The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-12-28
The Problem Before Lord Roberts.

The official report Of the defeat OF Gen.
BUTLER at Tugela River. sent by tho Boer
! General in command shows very clearly
that the cause OF the British disaster was
| hopeless attempt to assault protected
| positions OF the defence. The British
! troops were led again AMI again to certain
slaughter and finally wer. compelled to re-
| tire without having accomplished anything
except to demonstrate anew the terrible
wsstefulness OF such an enterprise.
The British losses, as reported by Bull
| LER, aggregated over eleven hundred In
| killed, wounded and captured. The Boer cas-
ualtics as reported from Pretoria, were only
! thlrty-two killed and wounded, and there
| is no reason to question the correctness OF
that report. A comparatively small force In
positions such as the Beers occupied can
always defeat direct attack upon them,
even by overwhelming numbers. With the
| advantages afforded by the present arms
in the hands OF skilful men the defenders
! can always beat the assailing enemy at
small cost to themselves. except In the eK-
penditure OF ammunition.
That was 80 obvious that the stubborn
ncss of Gen. BUTLER in flinging his
doomed troops against SO terrible q fire
from adequately protected positions. indi-
Gates that the great lesson Of modern war
had not yet been learned by him. As an
officer OF our Army in the Civil War said the
other day: Flesh and blood and bone no
matter how heroic, will melt like wax in a
furnace under such fire." Every engage
ment OF this war from the beginning
having demonstrated the awful futility OF
such tactics. 1t is astonishing that they
were repeated by soldier 80 experienced
as Gen. BUTLER; for no General OF the
British Army, not even Lord ROBERTS him
self. should be better acquainted than he
with the possibilities OF modern arms
Moreover. he should long ago have thrown
OF the British deluslon that the Beers are
a contemplate foe. He was taught differ
emily while in service as Chief Of staff TO
Sir EVELYN WOOD in the Boer War OF
1881. when, on a far smaller scale, tho
lamentable consequences OF such contempt
for the enemy as prevailed in the civilian
mind OF Nr. CHAMBERLAIN at the beginning
OF the present war and even extended to
army officers who had had no experience in
fighting the Beers. were demonstrated so
terribly.
Gen. JoUDERr was in command in 1891.
as he is now. British assaults were
then beaten off with heavy loss, as they
have been now. When, in 1881, the Fifty
eighth British regiment undertook TO
storm the Bocr position at La!ngs Mex
1t was driven back, as the great
army OF Gen. BUTLER has been routed
ut Tugcia River. Then, as now. every
British force was surrounded or held
in check by the Beers, whose skill
with the rife was everywhere made
manifest. Then, as now, England turned
finally to Lord ROBERTS to get IL out OF
the scrape, and, as now. 're6n!orcements
were sent to its armies in South Africa: but
before his arrival, as ia we'll known, came
an armistice, under which the British
We're permitted TO provision their gar
risons, though one OF them had surren-
dered before the arrival OF the supplies
and had been paroled. The result was that
Mr.. GLADSTONE came to the conclusion
that he had a "venomous snake" in his
hands and he threw 1t away and made
terms OF peace before the arrival OF Lord
ROBERTS. The same story OF the warlike
ability OF the Beers was repeated, though
on petty scale, in the instance of tho
Jameson raid, a shameful exhibition of in
competency on the part OF the raiders and
OF skill and bravery on the part OF the Bocrs.
In spite OF all this, the present war began
with the same old contempt for the Beers
IN the minds OF the English public and
army; but that Gen. BUTLER, who had
known the Boersas they were actually In tho
war OF 1881, should have shared in it is I'M
accountable 1t Is astonishing that the
hardheaded officer, on whom the British
reliance was so complete that all England
was jubiIantly credulous when manifestly
false and stock-jobbng reports that he had
won crushing victory at Tugela River
were fabricated at London. should not
have protitcd by the lesson he received
eighteen years ago. Newspap per dispatches
speak Of his having been caught in a
trap at Tugela River, but actually it was
no trap he marched open.eyed to newt
able disaster, in defiance OF well-established
facts of modern war
Now, II there is a seasoned soldier in
the British Army it is Gen. BULLER His
experience OF such war as England has had
in his time has been as wide as that ~
Lord ROBERTS and very similar In kind.
except that, unlike the Field Marshal, he
was in the Boer War OF 1851. He served
throughout in the Ashantee War OF 1874
and was actively engaged in the Kafir and
Zulu Wars OF 1889. served in the Boer
War OF 1881, was decorated for his conduct
at Tel-el-kebir in the Egyptian War OF 1882.
was Chief of STAFF to WoLsELEY in tho Sou
dan campaign OF lSS4-5 and was promoted
and further decorated for distinguished
conduct init, Moreover, he is "a younger man
Than Lord ROBERTS. being 90 years of age,
or seven years the junior of the Field Mar
shat, whose military experience has been
confined TO India and Afghanistan and 10
the command OF cxpeditionary forces of a
few thousand men.
Such isthe General who was defeated at
Tugela River. with losses more than thirty
times greater than those OF the Boers whose