The Press. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1899. THE BATTLE OF GLENCOE.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10484, 24 October 1899, Page 4

Thc Press. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1899. THE BATTLE OF GLENCOE.

No more cheering news could have come as j a send-off to our departing Contingent than the account, though then incomplete, of the ' Eeroic battle •of Glencoe. Under the cover of the Artillery the gallant British band climbed seemingly inaccessible heights in the face of superior numbers, dislodged the chmy, ami put them thoroughly to rout, with great slaughter. In the battle of Spicheren in the fYan©O : German war, to which the Glencoe victory is compared, considerably larger numbers of troops were, of course, involved, bought on the same day as Worth (August 6th, 1870}, as students of the war' will remember, this battle resulted in the rout of 32,000 French troops oy 67,000 Germans. The French had the benefit of the position, being well posted on the Spicheren heights. "In the early part of the day," we are told, "the Prussia-ns made ( repeated attacks on the steep sides of the Spicheren; but notwithstanding the heroic courage they exhibited in hurling their masses against this formidable position, they were constantly driven back: until, by a skilful flank move* ment towards Forbach, they were enabled to carry the Spicheren, and to turn the French left, simultaneously with a vigorous assault on vue right." The chief difference between this and the victory of Glencoe, besides that of scale, seems to bft the, faqt that while the Germans had considerable superiority of numbers, the Englisß, so far as present accounts enable us to tell, were numerically inferior to their antagonists. •■ The'battle of Majuba Hill, to which ifc has also been compared, is more recent in our memories. We all know how on the 27th February, 1881, *Sir George Colley and his six hundred British troops were driven from their position on the-hMi, which they had oc-, cupied the night before, by an army of Boers several times , their number. "The men," to quote the account in our issue of March 29th of that year, "wavered and were rallied, wavered again, and xaa>'-mia general 'sauve gui peut. . It was uselese to contend against the terrific hail' of lead." This time the "terrific hail of lead" was on our.side, and it was the Boers that "wavered and ran." The stain of that defeat, which has long rankled in English minds, has been at last more than wiped out. • The victory is a most creditable one, and most fortunate in every respect. The only thing to be regretted is that the. gallant officer, to whose indomitable pluck the triumph was chiefly due, was seriously, later accounts say mortally, wounded during the fight. It must have been an impressive moment, when, a few minutes before the dawn of the anniversary of, the battle in wiucii Nelson was struck down, Mr Balfour read to the reverently uncovered House, the news of the vector's hopeless wound. ; We may, perhaps, compare the fate of the victor of the siege of Quebec. He also scaled seemingly inaccessible, heights j he also was struck down in the hour of victory. But a gratification that Wolfe could-, not know vtrs vouchsafed to Symons. He has at least lived to have his victory flashed across the wires to rejoicing England, and to receive praise and honour at the hands of his Queen. M&jor-General Symons and his gallant victory of Glencoe will be long remembered by the British in every land. The victory is not only a splendid achievement, but a most useful one, worth ten times as great a victory a few weeks hence. It will serve to encourage waverers in Natal and in Cape Colony, and to add immeasurably to British prestige. We have ventured to suggest a parallel to Wolfe's victory at Quebec. May we not add, in conclusion, the expression of a hope that just as the fruits of that victory have been the friendly co-existence of French and English, side by side in their adopted land, so the battle of Glencoe may prove one in a series of victories which niay lead to relations of lasting peace between the English and the Dutch throughout the whole of South Africa?