The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-06-26
The GOSSIP
Of LONDON
British Generals Are
Sharply Criticised.
THE SHYEST DUKE DEAD
An Oriental Gift Of Beauty--A Gil
bertian Episode Successful
Grau Season.
(Associated Press Specially

LONDON, June 16.-What with excit-
hg news from the war that was suppos-
d to be over in South Africa, sensation
Il reports in regard to the war that is
aid to be pending in China, and alarm
ng d spatches relative to the rebellion
gainst British rule in Ashanti. to sav
iothing of the gay meeting at Ascot, the
.eath of Mrs. Gladstone, and the death
4 the Duke Of Wellington, the week in
-ngland has been one of considerable
cterest. In fact, so generally absorbed
as the nation become in its own affairs
hat those of other countries fal to elicit
he slightest comment.
The war, as it is learned General Kelly.
<enny said to General Tucker a few
weeks ago. is the rummiest I ever saw.
We" referring to the division com
1anders, do things wrong, we are sent
ONE in disgrace. If we do them right
ioberts gets all the credit"
And the war is ''rummer" than ever
}eneral Kelly-Kenny had any idea. The
pectacle presented this week of a vic
he greatest army this country ever put
Indsr one man, shut off from all com
1unieation with the outer world, while
lnits OF his forces 200 strong were ami.
Hated by supposedly pacified enemy
|hcse territory was annexed, stands al.
tost unique in military history. While
ord Roberts is not blamed for these dis
sters, there is strong fee.-ng among
he leading Sou. Africans in London
lat he or some one blundered at Pre-
toria.
those who know every inch around the
ransvaal capital say Lord Roberts took
he most arduous side to approach It
whereas, with easier means of access he
night have gone eastward and shut of
II possibility of General Botha's retreat
ically an empty triumph except for its
moral effect. What old South African
ampa!gners are asking is why dc
,oberts not get Botha and his men anc
axe Pretoria afterwards, instead of oc-
upying deserted town and letting the
soers calmly walk away under the nose
# his overwhelming force?"
Iel, Wnile lnlS question is frequent Y
ieard, there is such general admiral ito
or Lord Roberts and belief in the eff
aey of his tactics that even those who
lsk it are loath to criticise him unit
they know all the details.
The patent fallibilities of the Generals
1ghting at the front have caused endless
criticism since the war began, but scarce
any blunder in South Africa has draw
upon IT. so much condemnation as the
ecent Aldershot maneuvers, when &c, ,00
troops engaged in sham battle on the
hottest day of the year. The inquest up
IN four of the enlisted men who dice
rem heat Drostration records the fac
that the troops started early in the morn
ing without an adequate meal and thai
the forage caps they wore were utterly
insufficient to protect their heads from
he sun. A more damning Indictment ol
military equipment was scarcely ever Sc
quickly and efficaciously secured than b,
this simple verdict of a coroner's Jury
Besides the men who died some 400 ha6
70 go to the hospitals. The result Is tha'
the obnoxious forage cap is likely to be
done away with.
The death of the third Duke of Wei
ungton removes one of the shyest am
least-knoWn peers in England He wa,
pronounced valetudinarians and ais
suffered from a keen appreciation of hi!
own position. Once and only once h
made an attempt 10 speak in public l
was on the vagrancy question, in which