The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-01-08
ABOUT LORD KITCHENER.
The Manner of Man This English Gem
eral Is.
W. H. Roberts. in Washington Post.

w. III. Roberts, in Washington Post
He has steady. blue-gray. passionless
eyes, and heavy moustache covers a
mouth that shuts close and firm like n
wolf trap. He has won over the native
fighting man of the Sudan because he
shows not the shadow of fear: because
hand and brain work so perfectly together.
He has no age but prime of life. and I'm the
fifteen years he spent in the Sudan he has
gathered and garnered a ripe harvest OF ex-
perience that has made Gen. Lord Kitchen
er, or Khartum. one OF the most notable
men Of the century.
He has astonished Archie Hunter, his
next In command, in many ways, but new
er more than when he found his chief SUI
perior speaking TO Egyptian and Gerber,
TO his black regiments. Bishareens, Iaa-
Inns. to all the fighting emirs i'm the coun-
tryside for 1900 miles, and speaking flu
emily to each in his own tongue. Where
could the sirdar (generaD have learned
these tongues?" asked Hunter. command
ing the first three of the brigades, of his
crony, Gatacre, who was chief of the other
division. Give IL up; never supposed he
knew a word of Berber. till he declined an
interpreter and talked with Wad-El-Neju-
mi, (the great fighting emir Of the SUDAN
for two hours, face TO face" Some officer
greatly Impressed with his knowledge of
Arabic and the dialects of the Arab-Ne-
groid tribes of the Sudan. asked the sirdar
about il. He got but little satisfaction
from his saturnine chief. why, learned
them; had TO. You cannot control men,
to them" And that was all.
That these Sudan Negro-Arabs fairly
worship this wonderful man is not surpris-
ing. They regard war the only business
in life worth considering. For sixteen years
they have been fighting. fighting. In all
that time, pitted against men who firmly
believed IL killed In battle they go straight
to paradise, these blacks that Kitchener
and his officers have trained have invaria-
bly, been successful. Then their pay-4
shillings monthly and rations-to them is
almost incredible in it's munhcence. No
one is ever taken into the black regiments
who Is not six feet in stature. As they
stand at attention. those black battalions
look like statues. The English colonel clicks
out a command In Arabic, with a machine
like snap the 749 statues OF men now break
into column OF companies. Southern born
and bred before he has seen this, some
how the writer had always associated the
negro with something either ser-viie OF
funny. but these fearless blacks had never
been slaves TO any race. and acknowledged
no superiors but the whites. They honestly
believe that 10 be white Is to never have
known fear. They have seen many English
officers die by bullet and by steel, but they
have never seen one of the white race show
fear, and their proudest boast Is: I'VE are
like the Englishmen: are never afraid"
What this bundle of steel wire and brains
called Srdar Kitchener will do II he lives
twenty-five years longer. is impossible 10
predict. He is not quite fifty years old.
Standing six feet four. straight as lance.
he sees everything. He Is never tired or
surprised: never taken unawares nor show
ing hurry; ne is the ideal man for just the
conditions he has TO deal with. He came
into British affairs in Egypt at the right
hour and was the right man. To-day he Is
absolutely king and ruler over one-third OF
all Africa, from the Nile valley and its trib-
utaries TO the Cape of Good Hope. He is
the biggest coming man OF that domain on
which the sun never sets.