A Delusion.

It is a case for the Society for Psychical Research. From the beginning to end the narrative is a pure hallucination, or a tissue of hallucinations. It is difficult to conceive that a sane mind can have entertained such delusions or through forty years persisted in such beliefs. Mr. Rees charitably assumes that Grey believed that, in an emergency, when the existence of the Empire was at stake, a high officer of that Empire could ignore all precedents, supersede all rules, and act upon principles he had himself originated. But this is much too charitable a view of the case. There is no doubt at all that in 1857 Grey believed—in 1884, as the writer can testify, he still believed—that, as Commander-in-Chief within the Colony, he possessed the supreme command of all forces in the Colony, could direct military movements, and supersede the English general if such movements were not made. That was an extraordinary straining of his powers, and, as we have seen, it was not in imagination only. But it was mild in comparison with the incredible assumptions he made when the transports destined for China, to support Lord Elgin in forcibly concluding a treaty with the Chinese Government, touched at Capetown to take in supplies. He then claimed that, as the troops had come within the boundaries of the Colony, he was empowered to direct their movements. This was his deliberate belief. In pursuance of it he required of the commander of the troops that he should disobey the orders he had received from the War Office, diverge from the route he had been instructed to take, and steam straight to Calcutta. Through his biographer he asserts that the commander, Col. Hope, yielded to his insistence or rather obeyed his orders, and steamed page 119straight for Calcutta. The troops arrived in India in time to enable Sir Colin Campbell to relieve Lucknow. But for this unexpected reinforcement Lucknow would have fallen, and India itself might have been reconquered.