and oppressive," that he had used abusive language to his native
officers and personal violence to his men, and that his system of
accounts was "calculated to screen peculation and fraud." Subsequently
another inquiry was carried out by Major Reynell Taylor, which dealt
simply with Hodson's accounts and found them to be "an honest and
correct record ... irregularly kept." At this time the Guides were split
up into numerous detachments, and there was a system of advances which
made the accounts very complicated. The verdicts of the two inquiries
may be set against each other, and this particular charge declared "not
proven." It is possible that Hodson was careless and extravagant in
money matters rather than actually dishonest; but there were several
similar charges against him. During a tour through Kashmir with Sir
Henry Lawrence he kept the purse and Sir Henry could never obtain an
account from him; subsequently Sir George Lawrence accused him of
embezzling the funds of the Lawrence Asylum at Kasauli; while Sir
Neville Chamberlain in a published letter says of the third brother,
Lord Lawrence, "I am bound to say that Lord Lawrence had no opinion of
Hodson's integrity in money matters. He has often discussed Hodson's
character in talking to me, and it was to him a regret that a man
possessing so many fine gifts should have been wanting in a moral
quality which made him untrustworthy." Finally, on one occasion Hodson
spent L500 of the pay due to Lieutenant Godby, and under threat of
exposure was obliged to borrow the money from a native banker through
one of his officers named Bisharat Ali.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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