" Warriors I Have Known."

Southland Times, Issue 4491, 1 December 1882, Page 2

" Warriors I Have Known."

Mr Forbes' lecture, delivered at Sloan's Theatre last evening, attracted a large audience, not one of whom will readily forget the graphic manner in which the lecturer sketched the characters of the most illustrious generals of modern times, all of whom the famous war correspondent had at one time or another personally met. The lecturer introduced his warrior friends not in disconnected array but in compact and serried groups, each series complete in itself. The first group of portraits was in illustration of the Franco-Prussian War, and included some royal warriois, of whom the lecturer had spoken on the preceding evening-. From Europe the lecturer passed to America, and gave some vivid wordpaintings of the heroes of the civil war, especially of President Grant, with his dogged self-reliance, and " occasional or rather rare flashes of military genius ; " Stonewall Jackson, the only heaven-born general the Americans ever had ; Sherman and, above all, that " trenchant little warrior " Phil Sheridan, the finest cavalry chief that modern times have produced. After waxing eloquent on the subject of Lord Napier, of Magdala, the history of whose lite was the story of our Indian warfare for the last fifty years ; the "lecturer proceeded to paint a word-portrait of Sir Garnet Wolseley, a name which at once chew a round of applause ; the most enthusiastic cheering of the evening being unmistakeably that which was elicited by a singularly vivid sketch of one of Sir Garnet's "gang,' who seemed insipid enough on ordinary occasions, but each of whom when the time came was found to have a peculiar gift which testified to the intuitive discernment of his chief. The lecturer gave a very interesting account of " dapper little' Bobs,' " as Roberts was called throughout India previous to his brilliant uifirch on Candahar ; as also of Lord Chelmsford, whose chronic melancholy, caused by the disaster of Isandula, gave way to a feeling of oxaltation on the day o£ Ulundi, and brought a brilliant lecture to a conclusion by detailing yome personal experiences of Osman Pasha and Skobeloff ; the latter being the most remarkable man he had ever met. The title of Mr Forbes' lecture this evening will h<s " All Europe in Arms."