ECHOES OF THE WAR.
[From Our Si'koiar Cohresuoxdkxt.]
LONDON, December 22. "WHEN TRUMPET SOUNDS."
Ihe splendid response of militia, volunteers, and full-Hedged civilians of ;ill classes 111 England to tho last-"call to arms," and the equally splendid answer made to its echo in the far corners of tho Empire is the theme of the week—the cause of rejoicing to young and old. It has completely swept away all feelings of depression, and has made' our Army part and parcel of our national life. A month ago wo were civilians, sailors, and soldiers; to-day wo are soldiers all. The people of UlO British Isles arc at leivth truly up in arms, and, if the cables speak rightly, so is the British Empire. The fighting spirit has been roused in all classes and all ages, and if the means of organisation were at hand, an entirely new" home defence force of at least.half a million could be raised in a few short weeks, outside of nil existing volunteers and militia. But the means for calling such a valuable reserve into being do not exist, and it is much to be feared that until further reverses have been suffered no serious attempt will be made to organise the material at hand. [Further reverses have led to a call for more men.—Ed. E.S.J Yet the day is mostfavorable for the initiation of a scheme which will prevent the necessity arising for that conscription without which foreign critics say the British Empire cannot continue to exist. Every man of sense iu England has seen the necessity for making our scheme of home defence a thing apart, yet part and parcel of our military organisation. Lest my meaning should be obscure, let me explain. Our regulars should always be our first lino of offence and defence". Behind them .should be the reserves and militia, who should all be liable for foreign service if necessary. At their back should be the Bist line of volunteers, Wniilo also for foreign service in event .of war with a European Power; and lastly, the home defence volunteers, only liable for service within the British Isles. If this latter force were organised on proper lines we could safely spare every man of the preceding forces for foreign service without jeopardising the safety of the Motherland. It need not be composed of the llower of our young manhood, for, as the Boers have shown us, a man of afty or over, if in a moderate state of preservation, can be quickly turned into an effective-de-fensive unit. The nucleus of this home defence force, and a good nucleus, "i.s to hand in the thousands of soldiers who have finished their term in the reserve, and iu volunteers still in the prime of life, who have for various reasons (including in many cases disgust at the treatment accorded to their corps by the authorities) given up amateur soldiering. A goodly proportion of these cxprofcssionals and amateurs would join the new force if they saw that it was to lie taken seriously by the authorities, and with their aid the raw recruits could very quickly be knocked into sha.pe without undue interference with the routine of business life. A necessary corollary to the existence of such a force would bo the establishment of rifle ranges. Up to the present the consideration of private interests 'has been allowed to interfere 100 much with the provision of ranges for our citizen soldiers, and the men of many corps have to travel many miles at considerable expense to their shooting grounds. The metropolitan corps must necessarily, always suffer from this disadvantage, but their travel aud expenses might be minimised by reopening tho JVimbledon ranges, and by compelling rail way companies to carry volunteers to their shooting grounds at workmen's fares. The artillery branch of the home defence fores would have to be organised, I am
afraid, on a partial payment basis, and its members.would of necessity have to be men living within easy reach of the seashore or of places where the necessarily extended ranges coukl be found. The effective handling of bit; ordnance requires a far greatei amount of training than the average citizen could afford to put in free, gratis,.and fot nothing, and consequently, to render thi> branch of the force really reliable, it would probably be necessary to set apart a considerable sum of money per annum to make up for lost wages. At the present time the couutrv would accept the addition of such a. burden gladly, but when peace- comes ngain the. organisation ot a self-contained and effective homo defence force will be much more difficult. The best opportunity is that now presented, when everybody is thinking o' war and its possible consequences.
"BULLER SUPERSEDED." %$
The announcement of Lord Roberts's appointment to the command of the forces in South Africa—a decision which met with the infinite approval of the nation, whose faith in '"Bobs" is really sublime—was by many interpreted as the outcome o; Buller's reverse at the Tugela. In n sense it was, for that check showed mon clearly than ever that the forces already in South Africa were quite inadequate to the needs of the situation, and that to make a clean sweep of the opposition it would be necessary to supply wholesale reinforcements. The appointment of " Bobs," however, must not be taken as a reflection on Sir Redvers Buffer's conduct of the campaign, and the notion that he has htt-.n superseded because of his reverse is entirely erroneous. Tho official statement that General Holler's sole attention is required in Natal, and that the necessity has arisen for appointing a commander-in-chief of the whole, forces in South Africa, is a perfectly frank and full one. Sir Redvers Buffer is in no way superseded in his command. Exactly the same considerations apply in this instance as havo operated in former stages. While the force in Natal was small a majorgeneral held command (General Symons), but as soon a-s the number of troops exceeded that with which a major-general is usually entrusted a lieutenant-general (Sir George White) took supremo command. Then came a further increase of numbers, and a full general (Sir Redvers Bullcr) was sent out. Neither of these appointments was in any sense a censure on the previous chief. Had General Buffer now been superseded by an officer of his own rank censure might reasonably have been understood, but the plain fact is that the decision to send out more men has raised the force to a strength at. which it is desirable' to place a higher officer in command, hence tho selection of FieldMarshal Lord Roberts. If General Buffer, Lord Methuen, and other general officers have their hands full locally, and it seems that thev have, it is obviously desirable to have somebody dieting as a central authority, with charge of the entire campaign. * GENERALS FOR THE FRONT. "Fighting Mac." as Brigadier-general Hector Macdonald is familiarly termed, who has-been appointed to the command of the Highland Brigade, under Lord Methuen, in place of poor Gen oral Wane-hope, has a marvellous record of bravery and ability. Joining the ranks in 1830, lie was soon engaged in the Afghan War, and acted as second lieutenant at the battle of Candahar. In the Boer War of 1881, the Nile Exncdition of 1885. Suakin in 1888, at Tokar in 1891, the Soudan Campaign of 1896. and finally in the decisive operations before Omdurman last year, this gallant soldier has throughout been conspicuous for pluck and discretion. There is not a single engagement in which he has been concerned which has not resulted in his name being mentioned in despatches.
Those -who know the incidents of tho gallant {Highlander's militarv c;ircer will call to mind a romantic episode associated with tho Boer War. Sergeant Macdonald was one of the non-commissioned officers in charge of the detachment which fought at Majubii Hill. Ho was taken prisoner, but so struck were the Boers with the fighting qualities of the Highlander that General Joubert decided to return "Mac's" sword. Foi some time tho weapon, which had been given up at the time of the defeat, could not be found, but the Boer general himself offered a reward for its recovery, and the sword was found. Macdonald "received it back at the hands of tho enemv.
Major-general C. Tucker, who has also bctri ordered from" India to take {in ;>, command in South Africa, has considerable exlienence of the eountrv. He was in com niiiiui m Natal from 1893 to 1895, but five years previously he look Dart in the operations against Sekukuni, and went through the subsequent Zulu campaign, being present at the battle of Ulundi.
Major-general Sir Herbert Charles Cherm side, who has been appointed to command the 14th Brigade in the Seventh Division, about to be formed, will be best remembered foi his splendid services as commander of British troops in Crete. He saw considerable service in the Soudan expeditions of IRB2 and 1885. A BRAVE PATROL. A correspondent of the ' Daily Telegraph' at Arundel sends an account of .si?lendid heroism, shown during the course of General French's operations in that locality. Lieutenant Collis, of the Carabineers', was in command of a patrol of six men, and proceeded to reconnoitre a farm, from which a line of kopjes ran up to the enemy's position. They had got within 800 yards of the latter when Boers on horseback were observed coming down. As the patrol moved away Private Ross's horse fell. Though the Boers were now within 300 yards. Lieutenant Collis and Sergeant Freemiwi galloped back to give him assistance. No sooner had Ross remounted than his horse was shot. Lieutenant Collis again went (back, and got him to mount behind his own horse. The couple had ridden some 50 yards when the lieutenant's horse was dropped by a bullet. Both then took to their heels. Private Dodson came back and insisted on Lieutenant Collis getting up behind him. This he did, but finding, when they had gone a short distance, that the horse was unable to carry both, he again dismounted. Private Dunn returned, and Lieutenant Collis'mounted behind him. As, however, the Boers rapidly gained on them, he dropped off and ordered Dunn to save himself. Sergeant Freeman, although by this time wounded, galloped back to save his officer. Lieutenant Collis refused assistance, and directed the sergeant to make good his escape. Hardly had he turned away when rider and horse were shot. Finding that Sergeant Freeman was mortallv wounded, Lieutenant Collis ran some 150 yards, and then concealed himself in the scrub. The Boers came up and examined Sergeant Freeman u.s he lay on the ground. They fired several shots in the direction of Lieutenant Collis, and then retreated. After walking four miles, Lieutenant Collis came upon a patrol of the Inniskillings, and safely reached camp. . Private Ross is missing. THE GREY OLD NORTHERN MOTHER. The following are the closing lines of Mr L. M'Lean Watt's poem with the above title in the current' Spectator': Yet my soul is veiled in sadness, For I see them fall and perish. Strewing 'the hills for me, Claiming the world in dying. Bought with their blood for me. Hoar the grey, old Northern Mother Blessing now her dying children. God keep ye safe for me, Christ watch ye in your sleeping, Where ye have died for me. And when God's own slogan soundeth, All the dead world's dust awaking, Ah, will ye look for mo? Bravely we'll stand together I and my sons with me. This is even better : THE VOLUNTEER. He leapt to arms unbidden, Unneeded, over-bold; His face by earth is hidden, Hi 3 heart in earth is cold. "Curse on the reckless daring That could not wait the call, Tho proud fantastic bearing That would be first to fall!" Oh tears of human passion, Blur not the image true; This was not folly's fashion. This was tho man we knew. Henet Newbolt.
“THK BEGINNING OF THE END.” If we are to believe the Continental Press —it may comfort some people to know that the C.P. occasionally makes blunders just like our own—Great Britain is on her lust legs. According to German newspapers England has forfeited her military prestige throughout the whole world, and is now confronted with the beginning of the end. Which' end of what is not stated, but the fall of Ladysmith is to be our Christmas present, and the loss of Cape Colony is to follow, presumably us a New Year’s gift. Therefore England's decadence is now manifest to the whole world. German opinion is endorsed by French opinion as mirrored by such journals as the Paris ‘ Eclair,’ but strange to say, we, the people most concerned, appear to be quite oblivious of the fact that our Empire is on the verge of falling to pieces, and the end we are looking forward to is certainly not that for which our neighbors are hopefully waiting, the very disasters which have conjurwl upi visions of popular panic in England lor our Gallic and Teutonic friends have here aroused only feelings of anger, sorrow, and determination—anger at our generals for, apparently, walking blindfold into Boer traps, sorrow for the brave men whose lives seem to have been thrown away through the incompetence of those in command, and determination to, in the words of Lord Rosebery, “see this thing through,” no matter the cost. Try the people’s pulse. From duke to dustman it beats steady and true. There is no fear of the issue, no depression save that inseparable from a study of the ghastly bulletins from the field of battle, and everywhere the same quiet confidence in the Empire’s power. I say Empire advisedly, because to-day the man in. the street recognises that Britain’s fighting power does not consist of “ absent-minded beggars ” and “ handy men ” alone. He recognises, gratefully and gleefully, that outside the army and navy, the militia and volunteers of the Old Country, there is within the Empire a mass of fighting material of the finest quality ready for use whenever Mother calls. And he has a great faith in the volunteers of Australasia and Canada. You can hardly mention South Africa to him but he at once wants to know why the dickens the authorities at Home didn’t call for mounted men from Australia in the first place. He has a sublime faith in your men and horses ; in the courage and artfulness of the former, and the cleverness and hardihood of the latter, and really, believes that if Chamberlain said the word ten thousand mounted Australasians would he on the job inside half a dozen weeks. Had the man in the street the ordering of the campaign such a body of volunteers would not be tied to any regular force. They would he used as a guerrilla force, and be given instructions to do their utmost to destroy the mobility of the Boers, so as to allow Tommy Atkins a chance of really pinning the enemy in a corner—A thing much to he desired. Up to the present our successes have been much less valuable than they should have been, owing to the fact that the moment our gallant soldiers really got to close quarters the Boers have mounted their ponies and galloped out of danger. The man in the street wants to see that sort of thing rendered impossible, and he believes that the mounted volunteers of Australia and New Zealand would not only achieve the tusk, hut would play the Boer ambush game against the enemy with good effect. The notions of the man in the street regarding colonial mounted infantry were not shared by the Home authorities, but that the good people of the War Office have come round to his 'view as to their utility may be gathered from certain communications which have passed during the past week between the Colonial Office and the colonial Governors. It is not the first time that the popular view has been found worth consideration by the War Office, and it will nob he the last. The latest phase of the Transvaal campaign, as seen by us in the further militia, mobilisation and the calling out of the volunteers, will force upon the War Office another popular view—-namely, that the volunteer forces of the United Kingdom should not be regarded as national playthings, but a serious factor in national defence, and be treated as such. In the matter of arms, and especially in the matter of artillery and quick-firing guns of the latest, type, our volunteers have been starved. I question, myself, whether one corps in a dozen possess even a Maxim, and few of onr volunteer artillerymen have a practical knowledge of the use of up-to-date field guns, or guns of position. The popular view for years past has been that onr volunteers should he armed in every wav like the regulars, so that, should ever England he invaded or her necessities abroad demand that her fighting line should he strengthened by citizen soldiers, our volunteers may bo ready at once to join the regulars in the field. Today not one-half of our volunteers are in possession of those arms which are imperatively necessary to them should England be invaded by the trained troops of France nr other Continental Power, and there is a belief in some quarters that the store of Lee-Metford rifles on hand is not sufficient to arm all the reservists and militia now being called up, and that certain volunteer battalions will he called upon to surrender their weapons to the regulars ordered abroad. There is, of course, no ground whatever for suspecting the existence of a shortage in rifles or ammunition, hut that such a rumor has been circulated shows how little faith is placed in the War Office. THE TUGELA DISASTER, To revert to the campaign. So far we have had “too much of a good thing” in the wav of reverses and checks, and tile bad Buffer business at. the. Tugcla, coming on top of Gatacre’s blunder and Methuen’s Magersfontein affair, made us very sore and very angry. It was undoubtedly the worst blow we have yet felt, for upon Buffer we hud placed great reliance. He, at any rate, we said, would not he found assailing “ impregnable positions” by direct frontal attack, nor walking into Boer traps. Wo do not know yet sufficient of the details of the Tngela battle to criticise General Buffer’s plan of attack. It seems, however, to have been a tentative, undecisive, see-saw affair. Anyhow, it was a, failure, and a most costly one. The loss of the guns is inexplicable, unless one accepts the theory that Colonel Long went mad in the excitement of battle. The two drifts appear to be close to Colenso, one on each side of the road bridge. The left drift crosses the stream nearly at the middle of a bend, of which the convex side is to the south. The right ford is at the point of a salient bend, where the enemy bad the advantage of a concentric fire, obtained by lining his own bank. The guns were taken within comparatively close range of the river, a movement due, no doubt, to the site of the ford at the far end of the salient bend, for. except in the triangular space formed by this salient, the guns would have been at least a. mile from the ford, and within the salient, in proportion as they aproached the ford, they would he exposed to rifle five from the river banks. The calamity to the guns is the more inexplicable because all these conditions must have been apparent to General Buffer, and the question of an artillery position must have been studied on the hypothesis that the enemy’s riflemen would he lining the-farther bank of the river.
WHO'S TO BE KTCKED FOR THESE THINGS?
When tho war is over, and the theatre of war tidied up a. bit, some peoplo who have been drawing fat salaries at the War Office and elsewhere on the supposition that they were doing the nation's work as tho nation's work should be done will have a very bad time of it. Not to mince matters, there ought to be a few public executions of men who have been guilty of nothing less than criminal neglect of duties the proper carrying out of which would have saved the British taxpayer's pocket, tho British soldier much unnecessary discomfort, and probably would have considerably reduced the death toll of the war. The toll taken by Boer bullets has been heavy enough, in all conscience, but it has been greatly increased by deaths through sickness, and the reason for so much sickness among the troops freshly landed in Africa is not far to seek. I will not join in the loud growl about slow transports. Doubtless better arrangements for the conveyance of our troops could have been made than were made in tie beginning, but allowances must be made fo* those in authority who chartered the so-called " old tubs," for the need of haste was apparent, and they had not then the pick of ocean-going liners to choose from. But no excuses can be found for the men who were responsible for victualling the vessels selected, and upon them the wrath of fka nation, should, be visited, in a maimer
that will live in the minds of their successors and their successors unto the third and -fourth generations. In these days bullied beef and similar articles of diet familiar to navigators of the fifties should certainly not form the backbone of soldiers' "grub" on a voyage to South Africa; but if the glorified clerks whose duty it is to look into the commissariat of our troops at sea must keep up the traditions of the army in such matters they ought, at any rate, to make sure that the salt junk, bullied beef, and the tinned meats put on board are plentiful in suonly and unexceptional in quality. That they were neither plentiful nor good (or even decent) we have now abundant evidence to prove; and as for bread—well, anparentlv the soldiers only tasted that luxury when they paid for it out of their own pockets. The net result of the criminal neglect of the gentry who are highly paid to see that Tommy Atkins is properly fed when on the high seas is that men have been landed as the Cape and elsewhere utterly unfit to proceed to tho front at once, .as "they wero required to do, and hundreds of gallant soldiers who left England fit and well found themselves on arrival at the Cape weak as rats and victims to dysentery and other ailments, traceable to the want of proner food during the voyage. Here are a few extracts from soldiers' letters just to hand :—" Monday is the only 1 day you can eat anything, and then it is not up to much. There is salt beef we cannot eat; it is almost rotten. ... If it was not for the steward and the crew we should but what wo do get off them we have to pay dearly for. Threepence for a bit of bread and 'meat that you would be ashamed to give a beggar, and twopence for a cup of lemonade or coffee." "" Wo did not live very grand on board. We had bullied meat 'and biscuits three times a week, and four days before we got there it was all tinned meat and biscuits." And here is the finale of a missive received by a friend of mine whose son is now at the. front. The young fellow says: " The 'grub' arc getting is very rough indeed. I don't want to growl, and you know well enough that my appetite stands in no need of coaxing. The mater used to say I could polish off the sunny side of a donkey. Well, I think the shady side of a ten-year-old hard-worked moke would be equal to some ot the stuff served out to us as beef. I question whether poor old Keener would' leave his Spratts for the stuff. *His teeth would certainly find no respite, tackling the chunk I've been wrestling with to-day (the sharks got tho liest part of it), and as for flavor—well, the less said about that the better. But 1 won't catalogue the faults of the food; they're as numerous, and far more seriously irritating, than the fleas wc found at those. Ramsgate lodgings. The worst of it is that we are all beginning (o feel the effects of bad food. I'm not half so well as when I left you, and some of tbc chaps aro in a chronic state of collywobbles. 'Happily, we shall bo ashore soon, and then I hope to find the promised remittance and a good square meal. The notion of a good steak well grilled, and a bottle of Bass '(a big 'un), has filled my mouth with water. When I get.Homo again I mean to maUe as big a row about the way we've been fed on board a.s it is possible for a mere private to create. Some of our fellows aro writing t.) the papers about it, and I hone the journalistic Johnnies will lay into those resnonsiblc without mercy. If they can be brought to book I should suggest that as a punishment they should bo sent for a month's cruise with tho remainder of our stack of grub to feed on. It isn't much, but it would keep a dozen going on our rations for the time of their voyage. They'd remember the trip!"
The punishment suggested is far too mild for the men responsible. They deserve hanging, and so do the callous creatures who are supposed to look after tho soldiers invalided home. . Fancy men racked with rheumatism and ague, torn with dysentery and consumptive coughs, being landed at the docks and left there without proper shelter for a couple of hours or more in such weather as wc have been experiencing lately. These things have happened, the Press has shrieked indignantly, but we have heard of no one being punished. Yet some jack-in-offico must be responsible, and surely no excus/> can be found for neglect of this kind, to read of which fills one with an insane desire to pay a personal visit to the W.O. and kick everybody in it.
According to "a correspondent of the 'Daily News,' one of the" soldiers'leaving London for the front must have suffered rather a shock on his wife's appearance to bid him farewell. She appeared" at Waterloo, sobbing and gowned in widow's weeds, which sho had purchased specially for the occasion. The soldier's remarks at'his wife's "intelligent anticipation of events before they occurred" were, it is said, somewhat lurid.
Mr J. R, Ashton, an Australian, writine to the 'Daily. Mail' on the war, says that blasting gelatine is an altogether superior explosive to lyddite, and that he can demonstrate it can bo fired through an ordinarygun with perfect safety.
Hie Durban and Capo Town papers arc taking up. the attitude which their Australian cousins would expect. The writers in those journals are unanimous in agreeing that the war should bo a mounted infantry one, and hr their amazement at the folly of the War Office in sending out regiment after regiment of infantry to destruction. SUNDAY IN MATURING. Here is an amusing account of how Sabbath is spent there“ There is but little question that this day off (Sunday) is a remarkable boon to the inhabitants of our outposts, who converse in curious but friendly manner with those of the enemy.’ We ourselves indulge in baths, slraves, clean shirts, polished boots, and other luxuries unknown during the week days'. One is able to go to church if he is among the faithful, for the celebration is regularly said each Sunday by the rector and the Roman Catholic priest. You may eat breakfast in comfort, and during the morning wander round snapshotting, hapnv in the knowledge that shells or Mauser bullets will not interfere untimely with your comforts. Your lunch need not be gulped down in fear of a 100-poundcr bursting through the dining room window, and in the afternoon we play cricket matches, and the volunteer band discourses music in Market square. Let no one imagine that because we have those interests of comfort the siege of Matching is a picnic. So far wo have not been hurt seriously, because we have had the advantage of a man of great knowledge to command us ; but as the days wear on and the enemy more closely invests us, wo begin to wonder whether'the end’ may not be really serious.” THE TRANSVAAL WAR EXPENDITURE. Mr Alfred Marks, writing from the National Liberal Glob, calls attention to the war expenditure of the Transvaal Government. “I have,” he says, “compiled the subjoined table from two sources the ‘ Argus Annual and South African Directory ’ and the official ‘ Staats Almanak der Zuid Afrikaansohe Republick.’ It is necessary to avail oneself of both, because the •Argus’ was discontinued after 1897, the last number giving the figures for 1895. On the other hand, the ‘ Staats Almanak ’ gives in its earlier numbers tatals only. The whole of the figures I give may be found in the ‘ Annual’ for 1897 and the ‘Almanak’ for 1899. Both works are in the library of the B itish Museum. I give all the items in which it has been suggested that war expenditure may be included :
nine months.) 1894- of Lord Loch’s visit (in June) to Pretoria. 1895 Conspiracy, culminating in the Raid. These figures for a sweetly domestic and pastoral republic of 20,000 families are fairly extravagant. CONTINENTAL OPINION. The following Press opinions will raise a smile at the expense of our dear neighbors. They are apropos of General Gatacre’s muddle, .and came from Austria
The 'Tagblatt' writes:—"We are glad to be able to announce another complete defeat of the British." (Where were the others?) The 'Volksblatt' considers that British rule is now over in South Africa, and that the Dutch Avill goon relieve themselves from the tyranny of the English by driving them into the sea. (Much' too premature.) " The British lose no less than one-sixth of their entire force," says the 'Deutsche Zeitung.' "This proportion renders the defeat a veritable catastrophe. The rebellion of the Cape Dutch will now assume dimensions surprising to the British public at home. England's prospects are hopeless." (Alas! that theso things are so.) The present reverse (says the Vienna correspondent of the ' Standard : ), coupled with that on Nicholson's Nek, both attributable to the general in command being outwitted in an almost ridiculous fashion, has further consequences than those mentioned by the newspapers. It will shake the confidence felt here in the ability of the English to win in the end, and to successfully finish the war. From this doubt the distance is not great to renewed attempts at intervention, to fresh endeavors to combine against England, to profit by a favorable opportunity. At any rate, the prestige of the British A'rmv suffers immensely by defeats not brought on by the fortunes of war, but by the mistakes of commanders. The Vienna ' Allgemeine Zeitung,' writing this evening, expresses what perhaps everyone on the Continent, with few exceptions, thinks—namely, that it was rash to assume that the giaiitmust beat the dwarf.
WHAT LIVINGSTONE THOUGHT OF THE BOERS.
It is difficult for a person in a country to conceive that any body of men possessing the common attributes of humanity (and these Boers are by no means destitute of the better feelings of our nature) should with one accord set out, after loading their own wives and children with caresses, and proceed to shoot down in cold blood men and women, of a different color, it is true, but possessed of domestic feelings and affections equal to their own. It was long before I could give credit to the tales of bloodshed told by Native witnesses, but when I found the Boers themselves, some bewailing and denouncing, others glorying in the bloody scenes in which they had been themselves the actors, I was compelled to admit the validity of the testimony. They (the Boers) are all traditionally religious, tracing their descent from some of the best men (Huguenots and Dutch) the world ever saw. Hence they claim to themselves the title of " Christians," and all the colored race are " black- property," or "creatures." They being the chosen people of God, the heathen are given to them for an inheritance, and they are the rod of divine vengeance on the heathen, as were the Jews of old.— Livingstone's Missionary Travels.
THE BOERS AS VOLUNTEERS.
The Boers are affording us a magnificent object lesson on the value of volunteers in defensive warfare. They are strictly volunteers. _ That is'to say, they are not trained at all in barracks ; and though when in the field they arc under strict laws, their discipline consists really in their readiness to obey. A few of their officers may be instructed men imported from Holland and Germany, but. the majority are avowedly or practically appointed by themselves, being selected as men whom the volunteers are individually willing to follow. All the Boers really know is how to occupy strong positions, how to secure cover, how to render their groups least liable to get killed, and how, when they get the chance, to shoot straight. Physically, no doubt, they are exceptionally hard men, accustomed to life on the veldt, experienced horsemen, and as good at topography as a huntsman's whips, while they are much older than-our soldiers or than most of our volunteers, and little liable to break down from over-exertion. Still, as many fights on the hills have shown, they are nob better men physically than our own, who can, in particular, outmarch them on foot; and look how well they arc defending themselves. They stand up straight to our best troops. They execute complicated movements, lumberingly indeed, and when they have heavy artillery to drag, rather slowly, but they are usually in the right place when fighting begins; and if they retire, or are routed, it is after inflicting loss which .in army that can only be reinforced by sea feels very severely. England would feel well defended with 100,0(30 Boers to meet an invader, and she has no reason to believe that her volunteers are in any way, if properly handled, their inferiors. The lesson is an encouraging one to a nation which, keeping but a small army, needs reserves of all kinds, and will be, if we study it with care, most instructive. There are no volunteers, be it remembered, in Europe except our own; and the immense experience of America is little known here.—' Spectator.'
NOVEL " CATTLE-LIFTING."
The late. G. W. Slcevens, the. London 'Daily Mail's'-special, was at the beginning of December shut up in Lady.smith along with eight other correspondents (one of them being.the representative of the 'Sydney Morning Herald,' and another Mr M'Donald, " Observer," of the ' Argus '). Mr Steevens, however, managed to get this characteristic communication forwarded to his journal: " The- bombardment is dangerous enough to cause us disquiet, but it is not dangerous enough to be exciting. Our recent casualties o.ro : On Wednesday, the 22nd, a Natal policeman was killed while cooking in a cellar, and a shell traversed the hospital, killing two orderlies; on Thursday a"man was killed in the hospital; three' persons were wounded at the railway station, among them being the first woman who has been wounded during the siege. She was wounded in three places, but is doing well. The Boers continue to mount fresh guns, apparently 12-centimetre- howitzers, of very high velocity. Their shells seldom burst, but they dive about 9ft into the earth. On Wednesday one struck a tree above the tent of the colonel of the Light Horse. It was dug up intact, with its point upwards. The same day an 81b splinter smashed the. table where Colonels Rhodes and Dick Conywham and Major Riddell were having tea. " To-day (November 24) we liavcliad two novelties in the art of war. The first was the use of shell fire for rounding ui) and driving cattle. The Boers, noticing a mob of trek oxen grazing unusually far out, planted shells between them and our lines. The Nativo herdsmen bolted to the river bank, and the Boers, shortening the range, gradually drove the oxen towards themselves. Somo mounted infantry went out and attempted to drive the oxen in with their rifle butts. They were received wit'j a heavy artillery and rifle fire, and two of their horses were killed. The rider of one of the slain horses coolly removed the saddle and bridle, and carried them home. Only eighty of the oxen were saved ; five were killed and 200 lost. The other novelty was tlv use of a railway engine as a projectile. Wc discharged an empty locomotive alon<» the Harrismith line in the hone of disabling the railway. The result of the experiment has not been ascertained." * TOMMY ATKINS'S LETTERS. After Elandslaagte a sandy-haired, squareheaded German, with a lance wound through the mußoles above the knee-joint, was taken into the hospital howling and shivering. He kicked up such a row that a man in the Gordons with his arm in a sling threatened to brain him with an empty beer bottle. The German was then pub into a corner out of the way of the exasperated Scotsman. In contrast to the cowardly Teuton wsb a Gordon Highlander, who swore with a very strong Dundee accent. He had his wrist shattered with a Mauser bullet. On the " field dressing " being removed the blood spurted out of the wounded arm like a garden spray, which caused the gallant Dundonian to ejaculate " Ma God !" After getting his wound attended to he immediately tackled a plateful of bread and ) im, Baying, apologetically ; " I haena had ony thing to eat the day." When Tommy takes a trip in an armored train his whimsicalities are drawn and written all over the iron plates. Here is " One for Oom Paul ":— The Fusile"ers that guard this train, Must hold their own with might and main ; lake Rood aim and make shots tell, And send all Dutchmen straight to ." WHAT HAPPENS UNDER MATIAL LAW. The following are the conditions of martial law as recently proclaimed in Johannesburg and Pretoria: 1. All provisions become the property of
the State, and rations per head are distributed to each householder.
2. No private person is allowed to carry firearms.
3. No one may leave or enter the town. 4. seen talking together constitute " a crowd," and may be dispersed " at the point of the bayonet."
5. Houses may be searched and persons arrested at any moment. 6. All must be within doors at'" gun-fire," which occurs at sundown. Those found abroad after this hour are liable to arrest.
7. The military are substituted for the police, and may act at discretion. 8. Looting can be instantly dealt with by capital punishment "on the first lamp-post. 9. All moneys banked are confiscated, the Government giving the bank officials re j ceipts for all deposits. 10. All payment of bills is suspended until such date on the next month after the state of martial law has ceased to obtain.
A REQUIEM MASS FOR THE SLAIN. At the Catholic Pro-Cathedral, Barbadoes street, Christchurcb, yesterday, a solemn requiem mass was celebrated for the repose of the souls of those who have fallen in the Transvaal War. There was a very large congregation, the building being filled in every part. The children attending the parish schools were present in a body. The sanctuary of the church had been deeply hung with black, and other tokens of mourning were displayed. In front of the altar was a bier draped with the Union Jack, and bearing on the shields the inscription "Pro Patna." Severat members of the War Fund Committee attended, and volunteer officers were present in uniform. The mass was oelobrated by Biehop Grimea, and thirty-six priests were present. * ODDMENTS. Sergeant Cardale, of the First Contingent, makes a comparison as to tho regulars the front and the New Zealanders, much to the disadvantage of the former. He says: " There ia one thing we have to take credit for: that wherever we have been we have left a good impression, both in the campaud in the field, but the New South Wales Lancers are a standing disgrace to any body of men. They answer their officers bick, and the noise they make at night when men on either side of tlum are trying to go to sleep is awful. They were reported this morning ; perhaps it may have some effect." At the last meeting of the Wcstnort Harbor Board the chairman (Mr Suisted), according to the local Press, drew attention to the fact that letters had nppeared in the local papers stating that several of the Board's employes had been openly expressing disloyal sentiments in connection with the Transvaal War. He moved that the engineer be empowered to summarily dismiss any such person if the fact were proved as stated. The motion was carried, after considerable discussion, Messrs M'Kenzio and O'llegiin voting -in tbo minority. Mr M'Kenzie then moved that a committee consisting of Messrs Colvin, Jamicson, and Suisted be appointed to. inquire into the loyalty of tho Board's employes ; but evidently the other members did not appreciate a heresy hunt, and the motion failed to find a seconder.
A Dunedin lad, who' had settled in the Transvaal, writing to bis mother from Queenstown (Cape Colony), under date December 20, says :
Dear Mother,—l am Btill in the land of the living. It is a long time since I wrote, ;iu<l still longer since I had a letter from you ; but if you could have Been inc you would, I nm sure, have excused me. I left the Transvaal Republic three days after war was declared-rathor 1 waa ordered to clear out, along with thousands wore. I went to a seaport town called East London with my friend B—. He left me at East London arid went into Natal. I would have accompanied lum, but I was trying to join the kaltranan scouts, who were off to the front, as horsesboer, but I did not get tho job. So after a time I sitined on for a couple of months with the Army Service Corps, and I am with them at the moment of writing. But my time will be up at the end of tho month, and 1 don't intend to have any more of it. I have been shoeing horpos and mules, but these mules are the darndest beasts to kick 1 have ever seen. I would just as soou be shot as kicked to death. If nothing turns up at the end of the month I shall join Brabant's Light Horse—a corps that is bring ra'sed here and being sent to the front. lam keeping at the rear of the troops, but I don't think tliey will be shifted from here for a while, as the lot I am with lost TOO men in the last engagement, at Stormberg They were driven back, but that is nothing lhey were led into a trap, or the thing would never have happened. But we shall soon be on the Boers' tracks again.
" I met a retired French officer (says the war correspondent of the London ' Telegraph') who has just come back from the Transvaal, He says that tho Boers have hardly any French military advisers, but any number of youDg up-to-date German officers, who were given long furloughs to go out there." A goutleman at Durban writes to the London 'Daily Mail': " One day I was in tho main street when a party of bluejackets and marines surrounded the National Bank, searched the books, and found out who were receiving secret setvice money. Eight of them were arrested that afternoon, and three of them were shot next morning." Before the battle of Elandslaagte the late Colonel Chisholqi received a letter from Ramsay Macnab, a veteran Scotsman in the Burgheradorpcommsndo.flarcasticftlly asking him what the distinguishing pennant of the Imperial Light Horse would be, as he wanted to renew his acquaintance with the troopers. In the battle Ramsay Macnab ran away. To prevent the great loss of life, necessarily following upon a charge acrosß the " danger zone" it is suggested that just before the charge takeß place smoke Bhells might be fired, which would temporarily hide our gallant troops. On tho guardship at Simoustown is one old Boer of sixiy-fivc. At Elandslaagte he shot five of the Highlanders dead one after the other. At last one of them reached him as he was reloading, and put his bayonet against his breast. "Kill me," said the old Boer, " I am satisfied with having killed five of you rooineks." Bub the Highlander spared him. Tho Boer paper'at Pretoria, the 'Standard and Diggers' News,' states that the Transvaal Government have assumed control of the Begbie Foundry in Johannesburg, and shells and other projectiles for war purposes are being busily manufactured., Revolving platforms for the " Long Toms " were despatched to the front.
Writing from Mafeking, Reuter's correspondent says : " Commanding u3 we have a man than whom we could have none better experienced. The colonel is always amilicg, and is a host in himself. To see 'B.P.,'as he is affectionately termsd, go whistling down the street, deep in thought, plebsing of countenance, cheerful and confident, is cheeringaud heartening. Nay, I would nay, far more cheering and heartening than "a pint of dry champagne." A Router's special message says: The following is a copy of a telegram which was posted at Dundee Post Office on November 29: "Ladyemith surrounded by Free State and Transvaal armies. Mafeking has fallen. Kimbsrley surrounded, and water supply cut off." Two days later the following Boer proclamation was posted :—" Praise the Lord and ask His protection and assistance, as our troops have had very heavy losses, aa also havo the enemy. Pray the Lord, all ye burghers, for our success and victory, which, with tho Lord's assistance, we shall gain, ever praising and blessing the Lord and a just cause."
Professor J. Westlake, Q.C., LL.D., has republished in pamphlet form a lecture he delivered at Cambridge University on ' The Transvaal War.' The professor's legal opinions—he is Whewell Professor of International Law—have often been given against the British contention in cases of altaged breaches of the London Convention, and his deliberate judgment that on the whole case Great Britain is in the right IB therefore the more worthy of acceptance by those who are still honeßtly in doubt as to tho justice of the aotion of Great Britain. Mr Westlako makes it abundantly clear that the Boers were determined to fight rather than pass a genuine franchise law, and he rightly cmphasisca President Kruger's statement at Bloemfontein that ho (Mr Kruger) would prefer annexation to England rather than that the " independence " of the Transvaal should be maintained—if independence meant political power for the Uitlanders. A correspondent who has received a batch of German newspapers containing very trenchant criticisms on the conduct of our officers at the Cape—on the justification for which he disavows any competence to speak —has selected one paragraph of warm praise, of which he tends to the ' Newcastle Daily Chronicle' the following translation : An old Prussian officer, speaking on the shipment at Southampton of troopa for the
Cape,:-. says :—Everything was conducted without any word of command, Only signals from the steamer. There waa no oaliing, no ordering abour, no shouting on the part either of the commissioned or the non-com-missioned officers. And yet everything went like a charm, a perfect pattern. •Not » minute was lost; and yeo there was no hurry. If a waggon by chance struck there were at once any number of wiling hands and all in absolute Bilenoe. AH this had a startling effedt. But I could hardly believe my ears when I heard an adjutant address the common soldiers. For some purpose or other he required four men. Did he command them! Mo! He stepped quietly up to the battalion, and said: "Eour men, please!" Five men stepped forward, and he waved one of them back and said: "Four is enough. Thanks." To think of saying "please" arid "thanks" to his men ! ! With us in Germany would such a thing be possible? Indeed, it is impossible to imagine such a thing. But what most of all astonished'mo was that the whole shipment was carried out on these lines, and that all was completed far more rapidly than with a thousand "donnerwetters."
The following appeared in the advertisement columns of the 'Dublin Evening Herald' of December 12 :—'• Monster meetiDg, under auspices of the Irish Socialist Republican Party, next Monday night, at eight o'clock, to celobrate Gatacre's defeat at Stormberg. Long live the Boer Republic !"
A placard couohed in the following terms was freely posted in the streets of Dublin by the Irish Transvaal Committee:— " Fellow-citizens, —Trinity College is about to honor Joseph Chamberlain, the author of the present war in South Africa. Attend on Sunday next at Beresford place and denounce the attempt to affix a stigma on the name of your city. The Municipal Council on Monday last, by the cowardly action of forty-four so-called Nationalists, defeated a resolution brought forward in condemnation of the robber war being waged to-day by England. Attend in your thousands at Beresford place on Sunday next to show the world that Trinity College and the Dublin Corporation represent in no way the feelings of the people of Dublin. The chair will be taken at one o'clock by Mr John O'Leary.— By order, Irish Thansvaal Committer. God save Ireland."
' M.A.P.' is authority for the statemenb that General Kitchener, before leaving Eng land recently, made a strenuous attempt to obtain the supreme command in South Africa, but was refused on account of Wb junior rank and lack of knowledge pf South African conditions. A Cabinet Minister ie quoted as saying, relative to General Kitcheners request: " Why, when he got to Pretoria the man might actually send Kruget's head to Mdme. Tuseaud's."
The Irish Nationalists (says a Home paper) arc simply clamoring to be prosecuted. The Transvaal Committee have issued a manifesto to hold a meeting against Mr Chamberlain as the author of the war, and the Socialist and Republican party another " to celebrate GaUcre's defeat at Stormberg." Tho two objects aro worthily .bracketed together. The conjunction Bhowa that it ia not from the standpoint of British interests, but out of sympathy with the Boers, that Mr Chamberlain's enemies attack him, and the particular oloak under which they veil their thrusts has been supplied them by the British Kadical. With true Irish caob and hospitality this latter meeting is advertised to be held on College Green at the time when Mr Chamberlain is due to vißib Trinity College as a guest. There was a time when the Irish had a name lor respecting the usagee of hospitality, but that waa when their leaders were gentlemen. A proclamation, however, which endß with " Long live the Boer Republic !" lies outside the boundß of tuste, and falls within the province of the police. We hope that the police will see to it." Unfortunately, as we think, the police did not see to it, and the ruffians aro still at large, enjoying that liberty which neither Krnger, Kaiser, nor French President would grant them for ocg moment.
Messrs W. R. Hall (the Broken Hill millionaire) and J. H. Carey (chairman of the Sydney 'Telegraph' Company) are mainly responsible for raising the New South Wales Bushmen Fund. The story goes that Mr Carey met Mr Hall at the Summer Cup meeting at Raudwiek, and broached his little scheme. " I'll give you £5,000 down, and more if you want it," was Mr Hall's anawer. That same afternoon Mr Carey gob £3,000 from Mr S*m Hordern, and next day the Sydney papers announced the movement. Then the «Telegraph ' boomed it and announced its own contribution of £250, whioh was eclipsed by the rival morniag paper, the ' Herald,' planking down £I,OOO. Since then some splendid donations have been acknowledged—to wit, Mr S. M'Aughey, M.L.C., the wool king, £5,000; Mr W. E. Spark, of Elizabeth Bay, Sydney, £2,000 ; the wealthy Mibs Edith Walker and Mr P. H. Osborne, of Currundooley, £I,OOO. On a recent occasion tho postal officials at Durban received a post card from Insbruch, segued by five persons, who addressed " His Excellency the President of the South African| Durban, Natal," saying: "Permit u* to lender you our heartiest congratulations on your Excellency's triumphant arrival in Durban." Tho Censor drove his blue pencil very hard through the Bacred title of " His Excellency," and readdressed the post card to tho senders, with tho comment: "Addressee not residing here; present address unknown; try St. Helena."
Yr. Military. Public Works. Special Sundry Paym’ts. Servic’s, Total. £ £ £ £ £ 1889 75,529 300,071 58,737 171,088 605,419 1890 42,999 507,57!) 58.160 133,701 742,4:19 1K91 117,927 '102,00 4 52,486 76,494 739,001 1802 29,7:i9 361,070 40,276 99,410 525,095 iso:i 19,940 200.101) 148,981 192,192 500,559 1891 28,158 260,962 75,859 163,547 528,526’ 1895 87,908 959,724 205,935 838,877 1,485,241 1896 495,818 701,022 682,008 12.8,724 2,007,972 1897 390,384 1,012,866 248,684 135,345 1,793,279 1898 163,451 383,033 157,519 100,874 804,877 (First
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Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 11153, 31 January 1900, Page 2
Word Count
8,911ECHOES OF THE WAR. Evening Star, Issue 11153, 31 January 1900, Page 2
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