348 MAJOR W. HODSON. 



a solemn vote of thanks to the Indian army. In the 

 course of an eloquent speech on this occasion the 

 Prime Minister, Lord Derby, made special reference 

 to the two men by "whose premature death India, 

 at all events, has sustained a most serious loss. I 

 allude to two men, both of them models of chiefs of 

 irregular forces, which they themselves had formed 

 and disciplined from among tribes and natives who 

 had not long before been our enemies, over whom 

 by their valour, their rigid discipline, and at the 

 same time by their careful attention to their real 

 wants, comforts, desires, and even prejudices, they 

 had obtained an influence which was all but marvel- 

 lous, and which enabled them to lead their troops so 

 formed and disciplined into any danger and into any 

 conflict with as much confidence as if they had been 

 British soldiers. One of these men has met a 

 soldier's death, the other, unhappily, has succumbed 

 under labours which were too great even for his vast 

 powers; but it will be long before the people of 

 India, I am sure it will be long before the Punjab 

 and Sind, will lose the memory of Hodson's Guides 

 and Jacob's Horse." 



In the House of Commons Lord Stanley, the new 

 Minister for India, spoke of Major Hodson as one 

 "who, in his short but brilliant military career, 

 displayed every quality which an officer should 

 possess. Nothing is more remarkable in glancing 

 over the biography of Major Hodson that has just 

 appeared, than the variety of services in which he 

 was engaged. At one time he displayed his great 

 personal courage and skill as a swordsman in conflict 

 with Sikh fanatics ; he was then transferred to the 

 Civil Service, in which he performed his duties as 



