The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-16 00:00:00

THE LATE GENERAL NEI LL.

We learn from Madras that the community of
that city have resolved to commemorate the gal-
lant Neill, and the honour he has done to the
Madras army, by the erection of a monument.
This will consist of a granite obelisk suitably in-
scribed, and bearing, besides the name and services
of Neill, the names of the officers and men of the
Madras Fusileers who have fallen in this conflict, iu
Bengal. A public meeting on this subjec -, held at
Madras on Gth Dec., was presided over by Lord
Harris, who spoke in especial praise of Neill's care
of his men. The last words that officer addressed to
him before leaving Madras, were commending t`}►e
families of the soldiers to his lordship's Care. Two
of the speakers singled out another of Neill's quali-
ties for peculiar eulogy. This was his readiness in
an emergency to undertake f r the public good heavy
personal responsibility from which most men would
have shrunk. The Hon. the Chief Justice of Mad-
ras said—l firmly believe that to the decided con-
duct, the unflinching energy, amid the noble self
devotion of the late Gen. Nell, not only the safety
of Calcutta, but the peace of this and the sister Pre-
sidency of Bombay is mainly, if not wh,lly, owing.
He was essentially the man for the occasion—equal
to it, because he dared'to take: upon himself rePpon-
sibility, and, having d, ne so, to act irrespective of
the opinion of others. He was not the man -to
wait for orders in an emergency which require el to
be met at once with energy and decision, and in a
mode fitted only to the extraordinary circumstances
then occurring. I feel that in thus speaking I may
be approaching dangerous ground ; but I beg most
distinctly to disclaim all intention of referring to or
reflecting iu the slightest degree on, the conduct of
others. My object is to do honour to the gallant
Neill, and to show to how large an extent his coun-
- try, in my opinion, is indebted to him. Had a leas
determined or less energetic man appeared at Be-
nares at the important moment that he did, who can
say to what places the conflagration, then raging
and threatening to involve the whole of India in
its flames, might not have reached ? We need not
attempt to conceal the fact now. This was no partial
disaffection and mutiny of a portion of a❑ army, to
be put down by ordinary means." The Attorney-
General held language nearly similar, and said :--
"He believed he might safely say that with the
single exception of the gallant Havelock, whose loss
he feared they had also to lament, there was no man
on whose steps the country hung with such intense
interest, or who so absorbed their admiration,
From the time when the general took possession of
the railway station at Calcutta, there, as so often
afterwards, fearlessly assuming responsibilities front
which ordinary men nervously shrink, to the time
when he saved Allahabad, and at Cawnpore in-
flicted righteous retribution on those high caste
murderers, the Bengal Brahmin Sepoys, the fame
of his deeds rang trumpet-tongued through the land,
and in England, at all events, that retribution was
not looked on as vengeance or revenge, but simply
as that which the Commaneler-in-Chief of theßritish
army, the Duke of Cambridge, had so lately said,
amidst the cheers of all who heard him, he hoped
and trusted would be rigidly carried out, namely
justice—prompt and stern justice—on every sharer
in those atrocities." (Loud applause.)