TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10273, 16 February 1899, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The unpleasant question of the After the treatment of the wounded derBattle. vishes after the battle of

Omdurman is once more brought before public notice by an article in the "Contemporary Review." The writer, Mr Ernest E. Bennett, does not scruple to again give currency to the assertion that Lord Kitchener was responsible for the putting to death in cold blood of scores of the wounded enemy, notwithstanding that the Sirdar has absolutely denied that he gave any orders which could even be twisted into bearing such a construction. While fully accepting this statement, it is evident that, unless Mr Bennett, who presents the unusual combination of Oxford Don and war correspondent, is gifted with a painfully active imagination, something very like murder was done by British and Egyptian troops. One can hardly conceive, for instance, of a man describing the following scene unless he had actually witnessed it. An old Arab was lying on the ground near his young son. "Neither tbe father nor son had any weapons at all, yet a Highlander stepped out of the ranks and drove his bayonet through the old man's chest. The victim of this needless brutality begged in vain for mercy, and clutched, the soldier's bayonet, reddening his hands with his own blood in a futile attempt to prevent a second thrust. No effort was made by any comrade or officer to prevent tliis gratuitous bit of butchery, nor, of course, could any officer have interfered very well if —as was said to be the case—the soldier was only acting in accordance with the wishes of the general in command.'' We may dismiss the reference to Lord Kitchener as being, in the face of the latter's assertion, quite contrary to fact. But this only makes the action of the soldier still more atrocious.

Here is another quotation from Murder Mr Bennett: —"A little group of

and two women and a man were Loot. standing on the bank. 'Let's

separate the man from the women,' said a gunner. 'Ta-ta-ta' went the Maxim, and all three figures fell prostrate. Two women were beading sorrowfully over the dead body of a dervish when a non-com-missioned officer went up and deliberately shot one of the women with a revolver." As a reviewer points out, Mr Bennett ia distinctly unfair when he blames the British officers for firing shell among non-comba-tants fleeing from Omdurman, for the fugitives included a great many of the Khalifa's army, and our men could not be expected to sort out those, who had not been fighting against "us from among those who had. This unfairness throws some suspicion upon the correctness of his other statements, or at least warrants the supposition that hia stories are too highly coloured. He lays special stress upon the fact that many of the men who, while lying wounded on the field, were put to death by our troops, were helpless and unarmed, but he admits that he saw one dervish, who was "shamming dead," stab seven Egyptian soldiers as they passed h__ri, and acts of this sort were calculated to lead to swift reprisals upon innocent individuals. Looting and murder of wounded dervishes by our camp followers are also stated to have taken place on a large scale, and Mr Bennett also declares that for two days nothing was done to alleviate the sufferings of thousands of the enemy's wounded. This dees not quite agree with the Sirdar's statement, that when he left Omdurman thousands of wounded dervishes were being treated in the military hospitals. Mr Bennett's charges and stories are sensational indeed, but is he the only war correspondent who witnessed the atrocities which he describes? One would like to hear from some of the others.

Wben, in July last, in the Zola opinion of M. Zola's friends, it

in became advisable for him to Hiding, leave France to avoid notice

being served on ]jim that he had been sentenced to a year's imprisonment and a heavy fine, it was with great difficulty that they induced him to fly. When, however, Madame Zola joined her entreaties with those of the others, Zola yielded. Having quietly left the Court with a few of his friends, the novelist drove by a roundabout way to their house, while his wife went home to pack up some clothes for him. The poor lady was, however, so perturbed by the incidents and the result of tbe trial, that in her agitation she returned with nothing but a night shirt. This scanty equipment for a journey was supplemented by a few other articles, and all present contributed all the money they had upon them, so that M. Zola need not advertise his departure by going to the bank., Bank notes were sewn" up in bis clothes, his pockets were well lined with gold, and quietly and secretly, as ijight came en, he drove to the station, a friend having already purchased a ticket for him. As M. Zola did not know a word of English, the same friend had written out for him the name of Charing Cross station, and that of the station where he was to ,take a train for a village on the Birmingham line. He arrived safely in London On the following day, about tbe time when Paris was being told on all aides that ha had fled to Switaerlaad.

He experienced much kindness at the hand* of the London policemen, and though armed, with little better knowledge than that with which legend credits the Saracen maid who followed Gilbert a' Becket from the East to ' -* London, he reached the village and the hotel /' indicated by his friend. The landlord call«d \ his twelve-year-old daughter, as she had a smattering of French, but that young lady, says a writer in "Th. Times," "having seen the traveller's portrait in an illustrated paper, went next day in a' fright to her father, sayiug. 'Do you know '-- who our visitor is? It is M. Zola.' fh» landlord, who had also recognised M. Zola, replied, 'You must be mistaken, Kate; but anyhow, as he lias not given his name, you ought not to appear to know it.' So the girl held her tongue till M. Zola left for a place in Middlesex, for *ie has stayed at five different places in England. Next day, however, the clergyman of the parish called on the visitor, -without referring to him by name, invited him to his house, and helped liim to do some necessary shopping, acting throughout with a discretion and kindnea. which M. Zola much appreciated. Every- * body in the village soon knew who the Frenchman was, yet nobody talked about it. This was the case wherever M. Zola went with the result that "he now speaks witadmiration of this fidelity in preserving his secret, which he had not even requested, anfl of the delicate attentions everywhere' paid him." By his exile in England he haa gained a good knowledge of the language, lie has studied English laws and customs, ; - ; and it is said he keenly appreciates EnsjlisK ? liberty and toleration. His next book may therefore, not improbably show the Englishman in a better light than that in which a great many of M. Zola's countrymen havo - lately regarded him.