BRITISH LEADERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15684, 11 August 1914, Page 10

BRITISH LEADERS.

MEN THE ARMY TRUSTS.

KITCHENER AT THE HEAD.

Three important military appointments were recently announced from London. Earl Kitchener becomes Secretary for War, a new position corresponding closely is that of commarider-in-cliicf. Sir lan Hamilton commands the Home forces, and Sir John Fronca becomes InspectorGoneral. Doubtless, Earl Kitchencr will have the advice, during tho present crisis, of Lord Roberts, now too old to take the active command.

At Homo and overseas the appointment of Earl Kitchener as Secretory of State for War has inspired the greatest confidence. In New Zealand and Australia, Earl Kitchener is remembored by his visit of 1910, when lie laid the foundations of the present dofenco systems of Australasia. Earl Kitchener is now 64 years old. His steady, passionless eyes, sliaded by decisive brows, look out from a face which is harsh, and which neither appeals for affection nor stirs dislike. It has been well said, however, that neither age, nor • figure, nor face, nor any accident of person; has any bearing on the essential Kitchener. Ho has no age but the prime of life, nobody but one to carry his mind, no face but one to keep his brain behind. The brain and will are tho essenco, and 1 the wliolo of tho man is a brain and a will bo perfect in their workings that, in the face of extremest difficulty, they never seem to know what straggle is. " You cannot imagine the Sirdar," says one observer, describing him at the timo of the Egyptian campaign, " than as seeing the right thing to do and doing it. His precision is so inhumanly unerring, he is moro like a machine than a man," Sorvices In Egypt, Earl Kitchener was born at Bally Longford, County Kerry, on June 24, 1850, the son 0 f Lieutenant-Colonel H. 11. Kitchener. He entered tho Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in 1868, and was commissioned second-lieutenant, Royal Engineers, in 1871. At the outbreak'of the Franco-Prussian war in 1870 he offered his services to the French .authorities. They were accepted, and he was drafted into the Second Army of Loire, under the command of General Chancy. But in a little time he caught pneumonia, and was obliged to return home. In 1875, he wa-s offered a position as surveyor for tho Palestine Exploration Fund. He accepted the offer, and at two different times, while surveying, ho' saved the life of the officer he was with. In 1883, ho was promoted captain, and was one of tho original 25 British officers who wero set to work on the task of reorganising the Egyptian Army. In tho following year he served on the staff of the British expeditionary force on the Nile, and was promoted successively to bo major and j lieutenant-colonel by brevet for his services. From 1886 to 1888, he was commandant, at Suakin,, receiving a severe wound in the action against Osman Digna at Handub. Before the end of 1888, he had his revenge, when he led a brigade of Sudanese over Osman's trenches at Gomaizeh. In 1892, he succeedod Sir Francis (ITord) Grenfell as Sirdar of the Egyptian Army. Three years later, when he had completed his predecessor's work of reorganising tho forces of the Khedive, he began tho formation of an expeditionary force on the vexed military frontier of Wady* Haifa. The advance into the Sudan was prepared by thorough' admin istrative work on his part, which gained universal admiration. In 1896, in which year he became a British major-general, and received thp K.C.8., he won the action of Ferket, and advanced the frontier and the Sudan Military Railway to Dongola. In 1898, it was resolved to destroy once and for all-time the Mahdi's power, and a British force was despatched to co-operate with the Egyptians. On April 8, Kitchener commanded the united force which stormed tho Mahdist Zaroba, on tho River Atbara, and six months later his work was crowned, and the Mahdista utterly crushed by the victory of Omdurman, for which he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kitchener of Khartoum, and received the G. 0.8., the thanks of Parliament, and a grant of £30,000. In South Africa. Little more than a year ' afterwards, while still Sirdar of the Egyptian Army, ' Kitchener was promoted lieutenant-gene- . ral and appointed chief of staff to Lord , Roberts in the South African War. In . this capacity he served in the campaign of ( Paardeberg, the advance on Bloemfontein, i and the subsequent northward advance to i Pretoria. On Lord Roberts's return to 1 England in 1900, Kitchener succeeded him J as commander-in-chief, and when the long and harassing war came to its close, in 1 June, 1902, he was rewarded by advancement to the dignity of viscount. At the same time ho was promoted to the substantive rank "of general, 1 "for distinguished service," and received the thanks of Parliament and a'grant of £50,000. He was also included in the Order of Merit. Immediately after the peace he went to India as.commander-in-chief in the East Indies, and in this position, which ho held for i seven years)* he carried out not only many 1 far-reaching administrative reforms, but a 1 complete reorganisation and strategical re- ' distribution of the British and native i forces. On leaving India, in 1909. he was i promoted field-marshal, and succeeded the ; Duke of Connaught as commander-in-chief | and High Commissioner in the Mediterranean. In that capacity he undertook a tour of inspection of the forces of the Empire, and in 1910 he visited Australia ' and Now Zealand to assist in drawing up tho present schemes of defence. After his return to England he declined to take up his Mediterranean appointment owing to ,its inadequate scope, and in 1911 he returned to Egypt, this timo as virtual Viceroy, being appointed His Majesty's Agent and Consul-General, in succession ,to the late Sir Eldon Goret. Under his administration of tho past threo years, Egypt has probably known no period in its modern history so fruitful of progress and reform. In June last Lord Kitchener was created an earl.

Of Kitchener it has been said:' "Other generals have been better loved; none has been better trusted. Steadlast, cold, and inflexible, ho is marblo to sit still and fire to strike."

SIR lAN HAMILTON.

OUR RECENT VISITOR.

Of Sir lan Hamilton, who has been appointed to the command of the Home Army, New Zealanders have fresh and pleasant recollections. During his recent visit to s the Dominion he showed himself a discerning J observer, a keen critic, a-far-seeing organiser, and, withal, an attractive personality. General Sir lan Hamilton, who is reputed to bo one of tho greatest living military strategists, has had a very distinguished military career. Born in 1853, he entered the army

20 years . later. Five years after that he. saw activo service for two years in the Afghan War. He served in the' Boer War jof 1881 the Nile expedition of 1881-1885; the Burmese expedition, 1886-1887; Chitral relief force, 1895; Tirah campaign, 18971898; and South Africa, 1899-1901, being Chief-of-Staff to Lord ; Kitchener, 1901* 1902. In all these engagements he was j mentioned in despatches and received a ! number of decorations. Ho acted as Quartermaster-General to the Force* from 1903- to 1904, and served as Military Representative of India with tho Japanese field army in Manchuria, 1904-1905. From 1905 to 1909 he was- general-officer-com-manding the southern command; from 1909 to 1910 he was Adjutant-General In the Forces, being tho second military mem ber of tho Army Council. Since 1910 lie has been general-officer-commanding the Mediterranean and Inspector-General of the Oversea Forces. The general holds the rank of colonel in tho Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, the 9th Royal Scots, and tho third battalion of the Manchester Regiment. On Waggon Hill. In the last S<ttfth African war Sir lan Hamilton was a prominont figure on Waggon Hill and at Ctesar's Camp on the fateful day whon the Boors almost succeeded in entering Ladysmith. Before daybreak the Boers attacked tho hill at three different points. The Manchester at trosar's Camp were driven back, the Boers taking their place in the trenches. But Sir lan Hamilton rallied his men at every point, and, at five o'clock in the afternoon, after a 14-hours' fight, the Devons made their famous bayonet charge and drove tho Boers, running pell-mell for their lives,from Waggon Hill.

Sir lan Hamilton was not in supreme command on what came to bo known as "Black Monday," when the British had to retire after the engagement at Lombard's Kop, immediately preceding the siego of Ladysmith. It was during this retirement that the 4.7 guns from H.M.S. Powerful made their dramatic appearance on the scene.

General Sir lan Hamilton earned, during the South African war, the nickname of " Old Half-rations," but no officer was more popular with the soldiers than he wa«.

SIR JOHN FRENCH.

DASHING CAVALRY LEADER. Field-Marshal Sir John French, who has been mado Inspector-Genoral of the Home Forces, has had a distinguished career of activc service. Born in 1852, lie joined H.M.S. Britannia in 1866 and served as a naval cadet and midshipman in the Royal Navy for four years. Ho entered the army in 1874 and served in tho Soudan campaign of 1884-85 with the 19tb Hussars. From 1889 to 1893 he commanded the 19th Hussars. In 1893 he was employed as assistant adjutantgeneral of cavalry on the staff and in tie following year ho was appointed assistant adjutant-general at headquarters 1 of the army. In 1899 he was appointed I major-general to command the cavalry division in Natal. He commanded troops fit the battle of Elandslaagte and the cavalry in Sir George White's forces in -/he battles of Reifcfontein and Lombard's Kop. In 1900 he was appointed, lieuten-ant-general commanding the cavalrv division in South Africa and was mentioned in despatches, subsequently being promoted major-general. He commanded ; the troops in. operations round Colesberg from November, 1899, to February, 1900° I and fought several important engagements. : In the operations which culminated in j the relief of Kimberley in 1900 he com- i manded the cavalry force, anil later he f commanded the cavalry division in Lord i Roberts's forces which captured Bloem-; foflfcein and Pretoria. While command- : ing the left wing of Lord Roberts's forces in the battles east of Pretoria on June 10 and 12, 1900, he was mentioned in despatches eight times,, He was appointed general in' 1907 and fleld-marahal in 1913. From 1907 to 1911 he was In-sector-General of the Forces, and in 1911 ho bec&me Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and: First Military Member of'the Army Council, He resigned from the Army Council early this year on account of a misunderstanding during the Ulster crisis.