The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-10-11 00:00:00

SATURDAY, OCT. it, 1879,

them to remove the plug, and still less would they
have thought of forcing in the papier-mache wad,
both of which operations are necessary in order to
unload the shell.
3. Because three shrapnel shells remain in the axle.
tree boxes of the seine gun, and none of their plugs
have been interfered with. It would, therefore,
appear that, in the absence of a spike, Major Stuart
Smith, or one of his men, rammed home this shell with
the intention of preventing the gun being used by the
enemy,
_

Why the Zulus did not make use of the other gun
remains a mystery. I can only suppose that, having
experimented with the first one and failed, they gave
up the attempt altogether,—l remain, your obedient
servant, A. W. DUNCAN, Major
Ulundi, Aug. 13:

PRESENTATION OF A SWORD OF
HONOUR TO GENERAL PEARSON.
The Townhall of Yeovil was crowded on Monday after-
noon by an assemblage such as is rarely seen within its walls,
the principal families in the neighbourhood having assem-
bled to witness the presentation to Brigadier-General
Pearson, C 8., of a sword of honour and an address. The
rocm was beautifully decorated, and the band of the 16th
Somerset Rifle Voliinteers played a selection of music in the
ante-room. Flags floated from various places of business,
and the church bells were rung, the town presenting quite a
holiday appearance.
The Mayor of Yeovil, Mr. E. L. Whitby, and the
other members of the committee received General
Person at the Town-hall, the gallant officer being
heartily cheered by the crowd assembled outside. On
entering the room he was received with loud and long-
continued cheers. Among those present were General
. Sir Percy Douglas, Colonel Rawlins' Mr. H. B.
Samuelson, MT., the Provost of Eton, Sir A. Slade,
Colonel Boldero' Colonel Rattray, and Captain
Graham. When the enthusiasm had subsided,
The Mayor of Yeovil rose, and said their sole object
that day was to welcome back to his native county a
distinguished soldier whom they were proud to claim
as a Samersetshire man. (Cheers.) They might re-
member that it was such as he who had made this
empire what it was, and they might well try to realize
that Buller, Chard, and Pearson were not unworthy
successors of those grand Elizabethan West-country-
men, Grenville, Raleigh, Drake, Hawkins, and a host
of others, who, like our living heroes, did their duty
manfully and well. (Cheers.) His worship then read
letters from Major Paget, M.P., and others, re-
gretting their inability to be present, and next pro-
ceeded to read the following address :
"To General Charles Knight Pearson, C.B —As Chief
Magistrate of the town adjoining your native village, I am
deputed, on behalf of the neighbourhood with which your
family has been long and honourably connected, to ask your
acceptance of this sword of honour. You will receive it
with the greater pleasure when you are told that the funds
with which it has been purchased have been provided by
none of the usual means of raising subscriptions. Not a
single person has been asked to subscribe. The gift, such as is,
is toe purely voluntary expressionof the feelings of admiration
with which we regard your military career in South Africa.
On the field of Inyanzane you first showed by what tactics
the fierce onslaught of the savage foe was to be resisted,
and by your determination to occupy an advanced post at
Ekowe, by your skill in rendering it impregnable, and by
the energy with which you maintained yourself in the
heart of the enemy's territory you restored confidence to a
panic-stricken colony, and vindicated the honour of the
British arms. You may think and say that these are no
greater services than England has a right to expect from
every one of her sons to whom our Sovereign entrusts the
command of her forces, but we may be allowed to feel a
just and natural pride in your achievements; for in you,
born and bred among us, we claim as our own soldier who
has done his duty well. In presenting this sword we all
rejoice that your life was spared when your horse was shot
under you at Inyanzane. The whole empire, when waiting
for news from Ekowe, shared our peculiar anxiety, as it
shared our peculiar joy, when we heard of your relief, and
like ourselves, deeply regretted that illness, contracted in
the service of your country, prevented your taking a lead-
ing part in the final and successful campaign in Zululand.
With every wish for your happiness, I have the honour,
General Pearson, of presenting you with this sword."
The reading ef the address was frequently inter-
rupted with cheers, which were loud and long-con-
tinued, as the Mayor handed it and the sword to
General Pearson. The hilt and mountings of the
weapon are of standard silver, hallmarked and richly
gilt with the colonel's regiment "The Buffs" in chased
silver on the hilt. The blade is embossed with the
arms of the county of Somerset and those of the
colonel, and bears the names of " Inyanzane " and
"Ekowe in gold as well as the regimental badges,
and the following inscription in burnished steel :
"Presented to Colonel Charles Knight Pearson, C. 8.,
October 6, 1879, in the Town hall, Yeovil, Som,erset, by
inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood, as a mark of
their esteem and admiration."
The grip is of African ivory, richly carved, and the
scabbard of rich green velvet. The scabbard has beein
tested as a service weapon.
Brigadier' General Pearson, on rising to acknowledge
the gift, was most heartily received. He said :
Mr. Mayor. Ladies, and Gentlemen, —I do assure
you I am deeply sensible of the high honour you have
done me this day, and I thank you most sincerely and
most gratefully for this beautiful sword. I thank you
too most heartily for your address, in which I am
spoken of in such handsome and gratifying terms.
Goodness knows I have done little enough to deserve
either the one or the other! I accept both as a token
of your goodwill and kindly feelings towards one who
was born and bred in this neighbourhood, and to
whom it gives the sincerest pleasure to find that
he is so kindly remembered by so many old
friends and neighbours. (Cheers.) Zulu politics
are, I know, dangerous ground to tread upon; yet
if, perhaps, I kept silent on that subject altogether I
should be misunderstood. Indeed. I should -leave this
hall conscience-stricken if I omitted to acknowledge—
and I do so with deep gratitude--the great obliga-
tions I am under to my unselfish chief, Lord Chelms-
ford, and to the gallant officers and men—Navy,
Army, and Colonial troops (both black and white)—
who were under my command. (Cheers.) My General's
beautifully clear instructions and the unswerving and
loyal support which I received from every individual
of my column, enabled me to carry out my rOle with
success, and, I cannot but feel, have won for me the
distinguished honour which has been done me
here this dsy. (Cheers.) It would be highly im-
proper in me as a soldier to speak of either Sir
Bartle Frere or Lord Chelmsford as public men;
but of the one I make bold to remark that the
day will most surely come when his policy regarding
the Zulu war will be recognized as the only safe one
which, in the circumstances, could have been followed
(applause); and of Lord Chelmsford I may, at any
rate, be permitted to say tbat I would again, most
gladly and trustfully, follow the man who, in six short
months, destroyed the military system of the greatest
nation in South Africa, and that in the face of diffi-
culties which oftentimes appeared insurmountable.
(Cheers.) I have been given credit for my skill in
rendering our fort at Ekowe impregnable. It was un-
doubtedly impregnable • but it was made so by Captain
Wynne, my commanding engineer, and his brother
, officers, under whose directions we all worked. Captain
Wynne died of an illness, brought on by exposure
and by unflinchingly remaining at his duty 1 when
almost incapalale of performing it. (Cheers.) I need
not trouble You with further details, various de-
spatches to Lord Chelmsford which were published
having already made the public fully acquainted
with our doings. One circumstance, however, I
might mention, which is this, and I accidentally saw
It mentioned in a newspaper—the first time the
Gatling gun was used in war by British troops was at
the battle of Inyanzane, fought by my column on our
way to Ekowe, where it did excellent service. (Cheers.)
It was brought into action by Mr. Coker, a niidship-
man of her Majesty's ship Active, which furnished a
naval brigade to my column. This brave young
officer died of dysentery at Ekowe at a time when we
were without medicines or medical comforts of any
kind, I cannot conclude without alluding Ito the
patriotic and generous conduct of the colonists of
Natal during the Zulu War. Both in person and in
purse they came • forward like true Englishmen.
(Cheers.) Nor must you suppose that any but a small
section of the population benefitted by the war. The
Natalians believed the war to be necessary, and they
freely gave up their money, their time, and a large
number of them their lives for their country 'without
a murmur. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Mayor, ladies, and
gentlemen, let me once more thank you for this
friendly reception and for your splendid gift. ' Believe
me, I shall never forget the 6th of October, 1879.
(Prolonged cheers.)
"Three cheers and one cheer more" were then given
for Lord Chelmsford, and also for the 2nd Battalion
of the 3rd Buffs, coupled with the name of Colonel
Parnell.
Sir Percy Douglas, in moving a vote of thanks to
the Mayor, said that as a predecessor of Lord Chelms-
ford in the command of the forces in South Africa,
which extended over a littoral of 1,800 miles, he
felt, as an old general and a former commander
of the forces, a desire to come and pay his
personal respects to Colonel Pearson on that his
happy return to his own people and his own
county, (Applause.) But he had another motive. He
wished personally to pay homage to the son of a worthy
father, for he could truly say that for once the old
saying "Like father like son" had proved true. (Ap-
plause.) Colonel Pearson was carrying out the traditions,
not only of his county, but of his race. He wa 3 following
the example of a worthy father, who was one of the
gallant galaxy of men who were distinguished by
their services in the Peninsular war, He (Sir Percy)
must say that, however creditable and noble on
Colonel Peareon's part it was to give to Captain
Wynne all the credit of the defence of Ekowe, it we
really due to Colonel Pearson that the place was made
impregnable. There was one special aspect of Colonel
Pearson'e services, respecting which he wished to say
a few words. Colonel Pearson at Inyanzene was the
first to shake the Zulu power. With his small column
he defeated a very large force, and then stuck to
his ground at Ekowe as a British soldier should.
He (Sir Percy) now wished to say a few words
on the general question, and in doing so would
try to avoid all political references. He spoke
as a man well acquainted with South Africa.
and especially with that part in which Colonel
Pearson had fought so heroically, and he wished to
express his opinion that the time had arrived for deal-
ing with the great Zulu question. He was not going
to confer more praise upon Sir Bartle Frere than he de-
served, but the moment had arrived for taking decisive
action (applause); and he knew from his own experi-
ence that everybody whose opinion was worth any-
thing felt that the moment was approaching when the
great Zulu power would have to be dealt with, and
that it would be a most difficult operation. Sir Percy
Douglas concluded with a prophetic remark that they
would soon have the pleasure, pride, and satisfaction
of seeing Colonel Pearson change the star of his order
for the cross.
Varoius votes of thanks terminated the proceedings
which were marked with the greatest enthusiasm.

The next President of the United States, according
to the Paris papers, may possibly be a woman, as they are
discussing the chances of Mrs. Victoria Woodhull for the
rzesidental Chair, They treat the idea of her being put in
noMination as perfectly serious, and represent her as having
had gritloratorical sticcesses in Ungiand. —Graphic.
• .
ak. award, 4 slum.
aline boy, -on- seeing.
window, " Sugar-sticks five sticks for four cents," went in
and calculated, "Five sticks for four cents, four sticks for
three cents; three sticks for two cents, two sticks for one
cent, one litick for nothing. I say, !mister, hand us over
one stiok,",:._The.storekeeper " didn't..see it."