1 Major Macke-
2 son,
3 His eminent
4 walifications
5 for political
6 employ.
7 218 HISTORY OF THE SIKHS.
8 For a period of fifteen years had this talented
9 officer been employed in various situations on the
10 north west frontier, sometimes, it must be confessed,
11 of little importance in a political point of view,
12 and still less in a pecuniary one; but whether as
13 superintendent of the navigation of the Indus in the
14 hot and sickly locality of Mittenkote, commanding
15 a band of unruly Sikhs in Affghanistan, or employed
16 in the humble capacity of tax-collector in the
17 desert, Major Mackeson invariably manifested the
18 same zealous and conciliatory disposition. When
19 returning from Affghanistan, where his conduct
20 had been rewarded by a brevet-majority and a
21 companionship of the Bath, so little was his intimate
22 acquaintance with Sikh affairs appreciated, that he
23 was not even appointed to a subordinate place in the
24 political arrangements of the north west frontier ;
25 but obliged to fall back upon the only appointment
26 which he could hold as a regimental officer : namely,
27 interpreter and quarter-master to a Native infantry
28 regiment! This would have disgusted most men,
29 but a patient forbearance and determined zeal were
30 strong features of his character. He made no
31 remonstrance, but submitted patiently; and had
32 it not been for the efforts of Mr. Clerk, Major
33 Mackeson, C.B. might actually have been inter-
34 preter and quarter-master of the 14th regiment of
35 Native infantry, to the present moment! Through
36 the influence of Mr. Clerk, however, he obtained
37 the appointment already alluded to at Sirsa, which
38 he retained until the serious aspect of affairs on the