171 



CHAPTEE XII. 



WAITING FOR BETTER TIMES. 1856-1857. 



It is needless here to speculate on the hidden 

 causes which baffled all Reynell Taylor's efforts to 

 win for Hodson a public and impartial re-hearing of 

 the case which he himself had gone through so 

 carefully with a single eye for the truth. In the 

 virtual suppression of his final report we may see 

 the fitting sequel to the previous injustice. Hod- 

 son's character had been cleared of all reproach by 

 one of the noblest and most capable officers in the 

 Company's service, who had himself been somewhat 

 prejudiced against the accused by the stories at that 

 time current at Peshawar. 



"The investigation by Reynell Taylor was com- 

 plete and searching, occupying as it did many 

 months," wrote Lord Napier to the Rev. G. H. 

 Hodson in 1884. "No man of higher honour or 

 ability could have been chosen for such a duty, 

 high-minded, pure in character, painstaking, and 

 indefatigable. 



"That Hodson's full acquittal from the inquiry 

 was not at once accepted and acknowledged, I con- 

 sidered then, and consider still, a grievous wrong. 

 Your brother was left for many months exposed to 



