The life and letters of Sir John Hall ... / by S.M. Mitra ; with an introduction by Rear-Admiral Sir R. Massie Blomfield .. ; with portraits and illustrations.

  • Mitra, Siddha Mohana, 1856-1925.
Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The life and letters of Sir John Hall ... / by S.M. Mitra ; with an introduction by Rear-Admiral Sir R. Massie Blomfield .. ; with portraits and illustrations. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    reference to other works. As Sir John Hall's life- drama was enacted on an extensive stage, which included Waterloo and Brussels (where he met his famous contemporary, Sir Walter Scott), the West Indies, Spain, South Africa, India, and the Crimea, many books had to be consulted in order to render the Biography accurate as well as readable. But the desire to do what an Englishman had done for an Indian has made my labour one of pleasure. In recording the career of a man who had been concerned in important public affairs, I was much struck by two salient points, one of which relates to the community, the other to the individual. The want of adequate foresight and preparation on the part of the nation for a contest, not only with powerful and determined foes, but with the relentless forces of Nature and climate, and the lightheartedness with which the combat was approached, are, in the retrospect, truly mar- vellous. This defect of unpreparedness was again seen in the Indian Mutiny and the recent South African War. That a nation which starts so badl}^ should hitherto have contrived to “ muddle through ” to a successful issue is little short of a miracle. In the case of the individual. Sir John Hall's steady performance of duty carried him from the lowest to the highest rung on the ladder of promotion : it gained for him the appreciation