The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-04-27
EARL ROBERTS AND HOW
 HE WON FAME IN INDIA
Something About the Man Who Stopped the Victor iOus Progress of the BoerS in South
 Africa--SOn Of Fighter.

troops. who. as he saw on many occa- | sions. consistently refused to stand when pressed in front and threatened In flank. When. in later days, he found himself In chief command of an army in the field, and face to face with an enemy on the defensive he never failed to adopt this particular form of tactics, which sue ceeded as unfailingly -against the we'll | armed Boer as against the wild tribes
 of Afghanistan.
 His Work as Military Reformer. In 1859 Roberts returned to India. having ': adedd wife to his responsibilities. and
 was as once employed in the Quarter | master Generals department in which he l was to spend so many years of his Indian | service, and in which. he soon found him. self engaged in endeavoring to find a so- | lntion for the many problems. which at | that time confronted tho Indian Govern | ment trying to create new and trust l worthy native army out of the debris sur l viving the ordeal of the Mutiny. Hence we find that Roberts al a comparatively early age was engrossed in d study of | the problems which beset the path of the army reformer. thus gaining experience l which can hardly fall to he most valu- | ablc to him at the present moment. In | this office he remained till 1861. when he
 was sent Into the country of the Brun- 1 erwais to report on the position of a | small British force who found themselves | threatened by large and tumultuous | gathering of mountaineers and unable to I
 the frontier Government found themselves | committed. The little campaign was | brought to an end without any very sc- | rious fighting. but Roberts had a dan | gerous and unpleasant experience when | sent as our envoy to witness the burn | ing of Malka. nest of robbers, which l the Bunerwals had agreed to destroy as | a token of their submission. We next | dnd the hero of this sketch entrusted | with the responsible duty of arranging | for the transport of the Bengal conting- l ent in the Abyssinian war. a duty which
 he carried out with conspicuous | lected to carry home the dis
 patches of Lord Napier, the British com
 mander in that campaign. This was in | 1887. but he was not to rest on his laurels | long. for in '71 we find him again on | service as Senior Staff Officer in a puni- | tive campaign against the Lushais. Hero | again he did msritorious service. and was | rewarded by being appointed first Deputy | Quartermaster-General and subsequently, | Quartermaster-G General, one of the high l est military appointments within the gift l of the Indian Government. But the great | opportunity of his life was about to he | offered to him.
 Roberts Military Methods Illus trated.
 In 1878 matters had come to d crisis l in our relations with the Amir of Af- | ghanistar, and war having become re- cognized as inevita ble, Roberts was se-
 lected for the command of the Kurum 1 Valley Field Force, of a strength of
 about $500 officers and men. with l1 guns,
 and directed to cross the frontier and en-
 ter Afghanistan on the Fist of November,
 1878. Moving up the kurum Valley. Rob- | erts at last found his enemy strongly entrenched on the Peiwar Khotal, occu-
 pying the crest over which he must
 march if he wished to approach Kabul. His position was most upenviable one. l In front of him drowned the rocky and l precipitous heights on which lay the Al
 gttsad .1
 provided with numerous artillery. In
 the valley lay the scanty British force.
 and hostile tribesmen threatening our
 Hanks and our lines of communication,
 only waiting some sign of irresolution or
 timidity on our part before openly throw
 ing in their lot with the Afghans. There
 was no possibility of obtaining reinforce
 ments; every hour brought fresh recruits
 to the Afghan army. and increased our
 difficulties of supply. The moment was
 critical, and nothing but the most viz
 orous action could ensure successes Ger
 tainly no vigor was wanting in the dar-
 ing course which Roberts adopted. Plung-
 ing by night into difficult and intri-
 cate country with portion of his force.
 he adopted his favorite out-fanking tao
 tics. the remnant of his army demon-
 strating strongly against the front of
 the Afghan position. The attempt. haz-
 ardous in the extreme, succeeded bril-
 liantly. and the Afghan army, melting
 away into a disorganized rabble lied
 from the rough handling of their bold
 assailants Space will not permit of any
 detailed account of the Afghan war. This
 action of the Peiwar khotal has been
 described at greater length chiefly be-
 cause 1t was eminently characteristic Of
 Roberts meth ods showing both the cool
 sagacity which told him where lay the . only chance of success, and the intrep- idity which enabled him to adopt without
 hesitation the line recommended to him by his Judgment. In the following year.
 at the action of Charaziah, we md hlm I tn. ust,ailo atf ina
 we find him adopting the same bold line
 of action and the same outhanklng tac- , tics with perfect success. At the action | of Kandahar which followed and conSum- : mated the great achievement with which
 his name will be ever associated, We ind
 almost precisely the same plan or battle
 attended by the same success. And when he exchanged the mountainous terraln ol , Afghanistan for the arid veldt of South
 Africa, and the crafty Boer for his ruse Afghan enemy, again We ma the carer III
 forethought preliminary to action the prudent preparation. the rapid movement,
 and the staggering blow. all so charac-
 teristic of the strategy and tactics ot our greatest general in combination as IT. resistible IS of old
 l No article of this length can give more |, than the briefest outline Of career
 which all Englishmen should study. and
 especially all English soldiers TOT there Is no model from which the young sol
 dier will learn loftier lesson than rom , the life of our present Commandcr-lll :
 Chief. Earl Roberts Of Waterford and | kandahar ~ , Nor is it only on the field of battle , that his character has shone with steady briIliance: as a ruler of men In peace, i, | fully as much as leader of men in war, Lord Roberts has won the highest reputation He has spared no effort to
 improve tho lot of the humhlcst of ms soldiers and to no man more than 10 hin' is due the great amelioration which has
 taken place of late years in tn" lot of the private soldier of the British army. Earl Roberts will always be known as tnc soldiers general" and would desire no 1sCopyright in the United States "f America by n. T. Piercc)
 Never look a gift pipe in the mouthpiece "A Bit O Luck.