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CHAPTER XL 



UNDER A CLOUD. 1854-1856. 



As early as March 1853 Jolm Lawrence, the new 

 Chief Commissioner for the Punjab, had written to 

 Mr Courtenay, Lord Dalhousie's private secretary : 

 " Hodson is, I believe, very unpopular, both in the 

 Guides and with military men generally. I don't 

 know exactly why this is. It cannot be that he 

 has got promotion too early, for, though a young 

 soldier, he is almost a middle-aged man. He is an 

 officer of first-rate ability, and has received an 

 excellent education. He is gallant, zealous, and 

 intelligent, and yet few men like him. It is the 

 case of the famous Dr Fell, whom the young lady 

 did not like, but could not tell why she did not 

 do so." 



The process of giving a dog a bad name seems 

 in Hodson's case to have begun within a very few 

 months after his appointment to the command of 

 the Guides. It is easy enough to call a man 

 unpopular, but the question remains, how and 

 whence the unpopularity may have arisen. A just 

 judge, an able magistrate, or an active police officer 

 is not likely to be much of a favourite with the 

 criminal classes ; nor will he always endear himself 



