The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-06-22

4 Among the many tragic-con1ic spec
tacles Of these covenanting days there
is one that is purely tragic--that can
be contemplated only in pain, Yet
even in saying so one confesseH that
tho term tragic" is not strictly APP
| plicable: for in tragedy there ought
TO be something eleyating and emo
bling. and here there Is nothing uf
the sort What can there be but
| sheer depression In the spectacles
OF a great and ever loyal soldier
whose years have been prolonged be-
You'd the common span. only that he
may stain his record at the last by
| fomenting and abetting factious dis
loyalty? The chief mischief wrought
by the Carsons. the Craigs and the
kiplings may he serious or may be
trivial. but at any rate they have no
historic career to run. The career
Of Earl Roberts, on the other hand.
has hitherto been one that history
could have recorded with unmingled
pride. There may he--there are
wide differences Of opinion as to the
particular merits of the causes for
which he has fought: but there Is
no question whatever that he did hos
duty as a soldier in such way as TO
merit the warm esteem and affection
of his countryrnen. And now to see
him deep in the councils of band
of constitutional wreckers and civil
war mongers It is pitiful, pitiful!
There is something very thrilling
to the imagination In the lot of those
men tn whom 1t Is given TO bridge
the gulf between two widely sunder-
ed ages The magic of the days that
are no more" has been sung by Tenny
son in one OF the loveiiest and most
human of his lyrics. Browning char
| acteristicaliy expressed the same SEN
| timent in the stanZa beginning
And did you once see Shelley plain 2.
| / passed In the Strand the other even
ing man who had met Thackeray
| and known Dickens well: how he car
ried the mind away from the glare
| of electric light. the barking OF the
| motor horns, and the news bills an
nouncing a projected flight across the
| Atlantic. He seemed to have come
| from beyond great abyss, and to
| bring with him airs from a far off
| forever inaccessible world. But Lord
| Roberts carries us still further back
than this waif from the sixties.
Lieutenant Frederick Roberts was
rubbing shoulders with men who were
making history and playing his own
gallant part among them at a time
when Thackeray had still six years.
| and Dickens thirteen, to live, when
the Origin OF Species'' was unpub-
iished. the Isthmus of Suez unpierced.
| and the breech~loading rifle unin-
j vented. How infinitely far away
/ seems that stalwart, bushy- bearded,
rugged generation, who fought and
prayed. and kept stiff upper lip
through the long months of peril and
suspense which we docket and dis
miss as the Indian mutany! The
| 1awrences. John Nicholson. Herbert
| Edwardes. Havelock, outram. Colin
| Campbell, Napier. NeiN. Hodson--
| they all seem men of wholly differ
emit breed from the soldiers Of to-
day and yesterday. But among them
moved little lieutenant of artillery.
physically a lightweight, n point Of
| experience q novice, yet almost from
the outset selected and trusted for
services demanding nerve, resolution
| and resource.
He was in the thick OF everything.
He was at Peshawar when Cotton
and Edwardes disarmed four sepoy
regiments and saved the Punjab He
was at Jullunder when John Niehol-
son cowed the wavering Sikh sirdars.
as Mr.. Newbolt sings in his fine bal
| lad. To Roberts Nicholson express
ed his resolve to propose the super
session OF Archdale Wilson. should
he veto the assault on Delhi. On
the day Of the assault 1t was Roberts
| who saw, near the kashrnir gate. a
| doolie deserted by its bearers. and,
on raising the curtain. met the bag
gard eyes of the dying Nicholson. A
few days later he saw the last of the
/ Moguls a covering captive, and the
bodies of his two sons and grandson
stretched on the threshold Of the
| police headquarters in the city Of
| Shah Jahan.
He entered Cawnpore while the
stains OF massacre were still on the
walls. and the well of death was still
unsealed. On the night before the
relief OF Lucknow he was sent back
to the depot at Alambagh to bring
up a reserve Of ammunition SER
vice extremely difficult in the laby-
rinthine outskirts OF city swarming
with mutineers. He was present at
| the storming Of the Sikandarbagh,
and 1t was he who planted on the
messhouse roof the fag--twice shot
| down and twice replaced--which
showed the defenders OF the residency
| that the rescuers were at last at their
gates But it is not his personal ex-
| PLOTS that / desire to emphasize; 1t
is simply the fact--until recently
| source of unmixed pride--that we
| have still among US man who knew
| all the leading actors and himself
bore no small part in drama so ter
| rible in its incidents, so miraculous
| in its issue. and. above all, as it seems
to most of us. SO pathetically re-
mote.
The march to Kandahar and other
events OF Lord Roberts meridian fall
within the memory OF middle-aged
men, This part OF his career, how
ever brilliant. Is less romantic than
it's earlier and later scenes. Having
won the highest honors Of his call
ing, he had, as 1t seemed, retired upon
his laurels He had written his mod
est, straightforward memoirs. and
everything seemed to predict for him
serene old age. But 1t was not to
be. There came a day. ever memo
rable to all who lived through 1t.
almost in one crowded hour. the news
OF his only sons heroic death and his
country's call to stand .by her In 4