The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-02-23

in energy dash and sustained hopeful ness for the slow wisdom that maturity gives. There are, moreover old heaas to be found on young shoulders, ana the
 freshness of spirit that has supported such men as Baden-Powell, kekeWlch' Pitcher and Plumer in their arduous tasks has been allied with much cool, calm judgment and abounding sel1-ren-
 ance. It is to these comparatively youthful officers that we owe the most
 brilliant flashes in the dark pail of dis appointment, And they are young.
 Colonel Baden-Powell is only forty
 two, Lieutenant Colonel KekeW1ch IS forty-five, Lieutenant Colonel Pitcher is forty-one, Lieutenant-Co Colonel Plumer just year older Another name might be mentioned in this connection, despite the failure with which it is associated, that of Major Thorneycroft, who held the Spion Kop with his local regiment until it was all cut up or swept out of existence. We have it on the authority of the general responsible really for the reverse that the young leader of forty did all that man could do in his terrible position.
 Robert George Kekewich, who, what ever the issue at Kimberley, will de- serve to rank with the most gallant and intrepid of British soldiers, is Devon- shire man-one of the Kekewlches Of Peamore, near Exeter, He entered the army from the militia in 1874, gaZetted to the One Hundred and Second regi- ment, but passing almost at once to the Third East Kent, the historical and ever-famous Bluffs" He was soon mo- ted for his devotion to his work, and within a couple of years gained the best reward that young officer can se- cure-the appointment of adjutant to his regiment-a post that demands much knowledge of drill and detail, and yet more insight into character and powers of command. He was now to sec service for the first time, and when just of age accompanied his regiment when quartered at Singapore on the Pe- rak expedition planned for the coercion of native Rajah and rebellious tribe.
 For nearly ten years more Kekewich was to be denied further opportunity for distinction Though most of the time he continued adjutant of his regi- ment working still in the same practi- cal school, that of the management of men. His next chance came in 1884, when the tardy dispatch of the Nile ex- petition to attempt the rescue of Charles Gordon from Khartoum called into requisition number of Special service officers, and Kekewich's regi- mental record in the "Buffs' won him selection with the rest.
 To his excellent ahtecedents he added many useful personal traits. He was already known as a sound, safe young fellow, of untiring energy and happy tactful manner in dealing with others above and below him. His appoint ment to the staff of the expedition as deputy assistant adjutant and quarter master-general was altogether right, and he soon proved it.
 Nor did the withdrawal of Wolseley's force from the Soudan end his connec- tion with Egypt as a theater of war. When Osman Digna and the desert tribes broke into disturbance on the Red Sea littoral. there was brief cam- palgn from Suakin under Sir Francis Grenfel in which Captain Kekewich i acted as brigade major to the British l troops engaged.
 He was now only brevet major after eleven years service, but the full regi- | mental rank was not given him for an- | other five years, and then in another | regiment, the Inniskilling Fusiliers. | While in this rank he had the good for tune to join the staff of the command l CT in chief in Madras as military secre- | tary, and after that to fill the same ap- pointment to the lieutenant-genera in | that garrison in 1898. He was brought | into the Loyal North Lancashire as it's | lieutenant-colonel, specially selected for the command at time when the regi- ment wanted pulling together. It was a mere accident that it was serving at | Cape Town last spring and little else that took him northward to Kimberley with portion of the regiment short time before it was beleaguered.
 His career since then has been public and his name will ever be as- socated with one of the most gallant defenses in our military annals Full details are still wanting to do justice to his efficient leadership but we can ap- precate his fine qualities from the re- suits achieved. undaunted tenacity in