The Government is losing its temper. There is some reason
to fear that the British troops in Zululand, remembering that their comrades were all slain at Isandlana, and that many must have been slain when wounded, have occa- sionally refused quarter,—a senseless practice, as it makes the enemy fight till they die. Mr. O'Donnell, quoting two reported instances, asked Sir M. Hicks-Beach whether they were true, and whether British troops were con- ducting the war "according to the usages of civilisation." As Colonel Stanley had previously promised, in a letter to the Aborigines Protection Society, to inquire into the allegations,. the question was, perhaps, needless, and was certainly irritating in form, but there was no need whatever for the savage snub, administered to Mr. O'Donnell. It is a common practice to elicit within the House information already published outside, and the Colonial Secretary need only have stated that instant inquiries would be made. As to the insult to the Army, that is nonsense. How is any abuse in warfare to be checked, if it is not described as contrary to the usages of civilised war- fare, which is the very reason for checking it P It is quite pos- sible that the inhumanities reported never occurred, for private soldiers, on whose letters the reports rest, have a strange fancy for representing their conduct in war as more dreadful than it is.
Previous page
