Many comments are already made upon Colonel Swayne's rashness in
moving so far from his supports with so small a force; but it must be remembered that he could collect no more, that he had repeatedly defeated the Mullah, and that without limitless audacity we could not even pretend to con- trol these vast African possessions. The real blunder appears to be that of the Foreign Office, which makes such acquisitions without demanding sufficient force either to invade or garrison them. It is most generous to trust the new levies, and sometimes unavoidable; but until they have been educated by victory into a perfect confidence in their own discipline and their officers' lead it is terribly risky, especially when, as in the present case, their opponent is able to excite some superstitions fear. It is said that an Austrian renegade has been helping the Mullah ; but we do not know that this makes that adventurer more formidable. These wild men—negroes crossed with a thin strain of Arab blood—are born soldiers,
and perhaps most formidable when they fight in their own way.
