20th Dec.
"THERE is a soul of goodness in things evil," and it is already evident that good' will come out of the disappointments of the present campaign in South Africa. It has been objected in many quarters that in our article on Monday we took too serious a view of the reverse sustained by General Buller on Frid our telegrams show that the took was also taken by the British Government and by the London Press. The opinion of the latter was expressed in almost the same words that we used; they agree, we are told by Reuter, "that the present situation is the worst that there has been since the Indian Mutiny." The measures that have been so promptly taken by the Cabinet, on Sir Redvers Buller's telegraphed advices and long before his written accounts could reach home, seem to be almost dictated bya feeling of actual panic. The most important and striking these measures is the supersession of Sir Redvers Buller in the Chief Command by Field-Marshal Lord Roberts of Kandahar. There is no doubt that General Buller's failure on Friday has caused the deepest disappointment at home. By all except Lord. Wolseley's personal admirers he was regarded as our most able General, and he would probably have been made Commanders home. instead of Lord Wolseley, the last Liberal Government remained in office only a few days longer. Besides, he had had experience in, cis South African campaigning, and the universal feeling when he' accepted the command in South Africa was: "Oh! it's all right now Buller's going." It has been suggested that Lord Wolseley's. jealousy of Sir Redvers Buller has prompted the supersession of that General before his explanations, were received, but we cannot believe that the Cabinet would allow themselves to be-influenced-by Lord Wolseley's personal likes and dislikes. It is more probable that the determining factor has been the morale of our troops in the field. Even the bulldog courage of the British soldier is not entirely proof against a succession of reverses due not to any fault on his part, but to his.leaders' want of capacity to deal with the wiliness of the Boer commanders. "Little Bobs," as Lord Roberts is affectionately called, and "the Sirdar," Lord Kitchener, are both idols of tommy Atkins, and the news of their coming will do as much to strengthen our forces in the field as the reported arrival ofa whole division. It is true that Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener have not hitherto seen service in South Africa; but the experience of the Generals who have seen service there has not given such good results that it should seem to be indispensable.
Our army consists of regular troops, militia, and volunteers. Speaking concisely we may say that hitherto it has been the habit of the War Office to cherish the regular troops, neglect the militia, and despise the Volunteers. The War Office has done this consistently, while knowing that our regular troops were entirely insufficient in numbers should Wye become involved in a war of any importance. 'The war has come, and after only two months' fighting—the first fight at Dundee in which General Symons was mortally wounded was on the 20th of October—we have come practically to the end of our available regular troops. The War Office has to turn to the branches of our army that, it has systematically neglected, and here is the soul of goodness in our evil plight. At the beginning there were plenty of offers of volunteer assistance. Sir Howard Vincent offered a thousand picked men from the London volunteer regi ments. Another man offered to raise regiment of a thousand sharpshvote! at his own expense. Jamaica offered, Ceylon offered, Hongkong dticred. Britons all over the world offered their services, but our Generals do not like to be bothered with volun;. teers, and though for political reasons a grudging consent was given to the dispatch of small contingents from Canada and Australia, all the other sot assistance were refri Office has had to its 1 thing te see the "pluck that evoked.
Not hundreds, but thousands, not thousands but tens of thousands of Englishmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen, not in the British Isles alone but all over the world, are hurrying forward to defend the Empire we love. Our War Office can pour into South Africa as fast as it can arm them and find transport for them thousands of good men who mean fighting, and who will realise the design of Rhodes to paint the whole of South Africa, the German and Portuguese possessions excepted, red up to the;
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.