The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1901-11-09

The following is the speech. in part,
Of Sir Redvers Butler, delivered re-
GENTLY in London, and for which he
was relieved of the command OF the
First. Army Corps and retired on half
pay!
,There are lots of gallant Englishmen,
Scotsmen, and Irishmen who will risk
their lives for their countrymen at any
body's bidding, but when it comes to
risking their lives, and to knowing that'
il they are not successful, it is not
only their Lives but their fame, their
character, and their conduct that WILL
be assailed by q certain number OF
writer's for the press, and that their be-
longings will be struck at by them IN
an unfair and in an Improper way,
+hen I think you ask almost more than
human endurance can carry OUT
,,aeers). am here talking to members
az the Natal army, and i'm that army
we had "a gallant fellow. as gallant a
fellow, as, l believe, has ever been In
any army. We used to call him by TWO
names. We sometimes called him
good little Cough" and sometimes
gallant little Cough" but DO not
think we ever put any other ad]ecelVe
to It. That little man has commanoeo
aasanted infantry to force in the helo
,sw for two whole years, and ques-
uou If there has ever been week IN
which he has not been in great PERSONAL
hanger, and 1 doubt if there are many
lays for the two years on which he
~ not been under fire. He was OUT
me other day in a difficult country. he
saw some of the enemy, and he chasea
them. as he would because it was the
;raner thing to do, and they led him
ato an alnbuscade and he lost a large
anbber of his men. Without any refer
spee to his two years previous history
ld there are many of us who can
tance several occasions on which he
% done siargularly good service-some
ywspapers said: '"This is another in
stance of the extraordinary manner IN
lich officers throw their men away Dy
.eglect of ordinary military precau-
lions" That is the sort of criticism
made upon his conduct. Now, 1 do
mot think it is fair. I know that par
it,c,lar place well. Two and twenty
-ears ago was in charge of mounted
Infantry, and had the duty of protect
nx conveys through that very coun-
VI believe it was the identical road.
said to my general, II am not going
1rough that place again without 500
have got convoy ito protect :" He
.;aid. 1--WE will go and see it tomorrow
Il daylight" We went, and he said,
You are quite right. I will put fort
ere" And during the months was
Kambula that fort eased my mind
great deal. We called it in those days
;oulter's Spruit. 1t is now called
,cheeper's Mex. 1t is most dithcult
y. and do not care who the cav
ally leader is unless he has got very
large force with him he could not pos
sibly safeguard a convoy through that
country i'm fair attack. Well, Cough
cot caught when he was chasing the
Roers. What ought he to have done
except chase the Beers at the end of
the war? We have got to finish this
war. and the only advantage we have
IS the advantage of numbers. For every
nan we kill we knock one chalk off;
or every man we have killed we have
:wo volunteers to put in his place
,<liheers). That is our chance. we are
lighting against every possible disad-
vantage in this sort of fighting. we
don't shoot natives if we see them
alking round our camps. and If we
ont shoot them they take back in
formation to our adversaries. They
cannot talk the language-the two IAN
guages, in fact-that we ought to know.
AS you see by tile police reports yester-
day. wherever we are we have traitors
in our midst. How can an army be
expected to get through a difficulty of
that sort unless it is fairly and prop
eray and decently supported? In my
opinion, every single man who risks