184 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



Could Sir Henry Lawrence help him to retrieve 

 his broken fortunes by means of soldierly service 

 with the army which Outram had been selected to 

 command ? His letter to Sir Henry, who had just 

 been appointed Chief Commissioner for Oudh, at 

 once drew forth from his old friend the following 

 answer : — 



" LucKNOW, March 21, 1857. 



"The day I received your letter I answered it, 

 but have my reply still in my desk, as I feared it 

 might raise undue hopes. The fact is, I doubt if 

 any man could help you just now, and were I 

 to be refused once it might prevent me helping you 

 hereafter. I have therefore also kept back a chit 

 [Anglice, note] I wrote to Colonel Birch about you, 

 recommending you for Persia. If the campaign 

 lasts I will try and get you there, as I know no 

 better sword than yours, I should think that either 

 General Outram or Jacob would appreciate you," 



Early in April Hodson was back again in Dagshai, 

 whence on the 7th he wrote to his brother : " Your 

 letter written this day three months reached me at 

 Ambala, at our mildest of Chobhams,^ in the middle 

 of February, and deserved an earlier reply ; but I 

 have been taken quite out of the private-correspon- 

 dence line lately by incessant calls on my time. 

 Regimental work in camp in India with European 

 regiments, no less than in quarters, is contrived to 

 cut up one's time into infinitesimal quantities, and 

 keep one waiting for every other half-hour through 

 the day, I had more time for writing when I com- 

 manded a frontier regiment and governed a pro- 



1 At Chobham, in Surrey, was held the first camp of exercise in 1854, 



