ABSTRACT
The Hon. Major Powys has been running his head against the Times; and our contemporary, with less magnanimity than might have been expected from such a paladin, has, in return, done its best to knock down the gallant Major, but has not yet, and we trust never will be successful. The public may be influenced by the letters in the Times, but the army, at least, will support and uphold Major Powys, not only because he has established a lasting claim to its gratitude, but because the principle on which he has acted is, in the abstract, a right one, although, under existing circumstances, we think that, in particular cases, it might be somewhat relaxed. When a man lays down his life on the field, we are disposed to deal leniently with his previous errors, and his surviving relatives, but especially his widow and children, should not, on such a plea, be excluded from the national bounty. This, however, is a question which the Central Committee of the Fund, not Major Powys, have decided for themselves: their decision is generally approved by the service; and Major Powys, in stating the result, has but acted as the exponent, not of his own views, but of theirs. The Reverend Henry Newland, a near relation of the celebrated Abraham of that name, would have acted in a manner more becoming a Christian pastor, and a minister of the Church, had he silently acquiesced in that decision, instead of attacking and calumniating Major Powys in the columns of a newspaper. The latter, by his exertions in behalf of the soldier’s widow before the cry became a popular one, has laid up for himself treasure where neither slander can corrupt, nor calumny break in and steal; and it will be well for “Parson” Newland, as he has modestly dubbed himself, if, in his last hours, his good deeds—we say it reverently—shine before men and before heaven with the same signal effect.
