"At This Time [1849] There Appears Upon The Scene That Vigorous And
Masterful Spirit, Whose Arrival To Take Up The Government Of India Had
Been Greeted By Events So Inauspicious.
No doubt from the beginning the
Governor-General was desirous to let it be understood that although new to
India he was, and meant to be, master;...
Lord Dalhousie was by no means
averse to frank dissent, provided in the manner it was never forgotten
that he was Governor-General. Like his great predecessor Lord Wellesley,
he was jealous of all familiarity and resented it.... The general
sentiment of those who worked under that [Greek: anax andron] was one of
strong and admiring affection ... and we doubt if a Governor-General ever
embarked on the Hoogly amid deeper feeling than attended him who,
shattered by sorrow and physical suffering, but erect and undaunted,
quitted Calcutta on the 6th March 1856."[40]
His successor was Lord Canning, whose confidence in Yule and personal
regard for him became as marked as his predecessor's.
In the autumn of 1856, Yule took leave and came home. Much of his time
while in England was occupied with making arrangements for the production
of an improved edition of his book on Burma, which so far had been a mere
government report. These were completed to his satisfaction, and on the
eve of returning to India, he wrote to his publishers[41] that the
correction of the proof sheets and general supervision of the publication
had been undertaken by his friend the Rev. W. D. Maclagan, formerly an
officer of the Madras army (and now Archbishop of York).
Whilst in England, Yule had renewed his intimacy with his old friend
Colonel Robert Napier, then also on furlough, a visitor whose kindly
sympathetic presence always brought special pleasure also to Yule's wife
and child. One result of this intercourse was that the friends decided to
return together to India. Accordingly they sailed from Marseilles towards
the end of April, and at Aden were met by the astounding news of the
outbreak of the Mutiny.
On his arrival in Calcutta Yule, who retained his appointment of Under
Secretary to Government, found his work indefinitely increased. Every
available officer was called into the field, and Yule's principal centre
of activity was shifted to the great fortress of Allahabad, forming the
principal base of operations against the rebels. Not only had he to
strengthen or create defences at Allahabad and elsewhere, but on Yule
devolved the principal burden of improvising accommodation for the
European troops then pouring into India, which ultimately meant providing
for an army of 100,000 men. His task was made the more difficult by the
long-standing chronic friction, then and long after, existing between the
officers of the Queen's and the Company's services. But in a far more
important matter he was always fortunate. As he subsequently recorded in a
Note for Government: "Through all consciousness of mistakes and
shortcomings, I have felt that I had the confidence of those whom I
served, a feeling which has lightened many a weight."
It was at Allahabad that Yule, in the intervals of more serious work, put
the last touches to his Burma book. The preface of the English edition is
dated, "Fortress of Allahabad, Oct. 3, 1857," and contains a passage
instinct with the emotions of the time. After recalling the "joyous
holiday" on the Irawady, he goes on: "But for ourselves, standing here on
the margin of these rivers, which a few weeks ago were red with the blood
of our murdered brothers and sisters, and straining the ear to catch the
echo of our avenging artillery, it is difficult to turn the mind to what
seem dreams of past days of peace and security; and memory itself grows
dim in the attempt to repass the gulf which the last few months has
interposed between the present and the time to which this narrative
refers."[42]
When he wrote these lines, the first relief had just taken place, and the
second defence of Lucknow was beginning. The end of the month saw Sir
Colin Campbell's advance to the second - the real - relief of Lucknow. Of
Sir Colin, Yule wrote and spoke with warm regard: "Sir Colin was
delightful, and when in a good humour and at his best, always reminded me
very much, both in manner and talk, of the General (i.e. General White,
his wife's father). The voice was just the same and the quiet gentle
manner, with its underlying keen dry humour. But then if you did happen to
offend Sir Colin, it was like treading on crackers, which was not our
General's way."
When Lucknow had been relieved, besieged, reduced, and finally remodelled
by the grand Roads and Demolitions Scheme of his friend Napier, the latter
came down to Allahabad, and he and Yule sought diversion in playing quoits
and skittles, the only occasion on which either of them is known to have
evinced any liking for games.
Before this time Yule had succeeded his friend Baker as de facto
Secretary to Government for Public Works, and on Baker's retirement in
1858, Yule was formally appointed his successor.[43] Baker and Yule had,
throughout their association, worked in perfect unison, and the very
differences in their characters enhanced the value of their co-operation;
the special qualities of each friend mutually strengthened and completed
each other. Yule's was by far the more original and creative mind, Baker's
the more precise and, at least in a professional sense, the more
highly-trained organ. In chivalrous sense of honour, devotion to duty, and
natural generosity, the men stood equal; but while Yule was by nature
impatient and irritable, and liable, until long past middle age, to
occasional sudden bursts of uncontrollable anger, generally followed by
periods of black depression and almost absolute silence,[44] Baker was the
very reverse. Partly by natural temperament, but also certainly by severe
self-discipline, his manner was invincibly placid and his temper
imperturbable.[45] Yet none was more tenacious in maintaining whatever he
judged right.
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