Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-16
CRITICISM OF ROBERTS
WAR EXPERTS THINK HE BLUNDER-
ED AT PRETORIA.
Gen. KeI1y-Kenny's Remarks - Pros
tratfOns at Aldershot Maneuvers-
London News and Gossip.

LONDON, June 16.-What with exciting
news from the war that was supposed TO be
over in South Africa, sensational reports
in regard to the war that is said to be
pending In China and alarming dispatches
relative to the rebellion against British
rule In Ashanti. to say nothing of the gay
Ascot meeting, the death of Mrs. Glad
stone, and the death of the Duke of Well
tngton. the week in England has been one
of considerable interest. In fact, so gen.
timely absorbed has the nation become In
its own peculiar affairs that those of other
countries fail to elicit the slightest COM
ment.
THE war;" as General Kelly-Kenny Is
reported to have said to General Tucker a
few weeks ago, is the FUNNIEST l have
ever seen. If we referring to the division
conmanders) do things wrong, We are sent
home in disgrace. If We do them right
Roberts gets all the credit
And the war is "rummier" than even
General kelly-kenny had any idea Of The
spectacle presented this week of a victori-
Gus British general, in command of the
greatest army his country ever put under
one man, shut off from all communication
with the outer world, while units of his
forces, to the number of some 100 men.
were annihilated by supposedly pacified
enemy whose territory was annexed.
stands almost unique in military history.
VINO Numbered Mt PretOriaS
While Lord Roberts is not blamed for
these disasters. there is a strong feeling
among the leading South Africans in Lon
don that he or some one Numbered at Pre-
toria. Those who know every inch around
the Transvaal capital say Lord Roberts
took the most arduous side to approach it,
whereas with easier means of access he
might have gone eastward and shut off all
possibility of General Botha's retreat AS
it Is the capture of Pretoria was practically
an empty triumph, except for its moral
effect. What old South African campaign
ers are asking is why did Roberts not
get Botha and his men and take Pretoria
afterwards, instead of occupying a desert
ed town and letting the Beers calmly walk
away under the nose of his overwhelming
force?"
Yet while this question is frequently
heard. there is such genuine admiration for
Lord Roberts and belief in the efficacy OF
his tactics that even those who ask 1t are
loath to critcise him until they know all
the details.
The patent fallibilities of the generals
fighting at the front have caused endless
criticism since the war began. but scarcely
any blunder in South Africa has drawn
upon it so much condemnation as the re-
cent AlderShot maneuvers when 10000
troops engaged in a sham battle on the
hottest day of the year. The inquest upon
four of the enlisted men who died from
heat prostration records the fact that the
troops started early in the morning with
out an adequate meal and that the forage
caps they wore were utterly insufficient to
protect their heads from the sun. A more
damning Indictment of military equipment
was scarcely ever SO quickly and effica-
ciously secured as by this simple verdict
of a coroner's jury. Besides the men who
died. some 400 had to go to the hospitals.
The result is that the obnoxious forage
cap Is likely to be done away with.
The Late Duke of Wellington.
The death of the third Duke of yelling
ton removes one Of the shyest and least
known peers in England. He was a pro-
nounced valetudinarian and also suffered
from a keen appreciation of his own posi-
ton. Once and only once he made an at
tempt to speak in public 1t was on the
vagrancy question. in which he was great
ly interested. A profusion of notes lay be-
fore him as he sat in the house Of lords.
He caught the lord chancellor's eye, SOL
EMMY rose up, arranged his notes, cleared
his throat and sat down without even utter
ing a syllable. He never tried again.
A curious story is printed regarding the
Duke Of York. 1t AYERS that in January
bevy Of four beautiful oriental maidens
rived at York house and announced them
selves as present from a certain dusky
potentate The Prince of Wales son did
not desire to offend the giver. yet he could
scarcely accept, so, in some way
other, the maidens were returned and there
was no offense.