Mr. Julian Ralph, the American war correspondent, contri- butes an
interesting analysis of British valour to Monday's Daily Mail. He admits its terrible costliness, but in view of its proved efficiency as a substitute for defective strategy and its capacity of discounting enormous odds and transforming failure into success, he concludes that he would not go into a war without it, and to confirm his view quotes the testimony of a foreign Military Attaché:—" I always thought the Turk was the finest soldier in the world, but—leaving out your cavalry, which have not done so well—I shall always say that there is no other army to compare with the British. For courage, dash, staying power, discipline, and all that makes for success with an army, there is no other like it." Mr. Ralph's description of the Boer as a hunter rather than warrior is no doubt true in the main, but we think he hardly does justice to our opponents in denying them courage. The attempt to storm the British positions at Ladysmith on January 6th was conceived and carried out with the greatest audacity and persistence.
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