The country loses in Sir George Colley an officer of
fine char- acter, much ability, and terrible rashness, the result of extreme iielf-confidence, acting on a temperament to which fear was un- known. He respected his enemies as enemies, while despising them as fighting-men. His general orders stopped an out- burst of the usual injustice of Englishmen about the cruelty of their opponents, and his last proclamation to his men, in which he declared that the disaster on Laing's Neck was due solely to lihneelf, and not to them, is, in its moral heroism of self-efface- ment, almost unique in military history. Nevertheless, he was It most rash leader, believed he could walk over Afghanistan with 4,000 men, and was as careless of his men's lives as of his own. lie must have been a very noble person, but he would have been superseded. The Government, recognising the seriousness of the situation, have sent out reinforcements, which will bring up the forces to nearly fifteen thousand men ; and in obedience to a not unreasonable etiquette, which confines such great com- mands to men who have led armies, have appointed General Sir F. Roberts to the supreme command.. That is an unobjection- able choice, but it involves five weeks of waiting.
