PREFACE.

of

SOME of Lord Clyde's friends being under the impression that he had prohibited the publication of any his papers, I desire to say a word in explanation. The impression is a mistaken one, although it cannot be denied that his consent was given with reluctance, as will be seen presently.

It must be very well known to those who were on intimate terms with Lord Clyde, that he was an exceptionally modest man. Modesty was his characteristic from his youth, and became more confirmed, instead of being lessened, by age, rank, and honours. He shrank from every kind of notoriety, and nothing but his remarkable sensitiveness in that respect caused the unwillingness he evinced to let his papers be used for a Memoir.

Notwithstanding this, in his Will he leaves it to the discretion of the trustees to dispose of his papers, adding: "It may possibly become their opinion that some short Memoir should be drawn up. If this

should appear to them to be absolutely necessary and indispensable (which I should regret, and hope may be avoided), then it should be limited, as much as possible, to the modest recital of the services of an old soldier."

The trustees have hitherto been unwilling to disregard Lord Clyde's apparent objection to a Memoir; but, after a lapse of seventeen years, they consider that no sufficient reason now exists for leaving such a distinguished soldier altogether unnoticed, and they feel justified in exercising the discretion which he has left them.

The more intimately Lord Clyde's true character and services are made known to his countrymen, the greater reason will they see to admire him and to honour his memory. Accordingly, the trustees have allowed the compilation of this simple Memoir, which, without trespassing much beyond the limits prescribed by Lord Clyde, endeavours to give a faithful impression of the man, while it affords, at the same time, a most encouraging example to all young soldiers, who will see in it to what the humblest and most friendless of them may aspire, when animated by that noble sense of duty which seemed to influence every act of his eventful military career.

General Shadwell had been many years in the same regiment with Lord Clyde and myself.

He

was with him in China in 1842, at Chin-kiang-foo, and before Nankin. He was on his staff in the Punjab campaign of 1848-49-at Chillianwala and Goojrat-accompanied him to the Crimea-and was on his staff at the Alma and in front of Balaklava. Long and intimately associated as he had been with Lord Clyde, and favoured with his friendship and confidence, he is better qualified than any one else I am acquainted with, to place our old chief's character in its natural and true light before his countrymen.

Consequently, such material as was available for the purpose was confided to General Shadwell, and these chapters are the result of his labour.

HENRY EYRE.

26th July 1880.

To the foregoing, I wish to add the following remarks:

Of his early years, though Lord Clyde frequently alluded to them in conversation with me, I learned few details from him. For the information regarding his parentage, birth, and education, I am indebted to the kindness of his lordship's cousin, Mr P. S Macliver, M.P., who from the first has taken great

interest in this work, and who has rendered me valuable assistance, for which I beg to tender him my grateful acknowledgments.

Not having had the good fortune to accompany Lord Clyde to India, on his being summoned thither in the summer of 1857, I was unable to approach this portion of his career with a personal knowledge of the incidents which marked it. Abundance of materials, however, in the shape of correspondence, reports, general orders, and other official documents, existed amongst the papers intrusted to me; but as Lord Clyde ceased keeping his journal on his arrival at Calcutta in August 1857, I was constrained to look elsewhere for assistance in tracing the narrative of events, in which he was the chief actor, during the time he held the supreme command in India.

The kindness of friends has supplied the deficiency. Sir Archibald Alison, who accompanied Lord Clyde to India as Military Secretary, and who happens, moreover, to be one of his trustees, placed in my hands his admirable account of Lord Clyde's proceedings, from the time of his reaching Calcutta to the end of February 1858, when, disabled by a serious wound, he was compelled to quit the side of his chief and return to England. This trustworthy record, acknowledged to be a masterpiece of military writing, was published in the October number of 'Blackwood's Magazine,' in the year 1858. I have

therefore had no hesitation in following it closely; the more so, as its accomplished author desired me to make any use I liked of it, and supplemented this favour by confiding to me the original letters, which formed the basis of his narrative.

The journal kept in his official capacity by Captain (now Major-General) George Allgood, C. B., who accompanied Lord Clyde as Assistant-Quartermaster-General with headquarters in the campaigns of 1857, 1858, and 1859, and which was included amongst Lord Clyde's papers, has been of invaluable assistance to me. By it I have been enabled to trace the daily movements of Lord Clyde in the field with a confidence which has materially lightened my labours. For its copious use, I might almost say its reproduction, as well as for the plans executed by Captain Allgood himself, who has kindly allowed them to be engraved for the purpose of accompanying this work, I have to thank this old friend.

To Sir Henry Norman I am under the deepest obligations. He had been Lord Clyde's staff officer during his command at Peshawur, and had accompanied him in his expeditions against the hill tribes. He again joined him prior to the relief of Lucknow. As he was discharging at headquarters the duties of Adjutant-General of the army, he not only possessed Lord Clyde's entire confidence, but was an eyewitness of, as well as an actor in, the several campaigns