The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-12-10


back again?" That is the whole gist OF
the matter; no one wfthstood our resolute
advance, but the hill tribes, the noun
tains, the Afghan winter, abs olutey barred
retreat. OF the 10000 who retired from
Cabul one solitary doctor escaped to tell
the fate of the remainder. We have no
space to moralize, but 1t may be observed
that in this case we began by backing
worthless man for an inadequate reason;
we went up the country, slaughtering all
our prisoners without quarter, and we at
tempted to retreat through a blocked
mountain pass in an exceptionally severe
winter.
Our reverses in the Crimea were matters
of commissariat and organization rather
than of arms; but the cost of this useless
war, both in blood and money, was dis
aster in itself. We do not enter 1t on our
black list, but no historian, and few Brit
ish officers, will make a point of clearing
important victories in the Crimean war.
This attack upon Russia was followed at a
short interval by the Indian mutiny, where
of the earlier chapters record what may be
described as the most frightful disasters
of the century. The revolt of the Sepoys
| took the Indian authorities by surprise;
the country between lower Bengal and the
Punjab became in 1857 an almost unbroken
area of massacre, and to this day an Eng
lishman can scarcely hear the names of
Delhi, Lucknow and Cawnpore without a
shudder. The awfulness of the massacres
is only paralleled by the awfulness of our
revenge.
The second Afghan war began with our
invasion of the country of Shere Ali in
1878. As in 1899, we marched up country
without much trouble or loss took possess
sion or control of the passes and estab-
lished our resident at Cabul The massacre
of st. Louis Cavagnar was followed by a
war of varying fortunes, which brought
Sir Donald Stewart, Lord Roberts and other
generals into prominent notice. The bat
tie of Mawand, fought on July II, 1880,
was terrible disaster. Burrowes lost over
1900 men, out of the total garrison of 5000
at Candahar; and 1t was left to Lord
Roberts to relieve the isolated town by his
famous march.
We have had our minor reverses during
the fifty or sixty expeditions against the
hill tribes within the past half century. but
no other great disasters have befallen us
In India beyond those which have been
mentioned.
The Zulu war inflicted on us the great
disaster of Isandlana, when $4,000 of the
blacks surrounded Colonel Glyn on his
march from Helpmakaar with two battal-
ions of the Twenty-fourth, a battery and a
few levies. This calamity was almost an
determination, and the news as 1t reached
this country was only relieved by the ac-
count of the splendid stand of Leutenants
Chard and Bromhead with eighty men. who
defended the commissariat store at Rorke's
Drift against 1000 natives, and SO prevent
| ed the VICTORIOUS lmpl OF the LuluS from
entering Natal.
Our disasters in the Transvaal war of
1881, arising out of the annexation of 1877,
have been sufficiently recalled to mind in
the past few months The comparatively
insignificant defeat at Bronker's Spruit
might well have been succeeded by calm
consideration of the claims of the Beers,
who demanded the restora ton of their in
dependence. But what we may call the
prestige party were for the moment in
ri.
Colley was dispatched with less than 1000
men, of whom he lost more than quarter
at Laing's Mex on January Is. The Cor
| don Highlanders were hurried up in time
| to share in further defeat on the Ingogo
river, and Colley's fatal occupation of Ma
| juba Hill led to the worst disaster of all,
| on February 26. The Highlanders, two
| companies of the Fifty-eighth, two COM
| panies of the sixtieth and sixty-four blue
Jackets reached the "saucer-like summit
| at in the morning. Soon after noon the
edges of the saucer were lined with Beers,
who, in practical security, shot down near
| ly half of our men, with Colley at their
| head.
The occupation of Egypt brought with II
| sundry disasters in the Soudan Hicks
| Pasha lost an army of 1000 men. Osman
| Dfgna massacred the garrison of Sinkai
l and inflicted heavy defeat on Baker
| Pasha at Trinkitat. In these cases the
massacred troops were Egyptians, under
| bTlI1Sn OIICeTS. III 1904 came the nile ex-
| petition for the relief of Gordon In Khar-
| toum. On January II of the following year
| we won the battle of Abu Klea. Herbert
| Stewart fell in another costly, but still
| successful, battle at Ajbu Kru, and Sir
| Charles Wilson, with his small f1otilla
| pushed up stream to the neighborhood OF
| Khartoum, only to find that Gordon's gal
| liant stand had ended with the massacre OF
| his garrison and his own death.
| This list of reverses within the last sixty
| years cannot be regarded as long one
| or as particularly serious, when we bear
| in mind the extent of our empire and the
| multiplicity of our military operations AS
compared with our victories In the same
| period, our defeats shrink into insignif-
canoe. The natural depression which over
takes us on the morrow of reverse may
be to some extent relieved by this consid-
ration; for, after all, it is the same char
acteristic spirit of the British army which
has at different moments risked disaster
and secured the final victory. And If 1t is
impossible to abstain from criticising the
policy or the administration of the politi-
cal authorities, when criticism is necessary,
there is no Englishman worthy of the name
who does not feel a sense of personal grief
at the news of a disaster to our troops.