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PREFACE
In preparing the
following memoir of my late husband for publication, I have desired to
reproduce, as nearly as possible in his own words, a personal account of
the stirring and momentous events in which he played always an active
and latterly a leading part.
The principal portion of the biography relating to his early career up
to the time of his promotion to field rank is taken from the unstudied
letters written in camp and bivouac by Charles MacGregor to his parents
during the period which includes the Indian Mutiny, the Chinese War, the
Bhutan Campaigns, and the Abyssinian Expedition.
The death of my husband’s father in 1869 unfortunately brought to an end
the interesting correspondence, which forms an almost complete
autobiography of the General up to his thirtieth year. For the
continuation of the memoir recourse has been had to diaries and demi-official
memoranda, from which a more or less connected narrative of Sir
Charles’s later services has been compiled.
The full details of my husband’s arduous duties, whether at the desk of
the Quartermaster-General’s office or on toilsome journeys performed in
the saddle, during his preparation of the 4 Central Asian and Frontier
Gazetteer,’ would afford but little interesting matter for the general
reader, and therefore this portion of the biography is not dwelt upon at
any length. The ponderous tomes of the ‘ Gazetteer’ itself, forming, as
it does, a standard work of reference for all time, bear sufficient
testimony to the patience and energy of their author.
The story of the famine in Northern Bengal and the strenuous exertions
which it demanded on the part of the Director of Transport, the duties
of which my husband so successfully carried out, has been gathered from
official documents and Sir Bichard Temple’s minutes. The conduct of
relief operations on a large scale involves in reality the organisation
and working of such numbers, that it is in every respect equivalent to
the command of an army in the field, but with this difference, that, in
the case of military operations, the combatant forces have been already
trained to co-operate, and are fully under the control of proper
departmental officers; then, again, active service is exciting, and the
achievements, if not the rewards, are brilliant: whereas, on the other
hand, in the combat with dire famine, the multitudes are undisciplined
and the staff of officers has to be extemporised for the occasion; then,
again, the exposure and fatigue are distressing, the task is irksome and
laborious, whilst the proper performance of the duty is thankless, and
leads neither to acknowledgment, promotion, nor honour. My husband
always considered his service in North Bengal during the famine of 1874
as the hardest and most creditable work in which he had been ever
engaged.
The journals of Sir Charles MacGregor’s explorations in Khorassan and
Baluchistan have already been published during his lifetime, and his
journeys, therefore, in those countries need but be briefly alluded to.
Nevertheless there is some matter added to the account already
published, which will serve to explain several points that have been
much misunderstood.
It has been found necessary, of course, to exercise considerable
judgment in selecting for publication the portions of my husband’s
journal kept during the last campaigns in Afghanistan. From his
position, as Chief of the Staff to more than one general, his facilities
were unusually favourable not only for observing minutely the direction
and progress of the military operations during the war, from the
beginning to the end, but also for noting the characters and abilities
of officers of all ranks who came within his observation ; and he made
the fullest use of his opportunities. Having attained the rank of
major-general, and therefore expectant of obtaining an important
command, he, not unnaturally, took careful note of the capabilities,
special aptitudes, and personal characteristics of all with whom he came
in contact, so that he should know on whom he could thoroughly depend in
the critical moment when the emergency should arise. It is almost
needless to add that any passing remarks which could cause the least
annoyance to any one have been altogether omitted, and much personal and
confidential matter has, of necessity, been suppressed.
With regard to the concluding chapters, relating to Sir Charles’s
directorate of the Quartermaster-Gen-eral’s Department, here again the
multiplicity of routine duties and the busy cares of official life offer
but little attractive reading or amusement to the public in comparison
with the more romantic episodes of a soldier s life in the field; but,
nevertheless, to the military student the perusal of the chapter dealing
with this important period of staff service, so absolutely momentous in
its effect on the stability of British power in India, will prove highly
instructive, and to the politician deeply suggestive. It should not be
forgotten that this work is intended to be a book for the service as
well as for the general public, and many details, therefore, are
preserved for their military interest.
Sir Charles MacGregor worked hard to break down the inelastic red-tape
system by which the departmental work had been fettered previous to his
taking office, and by infusing some of his own energy and determination,
created a spirit of activity in his colleagues, and of emulation in his
subordinates, all of whom became zealous adherents of their gallant
chief. In fact, to use the words of a distinguished general, Sir Charles
MacGregor “ cast a halo o’er the post of Quartermaster-General in India,
and brought the status of the holder to a pitch never attained by any
predecessorI
In the Intelligence Branch especially, my husband induced by his example
the officers to take an interest in countries beyond the frontiers of
Hindustan—in fact, wherever the Indian army might, by the remotest
possibility, have to march through or to occupy, for defensive or
aggressive purposes. It is most certainly owing to this encouragement
that a school of military explorers has now been established in India,
and a quantity of strategical and economical information has been
amassed and systematically arranged by the Intelligence Department—a
department which, thanks to Sir Charles MacGregor’s fostering care,
differs somewhat perhaps from the much-lauded Prussian Office of
Intelligence, but which possesses a superior scope, and takes vigilant
cognisance of a far vaster area of territory.
In preparing the biography for the press, I have been greatly assisted
by several of my husband’s brother officers, who have in the most
friendly spirit contributed information, advice, and explanation on
various subjects which otherwise I should have had some difficulty in
dealing with, and I beg them to accept my cordial thanks, and
acknowledgments of their kindly services.
It is not easy for a wife to write impartially of a departed husband,
but from the numerous sympathetic communications which have reached me,
it is impossible to shut one’s eyes to the fact that the name of Charles
Metcalfe MacGregor is deeply impressed on the memory of his comrades in
the Imperial armies in India and at home.
CHARLOTTE MACGREGOR
Stronachlachar, Loch Katrine,
October 1888.
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