THE BULLER CASE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 11826, 2 December 1901, Page 5

THE BULLER CASE.

DEMONSTRATION IN HYDB PARK. THE LADY SMITH INCIDENT. ?.ORE REVELATIONS HINTED AT. Hy Telegraph —Tress Association.—Copyright. 'Receive'! December 1, J55 pin* London, November 30. The draft of a resolution to be submitted at a pro Bullet* demonstration in Hyde Park to-morrow declares that General Fuller's speech on October 10 was used as a mere excuse for his dismissal, which was due to his refusal to alter the Snionkop despatches. The Standard, in contradicting the slfucment. warns General Fuller that- unless he lestrains his injudic:c us backers the Government will be compelled to breaK their marnanimous sihnee The journal h»"f fully hints .hat when Sir George \vhitc declined to treat lor the surrender of Ladysmith ami heliographed if his instructions to surrei der were authentic they were deI'L'trately repeated, but lie disobeyed them. It adds that if the evidence i:; support of the charges was published it would cause a profound revulsion of feeling. The Standard says the only extenuating hypothesis in the case is that the shock of two defeats destroyed a brave man's nerves and paralysed his judgment.

(Received December 2, 1.8 a.m.) London, December J. The Devonian Society in London entertained General Duller. In replying to the toast of his health he said discipline compelled him to maintain reticence, otherwise he would have been glad to tell everything. He dwelt on the hardship the troops were enduring. The Devonshire Regiment, lie said, had marched 997 miles in 1 13 days, and were constantly fighting.

The London Times, to mine on the dismissal of (.Jeneral Duller, says;— It i s good foi the army and Rood for the nation that fits public judgment lias been ratified and acted upon by the Commander-in-Chief mid the Secretary of State for Wa.. .All this does not prevent us from viewing with fincere and profound regret this inglorious close of a long career, in the course of which Sir lied vers Puller has rendered great, and various services to his country. Ho. has taken an honourable arid successful part in many wars carried on in miany regions, and he has played a great role for many years in the administration of the army. " It is melancholy hat this should be the ending, and ib is deplorable in respect, of the arrnr as well as in respect of the individual. Put there are case}, and this perhaps is one, in which men outlive their usefulness, and compel the nation to seeming forgetfulness of services which would have conferred lasting honour had they only terminated earlier. Sir J'edvers Puller has developed the defects of his qualities. His tenacity has become obstinacy, hi ? masterful spirit has grown to insubordination, and his self-reliance has blinded him to what is painfully obvious to others. Ureal; and various as have been his military services, fho country has had no reason to congratulate itself upon his action in the highest positions, nor can ho be regarded as suitable to carry on the reforms which are imperative. In the War Office lit has been the supremo type of the, tendency of centralisation, and to that disorganisation which results from the concentration of power in the hands of one man. Ifo has been impatient of control, of chock, and of co-ordinate or delegated authority. Oneman power may sometimes work well, but it provides no successors and no rational automatic system, while for so much as temporary success it must bo wielded by an intellectual giant. That, we fear, Sir Redvers Puller has never been, admirably as he has discharged duties not the highest and endowed a3 ho is with qualit.'"-; which command popularity. In this painful and regrettable situation. for which a bad system must bear no small part of the blame, wo can only hope that Sir. Red vers Puller will recover the dignity of demeanour which lie has lately lost sl> conspicuously, and will conciliate sympathy by reverting to simple soldierly discipline.