Lord Wolseley's Career.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 11660, 21 January 1901, Page 1

Lord Wolseley's Career.

Lobd Wolseley won his way to the high position of Commander-in-Chief by his own exertions, owing nothing to friends or fortune. He entered the army 48 years ago as an unknown man, Without either wealth or powerful family interest at his back, and at a time (as The Times reminds us) when wealth and interest were more important factors in the race for promotion than they are to-day. He fought in the Burmese War of 1852-3, in the Crimea, in the Mutiny, and in the operations in China in 1860; and in the course of these campaigns showed the courage, energy, and shrewdness of bis nature. 'In 1867 he was made Deputy-Quartermaster-General in Canada, Audi three years later the insurrection under Louis Riel afforded him a first great chance.

He was given the command of the Red River Expedition, and in the organisation and conduct of the long and arduous advance of 500 miles into the wilderness his skill and resource attracted general attention. His services were promptly recognised. He was made K.C.M.G., and in * 1871 he received the first of the long succession of appointments he has held a£ War Office. Colonel Wolseley became Assistant Adjutant-General, and held the post until 1874. ' In 1873 his labours in £all Mall were interrupted by a summons to take command of the" troops sent to the Gold Coast for' the Ashanti War. The campaign, in which a considerable native force organised by Captain Glover, JUB. t played a useful part, was brilliantly successful, and on his return Sir Garnet Wolseley received the thanks of Parliament and a grant of £25,000 for his conduct of the operations.

After a period of service^ as Governor of -Natal, at that time, of course, a colony without a responsible government, and as High Commissioner of our then recent acquisition of Cyprus, and a season of ♦ military command accompanied by some fighting in South Africa in 1879, he returned to the War Office in 1880. Sir Garnet's South African record - was not over brilliant. Sent out to finish the Zulu War He arrived to find that by bis brilliant victory at Ulundi Lord Clemsford had retrieved bis position and settled Cetewayo. Lord Wolseley was left to put Zululahd in order, and he set up 13 kinglets — a very unsatisfactory arrangement as the event proved. In the Transvaal, too, the quasi local govern- > ment he inaugurated did nothing to satisfy the Boers, who paid little heed to his declaration that never, so long as the Empire lasted, would the British flag be hauled down at Pretoria. . It was at a public dinner .given to him in Pretoria on December 17, 1*79, that ' Sir Garnet announced a new constitution for the Transvaal, the chief feature of winch was a nominated and not an » elected council as the JBoera had been promised. He declared the malcontent burghers— again in camp near Pretoria— to be the "most formidable enemies" Jkhe Transvaal had ever had, and asserted : — "There is no Government, Whig, or Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical, who would dare under any circumstances to give back the country." Nevertheless, the belief that the' country would be given back was gaining strength, so that • Sir Garnet, on the eve of meeting of the new Legislative Council for the Transvaal, deemed it necessary to telegraph to the Colonial Secretary for an explicit as- . surance that the Queen's sovereignty | would not be withdrawn, which waa thereupon granted. Sir Uarnet remained at the War Office, with brief out highly important absences, for 10 years, first as QuartermasterGeneral and afterwards as? AdjutantGeneral. In 1882, as all Englishmen remember, he was chosen for the command of Egypt, and won the memorable battle of Tel-el Kebir. A peerage and the thanks of Parliament for the Second time were among the rewards of the fortunate leader. Two years later came the Khartoum expedition intended for the relief of General Gordon. *Tke expedition failed of its object, aad though Lord Wolseley was promoted to a Viscounty and thanked once again by Parliament, there were oritfaa (says the Times) who affirmed that the plan of operations had been ill conceived, and ■in particular that the idea of ascending the Nile in boats, which had doubtless ■ been suggested to the Commander-in-Chief 4>y his Canadian experiences, was radically unsound.

The Khartoum expedition wo* the last occasion on which Lord Wolseley appeared in the field on active service. At . the close of his term of office as AdjutantGeneral of the Forces he became Commander of the forces in his native country of Ireland. In 1894 be was raised to the rank of Field-Marshal, and in the follow- ' ing year he succeeded the Duke of Cambridge as Commander-in Chief*

That Lord Wolseley should have to resign his command to another great general just as the publio is clamouring at last for an increased army and better weapons is (says a military expert in the London Daily Telegraph) one of the cynical tricks that fate plays, for Lord Wolseley has been the reforming general of this generation; he has risked at vari- | ous times his popularity with a section of the members of the prof ession which he adorns by supporting reforms which he believed to be for the good of the army in general, though such changes sometimes upset old privileges and disturbed sentimental memories. Of the measures instituted by Lord Cardwell and Mr Childers— the abolition of vpurchase, the introduction of short seryicej the institution of periodical..examination as to professional fitness,. t%p establishment of Refterrea, the linking qf ft battalions and grouping of cavalry v> ments, and others too numerous to mention— Lord Wolseley was a warm supporter, and some of the plans matured with the aid of bis experience has proved completely successful/ That our army is a small one, that the men in the ranks are young, that our armament is not all that it should be, cannot be laid as blame at the door of the Commander-in Chief. His tongue is tied by the custom of the Service, but Lord Wolaeley has told the world as plainly as is consistent with diaoitoline that he and bis subordinates knew' all that was wanting, and had asked constantly that the deficiencies should be made good, but the invariable answer was that no money was available.

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