364 
ARBUTHNOT MEMOIR. 
stood upon a gun, thereby exposing himself to the fire of some Russ¬ 
ian Rifles. While upon the gun, a letter was handed to him. He 
stood and read ; the Rifles continued their fire ; at last he was hit, but 
went on reading until he fell from the gun into the orderly’s arms. 
By a series of such acts of daring, Captain Arbuthnot made a great 
reputation. How wide it was may be inferred from a remark made by 
General Sir Fenwick Williams of Kars, who never saw him under fire 
and judged of him only by hearsay. Some one expressed a belief 
that if Major Arbuthnot ever rose to high command, he would do 
great things, being so brave and so firm. “Firm?”, exclaimed Sir 
Fenwick; “an Attila ! Give him an army, and he will conquer the 
world”. 
A silent, retiring man, such as Sir Charles Arbuthnot, is always 
liable to be misunderstood by his fellow-men. The further he stands 
aloof, the fewer are the facts upon which they base their judgements 
of him. The crowd, hurrying by, have neither the leisure nor the in¬ 
clination to investigate the whole of his character: they judge him by 
the one or two traits he displays to them, and these are not always 
his best. But there is one person from whom a 1st Captain cannot 
possibly veil his character—his 2nd Captain. We may, therefore, 
accept with perfect confidence the opinion formed in the Crimea by 
Captain Williams of Captain Arbuthnot:—“I conceived an admira¬ 
tion of him that has lasted all my life . . . Arbuthnot was loyal 
and true and firm of purpose. He could never have sought a favour, 
nor his own advantage. He was incapable of doing anything mean ”. 
Captain Arbuthnot was twice wounded in the Crimea ; was mentioned 
in despatches, London Gazette , 2nd November, 1855 ; an d received a 
Medal with clasp, a brevet Majority, and 5th class of the Medjidie. 
He received the C.B. in 1871. 
After his return from the Crimea, he was appointed to the Royal 
Horse Artillery in which he had not previously served; and, having 
been promoted regimental Lieutenant-Colonel in 1864, he went in 
1868 to India, where he served until his appointment to be D.A.G. 
R.A. in 1880. 
He commanded the Artillery of the Kandahar Field Force under 
General Sir Donald Stewart in ’78-79, numbering some 104 guns ; 
perhaps the largest force of British Artillery ever employed. When 
they returned to India he was asked how many officers he wished to 
recommend to notice and he replied characteristically:—“None: we 
have only done our duty ” Eventually, he recommended two. 
In November 1879 he was appointed to command a Brigade of 
the Three Arms, with head-quarters at Gundamuck, and his duty was 
the vitally important one of keeping open the communications between 
the advanced portion of the Army (under Sir Fred. Roberts) and 
India. The force he commanded was never engaged in any great 
operations, but was constantly exposed to the harrassing attacks of 
an active and cunning enemy. Only those, probably, who have had 
actual experience of mountain warfare can fully appreciate what fore¬ 
sight, vigilance, courage and coolness are needed to cope with hardy 
and daring mountaineers in their own country,—“ men cradled in 
