2 AUGUST 1873, Page 19

AN ANGLO-INDIAN WORTHY.*

Stu. GEORGE POLLOCK was an example of that reserve force in the British race upon which its so-called rulers draw when events require a spirit capable of dealing with a great emergency, men who are wanted to retrieve the losses incurred through the adop- tion of a mistaken policy, or to wipe out deep disgraces brought about by that jobbing in patronage for which the Horse Guards, under all regimcs, have been unhappily famous. He was as dis- tinctly a product of the middle classes as Nelson or Clive. His father was David Pollock, saddler to his Majesty George III. ; he was born in Westminster, on the King's birthday, June 4, 1786, and the stout old royalist, who kept a notable shop at Charing Cross, named this, his youngest son, George, to mark his loyalty. So excellent a subject could not want friends in high places, and while Frederick, after- wards Chief Baron, was sent to St. Paul's School, Woolwich was the destiny of George, whence, after passing the higher standard for the Engineers, he was nominated for an Indian cadetship, and he selected the Bengal Artillery, his first commission dating Novem- ber, 1803, when he was in his eighteenth year. Europe at that time was a sufficiently vast and active scene of warfare, but the young Pollock did well to choose India, because in that country the absurd prejudice against scientific soldiers—men regularly -educated in their profession from the beginning—was no bar to high command. Had George Pollock entered the Royal Artillery, however great his abilities and aptitudes, nay, had he been a second Marlborough, he would never have commanded an army, so completely had the Infantry and Cavalry men succeeded in closing the avenues of advancement to all without their sacred fold. Money and interest were the passports to promotion in the Royal Army, not, we are bound to say, because the Crown desired it, but because a powerful and narrow-minded class had full control of the Administration ; made laws for themselves, and broke them when faithful observance became unpleasant. George Pollock, or his father, showed some sagacity, therefore, when he accepted a sword and a commission to serve in India. lie also displayed some shrewdness in selecting the Bengal Artillery, because then, as now, the Bengal side of our Eastern Empire knew how to take care of itself. He landed in Calcutta in the cold season of 1804, and received his commission as Lieutenant on the 19th of April of that year. It was a for- tunate moment, for the two Wellesleys were striking bard blows at the Mahrattas. Assaye and Argaom, Delhi and Laswarree had been fought and won, but Holkar was still afoot, and had to be overcome. It was the day of Monson's retreat and Lake's perplexities, and as Pollock passed up country to join the army in the field, he was nearly captured by a rush of the shifty Mahrattas across the Doab. Thus within a year of his landing Pollock found himself on active service, in the very thick of a most serious campaign. His first battle was Deig, which Lake said was " the hardest fought battle" on that side of India ; his first siege was Deig ; his second the somewhat mismanaged attack on Bhurt- pore, where it was plainly seen that a general should know some- thing alike of gunnery and engineering. Lake showed boundless obstinacy, but very little skill, and hundreds of men, Europeans and Sepoys, lost their lives in consequence of his ignor- ance. He threw the blame on his engineers, but history is impartial, and while she gives him the honour won in many * The Life and Correspondence of Field-Marshal Sir George Pollock, Bart., G.C.B., (Constable of the Toner). By Charles Bathbone Low. London: W. H. Allen and Co. victorious fields, saddles him with the disgrace British arms sus- tained at Bhurtpore. Once in the open, Lake was certain to be master, because he understood the one almost unfailing military principle in the East,—attack without hesitation whatever force you can manage to catch " at large." So that although Bhurt- pore resisted, yet the Mahrattas were beaten, and the politic Jab Rajah made his peace with the obstinate Company. Such was Pollock's introduction to active service. lie had shown great qualities, and he had a friend at Court, or rather in camp, for Lord Lake soon gave him the command of the artillery sent with a field force in pursuit of Holkar ; and when the war was over the Commander-in-Chief settled the young officer in a snug berth at Cawnpore, which he held until made a captain. Nor did good fortune then desert him, for he shortly afterwards became acting Brigade-Major at Dues Dam, a post which brought him further into notice. He was always ready for work, and when guns were wanted at the front during the earlier and disastrous months of the Nepal war, Pollock, who was at Futteghur, volunteered, and was sent up with two artillery com- panies, and had the satisfaction of seeing Ochterlony retrieve our imperilled honour and reduce the Nepalese to submission. Lord Hastings made him Brigade-Major of the Bengal Artillery, and at the suggestion of Colonel Young, Military Secretary, a friend of Pollock's, gave him the post of Assistant-Adjutant-General to the Artillery. His subsequent share in the Burmese war of 1824 arose in a characteristic fashion. He had been ordered home " sick," but unwilling to incur the expense, he asked Sir Edward Paget to send him to Burmah instead, hoping to find a cure in a sea voyage and active service at the end of it. The Commander- in-Chief jumped at the proposal, enabled the energetic Colonel to equip the batteries afresh, and thus Pollock found himself at the head of the artillery attached to the army ; nor although Colonel Hopkinson superseded him as senior, did he fail to show his usual zeal, industry, and inventiveness throughout an arduous campaign, which broke down his health, but made him a full Colonel and C.B. A short visit to England set him up ; he returned to India in 1830, went back to regimental duty, and in due course arrived at the command of a district and the rank of Major-General. This he reached in the middle of 1838, after thirty-five years' service.

Three years later, Afghan intervention ended, for a time, in the most severe disaster that ever befell British arms on the Eastern Continent, and the Government of Lord Auckland was not only at a loss for a policy, but a man by whose agency the honour of the flag might be retrieved, and the shattered prestige of the English restored. As usual, there was a dispute between Com- pany's and King's officers. Some sort of virtue was supposed to reside in Royal soldiers, a mistake refuted over and over again in Anglo-Indian history ; but genius is of no service, and it is the duty of Governments to select the fit man, no matter what uniform he wears. Happily Lord Auckland insisted on the appointment of a Company's officer, and still more happily, his final choice fell upon George Pollock, who had seen so much active service in such varied scenes,—the plains of India, the mountains of Nepal, the swamps of Burmah ; whose experience alike of Native and European well fitted him to obtain, with the least friction, the most from each. He received the official letter signifying his appointment at Agra on the 1st of January, 1842, and on the 1st of February he was crossing the Indus at Attock, and on the 5th he rode into Peshawur with Henry Lawrence. We need not repeat even in outline the story of his exploits. He had a small force, he was deficient in carriage and guns, he was hampered by the timid, vacillating policy of the Governor-General ; first Auckland, then Ellenborough, threw the whole responsibility upon the commander, and sought less the vindication of our honour and the recovery of British subjects in captivity, than the safe withdrawal of the troops still holding ground west of the Indus. Nevertheless, Pollock persevered ; his moral courage even retained Nott in the country, for when ordered to retreat, Pollock begged Nott to stay until he heard from him again, a request with which that zealous soldier readily complied. And then, having patiently waited until he had a small but efficient force, Pollock moved through the Khyber, relieved Jellalabad, fought his way onward, and aided by Nott'a column from Candehar, recaptured Cabal and compelled the surrender of the prisoners. The whole operations were executed in that style which is characteristic of the true captain; and had he been a fashionable Guardsman, or a Queen's instead of a Company's officer, perhaps had he been an infantryman or a trooper, instead of a mere studious, duty-loving, scientifically educated gunner, Pollock would have been made a Peer. Certainly, ho deserved the dignity quite as much as Stapleton Cotton or Keane. But Horse-Guards meanness in

dealing with Indian soldiers was only equalled by the paltry jealousy of Artillerymen and Engineers in the same quarter. Mr. Low has given a full and fair account of operations in a field where Sir John Kaye had preceded him. The conduct of Lord Ellenborough was pitiful to the last degree, seeing that he tried to secure the credit of a success he had done nothing to promote, and much by equivocal counsels to hinder. He suppressed a despatch, which made the matter worse. Had he been a really high-minded and generous man, he would have secured for Pollock's services early, ample, and prompt recognition ; but throughout his career Lord Ellenborough thought mainly of himself, was always assuming attitudes designed to create an " impression," and consequently he figures as a mere stage hero beside any real man like Pollock, who thought first of his duty and the work to be done, and last of himself and how he " looked " under the glare of foot-lights. There never was a more sterling, honest, earnest soldier than Pollock ; there have been few historical persons who have affected the airs of greatness with so little substance to warrant the presumption as the late Lord Ellenborough. The man who did the Empire's work was made a G.C.B., the man who talked about it and took care of himself was made an Earl.

The subsequent career of Sir George Pollock needs little remark. He was successively political Resident in Oude, military member of the Executive Council, and soon after his arrival in England, in 1846, the East India Company voted him a thousand a year. Other honours came in due course, and finally, as we all know, the old Indian Army had its first Field-Marshal, though the first Peer since Clive was Lord Napier of Magdala. Mr. Low has done ample justice to the gallant soldier whose character he so much and so justly admires, but if it had been possible to give us more about the man George Pollock and less about public history, we should have been better pleased. Why do biographers feel bound to rewrite the history of the time in which their heroes lived ? A vivid personal portrait of the man is certain to be enduring and useful ; a compilation from history in which his name figures here and there, is very likely to be forgotten.