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 came for the battalion to go to China, where risings were threatening the security both of Shanghai and Hong Kong. On its way to the Far East the transport was wrecked, and, owing to the mutiny of the Bengal army, a second vessel took the three companies of the 90th, with which Wolseley travelled, from Chinese waters to Calcutta, where they were landed in 1857. In November of that year he took part in Sir Colin Campbell's first relief of Lucknow, and so distinguished himself in the leading of his company that with it he accomplished what Sir Colin had planned to be undertaken the next day by his pet regiment, the 93rd Highlanders. After the withdrawal from Lucknow, the 90th was shut up with Sir James Outram in the Alumbagh until Sir Colin was able to return on 5 February 1858 for the final capture of Lucknow. This achieved, Wolseley was appointed by Sir Colin quartermaster-general on Sir Hope Grant's staff, and served throughout the campaign of Oudh. He was mentioned five times in dispatches, and at the end of the Mutiny was promoted brevet lieutenant-colonel at the age of twenty-five.

Hardly was the Mutiny over before Wolseley was sent to China, still on Sir Hope Grant's staff, for the campaign which the war in India had postponed. Reaching China in April 1860, he took part in the capture of the Taku Forts and of the Summer Palace at Pekin. During the looting of the treasures of the palace he was observed looking sadly upon a scene which he was powerless to stop, and he paid for such few treasures as he could afford to buy, a very real piece of self-denial to a man with great natural taste for works of art, of which as soon as he had any money he became an ardent and judicious collector. Throughout his life he was strongly opposed to looting, which he regarded as immoral and injurious to discipline, and on the first occasion when he had authority, at the capture of Kumassi (1874), he insisted on King Koffee's treasure being regularly valued and systematically sold. The close of the China campaign, at the end of which he was awarded a substantive majority, marks the end of the first period of Wolseley's career. With less than eight years' service he was a brevet lieutenant-colonel, he had distinguished himself in four campaigns, each very different in character, he had established a reputation for personal courage, cool leading and judgement in action, and had proved himself to be a staff officer of ability. He was marked out as a coming man. But his experiences had done more for him than the laying of the foundation of a successful career. They had taught him to respect profoundly the fighting quality of the British soldier, but also they had taught him the grave defects of organization and training from which the British army suffered. In the Crimean winter and the Indian summer he had marked the suffering and want of efficiency due to lack of preparation and organization. He had noted the evils of a long-service system which provided no reserves to fill the losses due to battle and disease, the weakness of the purchase system, and the lack of inducements to officers to study their profession. He left China resolved to devote himself to the remedying of these evils.

After his four campaigns he was entitled to a period of long leave, which he occupied partly in the writing of his first book, Narrative of the War with China in 1860 (1862), partly in sketching and painting, in which he had considerable skill, and partly in hunting in Ireland, and it was while enjoying this sport that he was suddenly in 1861 ordered to Canada as assistant quartermaster-general. The American Civil War was then in progress, and the Trent incident had decided the British government to increase the forces in Canada. During his period of staff service there he had opportunities of testing his theories of military organization and training, and also of increasing his experience of war by a visit to the United States while the Civil War was in progress.

During that visit Wolseley met Robert Lee and ‘Stonewall’ Jackson, of whose character, generalship, and ability he expressed unbounded admiration in a vivid article on the War which he wrote for Blackwood's Magazine in 1863. The Canadian service also gave him more leisure than his campaigns had allowed him for serious study, particularly of military history. In June 1865 he was promoted full colonel, and not long afterwards was made deputy quartermaster-general in Canada. Two years later, during a period of leave, he married Louisa, daughter of Mr. Alexander Erskine; and since he was a man capable of great devotion and very responsive to all that is best in woman's influence, his wife filled during the remainder of his life the place in his mind which his mother had occupied. How large that place was and how much Lady Wolseley's keen wit and shrewd observation influenced and aided her husband are shown in The Letters of Lord and Lady Wolseley, 1870–1911, edited by Sir George Arthur (1922). 587