30 APRIL 1881, Page 22

COLIN CAMPBELL.* THESE two volumes contain the record of the

career of one of the foremost of English soldiers. Colin Campbell was not, in the highest sense of the term, a great General, but he was a very gallant officer and capable commander. From the day when, a mere boy, he first entered the Army, until his career closed in Westminster Abbey, he devoted himself with all his natural energy not merely to his duty, but to mastering the details of his profession. In 1832, when the future did not seem to contain the opportunities of distinction that subse- quently offered themselves, he wrote in one of his memorandum- books the German maxilla which affirms that " by means of patience, common-sense, and time, impossibility becomes possible." His own career illustrated, if it did not absolutely demonstrate, the aphorism ; for at this half-way point in his long period of military service, it certainly seemed highly im pro- bable that he would attain the high rank which he ultimately gained. General Shtulwell was specially selected to draw up this memorial to his former General and friend, and the choice is justified by the result. The extracts from the Diary and Cor- respondence are judicious, and it is very clear that the author has derived much valuable information as to the progress of Colin Campbell's operations in Gude from one who is better qualified than anybody else to give it. We, of course, mean Sir Henry Norman. We shall refer to this portion of the work by- and-by, but speaking generally of the manner in which General Shadwell has performed his part of the task, we may say that his narrative is clear and well arranged, and that he has tem- pered the enthusiasm to be expected from a biographer with a just appreciation of the facts of current history. The result of General Sha.dwell's labour of love is an interesting and graphic description of a varied and notable career.

Colin Campbell was the son of John Macliver and Agnes Campbell. The former was the son of a gentleman who had a small estate in the isle of Islay. This estate was forfeited for joining the Young Pretender in 1745, and John Maim had. to adopt the trade of a carpenter. His wife's family were in better circumstances, and in due course they took the young Colin, who was born on October 20th, 1792, to be educated. By the aid of his maternal uncle, Colonel John Campbell, he was gazetted to an ensigncy in the 9th Foot, and on several occa- sions during his subsequent career he was indebted tb the same source for timely pecuniary assistance. The change in his name, which took place at the time of his entrance into the Army, is to be attributed, not to family considerations or to • any feeling of gratitude towards his benefactors, but to a simple accident :—

"At the Horse Guards he had been previously introduced to the Duke of York, the Commander-in-Chief, by his uncle. The Duke, supposing the boy, as he remarked, to be another of the clan,' entered him as Colin Campbell, and from that clay ho assumed his mother's name. This is the explanation of a change which has puzzled many, and has given rise to various surmises. Upon leaving the Duke's presence with his uncle, it is said that he made some remark upon the subject, which was met by telling him that Campbell was a

* Tho Life of Odin Camp/mit, Lord Chide. Illustrated by 'extracts from Si, Diary and Corrospondonce. By Lieutenant-General Shadwoll, 0.13. 2 role. With Por• trait and Maps. London ; W. Blackwood and Bonn. 1581.

name which it would suit him, for professional reasons, to adopt. On the 29th Julie, five weeks from the date of his first commission, Colin Campbell was promoted to a lieutenancy in his regiment."

It is unnecessary to describe in any detail Campbell's earlier

years of service. He was present at the battles of Virnieira, Commie., the Barrosa, and Vittoria, and was severely wounded in the breach at Sau Sebastian, where our troops suffered a decided repulse. In 1813 his wounds compelled him to return to England, with the rank of captain, attained withnot purchase. During the next twenty years he served in Nova Scotia and tha West Indies, and spent a brief period, when off active duty, in visiting the French lines round Antwerp, in 1832. Of this interesting siege, where less than five thousand men, under General Chass6, defended themselves for twenty days against 73,000 French troops and a large Belgian contingent, under the command of Marshal Gerard, Colin Campbell gave a graphic description, in a report to the Horse Guards :—

"A young French officer of cavalry standing close to me could not help," ho wrote, "expressing openly and warmly his admiration of the conduct of the Dutch artillery, observing, at the same time, that he viewed the position of a simple soldier in the Citadel as more to be envied than that of Marshal Gerard ; for the latter could gain little honour in the eapturo of the Citadel, with the army and means placed at his disposal for that purpose, whereas the little garrison, by conducting itself bravely, carried with it the admiration and

sympathy of the world."

Before this, Colin Campbell had attained: his lieutenant- colonelcy-, and in 1835 he was gazetted to the command of the , regiment in which he had first served, the 9th Foot. Within a ' few days he was transferred to the 98th, but as this regiment happened to be at the Cape, with its term of service nearly ex- pired, he did not assume the command until its return in 1837 Colin Campbell had now attained the principal object of hi ; ambition. A complete master of the technical details of hi i profession, inspired with the doctrines of Sir John Moore, an . with a natural capacity for command, he soon made the 98th one of the most efficient regiments in the Army. His success as a disciplinarian attracted especial attention, at a time when the whole North of England was in a seething state of trouble through trade disputes, and secured for him not only the strong, personal regard of Sir Charles Napier, but also the approval of the Authorities at Whitehall. In 1841, after four years passed mostly in garrison work at Newcastle-on-Tyne, the 98th were ordered to China, where our first war with that country was on the eve of commencement. The expedition resulted in an easy success, and Colonel Campbell was, at his own request, quartered on the island of Chusau, which afforded a more convenient and salu- brious station than Hong Kong for European troops, whilst negotiations were in progress. The climate had before this move, however, committed frightful ravages ill the ranks of the 98th. Sent out in an overcrowded vessel, and landed without a proper outfit, disease carried them off in scores. In eighteen mouths no fewer than 432 died, out of a total of 766 men. Campbell's efforts were so untiring that, although ho had to receive so largo a draft of new and half-trained men, he succeeded in a very short time in raising the efficiency of the regiment to its old height of excellence.

FrOill China, Campbell went, in 1845, to India. A few months after his arrival at Calcutta he was appointed, with the Tank of brigadier of the second class, to the command at Lahore, at that time the most important place in India. Here he was "very cordially received" by Colonel, afterwards Sir Henry, Lawrence, whose regard was soon won by the quickness with which Cam pbell took in the critical situation then prevailing in the Punjab, where the Sikhs were secretly preparing for one more bid for independence and power. By making several simple altera- tions in the positions of the garrison, and by concentrating his force, he greatly increased the security of our hold on the capital of the province ; and when Moolraj threw off further concealment, and seized Meehan, a large portion of the Lahore garrison was, mainly owing to Campbell's wise pre- vision, able to take the field. The year which witnessed the rising of Moolraj and the defection of Shere Singh marked the termination of forty years since Campbell entered the Army. In the campaign which ensued, Campbell took a prominent part in the actions at Rammiggur and Sadoolapore ; while at Chilliauwalla, the brigade under his personal command carried the Sikh positions in its front, and captured thirteen guns. The repulse, with heavy loss to the214sthdi Rv iesgioinin,enliettiitorfalitshede second brigade, under Pennycnick, of 1i

this advantage; and although at one moment it was proposed to hold, the positions that had. been won, the English army withdrew to its former post, in front of the Sikh army.

In the decisive victory of Goojerat, "which was to decide in whose hands the empire of the East would remain," to use his own words, Campbell took a foremost and extremely honourable. part. By the use of his " magnificent artillery," which had not been sufficiently employed at Chillianwalla, Campbell had the satisfaction of driving, with hardly any loss to his men, the Sikhs out of a nullah, similar to that in which the Ghazis concealed themselves with such fatal result at Maiwand. " The

discomfiture of the enemy was complete," and the Sikh power was finally overthrown. A few weeks after this brilliant victory Campbell wrote :—

"On the road to Ran-al Pindi we passed the greater portion of the Sikh army, with its chiefs, who had laid down their arms the day before. They wore without food, and also without ammunition. The high priest, or Gooroe, who took the chair on tho right of the General (Sir Walter Gilbert), after laying down his arms, said to him, in a load and firm voice, • The injustice of the English drove me to take up arms. They confiscated my property in the Jullunder Doab, amounting to five lakhs annually. Poverty, starvation, and want of ammunition have obliged me to surrender. Those wants have brought me hero. But for these wants we should have again tried the fortune of war. I do not regret what I have done ; and I would do the same to-morrow, if it were in may power.' There was nothing cringing in the manner of these men in laying down their arms. They acknowledged themselves to have boon beaten, and that they gave in because they were starving. Each man, as he laid down his arms, received a rupee, to enable him to return to his home. The greater number, of the old mon especially, when laying down their arms, made a deep reverence or salaam, as they placed their swords on the ground, with the observation, ' Runjeet Singh is dead, or has died, to-day.' "

We have quoted this passage as a graphic picture of the fall of one of the most remarkable warrior-peoples India

has ever produced. For some time after the close of the second Punjab war, Colin Campbell held command at Peahawur, where he may be said to have instituted our system of defending life and property against the turbulent clans on that border. Much might be said of his experience in his capacity of Warden of these Marches, but we must pass on.

In 1853 he returned to England, but his rest was to be of brief duration. The contest between ',Russia and Turkey had then developed into a general European war, and Sir Colin

Campbell, who had been created a K.C.B. in 1849 and a Major- General in 1854, was appointed commander of the Highland Brigade, in the expeditionary force sent under the command. of Lord Raglan to the Crimea. The valour shown by the High-

land Brigade at the Alma, and the services rendered by Sir Colin in the lines of Balaclava, are matters of history. And

when he returned home, towards the close of the war, it was

seen that, although he had not received the chief command, which at one time he hoped for, he was certain to be employed on the next critical occasion. Few English officers came out of the ordeal of the Crimean campaign with their reputation enhanced, in anything like the same degree as Sir Colin Campbell.

The occasion was not long in presenting itself, and as it happened, the last scene in the long career we have been fol- lowing was by far the most eventful. On the 11th July, 1857, the news having arrived of the death of General Anson and of the existence of wide-spread disaffection in the ranks of the Bengal Army, the chief command in India was offered to Sir Colin, and at once accepted. On the 12th he started for his destina- tion, which he reached on the lath August. By that time the Mutiny had attained its full dimensions. The tragedy of Caivu. pore had been enacted, and. Sir Henry Lawrence had died in the Residency which he had so resolutely and successfully defended. When Sir Colin assumed the responsible direction of affairs, there was urgent need of a single head to assist Lord Canning in the control of military matters, and he soon showed that, with the assistance of his skilful staflofficer, Sir William Mansfield, he was well able to organise the army which should obtain a conclu- sive triumph over both mutineer and rebel. The chapters in this

work, and they include several in the first, beaidee the whole of the second. volume, describing the operations round Cawnpore and Lucknow are lucid, and in every way admirable essays on highly interesting and important military manceuvres. They are also an addition of distinctly valuable information to the knowledge

we possessed of the repression of the Mutiny. With the paci- fication of Northern India, and the skilful solution of the difficulty with the Company's European. soldiers, known as the White Mutiny, Colin Campbell's work was done, and he had only to return home to receive the rewards showered on him by a grateful Sovereign and country. In 1858 he was created Baron Clyde, of Clydesdale, and four years later Field-Marshal, the summit of a soldier's ambition. He did not long survive the bestowal of these honours. His death occurred on AuguSt 14th, 1863, when he had not com- pleted his 71st year. This brief notice cannot be concluded more appropriately than in some of the closing words of his old friend and biographer :—

"Though naturally of a quick and excitable temperament, he was, in the presence of the enemy, calm and collected, rapidly taking in the features of the ground, and in an instant accommodating him- self to the varying phases of the light. War was his element. His aptitude for it won for him from Sir Charles Napier the sobriquet of the 'War-bred Sir Colin.' He was successful in all he undertook."

The watchword of the future Lord Clyde was always "Duty," and General Shadwell not inappropriately concludes with the expression of the opinion and hope that "if the contemplation of this record of Lord Clyde's life should stimulate any of the junior officers of the Army to follow in his footsteps, the biographer's labour, which has been one of love, will have met with its reward,"