“By order of the Right Honourable the Governor-General of India in Council,
“T. H. Maddock.”
THE APPOINTMENT OF GENERAL POLLOCK.
[Book VII., chapter 2, page 45.]
SIR JASPER NICOLLS TO LORD HILL.
My Lord,
I have the honour to acknowledge your Lordship’s letter of the 13th of June, calling upon me for an explanation of the appeal made to the General Commanding in Chief, by Major-General Sir Joseph Thackwell, in consequence of his not being permitted to accompany the regiment of which he is senior Colonel, on service beyond the Indus—I beg you will apprise his Lordship, that, in addition to the rule quoted by Sir J. Thackwell, the special appointment of Major-General Pollock prohibited his employment in Afghanistan.
I shall explain the circumstances of that appointment.
In December, 1841, the Governor-General of India in Council instructed me to place Major-General Lumley, of the Company’s army, in command of the reinforcements which passed through the Punjab in January last; and, in addition to the command of the whole force in Afghanistan, it was his Lordship’s intention to place in his hands the political control also.
Major-General Lumley’s health was such as to preclude all hope, or even desire, that he should undertake so great a charge, and it became necessary that I should propose another officer for this important duty. Twice I laid before the Governor-General the name of Major-General Sir Edmund Williams; and as a Light Infantry officer he seemed most qualified to meet an enemy in a mountainous country: he was active, zealous, and in perfect health. In the command of a division he had shown a clear judgment, and given me satisfaction.