The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-10-04 00:00:00

were lying sorely stricken and senseless, bravely com-
manded the company of the 00th Infantry as well as
any officer could have done. (Cheers.) I think of the
rank and file, who marched many hundreds, nay,
thousands, of miles, who were loyal and untiring, and
who, notwithstanding all that has been said to
the contrary, were withal a Christian soldiery.
(Applause) I am aware it has been said we lifted
many cattle, committed much arson. I plead guilty.
(A laugh.) With regard to cattle, they are in Africa the
sinews of war. Some uninformed people have not
only blamed us for destroying the enemy's kraals, but
have a sorted that such a proceeding was ueeless, as
the kea As were of no practical importance. The
truth is that the military kraal to the Zulu is as much
a rallying point, a badge of honour to be retained, or
a symbol of disgrace if lost, as the colours are for
which men in Europe give aud take hecatomts of
lives. (Applause.) From the days of the ' Battle of the
Standard' to the late sorrowful hour when Coghill,
leaving his vantage-point, swam back to bear company
m death with Melville, going down under the bloody
waters of the Buffalo honourably incumbered with the
Q Teen's colours (cheers), there has always been an ideal
vel ie attached to certain objects in war. We have
been accused of inhumanity? I have denied this
charge officially for my troops and for ityAelf. I can
assure you that the only Zulu I personally chastised
was one who declined to help us to carry a decrepit
woman from a mountain where she must have starved,
and when I tell you that that woman was the man's
mother, you will pardon this practical effort to induce
the heathen to honour his parent. (Laughter and
anplause,) The Flying Column is broken up. Captain
Woodgate, impassive as a rock under the hottest fire;
the brave surgeons—Reilly, Connolly, and Browne—
who, exposed to a storm of bullets, tenderly cared for
our wounded ; Major Hackett, one of the ablest and
bravest officers, who, directing his men to take cover,
himself walked erect in the midst of a hail of missiles
until one wounded him so cruelly; Beresford, Browne,
Leet, and Buller are now well-known names, and I am
proud to claim them as comrades. In each case they
carried off soldiers who must else have fallen under
the Zulus' assegais. (Applause,) You, however, pro-
bably do not know, as I do, that when Major Leet here
—(cheers)—took up on a tired pony a double burden he
incurred a double risk, for he went into the fight so
crippled with a sprained knee that once dismounted he
could not have made an effort to escape. (Hear, hear.) I
You have all heard of the valour of my right-hand
man; but I, perhaps, alone can realise the full value of I
his services, Careful of his men's lives, untiring and
unflinching in the performance of duty, we owed mach
of our success to his brilliant leadership of the mounted
men. To his devoted friendship I owe more than I
can express. Men learn to know each other well in
active service, and I have not known a better friend or
better soldier than Redvers Buller. (Applause.) These
my comrades are all dispersed. Some are still serving '
under that splendid soldier Sir Garnet Wolseley, and
they are fortunate, for no leader has ever before so
succeeded in drawing under him men of promise.
(Hear, hear.) The story of a bloody and selfish
despotism has ended with the clever capture of
Cetywayo by my friend, Major Marter, and our
courageons Ashantee scout, Lord Gifford. (Ap-
plause.) Our 18 months' hard living, hard march-
ing, and hard fighting are over. To you at home our
thanks are due. You inspire our beat actions. Your
blame is what we fear more than assegais. You have
found men, money, and munitions, Your sympathy
in the Zulu war has been an electric current. (Ap-
plause.) Your welcome repays us for the hardships
and misfortunes of war. (Cheers.) lam aware that I
owe much to your spontaneous kindness to-night, much
to the fact that I am the grandson of Matthew Wood
—(hear, hear)—a name synonymous with truth, justice,
unswerving honour, and courage. It would be im-
pertinent in me to praise his son and my uncle, Lord
Hatherley (applause) ; but I must avow I am very
proud of being his nephew (applause); and I am sure
he prizes very highly with me the honour you have
done me this evening. For this I thank you not only
for myself, but in the name of those gallant soldiers,
Imperial and colonial, Dutchmen and natives, who
during a time of exceptional anxiety worked so bar-
moniouely together for the good of the service and in
the interests of our great country." (Loud applause, )
In returning thanks for the toast of "The Ladies"
at the close of the proceedings, General Milman re-
marked that there had been an omission in the speech
of the Prime Warden in making no allusion to the
service of the Naval Brigade. (Rear, hear.) It ought
not to be forgotten that the Naval Brigade had per-
formed signal services in Zululand under Colonel
Pearson at Ekowe. (Loud applause and calls for
Pearson.)
Colonel Pearson said he had not come prepared to
make a speech. He had got no notes (laughter), and
he could only return them his best thanks for the cor-
dial manner in which they had received his name.
(Loud applause.)

In a leader eulogising Sir Evelyn Wood's speech,
The Times remarks that it " was all that a soldier's
speech should be. • . It was not merely a resume
of his own doings; it was a generous tribute to those
who had so manfully aided him in his gallant work in
South Africa ; a warm defence of the colonists, for whom
he prophesied a prosperous future now that they
were free from a barbarous and destructive despot-
ism; and a soldierlike vindication of the conduct of
his superiors. The Fishmongers may well be proud of
a liveryman, who in every war of note since when as
a b )y• midshipman he carried scaling ladders down to
the Redan has earned fresh laurels—the Victoria
Cross in the Mutiny, the C.B. in Ashantee, and the
knighthood of the Bath in Zululand."