172 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



all the discredit of accusations made against him, 

 and greatly exaggerated by rumours, while his 

 judges' favourable verdict was reserved. To this 

 course I attribute the prejudice against him on 

 the part of many who listened too easily to stories 

 to his discredit. 



" Though not agreeing with your brother in all 

 things, I never doubted his honour and integrity, 

 and I maintain my full belief in them now. Those 

 who thought otherwise might have left undisturbed 

 the grave of a gallant soldier who had fought so 

 bravely and successfully for his country." ^ 



In common justice to both the officers specially 

 concerned, the result of Taylor's private but official 

 inquiry into Hodson's alleged misuse of public 

 moneys ought to have been made at least as widely 

 known as the charges laid before Colonel Craigie's 

 court. But in sjjite of Taylor's exculpatory verdict, 

 the mischief wrought by official reticence was 

 allowed to reap its inevitable harvest. 



It was known that Hodson had been removed 

 from the command of the Guides, but it does not 

 seem to have been generally known that the cause 

 of this removal was to be found, not in his dealings 

 with the regimental accounts, but only in his high- 

 handed treatment of Khadir Khan. It is not sur- 

 prising, therefore, that many of those who bore him 

 no personal grudge should have accepted that darker 

 version of the facts which his enemies were jDrompt 

 to circulate, and that even Taylor's character for 

 shrewdness and impartiality should have been called 

 in question by those who had never studied his 

 report. 



^ Hodson of Hodson's Horse. 



