The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-06-17
ROBERTS GETS / AL
Faithful SubordinateS areKick-
ing on the Deal.
SOME OF BOBS' BLUNDERS
Tempest in LondOn'S 1heat-
riCaI. Teapot,

ICopyrighted, 1900, by Associated Press)
London, June What with exciting
news from the war that was supposed to
be over in South Africa, sensational re-
ports in regard to the war that is said
10 be pending in China, and alarming dis
patches relative to the rebellion against
British rule in Ashanti, to say nothing of
the gay Ascot meeting. the death of Mrs.
Gladstone, and the death of the Duke of
Wellington, the week in England has been
one of considerable interest. In fact, SO
genuinely absorbed has the nation be-
come in its own peculiar affairs that those
of other countries fail to elicit the slight
est comment. The war, as it is learned,
General Kelly-Kenny said to General
Iucsker a few weeks ago, is ''the rum
l2iest 1 have ever seen. If We" refer
ring to the division commanders, do
things wrong, we are sent home in dis
grace If we do them right, Roberts
sets all the credit"
And the war IS "rumnier than ever
General Kelly-Kenny had any idea Of
The spectacle presented this week OF a
OF the greatest army this country ever
put under one man, shut off from all
communication with the outer world
Whlie a unit Of his forces, Of 700 men, was
ahnihiated by a supposedly pacified enc
my whose territory was annexed, stands
almost unique in military history. While
Lord Roberts is not blamed for these dis
asters. there is strong feeling among the
leading South Africans in London that he
or someone blundered at Pretoria. Those
who know every inch around the Trans
wal capital say Lord Roberts tok the
most arduous side to approach it; where
as with easier means Of success he
might have gone eastward and shut off
al possibility of General Botha's retreat
AS it is, the capture Of Pretoria was prac-
ideally an empty triumph, except for its
moral effect. What old South African
campaigners are asking IS, why did
Roberts not get Botha and his men and
take Pretoria afterwards, instead of oc-
cuDying deserted town and letting the
Beers walk calmly under the nose of his
Overwhelming force?" While this cues
ton is frequently heard, there is such
genuine admiration for Lord Roberts and
belief in the efficacy Of his tactics that
even those who ask it are loathe TO crit
else him until they know all the details.
The patent falibilities Of the generals
fighting at the front have caused endless
criticisms since the war began: but.
Scarcely any blunder in South Africa has
drawn upon It so much condemnation as
The recent Aldershot maneuvers, when
S0eo0 troops engaged in a sham battle on
the hottest day of the year. The inquest
upon four of the enlisted men who died
from heat Drostrations records the fact
that the troops started early in the morn
ing without an adequate meal, and that
the forage caps they wore were utterly
insufficient Of military equipment was
scarcely ever so quickly and efiicaciouslv
secured than by this simple verdict of a
c3roner's jury. Besides the men who died
some 400 had to go to the hospitals The
result is that the obnoxious forage cap is
likely TO be done away with.