The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-08-19
CRITICISED BY WOLSBLEY
English Army Officers Censured for
IncOmpeteney.
Maneuvres mt AIdershot CnIi Forth n
RebuISe From the Commnnder-in-
Many Blundcrs of the Worst Pos
sfbIe Typc-The Troops Unframed.

LONDON. Aug 1s.-Gen. Montgomery
Moore. commanding at Aldershot. has been
severely criticised by Lord Wolseley for
his work at a big field day. Never, per-
haps. has the need of the lesson given
in South Africa been more fully demon
strated
The Times" comments today are a
conservative expression of what every
thinging Englishman is saying in far more
foreible terms. The following passage is
typical of the whole:
THE plan of the exercise was one of
rear guard action, which has become IA
miliar during the war. The force in re-
treat was to endeavor tc delay the pur-
suing enemy as much as possible. Our
military correspondent spoke sarcastically
Of the maneuvre as "A gentlemanly scheme
with no nasty Boer sliminess about 1t.
Even so. there was left room for good
hghting or bad fighting. The troops and
leaders seem to have been chosen for the
latter They appear to have bungled the
whole business and certainly acquitted
themselves so as to receive from the COM
nander- -chief the most humiliating cen
Iure that has befallen British division
.or many a day. The country would do
we'll to pay close attention to this little
affair. for the faults it revealed may very
soon prove, if unarrested, disastrous. Nor
would any good purpose be served by hush
ng up the matter, for we may well be as
sured that it is already known to all the
general staffs in Europe. AIdershot has
been emptied and has not been refilled,
yet it contains thirteen battalions Of reg
ular Infantry, besides a number of details
from seventeen battalions of militia and
the force of cavalry, artillery, etc.
The melancholy discovery the country
is now making on the authority of the
oommander-in-chief is that there are Of
ficers and men who cannot go through
field day and an ordinary sham fight with
out committing a series of elementary
blunders of the worst possible type. Moth
ing else would have led Lord Wolseley in
addressing the assembly OF officers TO de-
clare that not again under any circum-
stances were large operations to be tried
until the brigade work and the company
work were much more thoroughly known.
This censure was not directed primarily
against the men. but against the offcers
who were explicitly told by the command
er-in-chief that they did not know the
grammar Of their work. The fnen are
probably good material: English troops
generally are, as has been proved over
and over again in South Africa, but they
seem TO be quite unframed
The Times" conclu6es with the qu-s-
tion, How can this be changed?" and
suggests that the constitution of the army
should be changed SO that clever youths
should regard it as natural career.
As regards Lord wolseley's scathing re-
marks. while they meet with universal ap
prevail, they may be criticised from two
points, first, toward the end of his five
years service as commander-in-chief tia
condition of affairs at Aldershot should be
such that mis- criticism should not De need
ed. ard. secondly. an unprofessional spirit
was shown in concluding his well-deserved
rebukes with an apology in hoping that the
officers would take his remarks in good
part