The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-06-20
LORD KITCHENER. HOW HE ROSE FRoM A LIEU
 TENANCY. Made a Study of War-Learned Passive Self Control in the 0ri- ent-Daring Life in the
 Soudan.

l Washington Telegram to New York Post
 tall, 1.-the, clean-limbed figure, delib-
 crate in movement. still and piercing
 a dull brick red. cleft chin. a resolute ] mouth shaded by long mustache, the face stern. cold, infexible. Such is Lord Kitchener.
 Born in Ireland of English parents, in
 June. 1850. his boyho od was passed in | that country. Rather a bookworm than
 an athlete. he showed but little capacity
 for outdoor sports. his talents leaning l chiefly toward mathematics He entered
 the army as d Lieutenant of Royal En- gineers in 1s1 and first saw service in | the Franco-Prussian War. having off, | fered himself to the French authorities, | and was actively engaged on several oc- l casions. but owing to an attack of pneu-
 monia was invalided back to England.
 At the earliest opportunity he sought
 service abroad. and was sent to Palestine | under the auspices of the Palestine ex- | ploration fund.- In this work he was con | nected with many well-known men. such | as Farrar, Holman. Hunt, Walter Besant
 and Sir Charles Warren. After spending l six years of danger and adventure sur | veying Palestine, which had not then been civilized by Cooks tourists and was overrun by rowing bands of robbers, he was removed to Cyprus to organize the courts and put the civil service on a firm 1 basis. In 1879 Lord Beaconsfeld appoint ed him one of his military Vice-Consuls
 
 | turned to Cyprus and made survey of | the entire island.
 During these years Kitchener had c5- | tained mastery of the Arabic language | and character, which was to stand him | in good stead later. When the Egyptian | army was being drilled by English off, | cers in 1882. he volunteered his services
 and was appointed one of the two ma | jors of cavalry.
 | Following is a reminiscence of Kitch- | ener at this period. The occasion was
 the licking into shape of the native cav l airy officers-t to-be. A tall, slim, thin | faced, slightly stopping figure in long | boots, cutaway dark morning coat and | Egyptian fez somewhat tilted over his
 eyes. took position in the center of a
 circular space, round which the riders | were to show their paces. Very quiet and | serious he stood looking with ar utterly l eXpressionless gIze at the awkward. slip | audible nor visible sign did he give of
 any feeling aroused in him by a perform | ance mostly disappointing and sometimes
 ridiculous. With hands buried in his | trousers pockets he quietly weeded out | the least fit He had been theIr oflice.' i, just four days
 | Before long his superior officers recog- | nized that in him they had an excep- /, tionally smart assistant. so that he was | often intrusted with missions of some | delicacy which were invariably carried
 out out successfully; It was not long before | ment and for years his life became that | of a desert nomad.
 Into the Soudan.
 Under the name of Abdullah Bey he | penetrated into the inmost life of the | Soudan, to all appearance an Arab. Ben nett Burleigh, a war correspondent, found I him living with armed tribesmen and | was surprised to find him an Englishman, as in dress, speech, and all eXternals | he was completely disguisede On one of | these roamings in disguise for the pur- pose of gathering information he wit l messed the execution of a supposed spy. The poor wretch was subjected to such tortures that Kitchener ever after car-
 ried concealed in his burnous a tiny phial of cyanide of potassium.
 Death at their hands I did not fear" he subsequently, remarked to a brother
 officer; Tin fact, l expected it. But such a death!
 When the ill-fated Gordon was shut
 up in khartoum. it was Kitchener who
 managed to smuggle through the little news of the outer world which Gordon received and who assiduously sent news of Khartoum northward, unfortunately in vain Leading this strange. romantic life. now wandering with the desert tribes, steeped in the silent glamor of the East, absorbing the immutable patience, the passionless self-control of the Orient. now | amid the rush and progress of Occidental civilization. Kitchener was shaping him. self for his future career. In 1892 Kitchener was appointed Sirda-. or Commander -in-Chief of the Egyptian army. linen commenced the conquest or
 the Soudan. Without a single pause the
 work went forward. Kitchener is never
 in hurry. With rigid self-control he
 feels the ground firm beneath him before advancing step forward, Where others had used camels he conceived the idea of a railway, and turned raid into an irresistible conquest. This meant organ ization to an unprecedented extent; noth- ing. even the very least. was overlooked; negligence meant disaster, the slightest confusion failure. The Dervishes waited and wondered; then, passing from appre- hension to security, said: He Is not
 coming; he is afraid" Then suddenly at dayhreak one morning they saw him ad- vancing upon them from all sides at
 once, and by noon they had been exter- minated. Patient yet swift. certain and relentless, he swept conquering south
 ward until his work eliminated in the battle of Omdurman and the fall of
 khartoum. He had written a new naye of British history and plotted out : old one.
 Luck in War.
 Napoleon said he wanted lucky generals, not clever ones, and KitChener's luck is a byword. But what is called luck is
 often opportunities. realized. Lord Kitch- ener has worked his way upward from small honors to great ones. so that when
 he was appointed Lord Roberts chief of
 staff in South Africa intense satisfaction
 was felt in England. To this war he
 brought his great gift of organization. his capacity for arranging details. his llfeIeSS energy. me area or operations
 was immense. the energy was viglant,
 the prestige of Great Britain had been lowered, a proper system of transport did not exist. This was Ktchener's spe-
 cial task. and the masterly manner in
 which he accomplished it has been uni versally acknowledged.
 War Is business and must be learned
 like any other business. Kitchener is es- sentially a business General Genius has been defined the infinite capacity of taking pains. so war genius may be equal ly well described as the infinite capacity | of grasping detail. This capacity kitch- | ener certainly possesses, and to it he has added many adjuncts. Never does he | miss chance of acquiring knowledge, l and it may be noted that despite the 1 infinite worry and responsibility of his | position in South Africa, he has found
 time to learn the Dutch language. | In appointing his officers he has al- | ways said: Your capacity for command
 will bc judged by results" So must he | be judged. Of one human weakness he | is believed not to have purged himself | ambition. Homiles against ambition | may be left to those that have failed. | Kitcheners. If apparently purely per | sonal. is legitimate. To England he is
 what Won Moltke was to Prussia Inn l passive and silent as the Sphynx to wait | his time. swift as the lightning to strike.
 brother officer. speaking to Lord
 Kitchener of a comrade said he was a | good fellow"
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