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Rh he gifted with much military genius. But he nevertheless possessed sterling abilities, and all those good and bad qualities of temper and habit that endear a general to the rank and file of the army. His very care in controlling the direction of a large number of columns operating over an extensive area indicated by itself a deep sense of responsibility, however much it may have shown a defective appreciation of the exact nature of the forces arrayed against him.

In calling to mind his true and simple life, we cannot but admire his patience, rectitude, and resolution. As remarked by a faithful historian (Holmes) of the Mutiny: 'He had not the wonderful dash, the power to put everything to the hazard for a great end, the absolute fearlessness of responsibility, which belonged to some other well-known leaders of that time. Yet for any work requiring methodical and precise movements, extraordinary care for details and close supervision of distant operations, few were better fitted. ... He had fought his life's battle, too, right gallantly. Harassed by poverty for many years, he had welcomed the tardy accessions to his fortune, mainly because they enabled him to provide better for a dearly loved sister. He had never married; but his relations with his sister and with his old tried friends show what a power of love he had. No Commander-in-Chief more acceptable to the mass of Anglo-Indian officers could at that moment have been selected. Many of them already knew his appearance well, his strong, spare, soldierly figure, his high rugged fore-