The times., 1899-02-27
SCANDALS IN THE
WAKE OF BATTLE
Outcries Because of Cruelties
by British Soldiers.
Horrors That Followed the English
Victory at Omdurman.
Slaughter of Wounded Dcrvishcs
JustifinbIc-Amcrir Dealings
with Savage Indians.
CFrom the New York Herald


Is it impossible to have a war without
an aftermath of scandals? Our own short
lived affair with Spain has thrown suspi-
ciOn. if not actual discredit. upon our
War Department. The last European war
in which England took a hand, the Crime
an involved charges and counter charges
which swept the Aberdeen ministry out OF
at Khartoum left the only serious blot up
on the noble reputation of Mr.. Gladstone
And now Lord kitchener's rehabilitation of
English prestige in the Soudan has raised
an ex post facto outcry against some of
the means by which the conquest of Khar-
toum was effected. At first the news of
the wholesale destruction of the dervishes
at Omdurman on last September was
hailed with delirium of Anglo Saxon de-
light. Now that the first exhiarant symp-
toms have subsided the public are begin
ming gravely TO consider the attendant cir
cumstances. Not only those who disap-
proved of the expedition from the start.
but those who cordially approved and still
approve of it, are asking whether the
denominations of modern warfare are not
hideous Offset to its supposititious bene-
fits.
That from the military standpoint the
battle of Omdurman was miracle of sue
cess, marvel of cheapness, became OBJ
vious with the earliest news that reached
civilization. If you count every scratch
the British casualties in killed and wound
ed amounted TO a bare 200. those of their
Egyptian allies to a scant 300.
Moved Down by Machinery.
On the enemy's side thousands upon
thousands We're moved down by machin-
cry. Over 11.000 killed 5000 wounded
and 1000 prisoners-that was the astound-
ing bill of dervish casualties officially pre-
sented after the battle of Omdurman. The
entire dervtsh army has been variously es-
timated at from &c. 900, which is 900 less
than the casualties, and 30, 900, which is
probably much in excess of the actual fig
ures. II the allies had done the same pro.
portional execution at Waterloo. not one
Frenchman would have escaped. In short
the dervish army was killed out as never
before was an army killed out in the his
tory of war
But was the slaughter justifabIe? Mr.
Stevens. in his book With Kitchener in
khartoum,' asserts that il was 1T will
shock you. he says, but il was simply
unavoidable. Not man was killed ex-
cept resisting-very few except attacking.
Many wounded were killed, it is true but
that again was unavoidable. At the very
end of the battle, when Macdonald's brig
ade was advancing after its long fight, the
leading files of the Ninth Soudanese passed
by young Baggara who was not dead
In a second he was up and at the nearest
mounted white officer The first spear
New like streak, but just missed. The
officer assailed put a man-stopping revolver
blt n
He whipped up another spear. and only
swerve in the saddle saved the English
mans body at the expense OF IA wounded
right hand. This happened not once but
a hundred times. and all over the field
II was impossible not TO kill the dervishes:
they refused to go back alive
Capture of Omdurman.
AS 10 the subsequent scenes at Omdur-
man. Mr.. Bennet Burleigh agrees with Mr.
Stevens that more humanity was never
displayed in the capture OF city. and that
If there was any looting it was done bv
the poorer natives of the town.
And now, in the midst of this glorifca-
ton, appears young Mr.. Ernest N Bennett
and throws a bombshell into the camp OF
the glorihers. In his book The Downfall
OF the Dervlshes, TO be published in this
country by the New Amsterdam Company
and in more recent articles in the Con
temporary Review he takes issue with
his fellow correspondents. 1t is true thai
Mr.. Bennett is somewhat captious and
bumptious youth, lecturer of good repu-
tation at oxford, but an amateur in jour
nalism and in military affairs. VINO had left
the scholastic shades of Hartford College
for the nonce to accept a position as spe-
cial correspondent of the Westminster
Gazette" in the Soudan. He was an eve
witness of the battle of September. and
spent some days in Omdurman after the
surrender.
In his book he records his own doings
and those of the Srdar's army. His atti-
tude toward the professional journalists.
with whom he shared the dangers and dis
comforts of the campaign, is set forth with
a certain supercilious hauteur. His criti-
cisms of the officers show unbOunded self
confidence. But you may discount all that
is jeiune and offensive in his work and
there still remains what appears to be ii
large residuum of damnatory facts, so long
as they remain uncontradicted. The repe-
ttion of these facts in the Contemporary
Review has brought the matter to a
head.
Mr.. Benefits main charge is that there
was a horrible slaughter of wounded der
wishes by black troops after the battle of
Omdurman. Poor wretches, he says. who