OBITUARY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 21, 4 June 1908, Page 6

OBITUARY.

—O—, GENERAL SIR REDVERS BULLER BY TEI.ECiUPn— I'RI'.SS ASSOCIATION— COPYRlalil London, June 2. Tho death is announced of Sir Redvci Culler. BOER LEADERS' TRIBUTES. MR. SMUTS REPLIES TO CRITICS.' (Rsc. June 3j 11.2G p.m.) Pretoria, June S. General Botha, Premier of tho Transvaal, and formerly Commander-in-Chief of the Boer forccs, has conveyed his condolenco to tho family of the late Sir Retlvers Bullcr. -vlr. J. C. Smuts, Colonial Secretary of tho Transvaal, who vras also a Boer lc.idpr in tho war, stated in an interview that ho regarded General Bulier as one of thu hardest lighters. The criticisms of his campaigns against tho Boers wero not justified. A BRAVE SOLDIER. KIS LATTER CAREER CLOUDED. Sir Redvors Henry Builor, son" of Mr. J. W. ■ ifok Croditon, Dovonshirc, was born in 1839, and was educated at Harrow. He entered the urmy in 1858, and served with hia regiment, the €otli Rifles, in the China Cam-' paign, of 1860. In 1870 be bccamo captain, and went on the Red River expedition, where ho was first associated with Lord (then Sir Garnet) w olsoley, and in 1873-4 he accompanied r ti • on . l 0 Asbanteo Campaign as head of iiie Intelligence Department, being' slightly wounded at the Battle of Ordabai. He was mentioned in dispatches and' made a C.8., be sides being raised to tho rank* of major. In thi War of 1873-79 and the Zulu War oi : 18<9, he was conspicuous as an'intrepid and popular leader of cavalry, and built, up a repu« tation. for courage and dogged determination. In particular, his conduct of the retreat at Inhlobama (March 28, 1897) drew attention to those qualities, and he earned tho V.C. for hia assistance in rescuing Captain D'Arcy and Lieu* |® na nt Everitt on that occasion; he was given the C.M.G., and made lieuteiiant-colonel arid A.D.C. to the Queen. In tho Boor War of Isßl # ha was Sir Evelyn Wood's chief of the staff, thus adding to Ins experience of South African conditions of warfare. In 18S2 lie was head of . 0 Intelligence Department in'tbe Egyp- ' Campaign, being present at Kassassin and. Pel-el-Kebir, and was knighted for his services/ Two years later he commanded an 1 infantry brigade in tho Sudan,- under Sir Gerald Gra-r ham, and was at the Battles of El Teh. and Tamai, being promoted major-general for distinguished service on the field. In. the Sudan Campaign of 1884-85, ho was Lord Wolseley's chief of the staff, and .was. given command of the desert column when Sir Herbert Stewart was wounded. He otoce more distinguished himself on this occasion by his conduct of retreat from Gubat to Galidtil, and by his, victory at Abu Idea wells (February 16 and!'l7), and he was created K.C.B. l -' K v^. AT THE WAR OFJFICE. ' r

In 1887 ho was made quartermaster-general at the War Office, and in the same, year was Un-der-Secretary for Ireland-for a sliort period. Prom IS9O to 1897 lie held the'office of adjutantgoneral, attaining the rank of lieutefiant-gon-eral in 1691. At the AVar Office, his.po.wer,of' work, his quick maßtery of detail, and'trenchant criticism inspired those that, cart}e T in contact with him with the belief that he' 1 vas fitted for the highest command, and in,> 1895, when the Duke of Cambridge Was about\t<> retire from the post of Commander-in-Chief, -it, was an open secret that the, Rosebery Cabinet,'* intended Sir Redvers Buller to bo his successor, though it was reported that the conditions of the position were, to be modified, and the title changed to that of Chief of the Staff, as recommended by. the Hartington Commission. On the ovo', however, of, this change being effected, the Government was,defeated on Mr. Brodrick's motion, with reference to the alleged shortage of small arm ammunition, and Lord Salisbury's Cabinet, on reconsidering the question of War Office reform as left to them by their predecessors, selected Lord Wolseley as the .now Commander-in-Chief for a period of five years, Sir Redvers Buller remaining adju-tant-general; ' ' ~ . HIS FiILURES, IN, NATAL. ', ~

. In .IS9B. jie. took..command,.,of..the,-troops; at, Aldershot, a five years' appointment, and When' the Boor War broke out in 1599 he was selected with universal approval to take command of' the South African Field Force (see Transvaal War), and landed at Capetown on October 81. Owing to the Boer' investment of Ladysinith and the apparent helplessness of the generals sent to relievo the situation ill .'Natal, he unexpectedly hurried off to Natal in order to supervise personally the rescue of Sir George White, but on December 15 his attempt .to OTOStf the Tugela'at Colenso was repulsed with 1104 casualties and the loss of ten guns. The Government, alarmed at the situation and the tone of Sir Redvers Buller's messages, sent out Lord R-obert's to supersede him in the chief command, Sir Redvers being left in subordinate command of tho Natal Force only. His second attempt to relieve Ladysinith (January 10 to 27) proved another failure, the result of the, operations at Spion Kop (January. 24) causing consternation in England. A third attempt (February 5 to 7) was again- unsuccessful, and it was not till February 28 that the important position of Hlangivane Hill having been occupied on February 19, and Pieter's Hill having been carried by General Hildyard on February; 27, the rplief of Ladysmith was. accomplished. HIS TACTICS CRITICISED—THE HELIO- , . . GRAM. :

Sir Redvers Bullor Remained in command of the Natal' Army till October 24, 1900, when ho returned to England, having in tho nieanwhilo slowlv done a great deal of hard work in driving the Boers from the Biggavsberg (May IS), forcing, Lang's Nek (Jnne 12), and occupying (September 6); but; thoueh he still rotainod his reputation for (logged determination, and was devotedly followed by his own rank and file, the verdict of military critics on his capacity for an important command in delicato and difficult operations had now become decidedly adverse. The continuance in 1301 of his appointment to the Aldershot command,, which was the most important iii. tho new army schemb, met with a storm of public criticism, in which the detailod objections taken to his oonduct of the operations before Ladysmith (and particularly, his hcliogram hinting at tho contingency of' surrender) wore given now prominence. On October 10, 1901, .at a luncheon in London, Sir Hedvers, Bullpr made a speech in answer to theso criticisms in terius which \*re held to be a breach of disciplino and contrary to the King's regulations, and on October 23 it-was announced by the War Ol&co that he had been relieved of his comm*<wl and retired on half-pay. i . '