The evening times., 1900-04-18

Just what object the British War Office
had in view in publishing Lord Roberts
despatch criticising Generals Butler and
Warren, we cannot imagine Imperial
military prestige is not exactly at high
water mark at the present time and it is
difficult TO see what imp ovement will ac-
crue 70 il from public exposure OF the
blunderiug incOmpetency OF responsible
field generals. At least one would think
that q serious matter Of the kind woulI
have been kept quiet until necessary
changes Of command had been effected. AZ
the affair stands. both Butler and Warren
become impossible in ,heir present posi-
tions. and Niii have TO resign or suffer re-
call
No one who has watched the develop
ment Of the war in South Africa with any
thing like critical interest viii be sur
prised at the caustic comments Of Lord
Roberts on the Spion Kop fight. He
blames Warren severely for changing the
whole plan Of campaign withou. notifying
his superior We have always wondered
how IL came to pass that the turning
movement against the be-iese~s Of Lady
smith. by way Of Acton Homes. which
promised so well and seemed C be lmOst
complete. collapsed so quickly. Il appears
that Warren. who commando the British
left. concluded that he could not success
fully outdank the Boer right. and so DC
cided on a frontal attack without. howey-
er, notifying Butler.
Warren bluntered badly in connection
with the Spion Kop attempt After the
commander Of the assaulting column was
shot. be ordered the next otHcer in rank %
report at headquarters for instructions:
and. while that officer was absent from the
hill. the Colonial major. Thorneycroft. tenn
porarily in charge took the gray respou-
sibility Of ordering a retreat which sacri-
feed the position. compelled the army to
fall back behind the Tugela. and rendered
the whole campaign a failure. 10 vas War
ren's business to visit the Kop while il was
An the possession Of his troops. s. says Bull
Ter. Roberts agrees and aids that it was
Buffers business TO see that Warren at
tended to his. when the fate O, Iadysmith
and the honor Of the army seemed to de-
pend upon holding the elevation Butler
was not justified in trusting Warren inn
plicitly. The latter had but just Gisobeyel
his instructions in regard TO operations on
the extreme left. II was a sad illustration
Of bad management all around. and we are
obliged to agree with the general-in n-chiei
that there Is little to choose between the
two delinquents. II is right that both
should go. and it is 10 be regretted that in
all probability they viii be succeeded by
other mutton heads equally as dangerous.
There is something altogether wrong in
the British military system. Just wha, il is
we are not prepared to say. The first crop
Of political brigadiers in our civil war did
not make half the spectacle - themselves
that some OF England's s. veterans have. Our
trouble was that we did not have any
trained officers 10 speak OF. But the Brit
ism have been campaigning in Asia and
Africa continuously for an hundred years.
and it has been assumed that even such
training and experience would count for
something in a serious war. Il has not ap-
parently. Almost everybody seems 10 have
made egregious mistakes. Butler. War
ren. Hart Methuen. Gatacre. and others
have done things that a boy just out OF
West Point would be ashamed Of No one
is infalible Field Marshal "Bobs'' alone
excepted. Even he. with seventy-five thou
sand men around him. permits few Boe-s
TO hold the BloemfoRtein pumping plant
and shut of his water supply.