ABRAHAM BOLD.
RECENTLY, a Huddersfield paper told a simple story which ought to have a peculiar force at the present moment. The hero of it was an old man named Abraham Bold, who died at Huddersfield on the 4th of this month, after a life in which he had endured many trials, moral and physical. In youth, he enlisted in the 7th Fusileers ; he was well conducted, learned to read and write, became sergeant, and was entrusted with the various duties com- monly allotted to that important rank of officers. In the course of his official work, he frequently came in contact with the Duke of Wellington, the Prince of Orange, and other leaders. Sir Edward Blakeney, in a letter, called him his " gallant and trusty old friend." Bold served in thirteen great battles, though specifically, in his old age, when he claimed the peninsular medal, he could only remember eleven of them. He was at Badajoz,—his company, fifty strong at the time of the attack, mustering three next morning ; he was at Salamanca ; marched into Paris after Waterloo ; and returning home soon after, retired into private life, with a bullet in his shoulder received at Bada- joz, and a pension. In his native village, near Dewsbury, he re- sumed his original occupation of weaving ; but was ultimately promoted to be porter to the Huddersfield Banking Company, a situation which he filled for twenty-one years with so much credit and punctuality, that his appearance at the bank door became a proverbial index of the time in the town ; and on his retire- ment in old, age, the bank gave him a pension. Bold was in every sense of the word, except the technical military sense, " an officer and a gentleman" ; he served his country with unusual fidelity, and went through an unusual amount of hard- ship and suffering, for the bullet received at Badajoz he carried to his grave. The clasps for his eleven battles finished in 1816, he received as early as 1848 ; and a grateful country gave him for his pension—one shilling a day. It is most unlucky for the English army that Bold's story is by no means singular in the exemplification which it affords of na- tional gratitude. Many of our readers may remember instances scarcely less striking. You may find them scattered about the country. In Hyde Park there is a crossing-sweeper, who, not- withstanding his humble occupation, appears to have maintained. something like a character. He lost a leg in the service of his country, and has nine pence a day in return, with the oppor- tunity of eking out his income for himself and his wife by cleans- ing the ways of gentlemen, many of whom do less for their live- lihood. Not long since might be seen, and perhaps still remains, at one of the toll gates of Chelsea Suspension Bridge, a gentleman who has been a soldier and has gone through harder work than some soldiers of the present day who have been employed in Europe and the Colonies ; for his career, we believe has been run in India. This gentleman only rose to the rank of sergeant; the resources of his family not sufficing to purchase him a commis- sion ; which several of his brothers, however, had attained by one means or other. Amongst the causes of his retirement was broken health ; but he could point to the record of long and faithful service. His family had peculiar claims upon the coun- try, for many of them had served with very great distinction, though not always with very great profit ; and the best known of them was no other than Sir Henry Havelock, whose wife, Lady Havelock, received something like an ovation in her husbands name, when the hero himself had perished of his wounds and hardships, and while his nephew was still taking toll at Chelsea Suspension Bridge for his daily bread. We might refer to a family which has kept itself, on the whole, in a " higher social grade,"—one which has contributed several. officers to the Army. Of these, two have died in service ; a
one
them distinguished for an extraordinary act of heroism amongst the most painful scenes of India. A brother survives, who entered into the army a boy ; has now arrived at middle life, and has in the interval served in some of the most unhealthy parts of the globe, in Africa, America, and the West Indies ; who has shared the dangers, hardships, and heroisms of the long Indian cam: paign ; who has, in fact, left his mark upon the enemies 0. f, has country in Africa and India, helping to redeem by his brilliant exploits the mistakes of men in higher posts ; and who, at this dab sees young gentlemen, home nurtured officers, and even luckylidn; commissioned officers, passing over his head by favour of routin • or something very like it ; when positive personal claims are for- -- gatteni A difficulty has been felt in finding recruits enough to meet the wits of the Army, and various causes have been assigned. The condition of the soldier has been greatly improved since the time i when recruits were found in greater abundance. True : but what- ever assurance may be given in general terms to "the fine spirited young men" whom the recruiting-sergeant invites, such stories os* these stand by way of warning to confirm the representations i of many a retired soldier in his own circle. It is possible that a few sergeants may, during the last war, or since, have received commissions ; but the debates in Parliament have informed the public, that under the present arrangements of mess, in an Army where the purchase system renders money one of the qualifications of "an officer and a gentleman," the sergeant, even with his official allowance at starting, finds the expense and social posi- tion of an officer difficult to maintain, and not always agreeable. A sergeant, therefore, is promoted at his peril, and some non- commissioned officers actually decline the proffered honour ; and the advocates of the purchase system naïvely point to the fact as proving the expediency of maintaining a separation between the classes of gentlemen and " common men" ; overlook- ing the higher moral, that the conditions of society amongst " offi- cers and gentlemen" are such as to make honest men ashamed and poor men embarrassed ! But these ordinary cases speak with less eloquence to the country at large, and especially to those who have not yet had experience of the Army, than the signal cases like those of Abraham Bold, George Havelock, or our anonymous friends. Chivalrous distinction is not a drug, even after such op- portunities as that of India or the Crimea. Gallantry is the com- mon attribute of the Englishman, when placed in a position to call the quality forth ; but a marvellous daring and skill of chivalry, like that of sergeant Sullivan, who kept back the enemy almost single-handed, and who has not been heard of since, or has per- haps received the Victoria Cross, are not common even on the greatest occasions. In all the West-Riding there was but one veteran who could claim clasps for eleven battles in the old war. Now it is these signal cases above all others that speak with the most force to the public at large. If a grateful country could single out men like Abraham Bold, or Sullivan, and make them some acknowledgment worthy of a great country to give, the reward would tell with infinitely greater strength of eloquence than the same amount distributed over a hundred officers, or sergeants. What the enterprising and spirited young max generally looks to is, not a stated income for ordinary ser- vices, but the chances for daring and distinction. The prizes of a lottery can draw hundreds into the gambling, where but
i
one in a hundred can win : how much more does the same principle apply, if the prizes are of a kind which lend a lustre, though not a profit, instead of ruin and disgrace, to all that join in the competition! It is one of those instances in which gene- rosity pays far better than meanness ; and the principle applies to every department of the public service.
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