SIR GARNET WOLSELEY'S COMMENTARIES.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1844, 3 July 1874, Page 2

SIR GARNET WOLSELEY'S COMMENTARIES.

. ; ' ' ■ ' ,-■' ■ . ■ — ,-. •■ ;.-- > ' •:;") - 1 [DAILY TELEGRAPH.] | ■ Having shown his ability in the field of i action, Sir Garnet Wolseley has now displayed his powers as a speaker. His Mansion, House address, rising far ..above ordinary ! after-dinner oratory, - secures him,,, a fresh title of distinction. 'Already known to the'pubUc as a "writing officer", by his " Narrative of theY China, War^'in' IB6o, his Wellington Prize Essay, and his "Soldier's Pocket Book ? ", he had yet' to •giveiproof of his: .capacity! aa a speaker, and this has been •suooesafully furnished. Much as we love action, we have* asa ; nation a strong liking for power of speech, ■ and Sir Garnet' has undoubtedly raised' by the sterling merits of "his ■unpretending statemen^ih the city. So richly gifted with varied faculties, at .an early period in his career he saw that the soldier's chance of promotion lay in , seizing every opportunity;^wihieh; j*?: sented itself; of displaying personal daring, Twenty-two years ago when serving with .

the 80th Regiment in Burmah, he led a storming party against the stronghold of a native chief, and received a severe wound during the encounter. In 3854 fortune landed him in the Crimea with the 90th Foot, and although he was an Infantry officer, his military accomplishments extended so far beyond the range of Line duties that he was appointed acting engineer/ and he servea^W^such until the Russian fortress was. mastered. While engaged in this perilous' duty lie was =again -woundedv :^ On^the-^3oik, August, 1855, herwaSiiULjcharge of the advanced sap, -when' the.- enemy..made_a. violent sortie. Struck under the eye by a pebble, he fell senseless, was carried to the rear, and placed by lie burgeon in attendance among the mortally wounded. But a f rie,nd, Count Gleichen, fighting ■_, with the l^^al^Brigade^wlxo^saw^his'TOn^de, inferfered/andurgeda.naval surgeon to examine" $he> '-. stricken ; man, rlt w;as then found s Wolseiey,Jiad' been' hit by a stone, and not : a baU' ' Stimulants were at 7 onee 1 ' adi^Mtered^ and^iiist as the military medico was'sayjng? o*'0 *' What is the good of me'daiing>%lth/fhlf fellow ? He is as dead as a door nail,'^Sir l! G«rnet re■tuWedJto; V: conScibusness^ ;< and ; retorted, "Noniorie dead than 'you]' 1 doctor." On all occasionsylike^ sol jifinyAof < his comrades, he has'staked his life/and except on these two occasions he has escaped without a scar. In the 5 China^wrfir he served on the Staft ',In ! N^h; Ameij^ he organised and conducted., .the^fanipus Red River , Expedjjiionj and, he,sWwed a professional skill,, wluch'jfully, warranted the choice; made he was! selected; tovdeal, ; with thej Ashanteea. He owes his elevation and his successes to that ; mastery ; of:soldlership tin all its branches which we- trust "will more and more distinguish British officers. Owing all to personal merits, he belongs to the class of iwhici -Wolfe was for "long years the almost solitary ; -and his career affords a fine example of-what an able; istudipusj and unfriended^officer may do, provided he make the most of.his gifts arid! opportunities". Ti-iTiA/J . : It may be-justly said of his Mansion light on the recent war, and «ffe'ctualiywanswers 'the^^dcJleful'dlarmists" who are always in despair, and the trained deActors whose happiness^onsi^ts inthe asflbous practice of a wretched art. ■ Su| Garnet justly, says /that; the .Government entered . unwillingly ;on. th'e ..contest. y and that it was forced upon us by^th.6 Ashantees. He [shows that. .King KofFee,. bound by custom •tOiiSignaliße hi!c ; reign > /on, |he \ t battle-field, had long planned ftanAiiprepared for the mighty incursion of-last-year-. — The ruler r of lA'shantee not o\ily' laid 5 in large stores of warlike mumtjpns, but he counted on the cliirja^3cip|ight for him against Europeans^ and^in addition, our military policy iiFWss^^ica had not inspired )hjm, ;with anx dread of Britf shiariqs. Hero we see that it was-thp foregone conclusion o£ the-Eing, and notrany mistakes on our ■<- > part, which rendered the [collision inevitable j ?THe .cession* lot ß Elmina by the Dutch afforded the long-looked-for pre- ; texp, arid; the -Ashantee;' warriors crossed th^P^ah." : "Nevertheless, although ruin r wap'ipread through the Protectorate, our officials, were so, dismayed by theHelimate, that Hheir jßyst 'thought was to seek any otlieF solution of We * difficult than that which might bY-won at the swbfd's point. ; 1 Sir Garnet? declares that : he -%ent .' out determined to.ayoidwar if ... it, could be !,- done |With honor. ; Happily, he/flfas "untrammelled by instructions."' jHe was to r learn the facts" and do the best for his i jcpuhtry^.V Finding^^warjt^e only alternative,; he i framed his i plan," and that plan he executed. Face-to face with~stupendous obstacles— iio^rb'ads, no animals for draugh^' no li^e^STOck for food — he had to obtain every tliing from England, four 'thousand miles' awayl /He drqw^ frankly andjiberally upon home resources, and His demands were ; it0 [ the' fullest extent met. He has said himself that whatever 'hpnbr"ha^ ; been ? 'abhievea > "is' l lo a great ' extent-owing to the forethought of the military authorities in. England," who, he modestiy says, ■" organised^ -the; e^pedvtidn?"" But hereihe underrates his. merit. "> Itw^as 1 Sir Ga,rnefc,-V4si Mr \ Gladstone pointed out, who mainly did the essential ~ wo^fSndthe^credit^^Meh^fJ^s^to the share of much-!abuaed departments is that they supplied all he demanded— even the - railway, which for two Weeferf oraished a theme to prbfessiorial satiristsKlSir Garnet . states the well known fact that he was al- . lowed to select his own staff, and to nomi- , bate ! tKe 6fficera n wh6'. 1 ; to command naitiye'leviei the best , .menr'he couH' 'get, the old scfiooi what-valuViiesm soldiers who : are well instructed as well as brave. He knew the worth of Staff College men, just - as he knew the- value of personal charac- '■, ter, daringiT i«Thje credit of the war goes to. jhe professionally traifieH officers,: and in that respect alone its teaching is priceless. ■ : And .the i merg: of their work is enhanced , by the fact that they had almostieverythingto learn when they landed. But they were iunideterred by "ithe Woeful 'stories '-^Tegarding the BhV matic horrors. They were; >not : moved by . the assurance^of a "distinguished gentleman " that the s&e equipment needed was a coffin, and that it would be only "courting disaster "f ;to ; march, .English troops through the interion/ Sir [Garaet called- ' for hisitroops^andi/itheyweredespatehed 'WitWa^promptitude unknown antHe history of our military] administration." The titne during which operations .'could be carried on was st*iptly : limited to three months; yet thus •' hedged- in with difficulties,' especially the overruling con* Edition; 6f time, he really did the great . -wbrk,!.and,..as Lp,rd : .Cardwejl. happily pointed put;. Sir Garnet was actually dining with the Lord .Mayor on the 31st of March, "the day on, which Kis medical advisers required, him to have finished his stay on the Coast- "a That little fact is not the least striking commentary on the cdnipleteness of his labor. . Like an able rhetorician, Sir Garnet iept his most impressive remarks for his peroration: "Within ;: sii'years we have engaged in two ; little „ wars, and both teach, ;ithe.:^me, jesson. .^when Si? Robert sent tOj'j punish the Emperorj he 'wtitf "entrusted with full powers, and nearly all his de. mands-— certainly his essential require* i ments— were ' •: liberally „ supplied. He iJanded',; created art base ; 3 iiv <; }a desert, • marched to Magdala,i' and! Wturned a victor, also under' tolerably istrict condition in regard to time. Coomassie has confirmed the teaching ! ioLJ Magdala. Therefore Sir Garne^ is justified in saying that among recent milita^ lessons— and there are i.m.any~^b / pntf.iioiit''Valuable.tb.' us as a nation "is that when Iwe have to .appiaint an English Genciral ]$.; command

any military undertaking it is necessary to trust him, to supply him with whatever he asks for, and, above all, to avoid the error committed during the New Zealand war, of severing the military command from the diplomacy necessarily connected with the operation." In that remark lies a profound truth. Wellington was never trusted like Napier and Wolseley. During, the preparation for the Waterloo campaign he was aghast at the officers sent him by the Horse Guards ; and while contending with the French in Portugal and Spain, he was obstructed and harassed by his own Government so much that his position on this score alone vrsa one of constant peril. Sir Garnet is, no doubt, strictly accurate in saying that, had he been trammelled with a Civil Governor or Envoy, he would never have reached the capital of King Koffee. And he has a right to point out the contrast between the state of Western Africa when he landed and when he embarked at Cape Coast. His succinct and eloquent description — eloquent by sheer force of simplicity — is alone a full justification of the war, and as such it is received. He found panic and a state of siege, a pauperised population and no trade, and the prestige of England at its lowest ebb. He left Cape Coast enjoying the blessings of J.eace and commerce, and the military ame of England, which is power, firmly established. And if he was able to accomplish all this within so short a time, it was by a display of those qualities so admirably described by Lord Cardwell — •'the grasp of mind which forms from the first an adequate conception of the task to be discharged ; the forethought which realises the difficulties that will probably be encountered ; and the prudence which adapts the means to the end, and renders success attainable." Add to these the attribute of daring, and it is not difficult to comprehend how Sir Garnet Wolseley gathered fresh laurels in the pestilential fields of Western Africa.

HoUoway't Pills.— The Liver, the Stomach, and their Ailments. — Alternations of temperature, muggy weather, a troubled mind, sedentary habits, excesses of the table, and a gay, leckless mode of life exert the most deleterious influence over the liver and stomach. When once these organs are fairly ont of order, great inroads are quickly made on the general state of the health ; the constitution, which has been deprived of two of its noblest organs, soon gives way, and diseases quickly follow, from which, if neg-' lected, the worst consequences will inevitably result ' If a course of Holloway's celebrated fills be persevered in, all will be well again, as they are the finest and noblest correctives of the blood ever known, and a certain cure for all disorders of the liver and stomach.