168 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



more sincerely than Hodson's old friend Colonel 

 (afterwards Lord) Napier, " The result," he wrote, 

 " of Major Taylor's laborious and patient investiga- 

 tion has fully justified, but has not at all added to, 

 the confidence that I have throughout maintained 

 in the honour and uprightness of his conduct." ^ 

 Nor was Eobert Montgomery less cordial in his 

 acceptance of Taylor's finding. " To me the whole 

 report seemed more satisfactory than any one I had 

 ever read ; and considering Major Taylor's high 

 character, patience, and discernment, and the 

 lengthened period he took to investigate every 

 detail, most triumphant. This I have expressed to 

 all with whom I have conversed on the subject." 



Hardly had Taylor set to work on his report when 

 he wrote to the Chief Commissioner in December 

 1855, suggesting that as so much publicity had been 

 given to the previous court of inquiry which had 

 reported unfavourably to Hodson, a similarly public 

 court should again assemble to consider the results 

 of his own investigations. To so reasonable a sug- 

 gestion the authorities turned a deaf ear. It is true 

 that the Chief Commissioner yielded at one time to 

 Taylor's urgency, and advised the commander-in- 

 chief to grant the further inquiry which Taylor and 

 Hodson ag;reed in desiring;. But Sir William Gomm 

 held to his own view that neither a court nor a 

 committee of inquiry was necessary, since Major 

 Taylor was willing to grant Lieutenant Hodson a 

 full acquittance on all points connected with his 

 accounts. The Chief Commissioner seems to have 

 concurred in this view. 



The whole matter was then laid before the 



^ Quoted in ' Blackwood's Magazine ' for March 1899. 



