Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-10-23
A Radical ON the War.


Mr.. Labouchere publishes the following
csustic comments on the Egyptian cam
paign: According to the telegraphed ac-
counts of the Khedive's triumpha entry
into Cairo, he was accompanied in his car
riage by the Duke Of Connsught and by
Sir Garnet Wolseley, and the former oceu-
pied the seat of honor by the side of the
nominal ruler of the country. This certain-
lv seems strange arrangement, for as the
Duke Of Connsught is only in Egypt in the
capacity of an officer under Sir Garnet
Wolseley's command, 1t was a gross breach
of etiquette for him to take precedence of
his chief. If the Duke of Wellington were
alive and In command of the army his royal
godson would speedily receive some such
rebuke as His Grace administered to VIII
liam Nv. when he was starring about as
Lord High Admiral. IL princes are to be
actively employed In either army or navy
they must forget their royal blood when on
service and act In all respects like other Off
GERS of their rank.
"The newspapers announce-whether
with truth or not | do not know-that Par
lament will be asked to make a grant of
ESQ 900 each to the naval and military
commanders In Egypt. Except that It is a
bad habit there Is no more reason why q
successful military command should be re-
warded with a money bonus than civil SER
vices. The. Romans were In the habit of
giving donation to the soldiers engaged IN
q campaign, and It would be more sensible
for us to follow this example, instead of
presenting their commander with a large
sum. One hundred thousand pounds ster-
ling would enable us to give "a each to
Is, 900 nen. II, however, we are In a
liberal mood we might still more use
fully distribute this money among the
widows and orphans Of the soldiers who
have been killed. The man who Is killed
for his country deserves a higher recog-
milton than the man by whose order he dies.
The Radicals, say the ELUSIVE newspapers,
are positively capable of declining to vote
for this grant. They are. 1t is said that
Sir Beauchamp Seymour's refusal OF Peer
age is dependent upon his being given a
larger sum than ESQ, 900; that is to say, like
a wise man, he prefers solid cash to a title.
Those who have, however, to pay, like wise
men, prefer to do so In titles rather than In
cash.
"As regards Sir Garnet Wolseley, nv
opinion of him is much what it was before
the campaign. He is good, hard working
officer. whose services are marred by HIS In
tolerable habit OF Dragging. He may be
great military genius, but he has not yet
given any proof of it. In Egypt he did his
work well and therefore he deserves praise,
although the work proved by no means diff
cult. No one ever supposed that the Egyp-
tians would varquish US. But they showed
themselves even worse soldiers than was an
ticipated. A story is told of Sir Garnet
putting his finger on the map and saying
that the war would end about September Is
by an engagement between Ismailia and
Cairo. Given the fact that he made Ismailia
the basis of his operations and that the
Egyptians did not interfere with him, but
let him conduct the campaign es he pleased.
this was pretty obvious; indeed, a good
many OF the newspaper strategists said the
same thing.
"Arabi's mistake seems to have been not
having blocked up the canal. He allowed
himself to be persuaded by M. de Lessons
that it would be treated by his opponents as
a neutral zone Had he been wise he would
have asked for an assurance to this effect.
and If he did not obtain It have rendered
the passage through 1t impossible. Nothing
would have been easier, as he was for a
considerable time In command of fits banks.
and had he employed the fellahs In shovel
ling sand into it, instead OF erecting
e&rthworks, only to be deserted, /
do not precisely see how Sir Garnet's
prophecy could have been verified.
In the choice of the officer to bring the dis
patches of Sir Garnet Wolseley home that
General seems to have made the same mis-
take as he did when he declined to send
home on like mission Major Marter, who
had captured CetewayO, but intrusted his
dispatches to one OF his own personal fol-
lowing, who was on his arrival rewarded
with gift of $500 and promotion. Fortu-
nstelY for the taxpayer it was then decided
that hereafter this donation should not be
made. 1t might, be well, however, to draw
the attention Of the COMMANDMENTS Chief to
this piece of favortism.
The Foot Guards complain bitterly of
their not having had an opportunity of
showing their valor In Egypt against the
foe. They say they were employed, under
broiling sun, on such persistentlv severe
fatigue duty that many officers of the Indian
contingent were shocked, and observed that
In India no European troops would be thus
treated; and, in despair, they named them
selves The Duke of Connsught's Own Nav
vies.' Their complaint is that they were
kept to any sort of drudgery SO long as it
was out OF shot, and that this was unius5if-
able, now that rifles kill at mile and a
half and field artillery at two miles. On the
other hand 1t must be remembered that II
takes two to make fight; and as Sir Garnet
Wolseley was aware that the Egy ptians
would not stand the attack of his first line.
he can hardly be blamed for having kept
his reserves out of DANGER"