VOYAGE FROM CAPE TOWN TO CALCUTTA—HARRY SMITH’S DISAPPOINTMENT
AT NOT RECEIVING THE COMMAND IN THE AFGHAN WAR—HIS CRITICISM
OF THE OPERATIONS.[121]
On the voyage we encountered terrific gales of wind; one night a squall
took us aback, carried away our topmasts, and shivered our sails into
shreds in a moment. I never knew or could conceive before what the
force of wind was capable of. This excessive violence lasted only
twenty minutes, leaving us a log on the water. The gale continued three
days, and on the 18th June, 1840,[122] we had staring us in the face
a watery grave. It was the anniversary of the day on which I and two
brothers escaped the slaughter of the eventful field of Waterloo. The
same Divine Hand, however, protected us, and the 91st Psalm was again
read in devotion and gratitude to the Almighty and Eternal Lord God,
“Who alone spreadest out the heavens and rulest the raging of the
sea;” and we reached Madras Roads in safety, after a most boisterous
but quick passage.
I embarked six horses, one of which died at sea, and all the rest were
much bruised and injured.
At Madras we had many friends. The Governor, Lord Elphinstone, whom we
had known as a boy, and to whom we were of use at the Cape on his way
out, was then in the Nilgherries. So soon as he heard of our arrival,
Government House and all its luxuries were placed at our disposal; but
we were already hospitably put up with one of my oldest and dearest
friends, Dr. Murray, the Inspector-General, who had for many years held
a similar appointment at the Cape, one of the most able professional
men in the world, and as an officer in his department never surpassed.
Poor fellow! in two years it was my melancholy duty to report his death
at Kurnal, in the Upper Provinces of Bengal, where he fell a gallant
victim to an epidemic disease. To his exertions to avert the progress
of its fatal ravages, and the rapidity with which he travelled from
Calcutta in the sickly part of the rainy season, may be attributed a
loss irreparable to the service, to his family, and to his friends.
From Madras to Calcutta we had a beautiful passage, flying along the
coast and passing the famous temple of Juggernauth with the rapidity
with which its votaries believe they ascend to the Regions of Bliss. On
reaching Calcutta we were surrounded by old friends of the army, and
many civil servants and military officers of the Honourable Company’s
Service whom we had known at the Cape, where they had repaired for
the recovery of health. Lord Auckland received us with every kindness,
and his Lordship’s amiable, accomplished, and highly educated sisters
showed us the most marked attention, kindness, and hospitality. As to
the Commander-in-chief, Sir Jasper Nicolls, we became, after some time,
as it were members of his family.[123]
Sir Jasper Nicolls is a man of very strong common sense, and very
wary of giving his confidence, or, indeed, of developing any of his
intentions. At first I thought he was a rough, hard-hearted man. I soon
discovered, however, he was one of the best men of business I ever
served, with a warm heart and a degree of honesty of purpose never
exceeded. His dear good wife is now, alas! no more—she died at Rome
on their return to their native land after years of travel, toil, and
burning suns. Her ladyship and daughters and my wife possessed a union
of hearts and feelings which gradually increased until, on the death of
Lady Nicolls, one important link of that chain of union was snapped,
but is now riveted in the most fervent affection for the daughters.
In the career of military life, no man can reasonably expect that so
rugged a path can be traversed without some personal disaster, and so
it was with me, previously one of fortune’s spoiled children. Lord
Auckland, from report and a knowledge of my exertions and successes at
the Cape, had imbibed a favourable opinion of me, and had the Burmese
made war in 1842, as was expected, it was his Lordship’s intention to
appoint me to the command of the troops destined to repel invasion
and re-establish our superiority. I had also a faithful friend in
the Lieutenant-Governor of the Upper Provinces, Mr. Thomas Campbell
Robertson—a man of superior ability and acquirement, and more versed in
the history and affairs of India than any man I ever sought information
from except Mr. Thoby Prinsep.[124] As I was likely to spend some years
in India if appointed Adjutant-General, as I had some reason to expect,
I had, when at the Cape, read thirty-three authors, made copious notes,
and generally studied the history and geography of this immense Empire.
This acquired knowledge enabled me to converse with such practical and
experienced men with great advantage to any information and knowledge I
had previously obtained.
After the death of the celebrated Runjeet Singh, the state of
our North-West Frontier, bordering on the seat of commotion, and
ultimately bitter war, in Afghanistan, was far from settled, and it
was contemplated that the Sikhs might interrupt our communication
with our troops, so fearfully extended from any base of operations,
and with the country of this doubtful ally intervening. Under these
circumstances, I placed my ready services at the disposal of Lord
Auckland and the Commander-in-Chief. Soon after this the insurrection
at Cabool commenced. Poor Elphinstone and I had been friends for
years,[125] and I had frequently impressed upon him the difficulty
of his position, the probability of an attempt on the part of the
restless and independent-spirited Afghan to shake off that yoke so
injudiciously imposed upon him (especially as our rupees were no
longer so lavishly, so indiscreetly scattered to acquire an ascendency
which, if necessary to acquire at all, should have been acquired by
the sword, and maintained by the sword, sheathed in inflexible and
uncompromising justice, equity, dignity, and honour), and the necessity
of his ever considering himself in the greatest danger when he felt the
most secure; but I must not set my foot on a field which to describe
would require volumes. The war broke out. The energy of a Wellington
or a Napoleon would have saved the destruction of that force; it was
perfectly practicable, as I then pointed out. The Lieutenant-Governor
and I were in hourly communication; I showed the military steps we
ought to pursue, and he urged them on the Government, and offered to
bear any responsibility with the Commander-in-Chief. Lord Auckland
was a sensible but timid man, and the Commander-in-Chief, ever most
judiciously and correctly averse to the occupation of Afghanistan, was
reduced to defensive measures at the moment when the most vigorous
and initiative steps ought to have been taken with the velocity of
lightning. The moment was lost. If time, that irrecoverable engine in
war, is neglected, disaster, as in this instance, must ensue. Before
the outbreak at Cabool, when my dear friend Elphinstone, from the
dire misfortune of sickness, was compelled to request his relief, the
Lieutenant-Governor urged the Government and Lord Auckland to send
me up. I offered my services on the condition that I had the supreme
and uncontrolled military authority from the source to the mouth of
the Indus and was aided by a civil servant; and Mr. George Clerk, the
Political Agent for the Punjaub, a man of first-rate abilities and
activity, most popular among the Sikhs, whose country and resources
intervened between our distant operations and their base, offered nobly
(for we were personally strangers) to serve with and under me.
Sir Jasper Nicolls, why I do not to this moment know, was opposed to
my being employed, although Lord Auckland wished it, and Major-General
Pollock was gazetted by the Government—“by the express recommendation
of the Commander-in-Chief”—but only to the command of the Upper
Indus, not the Lower, where Major-General Nott was senior officer.
Consequently, when these two officers’ forces united, they were like
the Corps d’Armée of Napoleon in Spain, jealous of each other, the
junior[126] was disobedient to the senior, and that _ensemble_, on
which success in war hinges, was lost.
The only reason I could ever suppose influenced Sir Jasper Nicolls
in his reluctance to employ me—for I know he had the highest opinion
of my activity—is that he apprehended, if I once got the command,
the wealthy Persia would have been attempted, and my progress alone
interrupted by the Caspian Sea. His thought day and night was to get
back the army from its advanced and dangerous position. Whereas had
the troops been rushed to the scene of action, as they might have been
(for on the commencement of the outbreak, the Khyberies were with us),
and Brigadier Wyld’s Brigade moved by forced marches to Jellalabad,
other troops rapidly following in succession, and when Wyld arrived
at Jellalabad, the whole of the weakly men, women, stores, etc.,
been securely placed in a small _Place d’armes_ constructed for the
purpose during Wyld’s approach, while General Sale’s and Wyld’s forces
combined precipitated themselves on Cabool, the force then would have
been saved, the spirits of the troops would have been sustained by the
knowledge of succour approaching, the enemy proportionately depressed.
Thus a want of exertion and decision in rendering support caused a
disaster and a loss England never before sustained. It is needless
here to enter into dates, number of marches, etc.; the thing I have
described was a simple matter of activity and well within the scope of
possibility. As soon as he arrived, Lord Ellenborough saw the necessity
of withdrawing the troops from Afghanistan, but was precipitate in
availing himself of the period so to do—which certainly was not at
the moment when our military prowess, the prestige of our arms, and
our national character for supremacy required to be re-established.
A government proposed by the Afghans should have been set up by us;
then the sooner we abandoned a nominal conquest, the better for the
true interests of British India. So astonished was I at the immediate
withdrawal, that I wrote the Memorandum No. 1. In the meanwhile the
Governor-General had left it optional to General Nott to retire by
Guznee, but had issued several peremptory orders to Pollock to retire.
When Nott, however, proposed his forward movement, Pollock was also
directed to move. I then wrote the Memorandum No. 2, and as the
campaign developed, No. 3.[127] The moment the Afghans were assailed
and the invasion pursued, they quailed immediately, and did not evince
the courage and perseverance in the cause of their country of the Swiss
and Vendeans. If they had done so, the three divisions of Pollock and
Nott and England, moving as they were upon the falsest of military
principles, would have been sacrificed; but in all wars the folly of
one party is exceeded by that of the other, and that which is the least
culpable succeeds. This example of the want of union and energy on the
part of the Afghans shows how easy it would have been to have crushed
the insurrection by adopting vigorous measures at the moment.
But to revert to my own command. If the Governor-General had selected
me and given me the authority I desired, viz. the whole line of the
Indus, with the aid of Mr. Clerk (whose popularity with the Sikh
Government and nation was so great that the resources of the Punjaub
would have been at his command, and consequently at my disposal for
the use of the army, which stood so much in need of them), I would
have waged war upon a great scale upon the Afghan, razed his forts and
fortresses from one end of his country to the other, established a
government, remained in the country until order, rule, and authority
were firmly established; then when the invincible character of our arms
had been maintained, marched out of the country triumphantly, and
not have sneaked out of it, as we did, with our tail down, like a cur
before a hound. That our national character for consistency, equity,
and superiority has suffered by this melancholy attempt on Afghanistan
is daily experienced throughout India. Would Scinde, Bundelkund, and
Gwalior have dared to resist us but for the example afforded them in
Cabool, that British troops could be not only beaten, but annihilated?
The whole of the transactions of this period afford such a lesson to
all Governors and Military Commanders, it is to be hoped posterity will
never forget them. First principles in government and war can never be
departed from: though success at the onset may attend irregularity,
in the end disaster will assuredly prove that consistency, rule, and
the true principles of strategy are indispensable to the achievement
of conquest. To buy the good-will of the influential men of nations is
folly and extravagance and the most temporary authority that can be
attained. Conquest must be achieved by force of arms, by the display of
irresistible power; then held by moderation, by a progressive system
of amelioration of the condition of the people, by consistency and
uncompromising justice. In this way the great movers of mankind, Fear
and Self-interest, perpetuate subjection.