New-York tribune., 1900-01-13
STORM AND STRESS IN AFRICA.

The distressing report has recently come TO
hand from South Africa that Lord Methuen has
suffered so grievously in body and mind in the
campaign that his retirement from his command
is necessary. He is known to have received
physical injuries Of a somewhat serious nature.
But rumor-happily not yet fully verifed-has
said that his mind has also been Ill affected by
the vicisstudes of war; that the storm and stress
of the present campaign-whether the tremen-
dous burden of responsibility the furor Of bat
tie or the worse than chagrin Of bloody repulse,
or the deadly heat of the midsummer sun in
semi-tropical land, or what not-have been too
much for him. and that the blunder at which
the lamented Wauchope limited in his dying
words was the deed of a man no longer amena-
BILE to reason. Should this prove to be true, 1t
would be a sad ending Of a hitherto brilliant
career Wauchope, the victim, would be reck-
oned happier than his chief.
The tragic incident-tragic as death itself
would, however, by no means be inexplicable or
unique: Seeing red" and "Berserker rage" are
not idle phrases. There is scarcely any human
experience more calculated TO affect the nerves
and brain than war II am surprised wrote the
Prince De Ligne, that a single soul survives
battle. How shall you escape dying Of grief If
you lose or of JOY if you VIM We have only
to recall Bull Run to understand the state Of
mind which not only Lord Methuen, but other
British officers and large share of the British
people may now be in. A veritable wave of
madness swept the North 1t shook the calmest
and most steadfast minds. 1t might well have
unsettled and overthrown those that were al
ready strung to a high tension. But suppose
Bull Run to have been repeated again and again
within week! We have seen In more recent
experience under our own flag how cheaply
puted heroism may be won and on how slight
provocatiOn a large part of the public may grow
all but deliriOus, magnifying reconnaissance
into Waterloo and a skirmish into an Ar
mageddon Why should we wonder If a British
officer is temporarily bereft of reason and many
another BritOn seems on the verge OF mania?
There must come to the thoughtful British
mind to-day with convincing force the words Of
one of the empires greatest soldiers at the end
of his long, victorious wars. II entreat you not
to forget" said the Iron Duke that a great
country like this can have no such thing as a
''little war. The Government must understand
that IL they enter upon these operations they
must do ii on such scale and in such man
''ner and with such determination as 10 the
FINAL object as will make it quite certain that
these operations will succeed, and that at the
"very earliest possible period" That was Just
before the beginning Of the with China.
The admonition was absolutely sound then. 1t
was just as sound and just as applicable in the
case Of the present war. 1t is easy now TO find
fault with officers at the front who are doing
their best with the inadequate resources pro-
vided for them, though they may go distracted
over the task of making bricks without straw.
IT is easy and more just, or less unjust TO
blame the Government Of the day for pressing a
controversy to the verge OF war without ade-
quate preparation for war, or for ineptly man
--E,1x,f - H.
and final criticism must ultimately fall upon the
general system which has permitted great
military nations military resources to fall into
decay. Had the nation and the long line of sue
cessiye Governments remembered all the great
soldier we have quoted spoke among them they
would not have permitted themselves 10 wink
in slothful overtrust" until the Beers were able