There were, moreover, the officers of a disbanded army whose interests had to be studied, albeit their ignorance of the men they commanded, and their unfitness for ordinary military command, in too many cases, had precipitated the disaster which had left them without regiments. And not to speak of the varied questions of moment that arose in connection with the European portion of the Company's forces, there was above all the necessity of forming a new Native Army on the ruins of an old one whose traditions, after all, had been honourable, whose service up to the date of the Mutiny had been invaluable, and whose place it was not easy to fill.
On Lord Canning principally devolved the irksome duty of reconciling incompatible opinion, and of reorganising the defences of India. The Governor-General had borne with calmness the brunt of the Mutiny. He was fearless of responsibility, he had a considerable insight into character, and he had attained, during the time of trial, an unusual degree of military prescience and instinct, which made itself felt on occasions when he had to control with his intelligence and judgment the barrack-yard knowledge of some of the barrack-yard soldiers who carried out his orders.
India was still feeling the shock from which it had barely recovered; and Lord Canning, therefore, felt that while he could afford to be pacific, he could not afford to be weak. We had originally fought our way to power in the East; and it was now for us to show
