The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-02-14
Science Says from 55 to
62 He Loses Courage
INSTANCES NUMEROUS
Butler, Methuen, Tyron, Napoleon
and Rojestvensky Are Examples.
After 62 Man Is Trustworthy
Again-English Generals Who
Blundcred I'm Bocr War.

| two, when the heart and brain re-
| fuse to respond to crises. and fatal
errors, impossible at any other po.
| rlod. are committed?
A foremost English doctor says
SO. and he fortifies his argument with
| impressive instances.
When this condition affects them,
| bushes men show irresolution and
suspicion without reason, statesmen
| make inexcusable blunders of poi
Icy. soldiers commit the most glaring
mistakes which cost battles, and
sailors lose battleships, while trusty
| railroad engineers run past signals
and cause disastrous wrecks.
After the danger mark Is passed,
| .ho solldity ana conservatism of old
age come TO the rescue, and the re.
suit is seen in men OF extraordinary
preservation, like Gladstone. Ibsan,
Se-htor Hoar. Verdi or General
| Roberts.
1t is fact, however, that m0ny
instances seem to bear out the idol
Of the English doctor.
In 1898 occurred one of the fa-
| nous naval disasters OF history. It
did not happen in time OF warfare,
anl yet 1t resulted in tho wanton
waste of almost 500 lives.
This was the collision between the
warships Camperdown and the Vic
toria. during manouvres of the Eng
lish navy.
Admiral TryoI, an holored VET
cran, was In command of the feet.
and stood on the bridge of his flag
ship, the Victoria.
The Camperdown, a ship with n
| ram, came around with n sweep, de-
scribing curve that would have left
plenty of room had the Victoria turn
ed In right direction. But incompre-
hensibly Admiral Tryon gave an or
der which sent his ship in exactly
the opposite way. Camperdown and
Victoria came together, and the ram
| of the formr sent the Victoria to the
bottom
Admiral Tryon stood like a statue
on the bridge, and made no effort to
escape. 1t was the virtual suicide OF
a brave man, who at the end COM
pretended the lives his blunder had
cost, and dared not live to face the
reproaches that must be his.
The surprise of the British nation
equalled its grief and horror.
why did he make such a mis-
take? He, an experienced officer,
who had spent his life giving orders,
and had never blundered before?"
No one could answer but the new
theory explains. Tryon was SO.
The antics of Rojestvensky dur
Ing the Russo-Japanese war would
have been ludicrous but for their Sc
rious result. He blundered seriously
In the battle of the Straits OF Korea,
which resulted in his capture and
overwhelming defeat at the hands Of
Admiral Togo. But this was less
| mysterious than his unprecedented
action, which has never been ex-
planned clearly, OF firing into a fleet
of harmless British fishing smacts,
an action which narrowly missed en-
broiling Russia In war with Eng
| land.
Nobody denied Rojestvensky's
| bravery, his judgment was the Of
| fender. Perhaps an excuse may be
found for his in the fact that he was
more than fifty-hve. but had not
reached sixty.
When Weyler was In Cuba his Of
| fendings, his brutality and his GU
| rious utter inability to Judge a situa-
| ton made him the most hated and
| scorned man of the decade. But now
in Spain he has grown TIL his SER
vices to Alfonso are genuine and pa
triotic. Can 1t be that passing be-
| yond sixty-two has wrought the de-
velopment?
| Before he reached the age of fifty
flve Napoleon III. ranked as gallant
soldier who had done valiant service
In the Crimean War. While consid-
cred selfish and vain he had shown
di"tinct powers of diplomacy and was
| regarded as a strong man.
| But in the seven years between the
| age of fifty-five and sixty-two he
| committed series of unparalleled fol-
lies finally eliminating in his suici-
dal forcing of war with Germany,
an act which threw his family from
the throne, ended monarchy in
France and sent him to England to
die in exile.
The English generals who con-
mitted the blunders in the Boer-
English war were men between the
ages of fifty-fve and sixty-two, the
Bullers and the Methuens.
Those who went to the rescue
were curiously either above or below
the fatal age. Thus Lord Kitchener
was at that time less than fifty years
old and Lord Roberts, the much
loved "Bobs," was getting close to
seventy. 1t was this pair who ended
n most humiliating condition of af-
fairs for England and stopped the
Boer successes.
| Dewey, past the danger mark, beat
Montljo. In the fatal zone, at the bat
Tie of Manila, and so similar in