170 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



action, however, seems to Lave been taken by tlie 

 Indian Government beyond a brief note by one of 

 the secretaries, and the briefer comment of a member 

 of Council. It is almost certain that the report was 

 never shown either to the Governor-General or the 

 commander-in-chief. In short, as a trustworthy 

 correspondent assures me, " it was filed and put 

 away, nor was seen again apparently by any one 

 till I had it dug- out." ^ 



This chapter may fitly close with the following 

 passage from the article to which I have already 

 referred: "All the world knew that a court of 

 inquiry had sat to examine Hodson's accounts, — all 

 the world knew that Hodson was removed from the 

 command of the Guides ; but the world did not 

 know, and to this day does not know, that the 

 second fact was in no way consequent on the first. 

 It is not known that (as was written by Colonel 

 Macpherson, military secretary to the Punjab 

 Government) ' the military court of inquiry had 

 nothing whatever to say to, and was in no way 

 concerned with, the removal of the late Major 

 (then Lieutenant) Hodson from the command of 

 the Guides ' ; and again, ' In so far as the court of 

 inquiry was concerned, Major Hodson, had he 

 survived, might perhaps have commanded the corps 

 of Guides to this day.' Nor is it generally known, 

 except by hearsay, how extraordinarily convincing 

 a proof of Hodson's innocence of all the charges 

 affecting his honour is Taylor's detailed report." ^ 



1 Private letter of September 9, 1899. 



- ' Blackwood's Magazine' for March 1899. 



