The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-01-12 00:00:00

GENERAL HAVELOCK.

The death of .Sir Henry Havelock is a national mis-
fortune. It has fallen upon the British public with the
suddenness of a thunderclap, and the regret expressed
by all, both high and low, is such as can scarcely
.be sur-
passed by the lamentation of the nation on learning the
death of Nelson in the hour of victory, or of Sir John
Moore in *moment of no dishonourable retreat. General
Havelock, however, has died in the zenith of his fame
and glory, and has bequeathed to his countrymen a name
which will long be • household word in the homes of
England and India.
Major-General Sir Henry Havelock, Bart., K.C.8.,
was a native of Bishopewearmouth, near Sunderland,
where he was born on the sth of April, 1795. He was
the second of the four sons of the late William Havelock,
Esq., af Ingress-park, near Greenhithe, Kent, by Jane,
slaughter of Mr. john Carter, of Yarmouth, a member,
it is nod, of the Ettrick family, His father was the de-
scend snt and representative of a family which long had
resided in the neighbourhood of Great Grimsby, Lin-
coln.shire, and our readers will doubtless remember that
the good people of that town have lately gone so far as
to claim for the Havelocks a descent from Guthrum, or
some other Danish Prince who lived before the Norman
Conquest. All, however, that is known for certain is
that Hir Henry Havelock's father and grandfather were
largely engaged in commerce and shipping in Sunder-
land, and purchased Ingress-park with the proceeds of
their successful speculations.
Sir Henry has seen much service in India, and having
spent two years on furlough in England, he returned to
India in 1851, and through the kindness of Lord Har-
dinge, who had watched the latter portion of his career
with interest, and by whose side he had fought in the
three battles of the Sutlej, he was appointed at first
Quartermaster and afterwards Adjutant-General of the
Queen's forces in India. This post he held until the war
with Persia broke out at the close of 1856. On the des-
patch of the expedition against Persia he was nominated
to the command of the second division, and led the land
troops at Mohanunerah. The glory of the action, how-
ever, such as it was, was reserved for the naval force;
for the Persians ran away, and the fighting was all on one
side. On the conclusion of peace with Persia he returned
to India, and was wrecked off Ceylon in April last in the
Erin, as our readers will remember, on his voyage to
Calcutta.

On reaching his destination almost the first news that
he heard was the outbreak of the mutiny at Meerut and
Dnlhi. He was immediately sent up to Allahabad as
Brigadier-General, to command the moveable column
employed against the miscreant Nene Sahib. His sub-
sequent victories over the Nena's troops, including eight
or nine pitched battles against numbers far superior to
his own, and crowned by the notion of July 16 at Cawn-
pore, and his subsequent relief of the gallant band
besieged at Lucknow are events too fresh in our readers'
memories to need recounting here.
For his first exploit in the early summer Brigadier.
General Havelock was rewarded with a good service
pension of £lOO a year—all, we may here remark, that
the Commander-in-Chief then had it in his power to
bestow. Since that tune we have heard in rapid suc-
cession how Havelock has been raised to the rank of a
general officer, been honoured with the riband of a
Knight Commander of the Bath. and rewarded with the
snore substantial prizes of £l,OOO annual pension and
the colonelcy of the 3rd Buffs; and finally, how on the
26th of November last the London Gazette announced
that Her Majesty had been pleased to elevate him to
the baronetcy as Sir Henry Havelock of Lucknow.
Alas ! on the very day before the Gazette appeared Sir
Henry Havelock had paid the debt of nature, having
died of dysentery, brought on by exposure in the field
mid the anxieties of his trying position—one which it
certainly required a charmed life and almost superhuman
strength to maintain.
Sir Henry Havelock married, in 1827, Hannah Shep-
herd, youngest daughter of the late Rev. Dr. Marshman,
of Serampore, the learned and accomplished biblical
scholar, by whom he has left a family of three surviving
daughters and three sons, the eldest of whom, now Sir
Henry Marshman Havelock, second baronet, was born
in 1830. He at present holds a captain's commission
in the 18th Royal Irish, and has been lately serving in
India as Deputy-Assistant-Adjutant-General under the
gallant father whose honoured name he bears, and
whose loss he must so deeply deplore. It is only about
a fortnight ago that Lady Havelock, after a short stay
in London and at Bath, left England for Germany
amid the congratulations of her friends; and in the
course orlast week learned the sad intelligence of an
event which has made herself a widow and her chil-
dren fatherless. She will not want the hearty sym-
pathy of the British public in her own and the nation's

Twit KM OF DELRL—We hear that the King of
Delhi is to be sent down to Allahabad as soon as a suffi-
cient European escort can be spared for the purpose.
This old traitor, it seems, is in fall possession of an his
faculties, and is as able as ever to manage any mischief
that may be afloat. The male members of the family
are, it is said, to be made severe examples of, with the
exception of one who is a mere child, and who with
eluldbke simplicity told where the Queen had hidden her
jewels.
THE FINANCIAL VALUE OF INDIA.- -In dispensing
its revenue of 27,000,000, we provide employment to a
large number of our countrymen, and thus add to the
general wealth of the nation. No fewer than 10,000
British officers, of the higher grade, are to be numbered
in the civil and military service of the government,
whose income range from £2OO to £25,000 a year. All
these are well-born and educated men, of the middle
dosser, who find an honourable provision out of the
resources of India. The total sum they draw yearly
cannot be less than £0,000,000 or £7,000,000 sterling.
We have not included the European common soldiers,
of whom there were 30,000 before the mutiny, and there
will be, in future, at leaat 70,000 or 80,000. All these
are maintained out of the Indian Treasury, at a coat
which must hereafter exceed £3,000,000. Again, there
are the pensions granted to retired officers, officers'
widows and children in the two services, which are con-
tributed by India and spent in England. In round
numbers, we shall not be for wrong if we estimate the
direct worth of India to Englishmen of all classses at
not less than £10,000,000. This is a magnificent subsidy
for one country to pay another; and though we cannot
agree with M. de Valbesen, that but for this resource
England Would not have survived the trials of 1793 and
184$, we must allow that it is an important item of the
account between India and England.