The Hastings Standard Published Every Evening. TUESDAY, JAN. 22, 1901. THE GOSSIP'S DIARY.

Hastings Standard, Volume V, Issue 1430, 22 January 1901, Page 2

The Hastings Standard Published Every Evening. TUESDAY, JAN. 22, 1901. THE GOSSIP'S DIARY.

Most people are unwilling to criticise the doings of the War Office in connection with the campaign in South Africa, for the reason that their task has been the most difficult imposed on any military administration since the world began. As the war has progressed they have had to learn the new methods governing the fighting of the future, and their knowledge has only been gained after bitter experience. Captious critics may sneer at the " nation of shopkeepers," but we have the assurance of some of ths most capable strategists of the day that no other Power in the world could have fought the Boers with so much success, and this done by an Empire which " has no army " is something of which to be proud. At the same time we must conclude that mistakes have been made, and grievous ones, and their commission has not been altogether unassociated with the prevailing spirit of red-tape which exists to a more or less degree in every military organisation. There can be no doubt that the position as illustrated by the cables received from day to day is not as satisfactory as we would expect, seeing that the power of the enemy is supposed to have been irremediably broken, and there is no small amount of speculation as to how matters could have drifted into this state, seeing that we have had such an immense number of men stationed in South Africa for more than a year. Various reasons been advanced, each one bearing the stamp of feasibility, but the general run of the people are incapable of properly appreciating the multifarious difficulties which often beset the ath of even a victorious army.

XnE military contributor to the L>yttelton Times states that two very serious mistakes were made by the British. One was the paroling of Boers who surrendered or were captured—on their mere word of honor, or on their taking an oath pledging themselves to remain neutral—and then allowing them to return to their farms. The second was the foolish assumption that thejvar was over when the Boers in the ii-as-tern Transvaal, after a series of deteats, were finally beateD, dispersed, and driven into Portuguese territory as a result of the fight at Kooniati Poort. After threatening Aliwal North for a time, De Wet made his masterstroke by suddenly retreating northwards and drawing after him a considerable Britishforce, allowing Hertzog, Haasbrouek and other Dutch leaders to cross the Orange Hive? into (Jape Colony, split into small couiai3is<ioe'» i*c<l begin

their operations of harassing, plundering, and doing their utmost to incite the Cape Dutchmen to rise. This meant that Lord Kitchener, whose fighting strenghth had been already greatly reduced, was compelled to farther weaken himself for offensive operations by having to garrison numbers of important Dutch town, such as Steilenbosch, Paarl, Wellington, Worcester, Beaufort West, and Graaf Reinet, besides strongly holding strategical points. The truth of all this has been brought home to us time after time, but having committed the error, the question now arises how are we to retrieve the disadvantages occasioned thereby ? We hear of small attacks which have been repulsed by the British, and of comparatively successful raids by the Boers, but these have after all but little significance iu the great struggle. The whole of the southern portion of the continent appears to be a hotbed of insurrection, and while the Imperial troops are holding the lines of communication the raiders are keeping up the spirit of hostility b/ exhibiting their marvellous faculty for military jlnensc. From the outlook we would judge that the task is one involving years of patient, systematic treatment, but such are the wonderful ways of the burghers that anything like a fair estimate of probabilities is out of the question, and one has been taught that to hazard opinions as to future developments in the South African war is to bargain with something more fickle than Fortune herself.

Reviewing the messages received concerning the Queen's illness we may assume thac little alteration has taken place in her Majesty's condition. We haye sufficient evidence, however that the state of her health is extremely precarious, and in one who has reached such an advanced age this cannot but be provocative of the gravest anticipations. The Queen has been blessed with a wonderful constitution, which even under the present unhappy circumstances temporarily asserts itself, but we are assured that her health has been failing for some considerable time, and that the crisis which has now come upon the general mass of her subjects as a startling blow has been apprehended by her entourage for some months. The preparations at the sick-bed would indicate that the medical men fear the worst, and that the end must soon come, but though her Majesty's chances of recovery appear to be so slight, there is still hope that she may be spared to her subjects for some years yet. " God save the Queen " has often been sung with but a poor appreciation of its real significance, but if a whole-hearted, sincere and universal utterance of the prayer would avail, the Queen would continue with us not only now but always.