land. Whilst on his way to China in the Transit, he was shipwrecked in the Straits of Malacca. Together with his company, he was posted on the lower deck, the only light afforded being that of lanterns. How vivid and solemn is the picture! The ship sinking, a thousand souls on board, the men standing at "attention," silent, and waiting for death. In turn they made for the boats, until at last it fell to Wolseley with his men to go on deck, and they were saved. The shipwrecked party lived at Malacca—an almost uninhabited spot—for ten days. They had saved some salt pork from the ship, and this was put into a pot with pieces of baboon!—a most sickening meat. At last Singapore was reached—Wolseley, having lost all he had in the Transit, buying a fresh kit at Calcutta, which the enemy eventually burnt at Cawnpore.
Lord Wolseley's Christmas pudding.
Lord Wolseley led the storming party that eventually relieved Lucknow. Our frontispiece is a reproduction of Mr. Wollen's picture, which now hangs in the officers' mess-room of the Marine Artillery at Portsmouth, for which Lord Wolseley sat. In speaking of this picture, Lord Wolseley said:—
"It was at the storming party which I led against the Metee Mohul in November, 1857, which opened out the way into the Lucknow Residency. The picture represents me carrying off a wounded man out of fire to a neighbouring shelter. The wounded man was Private Andrews, of my company, one of the very bravest private soldiers I ever knew. He was a Londoner. When I had him in my arms a rebel sepoy fired at me from a loophole about six or seven yards off, and the bullet, instead of going through me, went through Private Andrews. He was thus badly wounded twice within a few minutes."
The Mutiny over, in 1858 he became a Major in the 90th Foot, and Lieut.-Colonel in 1859. In 1860 Wolseley was with Sir Hope Grant in China. Here he formed those very decisive and strong opinions of the Chinese which are as great a conviction with him today as in the sixties. He believes the Chinese to be the greatest race in the world; they possess all the elements of being a great people, they have courage, physical power, and absolute contempt for death. To-day in that country soldiering is looked down upon; only the "failures in life" enter the army. Let a Bismarck or a Napoleon rise up amongst them, and in two generations they would be the greatest nation and conquering power in the world. They only need a leader. Give them progress and they will conquer. Three hundred years ago they were the head of the world, but their growth was stunted. China wants a modern man with modern ambitions. Let their leader come, and they must revive again.
"So great is their aptitude for learning," Lord Wolseley said, "that I should be glad to have a force of Chinamen here, where, under the tuition of English Infantry officers, in one year they would turn out the finest soldiers in the world."
From China he went to Canada, where in 1870 he was in charge of the Red River
