The Sun.
London, England, 1850-03-30 00:00:00

MAJOR HERBERT EDWARDES.
I(From Beneey's Miscellany fur Match.)
Deeds of adventurous daring are of no unusual occur-
rence ; and hal Major Edwardesonly distinguished
himself as a gallant soldier, it is probable that the artist
and the engraver would not have been called upon to
furnish his portrait, and that we should not have been
required to supply a notice of his life. Fortune favours.
the brave ; but only the brave who are resolved to ex-
tort a smile from her. The man who, at the age of
twenty-eight, in a subordinate capacity, planned and ex-
ecuted a series of brilliant operations which suggested
the siege of Moultan, and resulted in the subjugation cf
the Punjaub, is a hero whom a Clive would have de-
lighted to honour, as a Wellington has been prompt to
applaud. A portrait of such a man, and a notice of him,
however brief, cannot but be interesting to our readers.
-Herbert Edwardes, the sole survivor of three brothers,
is the son of the late Rev. Benjamin Edwardes, Rector
of Frodesley, in Salop, and is descended from an old
Welsh family. Losing both parents while yet very
young, he was brought up by a near relative, John Tho-
mas Hope, Esq., of Netley, in his native county. Ilis
education was begun under the Rev. Charles Delafosse,
of Richmond, Surrey, and completed at King's College,
London, of which institution (degrees then not being
obtainable) he became an associate.
Despairing cf making his way in England, he solicited
and obtained from Sir Richard Jenkins, Bart., G.C.8.,
an appointment to India, at a period of life much later
than is usual, for he came of age on his voy age out, an
event which was not celebrated by a devoted tenantry,
and which ruffled not the leaves of the ponderous books
in Threadneedle-street. His fellow-passengers in the
Weimer Castle have since recalled, that (to relieve the
tedium of the voyage) he edited a weekly ship news-
paper called the TValmer Gazette, and that for twelve
weeks (mirabile dicta:) he conducted that journal with-
out offence.
He landed at Calcutta on the 29th January, 1841, and
was shortly afterwards attached to the Ist Bengal Eurc-
peen regiment, then just returned from the first Affghan
war, joining it at the close of the year at Kurnal, on the
north-west frontier.
Our young hero now began to study the native lan-
guages and Anglo-Indian history; and soon attracted
notice by a series of monthy letters on political subjects,
in the Delhi Gazette' to which he affixed the signature
of Brahmince Bull. These were variously attributed to
several old civilians in the Beep' presidency; but
the real author (after preserving his incognito for two
years) was at length discovered; and in November,
1845, he was selected by Sir Hugh (now Lord) Gough
to be an aide-de-camp on his personal staff. In the
same month he passed an interpreter's examination in
three native languages.
At this time the first Siekh war broke out, and Lieu-
tenant Edwardes sustained a severe wound in the thigh
at the battle of Moodkee, while carrying Sir Hugh
Gough's orders. During the second battle (Ferozshuhr)
he was lying with the wounded in Moodkee fort; but he
was sufficiently recovered to take part in the battle of
Sobraon, which closed the campaign.
Ho now accompanied Sir Hugh Gough to Lahore,
and in March, 1846, was recommended by the gallant
veteran to the notice of Sir Henry Hardinge, the then
Governor-General, who placed him on the new political
staff formed at Lahore under Sir Henry Lawrence,
whose private secretary he became, remaining with him
until 1848, when the declining health of that distin-
guised diplomatist compelled him to return home.
Shortly after Lieutenant Edwardes received his new
appointment, he received a wound in his head whiie as-
sisting Sir Henry Laws once to put down a religious tu-
mult in the city of Lahore. A month afterwards he
assisted at the siege of Rote Elangra (the Rajke Kote of
Lawrence's Adventurer in the Punjaub). /n September,
1846, he was selected to relieve Major Macgregor, C. 8.,
in the important charge of the city of Lahore; but he
had scarcely teached that capital when (the revolt of
Seikh Emamooden breaking out in Cashmere) he was
ordered to proceed to Jummoo, and rouse Mcharaja
Gholab Singh, to the assertion of the rights which had
been ceded to him by the British Government.
To e ffect this, Lieutenant Edwardes opened negotia-
tions with the Seikh himself, whom he induced to deliver
up the secret orders to rebel which he had received from
Raja Lal Singh, the paramour of the Ranee. On this,
the Seikh was permitted by Sir Henry Lawrence to
surrender, and giving himself up to Lieutenant
Edwardes at the foot of the Cashmere hills, he was by
tnat cfficer conducted to Lahore. Oa the evidence ( f
the papers thus obtained, the Raja Lul Singh was
brought to trial under the walls of Lahore, was deposed
from the Ministry, and banished to Hindostan.
While the now treaty of Lahore, December, 1846.
was being ratified at Byrowal, Lieutenant Edwardes
was left in the solo political charge of Lahore; and for
his exertions in appeasing a second religious tumult at
the festival of the Mohurrum, he received the thanks of
the Court of Directors of the East India Company.
In February, 1847, he was deputed, in command of a
Seikh army, to make an amicable financial settlement of
Bunnoo, an Affghan valley west of the Indus. Failing
in this—as Ruujeet Singh had failed for a quarter of a
century—he projected and proposed to the resident at
Lahore the plan of a regular military reduction and oc-
cupation of the valley, offering to conduct the expedition.
This plan, recommended by the Resident and approved
by Sir Henry Hardinge, was at once carried out. Lieut.
Edwardes, in December, 1847, was dispatched with five
thousand men and two troops of horse artillery;
and in the brief space of two months be levelled
the walls of four hundred fortified villages, built a strong
fortress in their stead, and ran a military road through
the heart (if the valley, by these means entirely subju-
gating it. While eflecting this, his life was twice at-
tempted by certain patriots of Bunnoo, who sought to
assassinate him in his tent. On the second' occasion he
only escaped by shooting the assassin with his own hand.
The reduction of Bunuoo was barely accomplished when
the Moultan rebellion broke ou'.
We have recorded several important services which
Lieutenant Edwardes was enabled to render to his coun-
try while yet a very young man; we have now to tell
of those transactions upon which his fame for the pre-
sent rests.
In March, 1847, a treaty had been concluded, by
means of which the Governor-General (Lord Hardinge)
had undertaken that the Punjaub should be managed
during the minority of Maharajah Duleep Singh. He
engaged to control the civil internal administration of
the country, and to maintain tranquillity within, as well
as to provide for its external security; and this he en-
gaged to do at the especial instance of the Siekh Surdars.
The consequence of this arrangement was that a peace en-
sued in the Punjaub to which it had long beau a stranger.
But in April, 1848, occurred the treacherous murder at
Moultan of Mr. Vans Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson,
young men of great promise, and who had already dis-
tinguished themselves. This event gave rise to commo-
Lions in Moultan, which speedily spread into other pro-
vinces, and resulted in a general insurrection of the
Punjaub.
When the Governor-General, the Earl of Dalhousie,
became convinced that it was hopeless to expect that the
commotion at Moultan would die away, by the submis-
sion of the Dewan Moolraj, the chieftain commanding
at Moultan, or that it could be extinguished by the
force applied to put down the rebellion, he prepared to
enter into a vigorous war.
At this time Lieutenant Edwardes, recently appointed
assistant in the management of the country in the neigh-
bourhood of Moultan, and having at his disposal a single
native regiment only, conceived the design of driving the
rebel Moolraj into his fortress, and rescuing the whole
of the country round Moultan from his grasp. Ho effected
this, and he achieved it without the assistance of a single
European soldier. Such was his character, such the
confidence he inspired amongst the natives, such the
means that he used, and such the revenue he raised at
the moment, in the very country he was rescuing from
the treacherous Moolraj, that he was enabled to raise all
the mountain tribes, to discipline these raw levies, and
to drive back that chieftain into the very walls of the
fortress from whose citadel he oppressed the surrounding
country. It was on the 18th of June, 1848, that he
gait el his first victory, and took eight out of ten guns
which the rebels brought into the field; and on the Ist
of July, having been joined by the troops of the Newaub
of Bhewalpore under Lieutenant Lake, he fought a se-
cond battle, and again completely routed the army of
the Moolraj, capturing two more guns. It was during
these operations that ho lost the use of his right hand,
by the explosion of a pistol in his belt while arming for
a fight. In these tattles Lieutenant Edwardes inspired
confidence among the troops by his exertions; and by
his uniform ability commanded the affections and the
respect of the natives who followed in his army.
Although, in the first instance, the Governor-General
of India and the Commander-in-Chief considered that
the season would net admit of the march of European
troops, yet in consequence of the great efforts that had
been made by Lieutenant Edwardes and Lieutenant Luke,
it was thought advisable by Sir F. Currie, the resident
at Lahore, to dispatch a force amounting to about seven
thousand men of all arms under Major-General Whish,
from Lahore to Moultan. We have all read of Whish's
attack on and capture of Moultan, which formed so
bright a page in the subjugation of the Punjaub.
No sooner were these brilliant operations of Lieu-
tenant Edwardes known in this country, than the Go-
vernment recommended. him to her Majesty as an officer
well worthy of immediate distinction; rewards of what-
ever nature not being usually bestowed until the ter-
mination cf a war. The Queen at once conferred upon
the young hero the local rank of Major, and made him
a Companion of the Bath. The Court of Proprietors,
following the illustrious example, voted him a gold medal,
the execution of which was entrusted to Mr. Wyon, and
which will soon be ready
.for presentation.
On the vote of thanks in the House of Lords to the
Earl of Dalhousie, the Governor-General • to Lord
Gough, the Commander-in-Chid; and to other distin-
guished offieers, the Marquis of Lansdowne specially
referred to Major Edwards, and gave a glowing descrip-
tion of his exploits.
Viscount Ilardinge "agreed in what had been said by
the Noble Marquis with regard to Major Edwardes.
He had been in communication with him while in India,
and had found him to be a most sensible, intelligent, and
clever young man. In a letter which he had received
from him, ho stated that he was most anxious that the
comrades who participated with him in his services
should also be associated with him iu his praise, par-
ticularly Lieutenant Lake and Lieutenant Pollard, late
a student in the King's College, and Lieutenant Nichol-
son and other officers who had distinguished themselves."
And the Duke of Wellington said, " I entirely concur
in the approbation which the Noble Marquis has ex-
pressed of the conduct of Major Edwardes and other
officers in the course of these actions. They have im-
mortalized themselves by their conduct. It is impos-
sible to speak too highly of Major Edwardes and
the other gentlemen who have been engaged in these
services."
After such praise as this, what more is to be said?
Major Edwardes reached England with his old cona-
maeder, Lord Gough, a low weeks since, and is now se-
siding in his native country to recruit his health and
strength, after a nine years' service in India, marked by