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Rh importance by Sir Colin Campbell that his chief of the staff had written on January 24th, 1858: 'Sir Colin will be glad to learn if Jhánsí is to be fairly tackled during your present campaign. To us it is all important. Until it takes place, Sir Colin's rear will always be inconvenienced, and he will be constantly obliged to look back over his shoulder as when he relieved Lucknow. The stiff neck this gives to the Commander-in-Chief and the increased difficulty of his operations in consequence you will understand.'

But it was no easy task. Writing to Lord Elphinstone from Ságar on February 29th, 1858, Sir Hugh said: 'I am unfortunately detained here by want of supplies and carriage, to the great disadvantage of the public service: I have lost nine precious days, doubly precious not only on account of lost time at a season when every hot day endangers the health and lives of the European soldiers, but because every day has allowed the rebels to recover the morale they had lost by my operations, which I had made as rapidly and efficiently as possible, knowing that any success with Orientals produces twice as good a result if one acts promptly and follows up one success with another. Nothing requires system so much as transport. Laying in supplies, as it is called, is perfectly easy in a fertile and peaceful country, but this will not do in my case, where a country has been devastated or is in the hands of the enemy. Then appears all the risk of a civil or occasional system of supply. Why don't you put