THE "TIMES" AND GENERAL BULLER.

Wanganui Chronicle, 4 December 1901, Page 1

THE "TIMES" AND GENERAL BULLER.

The following are extracts from an ar

ticlo in yesterday's "Times" : — Job once uttered a fervent wish that his enemy had written a book. Were he living in modern conditions he would find a speech at Westminster sufficient to satisfy his most vindictive aspirations. Sir Red- j vers Buller has been assured by an. anonymous "international detective," or spy, that he has many enemies, and if there be any truth in the' statement it must be feared' that he has made a corresponding number of persons happy by the very singular outburst in which he indulged yesterday. There is perhaps no more grave indication of a want of mental balance than a man s belief that he is the victim of a. conspiracy in which, numbers of independent and un; related persons are engaged. That story about the spy, or international detective, is realy painful reading. This person, it appears, showed intimate acquaintance with the Transvaal .secret, service, and went on to advise. Sir,"Redvers Buller to resign the Aldershot command, on the ground ,thaW if he did not do so voluntarily his enemies.would compel him to take that cour»e. Soon afterwards he was "attacked" simultaneously in several newspapers, a fact, which he notes as at least an extraordinary coincidence. To an ordinarily cool observer the simultaneous references to Sir Red.vers Buller are sufficiently accounted for by the announcement of his appointment to the comniand of the First Army Corps, and by the tendency of newspapers to comment, upon matters of public interest upon the earliest possible occasion.• . . The attack was not, primarily, upon any of these distinguished officers, but upon appointments which showed that, in spite of all pledges of reform, the War Office adheres to the bad traditional system of- rewarding past services by putting men in positions which they cannot fill with advantage to the country. There can be no reform, and no, one has pointed this out more forcibly than Mr Brodiick himself, until posts are filled with reference to present and future fitness, while past services aro rewarded iv other ways with whatever generosity the nation may sanction. It was unfortunately necessary in the public interest to take into account, in dealing with Sir Redvers Buller, the manner in which he conducted important operations in South Africa. He is entirely satisfied with himself, since he assures the world that there is no one junior to him in England who is so .well-fitted for appointment to tthe Aldershot command, which, by;tlle way, the War Office has done what it can to explain away by saying that it is not a new appointment at -all,?but only a sort of compulsory working out of the fag-end of an old appointment. I would be ungracious, as it is needless; to argue about the opinion Sir .Redvers Buljer -entertains concerning his own- fitness- for? the Aldershot command. But he really obliges us to say that it is.not the opinion entertained by others ; and further that, however annoyed he may be by the criticisms which were published upon, his conduct of affairs in South Africa, they do not represent in any adequate degree the criticisms that were suppressed in deference to the feeling that he was doing his best. . . . . . Sir.

Redvers Buller is * especially angry about the allusions made in a letter to the, "Times" to his telegram to Sir George White. Complaints about anonymity when questions of factf'are being dealt with merely indicate loss of temper or consciousness of a weak case. They come, particularly ill from one who quotes an 'anonymous visitor whose character by his own showing is not unimpeachable. His "challenge to our correspondent to produce his telegram in full and to say how he got it is entirely beside the mark.. The general tenor and effect of the telegram'has been given in 'the "Times," and it is evident from what Sir Redvers Buller says on the subject that it has been given with -substantial accuracy. If he thinks himself the victim of misconception, his course is clear. It is for him to publish his certified copy and show to" the public exactly what, he did1 say to Sir George White.. He can do so with the initial advantage of having "already informed the" public of the generous''motives with which lie inserted clauses'which, as we gather from his own statements, Sir George White may have found it difficult to-interpret .with, certainty. Until he tells us jJrecisely what lie did say, wo can see no prospect of clearing up any misunderstanding. that may exist. We at least can throw no further light, up.on.the, question,.'."although we iiave every •■reason to believe tliat textual ■'reproduction would-leave the -statements made in; the "Times"' and the inferences deduced from them entirely untouched.