, and the rear of the cumbrous baggage-train was
brought up by mounted Bulgarians.
Now that Eastern Roumelia has been annexed
to Bulgaria, it is superfluous to follow closely
the military itinerary, or to dwell on the defen-

AN EXCITED POPULACE. 267
sive positions in detail. Nothing is less likely
than that the Russians in our time will again
march on Constantinople by the overland route,
though it is certain that the Shipka Pass may
still be of importance should there be trouble
between Turkey and the liberated populations ;
so I shall chiefly confine myself to those in
cidents in the military promenade which have
some personal reference to the subject of the
memoir. It may be mentioned that the mem
bers of his staff often found their duties suffi
ciently arduous. On one occasion, for example.
Captains Everett and Elles rode fifty miles
over the roughest country, making a variety
of topographical sketches in course of the ride.
In some of the towns where the Commission was
expected, though the escort held them in awe, the
people were very menacing, and at Ichtiman, " a
most filthy place," there was imminent danger of
an emeute. For once, and as it happened when he
needed them most, none of the escort was bil
leted in Hamley's quarters. He and his aide-de
camp dined with pistols on the table, listening to
the uproar below the windows. The population
were anxious to be included in Bulgarian territory,
and believed that the English Commissioner, in
especial, was opposed to their wishes. As for the
peasants, they had no reason to like the Russians,

268 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION,
who continued to carry matters with a high hand.
One evening arrangements had been made for an
early start, but in the morning aU the enforced
waggoners were missing, and had taken their
arabas with them. Forthwith the dragoons were
sent out to scour the country, and they impressed
a sufficient number of unfortunates, who were put
under stricter guard.
We rode over breezy downs, along the watershed to
wards a village bordering a stream. Here Major Ardagh
and I, with one servant, pitched our tents in a meadow,
procured some meat, and late at night supped upon it as
cooked by the servant. Towards morning I was awoke
by a young bull stumbling over the tent-ropes. The re
mainder of my party had encamped four miles from me.
A waggon, loaded with baggage of the Italian officers, had
rolled in the dark down a ravine, and Colonel Orero ex
pressed to me much gratitude for the aid my officers had
afforded in rescuing the articles and setting the aral)a
again on the road.
Next day the road led up a deep gorge ; the
broken path kept crossing from side to side, and
some twenty times they forded the Topolnitza,
which flowed swiftly in the bottom. Emerging
on the broad plain, they had left the lesser range
beyond the Rhodope behind, and were in presence
of the principal chain of the Balkans.
At the foot of the Great Balkans we were met by a
deputation of Bulgarian notables, bringing a petition for

A CHARITABLE GIFT. 269
respecting the boundaries of some village lands. They
invited us to halt in a grove, where they had spread rugs
and cushions for us, had cooked fine trout netted in a
neighbouring stream, and roasted a lamb whole, by en
closing it in the hollow trunk of a tree. The animal
looked somewhat grisly, but nevertheless tasted excellent ;
so did the trout.
Taking leave of our entertainers we passed on, and
pausing beside a small mountain-stream to await our train,
I got out my fly-rod, and caught a few brook-trout. My
colleagues testified great interest in this small sport, espec
ially the Pasha, who, usually apathetic, bustled officiously
round me, and several times put me in terror for my
tackle by assisting the landing of the fish. Next morning
we ascended the Trojan Pass by a path zigzagged up the
steep mountain - side, slippery with stones, and far too
narrow for wheels, or for anything but a single horse.
Then he records an incident strikingly signifi
cant of his kindly generosity. He also alludes
to it in a letter to his niece, characteristically
saying nothing of his charitable gift. Every
where he was painfully impressed by the pitiable
condition of the victims of the war. For there
was little to choose between Turkish and Bul
garian atrocities, and whether the Christian or
Mohammedan Bulgarians had the upper hand,
they ruthlessly avenged long - cherished griev
ances against the neighbours of a different creed.
When the Commission marched for Karlovo, I stayed
with my Eussian orderly and my interpreter to ride

270 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
round the village of Teke. Being altogether Turkish,
it was entirely deserted and com))letely ruined. When
the Eussian armies were approaching the Balkans, the
Turkish inhabitants, expecting no mercy, took to llight.
Their property, left unprotected, was immediately pillaged
by their Bulgarian neiglibours. Their flocks were driven
off, their crops plundered, their houses pulled down and
the woodwork carried off. These proceedings were not
altogether inspired by hatred or cupidity, but partly from
a desire to prevent tlie Turks in any case from returuii:g
to their homes by leaving them no homes to return to.
Mr Cullen, malcing a foray, as usual, in search of lambs,
fowls, and bread, which tlic owners luiglit he willing to
sell, had found in this place some starving Turkisli women,
still haunting their ruined houses and fields, because they
had no other refuge, and endeavouring to subsist on what
they could glean in their devastated lands and gardens.
Some of these veiled and black-robed forms were flitting
furtively between the walls, and Mr Cullen learned tliat
they could possibly subsist if they had a cow, which
could be fed on the pastures round. I therefore left with
them the few pounds necessary and rode onward. Our
way now lay through immense tracts of roses, at this
time in full bloom. Everywhere women were gathering
them, and cart-loads were conveyed to the distilleries,
established on the banks of suitable streams for the manu
facture of the attiir. Here enormous earthen jars in rows
stood each over a charcoal furnace, and were connected
by j)ipes with lesser jars, and these, slieltered by rough
sheds in whicli lay vast heaps of gathered roses, with
groups of peasants t(;n(ling the furnaces, while arabas
with fresh freights came in from the field.s and forded the
streams, lent singular interest and picturesqueness to the
solitary valleys of the Balkans.

TBOUT-FISHING IN THE BALKANS. 271
At a village beyond Kalofer, examination of
the map showed a stream flowing from the moun
tain, and Hamley rode forth to reconnoitre.
Its aspect was most promising, and Mr Cullen awaited
my return with a native, whose occupation was to scoop
out trout with a hand-net. This functionary said there
was an excellent spot about two miles up the stream, to
which he would take me in the morning, proposing to
bring his net, which he imagined to be indispensable.
The interpreter assured him that if he disappointed us,
and above all, if he brought his net, the Pasha (myself)
would certainly hang him. Events had lent too much
reality to a threat of that kind, and the fisherman, net-
less, wondering, and possibly somewhat frightened, punc
tually awaited me next morning.
In three hours he had caught upwards of five
dozen trout, many above a pound weight. Many
were killed in a deep gorge, where he was sur
prised by the bursting of a terrific thunder-storm,
which brought down the river suddenly in a flood,
much in the manner of the Morayshire Findhorn.
Before the interruption of his sport, in
wending round a corner, I surprised a swarm of frogs
sunning themselves on the stony margin, brilliantly
attired, as Turkish frogs are, in green and gold and rose
colour. Alarmed at my appearance between them and
the stream, they threw themselves off, taking headers like
schoolboys bathing, hands joined in front, heels in the air,
so hurriedly that many struck against me before lighting
in the water. ... I sent all my largest trout to my

272 THE BULGABIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
colleagues for dinner, who, in return, bestowed upon me
some bottles of beer which they had somehow become
possessed of.
That stream had its source in a spur of the
Shipka, and next day they ascended the famous
pass, where Suleiman Pasha had sulked on the
defensive, and which he very probably sold to the
General of the Tsar.
The pass goes up from the village, and was traversed
by a good road, twenty feet wide, made by the Eussians,
and now being improved by Bulgarian labourers. The
summit of San Nicholas, the high point of the pass, is
visible from the plains. We reached it in two hours and
a half, and, from the summit of the peak, saw the road
going steeply down along narrow crests till it vanished
round a hill a mile off. Around were other craggy peaks,
parted from us by deep and steep ravines ; and all their
rugged sides had been thickly strewn with Eussian and
Turkish dead in the long struggle for the pass. Below
us was the Eussian cemetery, so completely enclosed and
commanded, that we made no difficulty of acceding to
Colonel Bogulaboff's request that this graveyard should
be left in Bulgarian territory, so strong a frontier being
here assigned to Turkey as would, if suitably occupied,
secure the pass.
In the altered political circumstances, the capa
bilities of the Balkans as a defensive line may be
briefly dismissed in an extract from a letter to
the Duke of Cambridge reporting generally on the

A GENEBOUS COMMISSABIAT. 273
work of the Commission. It was written from
Buyukdere on the 7th July : —
The" only passes where preparations for defence need be
made are those of the Shipka, Hankivi, and Kotel. That
these should be defended would appear a very proper
measure, because the Balkans, being so difficult of passage,
everywhere form a real and strong line of defence. But
no expensive fortifications are needed. Earthworks would
amply suffice both for infantry and artillery.
Beyond the Balkans the Commissioners were in
a rich and fruitful country, with vineyards, rose-
gardens, and fields of waving corn. Now there
was no difficulty as to the commissariat, and
supplies of all kinds poured in. Dr Exham
went out with his gun, and with Don, the
pointer, who had become an esteemed member of
the Commissioner's staff, and he came back with
bags of partridges and hares. The English mem
bers of the expedition stuck to their national
habits, making a solid breakfast and a frugal
lunch.But our colleagues preferred their usual practice of
beginning the day with coffee or bread and fruit, and at
the mid-day halt a Bulgarian cook or steward, said to have
been a captain in the army, would arrive on a horse, bear
ing all the materials for a substantial ddjeHner — cold meat,
cold fowls, salads, potted fish, and wines ; and while we
despatched the trifling matters which our saddle-bags con
tained, the foreigners, spreading a huge tablecloth in a
VOL. I. S

274 THE BULGABIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
woody glade or on a grassy meadow, would make a meal
whicli was followed by hot coffee, and liqueur, and by
some period of repose. The rest in the hot time of the
day was welcome, for the sun now poured his rays as from
a furnace. . . .
There was one mitigating feature in the sultry rides —
namely, the fountains which were so frequently to be
found by the roadsides, generally the grateful offering, as
the inscription on a tablet mostly records, of some pious
hadji or other devout Mussulman. Out of these always
gushes cold, pure water, falling into a trough for beasts.
These structures are of some size, and often very pictur
esque, the votive inscription in white or gold on a green
tablet. We had now left the rose-fields, and were journeying at
the foot of slopes clothed in vines. A good well-flavoured
red wine is produced, but the manufacture is rough and
ready. Baron Eipp, who seemed to understand the sub
ject practically and from a proprietor's point of view,
observed to me that the conditions of soil and climate
were excellent, and that by planting suitable vines and
exercising the same care as in France or Germany, wines
surpassing even the famous growths of these countries
might be produced.
A few days afterwards they rode into a village,
after a forced march of twenty-five miles. At
nine o'clock, after weary waiting, they heard the
screeching of the wheels of the belated baggage
train, when it was too late to encamp, and when
arrangements for supper were impossible. Next
morning, and notwithstanding their fatigue, all
the disgusted peasants had again disappeared.

BULGARIAN VILLAGERS. 275
taking cattle and carriages along with them.
So Hamley appears to have disposed of the
time by noting down his general impressions of
Bulgarian villages : —
A Bulgarian village differs from ordinary European
villages in this, that it appears to be composed altogether
of one class of persons, the tillers of the soil. There is
nothing to be called a street, no small shopkeepers, no
inns, no shoemakers or tailors, nor anything to distinguish
some of the agricultural population as superior to the
rest. Of course there must be diversities in degrees of
opulence, but these do not make themselves apparent
in greater comfort, better houses, or better living. Every
body lives in squalor: washing is, I should think,
quite unpractised, and I concluded that men and women
kept on their clothes day and night, for some indefinite
period. Both men and women are destitute of good looks.
Their houses are separated by spaces of ground — not for
gardens, for I never saw the slightest attempt at cultiva
tion : the wild weeds, generally tall camomile, grow up to
the doors, and must in the decay of autumn be very un
wholesome. The wide tiled eaves of the houses are sup
ported on posts enclosing a balcony which is reached by a
broad ladder. The ground-floor is reserved for horses,
cows, pigs, and stores. In the room I used as a temporary
habitation there was a large hole in the floor, through
which the sweepings were cast into the regions below.
AU fare alike on the bread and cheese of the country,
both, to our taste, disgusting— the bread clammy, the
cheese soft, discoloured, and of horrible odour. Where
each family makes its own food and drink, there is no
opening for the shopkeeper.

276 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
The camomile spreads over the whole country, and
our tents were often pitched on ground covered by it,
so that my recollections of the expedition are always
associated with the odour of the plant.
The special product of Bulgarian industry is embroidery.
They have all the gift of colour and of fanciful design
with which the people of the East are endowed, and the
towels and coverings which the women adorn with their
needle-work are now well known in England, owing to
the distress of the Turkish population, who, crowding into
Constantinople after abandoning their property, were
driven to sell whatever they still possessed, in order to
keep body and soul together. The Government lodged
them, so far as possible, in great empty houses, such as
are always to be found on the Bosphorus.
The Turks who remained, unwilling to abandon
houses or lands, held their lives, like then- pro
perty, on a most precarious tenure. One day,
after camping near a lonely cemetery, and pitch
ing the tents close to a new-made grave covered
with thorns to keep off" the jackals and hyenas,
the Commission crossed a desolated tract of
country to Verbitza.
I was lodged in the detached villa of a young Bey,
about eighteen or twenty years old, whose father, a Pasha,
was latel}- dead. Here was a lively illustration of the
condition of Turkish proprietors who remained in the new
Principality. The Bey's steward, an old servant of the
family, told us that a fortnight before, as he was journey
ing with his master from a town at some distance, they
were waylaid by a party of brigands, among whom they

SCENERY OF THE BALKANS 277
recognised many of their own neighbours and townsmen,
and were thrown to the ground. The Bey, with a knife
at his throat, was compelled to pay a heavy ransom.
They had been menaced by notice with fresh violence,
the Eussians afforded no protection, and they quite ex
pected to be murdered after our departure. I saw in the
streets many loungers who looked quite capable of that or
any other crime.
In the Yerbitza pass the Commission separated,
to meet again in Constantinople. A part of the
delegates turned westward, to complete the de
limitation in that direction, each Commissioner
sending his adjutant to represent him where he
was not personally present.
The division of duty was matter of friendly
arrangement, and Hamley preferred to join the
eastern party, as the eastern frontier embraced
the issues directly leading from the north
to Constantinople. The marches led through
singularly romantic scenery : —
For days we had seen the chain of the Balkans, clothed
in immense forests of beech, oak, chestnut, and pine,
through the shady parts of which our road for the most
part lay, emerging now and then into an open space
whence we could survey the undulating woods as they
covered hill and dale, pierced at the highest points by
pinnacles of crag. From Dobral we again crossed the
Balkans, at the pass of that name, halting at the Bairam
dere. (Dere signifies valley of a stream, and may be the
same termination as that of Scamander, Maeander, and

278 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
other classical streams.) While our baggage next day
took the road by the valley, we plunged into the woods,
ridiag in deep shade, sometimes stooping under the
boughs. At the next camping-place Hamley invited the
captain of the Russian escort to dinner on the
following day. He desired the cook to make
hospitable preparation, and accordingly a lamb
and a goose were purchased, and hung up in the
alfresco larder.
That night there was tremendous excitement among the
village dogs, which had made a battle-ground of our green,
with savage snarling and growling. One animal made
himself specially obnoxious by sitting apart and plain
tively howling. In the morning we discovered that the
nocturnal engagement had been waged over lamb and
goose, only a foot of the one and the bill of the other
remaining to explain it. The dog that had howled was a
stranger, debarred from a share in the feast.
Two days afterwards, from Petreo on the
heights, they saw the Euxine shimmering in the
sunshine beneath them, and following the ridge
of downs bordering the water, after a ride of
about 620 miles, drew bridle at la,st in the streets
of Varna, sadly familiar to Hamley in the cholera
time before the Crimean campaign. Two charac
teristic incidents marked the brief stay there.
Prince Dondakoff Korsakoff, subsequently of Trans-

AN UNGRACIOUS RECEPTION. 279
Caucasian celebrity, was directing affairs in Bul
garia, and had his residence in Varna. The Com
missioners thought it but courteous to call : their
Russian colleague, who must otherwise have pre
sented them to the Prince, had gone with the
other party. The courtesy was indifferently re
ciprocated. The Commissioners duly announced
their names and functions. The reply of the
officers in the antechamber was that the Prince
was sitting down to breakfast, and they had
better call again. Hamley was the last man to
put up with a slight of the kind, especially when
he was representing the British Government. He
spoke for the rest, and sharply told the aide-de
camp that their purpose of calling on the Prince
was fulfilled, and for himself, he would be unable
to pay a second visit. The officer turned on his
heel, and left the room without any form of
leave-taking. The foreign envoys were loud in
their indignation at what they styled the inso
lence of master and man. However, the Prince
so far made the amende that in the course of
the day Hamley found his card on the table.
Had he shown himself more friendly, some
trouble and embarrassment might have been
saved. Hamley, who wished to get rid of his
horses, had hoped to sell some of them in Varna,
embarking the rest. He learned rather late that

280 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
no horses could be shipped without a special per
mission from the Russian Government. This
the shrewd Bulgarian horse-dealers knew, and
as the steamer was to start at a given time,
they thought they had the Englishman and his
animals at their mercy.
He had successfully shipped the horses on
lighters, but the lighters were intercepted by a
revenue boat and compelled to put back. He
hurriedly despatched messengers to obtain the
requisite permission. The dealers were triumph
ant, and made a modest bid for the lot of much
less than the value of a single horse. Hamley
was not to be victimised if he could in any way
help it.
It was dusk, and close to the hour of departure, when
the permission came. I had requested the captain to
send the steamer's boats, which he did ; but the shallow
water would not permit them to approach within some
forty yards of the shore, and they would only hold half
the number. The joy of the horse-dealers was great :
they saw me in extremity, and expected me to capitulate
on their own terms. I selected at once the horses I
intended to take, had them led into the water to the
boats' sides, when our grooms and servants, eight or ten
in number, seized each horse, two or three to each leg,
and by main strength lifted and tumbled them in. The
interpreter's pony they carried the whole way, and pitched
him in so abruptly that he got his legs scarred in a way
which he still bears the marks of, if he still exists.

DREAD OF THE SEA. 281
The remaining animals were brought on in another
steamer in charge of Captain Jones, and so the
grasping dealers were effectually baffled.
Retributory justice overtook another Bulgarian,
whose sufferings were more acute, and Hamley,
in very charity for his fellow - creatures, re
garded and narrates them with a grim sense
of humour : —
The sea was nearly motionless — there was an almost
imperceptible heave in it. But this was too much for
Tchitchagoff, who had never before seen the sea. He
retired at once, in extreme distress, to his cabin, where
he lamented, screamed, and even wept all night. The
Bulgarian peasantry could hardly have desired a com
pleter vengeance on their persecutor. Next day he stag
gered across the deck to the doctor, to whom he announced
that he was dying, and then disappeared. Shortly after
wards, he returned with the information that he was not
dying but actually dead — and, in fact, he fell below the
binnacle in a motionless heap, and so remained till we
landed. But the poor man was really so ill that I heard
he never got out of his bed at the hotel, except to go
straight back to his home in Bulgaria.
The story of the labours of the Commission
may appropriately conclude with the last of the
letters to the Duke of Cambridge. The first
part is omitted, as its substance has been antici
pated in the extracts from the diary. The rest
is curious and interesting, as evidence of how

282 THE BULGARIAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION.
the subtle Muscovite policy overreached itself,
and of how entirely the Russians had deceived
themselves as to their future relations with the
co-religionists whose affections they had done
much to alienate by arbitrary proceedings and
an overbearing demeanour. The writer was more
clear-sighted : —
Major-General E. B. Hamley to Ris Pi,oyal Highness the
Duke of Cambridge.
Butukdeee, lith Jvly 1879.
Sir, — I have the honour to offer to your Eoyal High
ness some observations on the condition of the provinces
through which the route of the Commission has lain.
[After remarking that in his opinion the pastoral
wealth and fertility of the country, even previous to the
war, must have been greatly exaggerated in official reports,
he goes on : — ]
At the same time, the country has all the elements of
riches in its soil and climate, and wants nothing but a
period of tranquillity to develop them.
Whether such a period will be granted to it is now the
problem. The Eussians have done a good deal to prevent
it by the political ideas they have been inspiring, by
organising and drilling a kind of national army, and by
large presents of arms. In every town armed bodies were
being drilled, and in every cottage a breech-loader and
bayonet might be seen. Numbers of men were sometimes
to be met with on the roads thus armed, and wearing a
badge to show that they belonged to the militia. These
arms were left by the Eussian troops, who were to receive
others of a newer pattern on getting home. Large quanti-

CONCLUSIONS ARRIVED AT. 283
ties of ammunition have also been distributed, — we met a
long train of waggons near SHven which had been im
pressed at Bourgas, all loaded with ammunition -boxes.
The Eussians, I believe, justify this by saying that the
Turks in Eoumelia and Bulgaria have quantities of arms
hidden away, which they only wait the withdrawal of the
Eussians to use. However that may be, there evidently
exist in this armed and organised population sufficient
elements of disturbance. I think, however, there is fair
ground for hoping that quietness may prevail. Much of
the excitement may cease with the withdrawal of the
Eussians, whose treatment of the Bulgarians has not been
of a kind to make them popular. The population are
naturally industrious and not naturally warlike, and may
quickly come to see that they have everything to lose and
nothing to gain in further troubles.
Instead of instilling political ideas, the people should
be taught to cultivate the conveniences and decencies of
civilised life. . . . The best government will be that
which takes the best way to raise the country to the
present European level and to develop its natural advan
tages. I hear from various sources that the new Governor
of Eoumelia is not likely to take the lead in any policy
requiring vigour or capacity.
I have been emboldened to offer so many remarks by
the kind encouragement of your Eoyal Highness; and
trusting that the length of my letter may find excuse, I
have the honour to be, &c., E. B. Hamley.

284

CHAPTER XV.
ON THE BOSPHORUS.
LIFE AT BUTUZDERE  DELAYS IN THE COMPLETION OF THE
TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEY  DIFFICULTIES SUCCESSFULLY SUR
MOUNTED  APPROVAL OF THE FOREIGN OFFICE  IS MADE A
KNIGHT OP THE ORDER OF ST MICHAEL AND ST GEORGE.
NoTHESTG can be more enchanting than the banks
of the Bosphorus in the spring and early summer,
and Hamley passed the time very agreeably while
awaiting the arrival of the other section of the
Commission. Following the example of the Em
bassies and the wealthy residents, he preferred
the country — or rather the suburbs — to the city,
and took up his quarters with his aide-de-camp
in the hotel at Buyukdere. There he was glad
to rest from his active labours, and found pleasant
occupation in boating expeditions to visit the
palaces and romantically situated villages that
frmge the shores of the Straits ; in rides, or long
excursions on foot over the bordering hills, when

A MEETING WITH LAURENCE OLIPHANT. 285
the sketch-book was never left behind; and in
joining picnic - parties which were got up im
promptu. Within doors and on wet days he
was busied in methodically embodying the results
of his late observations in memoranda which
were duly transmitted to the War Office. He
and Captain Jones happened to be the only Eng
lishmen in their hotel, the rest of the company
consisting of Russians and Americans ; but the
delightful residence of the British Ambassador at
Therapia was within easy reach, and there he
had always a warm welcome. As he writes to
his niece, he met his old acquaintance Laurence
Oliphant, who, although he had only arrived a few
days before, was already as much at home in the
house as if he had been the oldest member ofthe
family. With regard to that meeting, Hamley
would sometimes speak rather enviously of Oli
phant's extraordinary faculty of ingratiatmg him
self with all and sundry. Though he himself
possessed it in a wonderful degree in the case
of bright and clever women, when his manner
would soften insensibly and his face would light
up with smiles. But if Oliphant carried all before
him in society, he was less successful elsewhere
and in his immediate objects. Like Hamley,
he had also come on a mission; but he was
not clothed with official authority, nor did he

286 ON THE BOSPHORUS.
represent the dignity of the English War Office.
He had come to obtain certain concessions with
regard to colonisation and land sales in the
Jordan valley. He used to give most ludicrous
accounts of incidents more amusing in the retro
spect than in the reality, — of his dancing attend
ance in the Turkish antechambers ; of his being
bandied about from one minister to another ; of
free-handed distributions of backsheesh, by which
he was never to benefit. He would ruefully
confide to Hamley how his suave diplomacy was
powerless against the apathetic courtesies of the
Pashas, and how his patience was only sustained
by his being prepared for the worst, and conse
quently fortified against delays and disappoint
ments. Hamley soon had somewhat similar ex
perience of his own. In respect to the Turks, as
he was doing his best to help them, he naturally
found them complacent enough and willing to
assist him in their dilatory fashion. But he had
to play out the parti with his subtle Russian
antagonist, who fancied he had a card in reserve
that should win the final trick. Hamley played
the game in his own manner, with firmness,
promptitude, and no little astuteness, and had
good reason to pride himself on the result.
His purpose all along had been to push the

A HITCH IN THE SURVEY. 287
arrangements through ; the Russian's desire had
been delay, and, if possible, to settle nothing
definitely. The incident, important as it was,
had only passing interest ; but it illustrates
Hamley's indomitable energy, and his readiness
to accept responsibility. In brief, an extent of
thirty-five miles still remained to be surveyed
on the Macedonian frontier. Colonel Bogulaboff O
had undertaken that his topographers should do
the work. On the reassembling of the Commis
sion he calmly announced that the promised work
was still undone, owing to the failure of the
Turkish authorities to facilitate it, and he fixed
two months as the time indispensable for the
completion of the plans.
His colleagues were in consternation at the
unexpected delay, and the discussion became
stormy. They came to Hamley after the debate,
in which he had taken a lead, expressing unani
mously their indignation and despondency. Thus
he was assured of their support in any steps he
might take. As he says: "I had been sent out
expressly to oppose the arrogant pretensions
which the Russian Commissioner too often dis
played. . . . The present blow, long delayed, had
been resorted to as a safe and certain compensa
tion for the many concessions which the Russian

288 ON THE BOSPHORUS.
had been compelled to make. There seemed no
possible way of averting it." For his own staff
had been detached on a different piece of duty,
and in particular he had to regret the loss of
Captain Everett, who had been summoned away
to his vice-consulate at Erzeroum. Moreover, the
Russian added insult to injury, by pleasantly
recommending Hamley to go on a two months'
tour, when he might return to see how matters
were progressing. Had anything been necessary
to stimulate the sense of duty, it would have
been a sneer of the kind. Hamley resolved on
moving heaven and earth to make an effective
practical retort, and Fortune favoured him in an
unexpected fashion.
Just then he heard that Captain Everett, on
his way from England to Trebizond, was actually
in the hotel. He asked Everett if he would stop
and do some work for him. " Certainly, sir,"
was the answer, " if you will get me author
ity." He immediately started to walk to the
Embassy, and saw Sir Henry Layard going out
for his ride. He had begun to run when the
Ambassador heard himself accosted, and drew
bridle. He preferred his request, but Sir Henry
hesitated. He declared there was urgent neces
sity for Everett going to his post. " I observed

DIFFICULTIES OVERCOME. 289
that the occasion was an important and urgent
one, and that on my getting Captain Everett
depended whether I should or should not defeat
the Russian plan for stopping the business of the
Commission. It was certain that any step tending
to defeat Russian designs against Turkey would
have a charm for Sir Henry." Sir Henry asked
if he would undertake to answer any further com
plaints from Everett's chief at Trebizond. The
answer was unhesitatingly in the affirmative, and
Sir Henry telegraphed to Lord Salisbury that the
Vice-Consul was detained.
Simultaneously came a second stroke of good
fortune, which gave him the services of Lieutenant
de Wolski, R.E., a skflled topographer. Major
Ardagh was put in charge of the party ; Cap
tain Jones, R.A., was to accompany it to arrange
for the camps, commissariat, &c. ; a Turkish officer
was attached at the request of the Turkish
authorities ; and a suitable interpreter was found.
All this was the work of a day or so. The next
step was to obtain the formal assent of the Com
mission, and though greatly disappointed and
annoyed, even Bogulaboff could not decently re
fuse. He expressed his vexation in no measured
terms, but was suavely answered by Hamley that
he was surprised at the spirit in which his offer
VOL. I. T

290 ON THE BOSPHORUS.
had been received, being persuaded that the sole
desire of the Russian was to facilitate the labours
ofthe Commission.
Then came the consideration of how the topo
graphers were to get to their ground. The
Russian control of the country was so complete,
that neither escort nor transport could be
reckoned upon for the land route. The alter
native was to send the Englishmen to Salonica
by sea ; but there seemed to be no possibility of
starting for a week, and then by a slow coasting
steamer. He hurried back to the Embassy to
ask for one of the three English gunboats lying in
the Bosphorus. The upshot was that he obtained
the Bittern, on the understanding that he should
again relieve the Ambassador of responsibility
and bear Captain Pusey out with the Admiral.
At the stance of the 2d August the window of the room
in which we sat overlooking the Bosphorus was darkened
by a passing ship. This was the Bittern returning from
her mission. I observed that this was the vessel which
had taken the topographers of the Commission to Salonica,
and the fact that she had been so employed evidently
made a deep impression. In my despatch on the subject
I observed, " The Commission cannot fail to contrast the
manner in which the English Government endeavour to
facilitate their work with the attitude taken towards them
by the Eussian." Consistent in his official attitude of

HAMLEY MADE K.C.M.G. 291
obstruction to the last, Bogulaboff made a final attempt
to have the work of his own topographers, when completed,
substituted on the map for that of the Englishmen. But
the other Commissioners unanimously refused to consent
to what could only be regarded as a gratuitous affront.
The following is the letter from the Foreign
Office expressing approval of the work of the
Commissioner and his subordinates : —
Foreign OprioE, October 23, 1879.
Sir, — I have to acknowledge receipt of your despatch
No. 91 of the 11th instant, announcing your return to this
country upon the completion of the operations of the In
ternational Commission formed under article 11 of the
Treaty of Berlia for the delimitation of the frontiers of
Bulgaria; and in so doing I gladly avail myself of the
opportunity to convey to you the cordial thanks of her
Majesty's Government for the valuable services you have
rendered to the Commission, and their high appreciation
of the tact and judgment which have characterised your
proceedings. At the same time I request that you will convey to the
members of your staff my acknowledgments of the zeal
and efficiency with which they have severally discharged
the duties intrusted to them. — I am, sir, your most
obedient humble servant, Salisbury.
By way of recompense he was made a Knight
Commander of the Order of St Michael and St
George. In private interviews he had the oppor
tunity of reporting to his Lordship on the condi-

292 ON THE BOSPHORUS.
tion of the districts he had visited, the capabilities
for defence, and the feelings of the population.
Moreover, he was cordially thanked in less con
ventional terms ; but the most satisfactory evi
dence of the appreciation of his work, as has
been already remarked, was in his being selected
on two future occasions for the discharge of sim
ilar duties.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS.
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