The Dune of Cambridge.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 196, 17 August 1895, Page 4 (Supplement)

The Dune of Cambridge.

His Resignation as Commander-in-Chief.

(FROM ODE. SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)

London, June 30. There is, I believe, a good deal of truth in the story thai) in sending in bis resignation, H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge had nob the faintesb expectation of being taken at his word. He was, we are told, assured that if he offered to give up ib would materially assist the Army Administration policy of the Government and lessen the friction in hostile quarters. He ab once agreed to do so, and sent his papers to the Queen, who handed them over to the Governmenb, of course, with the expectation they would be returned. The Governmenb, however, took the matter very seriously, accepting the papers as a definite resignation, and Mr Campbell-Bannerman made the public announcement in the House of Commons. ' This/ says the ' Pall Mall/ ' was the very last thing expected, desired or deserved, by either Her Majesty or His Royal Highness.'

Whether the Wolseley clique did or did nob • spoof' George Ranger out of his berbh, as the ' Pall Mall Gaz6bte ' hints, scarcely matters to the public. Out of it he is, and oub of ib he will remain. Moreover, most people welcome the change. His Royal Highness is in army parlance ' a good old sort,' bub as full of prejudices as an egg is of meat, and blessed with an extra large share of the family obstinacy. On two or three occasions of late years, notably the Surgeon Briggscaee, the duke has managed to render abortive, in a quieb way, the expressed intentions of Parliament. His temper, too, is a trifle ehorb nowadays. Altogether, the time had come for retirement.

The Duke in the Crimea,

The Duke ia nob, like H.R.H. of Connaught, a purely fair-weabher soldier. He was eenb with the Guards to the Crimea, and, aa a diepasyonabe sketch of him in the ' St. James's' shows, proved himself of the right material. • Personal courage, , says this writer, ' has ever been a characteristic of the Guelphs, ac Thackeray makes clear in his vivid picture of George 11. drawing his sword before the whole French army ab Debbingen, daring them to " come on," and in the thick of the fray "fighting like a Trojan." The Duke proved himself an inheritor of the ancestral pluck. On two distinct occaeions he was in the hottest part of the fighting, and had to acb in circumstances which pat bis gifb in the leadership of men to severe and successful tesb. Ab the Alma be was told off to make a front attack upon the apparently impregnable batteries of the Russians. He led hU division then with a coolneaa and intrepidity which won the acclamation of his fellow-officers and the ungrudging confidence of the men. He foughb also in the ' soldiers' battle' on the heights of Inkerman, where he had a horse ehot under him ; and historians of the war tell of his personal participation in the fray and the courage and energy with which he fed the fires of stubborn resistance which made that engagemenbmemorable in the history of British arms. Nor was he less conspicuous as a etrabegieb than as a leader of troops. He had accompanied Lord Raglan to Paris, and shared the Commander-in - Chief's conferences with Napoleon and bis generals as to the disposition and plane of the allied forces, and during the campaign hie advice was constantly sought After the decisive engagement of September 20,1854, he agreed with Lord Raglan that a dash should be made on Sebastopol and that* that stronghold could then be captured by a coup de main. The French commanders did not accepb the view ; the opportunity was lost, and the long and irightful siege followed. Nor was this the only example of his military perspicacity. Had the representations he made to Lord Raglan some weeks before Gortchakofi's attempt Jo raise the siege by a rear attack oh the British lines, been attended to and the rear strengthened accordingly, ibis doubtful whether the Battle of Inkerman would have had to be foughb.

His Tencre at the Horse Gcards.

• " He waa of anxious temperament," says Kinglake of the Duke. " Though careless of his own life, he was liable to be cruelly wrung with the weight of a command which'charged him with the lives of other men." The rigours of the campaign told upon his health ; the long strain of the siege proved too much lor hie powers ot resistance, and he was invalided to Pera, afterwards going to Malta — an island which he has since frequently visited, and where ho spent some time in the spring of the prepenb year. The Crimea knew him no more ; since he was sent as an invalid from the grim walls of Sβbastopol he has seen no fighting. Hβ was coruplimentarily mentioned in despatches ; Parliament thanked him for his services aa commander of the First Division ; and in 1856 he succeeded Lord Hardinga aa Commander-in-C'hief. The Cabinet, said Lord Palmerston, in announcing the appointment, had come to tho conclusion that Her Majesty's choice "could nob fall upon any general officer better suited to that importanb position than hie Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge." The appointment met with both official and public approbation; and, despite the attacks which have of late years been made upon the Duke, it is nob boo much to say that his tenure of the post —a tenure of nearly forty years' durationhas been remarkable for the thoroughness with which he has worked und the loyalty with which ha has administerod oven reforms with which he was at first out of pyinpathy.' Purchase hae" been abolished, the short service system introduced, successive changes of arms made, und the sfcaudard of comfort of the private soldier materially advanced during tho regime of tho Duke. He has been essentially a private soldier's commander.'