The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1886-01-15
CONVOY WORK IN THE souoAN.


| nov SonevAuos ASooe Throw 1n0mseIvo6
| Upon the British square.
| lCOr. London Telegraph
As for the fourth feature of these
militant promenades - this scientific
bushwhacking--namely the presence oil
suicidal Soudanese, there is much to be
said. These men, it appears to me,
fight TO die. They do not fight to con.
quer. As we march, immense numbers
are reported by Photograph to be mass
ing on this flank or that, in front or in
rear. But they do not attack. ur
minority comes on, our volleys rapidly
reduce their numbers till they dwindle
away tO.threes, and twos, and single in.
dividuals. But these 20 on to the bit.
ter end, and when the last poor fanatic
has been knocked over by the concen.
trated lire of company the fighting
Tor the day is over.
There is no information available to
.xplain this reckless sacrifice of life; but
An explanation suggests itself. 1t is
this: that with every force of the the
nrry there is proportion Of profess
'"nal fanatics, African "Gha is in
tact; that these, whether drugged or not
for the occasion like their Afghan
equivalents, devote themselves to death
to encourage the others-that it is these
who rush upon our squares, and that
according to the result of the onset, the
rest either come on or hold back
have seen two conveys attacked, and
the rcumstances Of the two were so
Identical that venture to infer that if
l were to see 200 the procedure would
be the same A multitude Of Hadendo.
was assemble on the line Of our advance,
await the convoy, select one face for at
tack, and then withdraw out of fire.
We knew they were there The Hasheen
redoubt Is flashing the news to us from
our right; the waterfront mirror is
twinkling the same news from the rear.
But the enemy do not rush upon US
en- masse. They do not even fl shot.
They lie by to see the result of the onset
Of their fanatical vanguard. These creep
up as we'll as they can within charging
distance, and then, with gesticulations
suggestive of war dance rather than
real conflict, come straight on, crying
upon Allah, "the compassionate, the
merciful healer of wounds" If not
stretched out on the ground before
they reach the square they fling them
selves upon our bayonets with daunt-
less intrepidity that only voluntary mar
tyrdom or madness can explain. Single
men, swapping their fingers, hopping
and skipping, barking and granting,
would sometimes manage to come up
within spear length, but only to receive
at the rifles muzile that death which
they seem with ouch light hearts to
seek. 1t is an amazing variety war.
fare, and we have Only to put ourselves
in imagination in the place of the Ha-
dendowas to confess that it is one call
ing for the most reckless form of cour-
age.
Everybody knows that the fanaticism
of Islam has, all through the history of
Mohammedanism, made heroes of her
soldiers when they thought themselves
fighting for the Faith Eut it is none
the less astonishing and perpleying to
find these barbarous Arabs finging
themselves on the level lines Of ,itish
bayonets fixed on ri es which Are roar
ing ont their messages of death all down
the steady rank. That they should
move up in dense mass, and, lly sheer
stress of numbers, trust TO breaking
through our squares and getting to close
quarters, is comprehensive. Such are
the tactics of savages everywhere. On
weight and impetus they rely for victory.
But it is quite another thing when they
come on in trifling numbers, scatter
themselves round large force, AMI 6e-
liberately die.