n practice
been found as inconvenient in the War Department as it is wrong in
principle.

The other point is the importance of having only _one_ Army, whether
native, local, or general, with one discipline and one command,
that of the Commander-in-Chief. This is quite compatible with first
appointments to the native Army, being vested as a point of patronage
in the members of the Council, but it ought to be distinctly
recognised in order to do away with those miserable jealousies between
the different military services, which have done more harm to us in
India than, perhaps, any other circumstance.

Perhaps Lord Palmerston would circulate this letter amongst the
members of the Committee who agreed upon the proposed scheme?

[Pageheading: DEATH OF HAVELOCK]

_Viscount Canning to Queen Victoria._

GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CALCUTTA, _24th December 1857_.

Lord Canning presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and begs
permission to express to your Majesty at the earliest opportunity the
respectful gratitude with which he has received your Majesty's most
gracious letter of the 9th of November.

However certain Lord Canning might have been as to the sentiments with
which your Majesty would view the spirit of bitter and unreasoning
vengeance against your Majesty's Indian subjects with which too many
minds are imbued in England as well as in this country, it has been
an indescribable pleasure to him to read what your Majesty has
condescended to write to him upon this painful topic. Your Majesty's
gracious kindness in the reference made by your Majesty to what is
said by the newspapers is also deeply felt by Lord Canning. He can
truly and conscientiously assure your Majesty of his indifference to
all such attacks--an indifference so complete indeed as to surprise
himself.

Lord Canning fears that the satisfaction which your Majesty will have
experienced very shortly after the date of your Majesty's letter, upon
receiving the news of Sir Henry Havelock's entry into Lucknow, will
have been painfully checked by the long and apparently blank interval
which followed, and during which your Majesty's anxieties for the
ultimate safety of the garrison, largely increased by many precious
lives, must have become more intense than ever. Happily, this suspense
is over; and the real rescue effected by a glorious combination of
skill and intrepidity on the part of Sir Colin Campbell and his troops
must have been truly gratifying t