The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-02-01

SIR WILLIAM BUTLER DEFEND
 ED
He Tried to Slave Off the War for

l itG lihehlCui 5llolCS iSLo el tllt CluDo and for the nonce the clubs seem to be | peopled exclusively by amateur strate- gists-say roundly, from their posts on
 the hearthrug, that Butler (they nev-
 CT allow the unfortunate gentleman any title or prefix to his name) Is to blame for this, that and the other; for the in- accurate counting of the Boer guns, for
 the underestimate which was formed of
 the forces which the enemy could put
 into the field for the numerical weak
 ness of our army In South Africa at
 the outbreak of hostilities and for a
 thousand other things besides. l ] think that the time has come to place
 the public in possession of a few facts
 concerning the brave man who has been
 thus mercilessly thrust into the pillory,
 while his official position renders 1t inn
 possible for him to defend himself from
 the calumny and insult to which he is | daily exposed. * Sir William Buffers
 sole offence lies in the fact that he
 failed to estimate rightly the pugnaci-
 ty of the cabinet, and, further. that he,
 more clearly than any other man, fore | saw the magnitude of the struggle in which we were engaging with so light 1 heart, and the strain which would be put upon our national resources before | We could hope to bring it to a success full issue
 l Up to his departure for Europe Sir Alfred Milner had refrained from adopting any strong line of policy as re- gards the Transvaal and the grievances of the Uitlanders. Sir William Butler, to whom no definite instructions were given, was left to fill Sir Alfred Miners
 place, and he proceeded to do what in nine cases out of ten would have been the thing most earnestly desired by the government which he was serving.
 That is to say, he did all in his power
 to keep things quiet, and to avoid what
 in common parlance we term row
 Every one who has served in outlying
 portions of the empire is aware that
 this is the line which most generally
 comments itself to the authorities in
 Downing street.. and if any blame at-
 taches to Sir William Butler in this
 matter, it is that he was somewhat
 more outspoken in the cause of peace,
 somewhat more definitely opposed to
 magnifying grievances than more re-
 ticent man would have been Sir Al
 fred Miners views and those of Sir
 William Butler on all the questions at
 which we have glanced were widely op-
 posed, and in the end he made repre-
 sentations upon the subject to the CO.,
 lonial office. The cogs of the machine clutched one another, and the war office was set in motion. Something resem-
 bling a reprimand was addressed to Sir William Butler, who at once acted in the generous and unselfish manner which was to be expected from him.
 He pointed out that he had done what he believed to be the thing most desired by the imperial government; that he had every right to believe that he would be supported in such action, both on account of all that had gone before, and from the absence of any definite in- structions as to the line which it was desired that he should take; and he wound up by offering to resign his com mand if his presence i'll South Africa in any way hampered the executive. As we all know, his resignation was accept ed by the war office, though as proof that his action had not been of kind incapable of defence, he was promptly gazetted to command which is tech- nica1ly superior to that from which he was removed. This move had also the effect of preventing Sir William Butler from uttering a word in explanation or defence of the conduct which, during the last few months, has been made the object of so much thoughtless abuse.
 But before he left the Cape Sir Will liam Butler gave some advice which, if might well have altered the | whole course of the present campaign. Natal must be abandoned so far as it's | northern districts were concerned, he | said A force of some twenty thousand | men must be placed to guard the line of | the Tugela, and an army of not less than hundred thousand more must be in the advance on Bloemfon- ten through Cape Colony. At the time | the figures were regarded as ridiculous | ly large The experiences of the past | few weeks show only too plainly how !, accurately Sir William Butler gauged | the seriousness of the situation with 1 which the government was confronted. | * The shortcomings of the local intel | ligence department must be attributed | to the neglect of his predecessors rather | than to any failure upon his part. | When all is known it will be found that 1 he estimated the task before us with | sure accuracy in which our other mli- tary authorities have been sadly lack ing; that the loss of his advice and To- cal knowledge at a critical moment is a | price paid for prejudice which is posi- lively incalculable; and that the sense- less outcry raised against him by the press, which renders it practically im- possible for a weak-kneed department to send him back to 8 place where the want of really scientific general is making itself so wofully felt is robbing the country of one of it's best weapons. England is rightly proud of her soldiers in South Africa, but the actions of her have not hitherto been of a character to make her throb with en- thusiasm. We are waiting breathlessly to see what Sir Redvers Butler can do; Sir Charles Warren, in whom many of those who now center their best hopes. 1nly landed in Cape Town day or two ago; Sir William Butler, who knows the .rcks of the difficult game better, per 1aps, than either, is eating his heart ,ut in England, scorned abused and ,landered because he foresaw more dearly than his fellows the horrors of he present, and strove to avert what 1 ne believed to be national calamity Westminster Gazette.