There is much that is disappointing and disgusting to
a man who feels that more might have been done, but I comfort myself with
the thought that history will do justice to the constancy and fortitude
of the handful of Englishmen who have for so many weeks--months, I may
say--of desperate weather, amid the greatest toil and hardship, resisted
and finally defeated the worst and most strenuous exertions of an entire
army and a whole nation in arms--an army trained by ourselves, and
supplied with all but exhaustless munitions of war, laid up by ourselves
for the maintenance of the Empire. I venture to aver that no other
nation in the world would have remained here, or have avoided defeat had
they attempted to do so."
The story of the rise and fall of the Indian Mutiny is the story of the
life of Roberts--in so far as the rise is concerned. His was an
inconspicuous but well played part. Acting as staff officer and
lieutenant of a gunners' company by turns, he was always in the thick of
it. If it were the command of guns at a difficult salient before Delhi,
it was "Send Roberts." If it were an urgent message for more ammunition,
at Agra, "Send Roberts." If it were an escort for the rescued women and
children at the historic relief of Lucknow, "Send Roberts."
This slender, undersized officer, in spite of his physique, seemed
indefatigable.
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