LORD GOUGH.•
IT would be not a little surprising that no Life of Lord Gough has been written before, if we had not Mr. Raft's explanation. Like many another brave soldier, Gough did not always succeed in conciliating the civil powers, and his tenure of the Commandership-in-Chief in India was disturbed by constant disagreement with a succession of Governors. His biography, therefore, is mainly controversial, and in accordance with the wishes of his family, the writing of it was postponed until the disputes of half-a-century ago had worn themselvea out. By this time we can look upon Sir Henry Hardinge and Lord Dalhousie as historical characters, and we can do a tardy justice to Lord Gough without discrediting those who- deemed it their duty to oppose him.
At the same time, it is a sorry task to rehabilitate a hero- who should need nothing but our praise, and it is a dark reflection upon human nature that rehabilitation is necessary. But the truth is that none suffers so deeply from the idle and venomous criticism of the inexpert as the soldier. There is the same story to tell in all countries and in all ages. The man who is prepared to lay down his life for his country is seldom able to offer the sacrifice without insult. But few among soldiers have met with the persistent ill-fortune which dogged the steps of Lord Gough, and we cannot remember a single one who was abruptly recalled, as Gough was recalled, after fifty years of distinguished service and on the morrow of a great and far-reaching victory. A defence, therefore, of this admirable commander was inevitable, and Mr. Raft has performed the task with the utmost skill and tact. He has marshalled his facts with the greatest industry ; he has described the battles in which Gough took part so lucidly that they should be intelligible to the most pacific mind ; and, where necessary, he has championed his hero in terms of persuasive eloquence. But controversy is not so interesting as biography. The long-drawn defence of one who should need no apology now and again becomes wearisome, especially if the apologist is compelled to refute the assertions of foolish persons ; and we should have preferred a Life of Gough which silently ignored the ancient charges. However, Mr. Rait is in the right of it, and be has • The Life and Campaigns of Hugh, First Viscount Gough, Field-Marshal. By Hobert S. Bait. 2 vols. London: A. Constable and Co. [Ms. ed../
efficiently discharged the duty laid upon him, even at the expense of his own book.
Hugh Gough was born on November 3rd, 1779. His father was a Colonel in the Limerick City Militia, and he himself was wearing the King's uniform at thirteen. In 1795 be joined the 2nd Battalion of the 78th Highlanders, or Ross-shire Buffs ; and from that day until his recall from India in 1849 he served his country faithfully and well. He was first under fire in the attack upon Cape Town in 1795, and
a year afterwards he obtained a transfer to an Irish regiment, the 87th Foot. With this he fought gallantly in the Peninsular
War, and particularly distinguished himself in the defence of Tarifa. The French had made a breach in the walls, and the defence of this breach was entrusted to Gough and the 87th. Gough, having instructed his men that " wherever there is opportunity, the bayonet must be used," drew his sword and ordered the band to strike up an Irish air, " Garryowen." The fire of Gough's men was so fierce that the French, leaving the breach which they had made, diverted their onslaught; but again the 87th received them, this time to the tune of " St. Patrick's Day." The French leader fell wounded outside the portcullis, and Gough received his sword through the bars. The Peninsular War, however, need not detain us. The experience of Gough did not differ from the experience of many already familiar. It is enough, therefore, to say that the letters which he wrote from Spain are by no means the least interesting part of a most excellent book, and that they give that impression of the things seen at which the biographer aims in vain.
For more than twenty years after the Peninsular War Gough saw no foreign service. In 1837 he was given the command of the Mysore division of the Madras Army. Three years later he was sent to China, and fought through the first Chinese War with as much credit as may be attained from a conflict with a nation which knows nothing of fighting. But though Sir Hugh could gain little glory in China, though he confesses that he was heartily sick of the war, he never relaxed his vigilance, nor abated his energy :
" Sir Hugh," says Colonel Armine Mountain," was always on the alert, always on foot day and night, never thought of himself in anything ; and during the approach to, and halt in front of, the heights, though he was careful to post the men under cover, he was always exposed, eagerly reconnoitring the ground for which he has a capital eye. The matchlock balls whizzed over and around him, cannon balls ploughed up the paddy fields within a few paces of him; he never seemed to notice them in the least, and never once deviated from his erect posture."
It is as well to remember this when we come to the work which Sir Hugh Gough did in India, since it was the
commonest charge made against him that he obstinately refused to reconnoitre. However, in 1843 Sir Hugh was back in India, and at this point the controversy becomes
acute. Although he never lost a battle, he seems to have been unable to escape the criticism either of the Governor-General or of the public. After the battle of
Ferozeshah Sir Henry Hardinge wrote a strong letter to Sir Robert Pee] demanding Cough's recall. Of course, Sir Henry had every right to send this letter. " If I am afraid of making this avowal of my opinion to you," said he, "I am unfit for my present office." But it was fortunate for us that Sir Robert turned a deaf ear to the Governor-General, and did not heed the clamours of the pro-Sikh party which, as Mr. Rait tells us, was then growing up in England. For if the battles of Moodkee and Ferozeshah had been hard fought, they had at least secured British India against invasion, and Sir Hugh Gough deserved all the credit which might have been given him. But both Press and people cried out at the heavy losses inflicted upon us by the Sikhs. The Duke of Wellington, however, ignored the outcry, and he, at any rate, paid a proper tribute to Sir Hugh. " We may regret the loss," he wrote, " and even lament the fall of individuals. But we never can the event itself." However, if the complaints were loud after Ferozeshah, the battle of Chillianwallah was followed by general uproar; yet, as Mr. Rait shows, nothing could have been more unjust. It is true that our loss in killed and wounded amounted to more than two thousand. But "that the
Sikhs had been driven out of their whole position ; that they had suffered heavily in killed and wounded; that they had left thirteen guns and a large quantity of ammunition in the bands of the victors ; all this," says Mr. Rait, " was
forgotten in the panic into which the newspapers urged the public mind." There was no accusation that was not brought against the Commander-in-Chief, who, declared the unin- structed public, had no merit save brute courage. And Lord Dalhousie sided with the people. He so imperatively demanded the recall of Lord Gough that Sir Charles Napier was ap- pointed to supersede him. And then by a poetic justice came the splendid victory of Gujerat, which made the intervention of Sir Charles Napier superfluous, and which added the Punjab to British India. It was, as Lord Lawrence said, "as crowning a victory as ever smiled upon our arms." It was planned and fought by Lord Gough alone, and to him all the glory is due. Nor, indeed, could the malice of opponents belittle it. The conqueror, however, had fought his last battle. While the laurels of victory were still fresh, he laid down his com- mand, not without a hint of disgrace ; and it is in all sincerity that we congratulate Mr. Rait on having at last vindicated a career which should never have needed a single word of defence.
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