THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16. 1914. DEATH OF EARL ROBERTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15767, 16 November 1914, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16. 1914. DEATH OF EARL ROBERTS.

Ft'LL of years and honour, sounding to the last the call of national duty, and serving with his last strength

the Empire he helped to make great, Earl Roberts died. Perhaps there have been greater captains in the long history of our peoples, wherein from Alfred to Washington, from Bruce to Clive and Nicholson, from

the great Edward to the greater Cromwell and the unconquerable Marlborough, we may read row after row of great and glittering names, whose fame is based on military leadership which has affected the future of nations and the destinies of mankind. Yet even in the foremost ranks of this select company there is none who would not gladly greet Earl Roberts as a peer, and in one respect at least he is the greatest of them all. He had that simple heart, that gentle soul, that kindly and chivalrous spirit, which made Nelson the darling of his seamen and the adored of the nation, and gives to the black necktie by which the Navy ceaselessly commemorates Trafalgar a touching significance. Earl Roberts was a great captain, but he was more than a captain. He is famous because from beardless boyhood to snowy age he fought ever on the great Imperial j frontier, until the reckless lad who bore a charmed life through the Great Mutiny became the brilliant general who marched an army from Cabul to Candahar, and the great strategian who lifted the pressure on Ladysmith and opened an easy road to Pretoria ; but he will not be remembered mainly for that. He will live to long generations as one who won the love that passes the love of women, and the trust that men only give when their hearts go with their confidence. He was a great soldier, but he was a greater citizen, and a still greater man. He had conquered himself as well as taken cities, if indeed in that simple faithful heart of his there was anything to be conquered.

To expound the relation in which Earl Roberts stood to the British soldier would be to give the history of the past 70 years. White-skinned or dark, he knew our fighting races as only those whose hearts are full of love and sympathy can ever know. Their weaknesses he knew, but their temptations he understood. Dimlyfelt perceptions became burning ideals under his light and leading. Discipline became a mutual bond of respect and affection. Distrust became trust in his presence ; disloyalty became, loyalty ; self-seeking grew ashamed. Here was a man, short and small, in physique insignificant, whom the bravest saluted as the most fearless, whom, the great captains of his fiery youth had known to be wisest, whom the roughest soldier reverenced for a strange tenderness, and the Indian trooper worshipped for a complete comprehension. This was a captain who could speak as master to Eastern kings, and as a brother to the private in the ranks; this was a man who could speak of sacred things without shame or hesitation, and who would- no more deny his God than deny his country; this was a Philip Sydney who gave cups of water and did not die, a Hedley Vicars who led forlorn hopes and lived to lead others, a personality which stamped and impressed itself upon the hearts of men, by touching the chords of the heroic virtues and the imperishable ideals. Wellington became the " Iron Duke," but Earl 'Roberts was always "Bobs,'' and in that affectionate nickname of the great captain who led them to so many victories and loved them to their good and thought of them always as men and brothers is a world of grateful meaning. Many of our great captains have deserved well of the nation, but

none "other of them has done as- much as Earl Eoberts for the individual soldier.

Yet it is a singular thing, and a crowning testimony to the amazing simplicity of his character, that Earl Roberts has so identified himself during the past decade with the universal training movement that he is already to many little more than a memory as a great and resourceful captain. Yet we may be quite certain that his counsels and influence had much to do with the decision of the War Office to bring Indian troops to the European battlefield, just as we know that these troops would earnestly seek to justify any pledge given for them by their old commander-in-chief. His death is directly due to his efforts in renewing old associations with the Indian troops, whom he . would not disappoint of the personal welcome that meant so much to them in a strange land. Indirectly, however, Earl Roberts has died of natural cause—ripe with years and worn with toil— that the sorrow we all feel at his passing away is lessened by an unavoidable sense of the inevitable. During the closing years of his life, after'resigning the highest official positions in order to have personal freedom, Earl Roberts preached a crusade for national defence which events have shown to have been wholly justified. In season and out of season he proclaimed the possibility of sudden raid, the utter unscrupulousness of Germany, and the duty of national training. His influence was having a noteworthy effect upon British opinion, and undoubtedly had much to do with the speedy acceptance of universal service in New Zealand and Australia. Since the war began Earl Roberts has been rousing the public to a true appreciation of the situation, and straining his last energies in the service of the state. He has died in the comforting knowledge that England was providentially given the opportunity to defend herself effectively, that the India he served so well has proved loyal to the Empire he loved so dearly, and that his last opponent in the field vies in generosity with his victor and has drawn sword for the Imperial cause. If, as the devout believe, a clear vision of the better future comes to the dying eyes of the pure in heart who have done nobly in their living, then all men may well pray that their end may be as his.