TOPICS OF TIIE DAY
THE MINISTRY AND LORD CHELMSFORD.
THE Ministry have published their reasons for despatching Sir Garnet Wolseley to South Africa, and we are bound to acknowledge that the explanations they offered in Parlia- ment were more sincere than was at first supposed. They do not, we imagine, comprise the whole truth, but at all events, they are true. The conflict of rights and of opinions which had arisen between the Civil and Military authorities in Natal was very serious, and indeed amounted to administrative anarchy, the Lieutenant-Governor directly countermanding Military orders issued by the General Commanding-in-Chief. Sir Henry Bulwer, one of the most experienced and able public servants ever employed in South Africa, placed the Native levies of Natal at the disposal of Lord Chelmsford, on the understanding, as he affirms, that they were not to be em- ployed across the border. Nevertheless, Lord Chelmsford ordered them to cross the border and enter Zululand, to make a diversion, and by a short raid protect the frontier from incursion. The Lieutenant-Governor, either convinced that this order would lead to mutiny, or, as he clearly stated, holding it to be a breach of faith with the men, either ordered, or approved an order issued by Major Twentyman, not for- warded through Lord Chelmsford, directing them to return, an order which was obeyed. Lord Chelmsford complained bitterly of this conduct, denying altogether the asserted understanding, and asserting his own right to the command of all the forces employed in the war :—" If," he says, " I am considered fit to be entrusted with the conduct of the war, I contend that the command of the Colonial forces assembled along the border of Natal for its defence should be placed unreservedly in my hands, and that I should be permitted to employ them within or without the border, in whatever manner I may consider best in the interests of the Colony, and with due regard to its protection from invasion. I consider that all reports regarding these forces should be sent to your Excellency through the Military authorities in Natal, and not direct, as is now the case. By this alteration in the existing system your Excellency will be kept equally well informed of all matters connected with these forces, the danger of divided command will be done away with, and the Colonial commanders will understand that there is but one controlling authority over them." Sir Henry Bulwer in return maintained his position, and the language of the two men, though kept within the bounds of official decorum, became so bitter that the possibility of any cordial co-operation between them has entirely ceased. No Government could tolerate that state of affairs, in the face of an enemy like Cetewayo, and the action of the Cabinet is, therefore, entirely justified. It hardly matters which of the two officials was in the right. We believe, on our recollection of older disputes, that Sir Henry Bulwer was ; he fearing, on good grounds, a mutiny of the Levies ; but Lord Chelmsford is a priori justified in considering that his commission gave him the supreme command over all soldiers in the field. That, he would think, had been settled by the previous fight between the Ministry of Cape Colony and the officer in command there. There was no opportunity for referring to Sir Bartle Frere, even if either disputant would have accepted his authority, —which they clearly would not have done ; and it became indispensable to unite the civil and military control in one hand, and almost indispensable that it should be a new hand,— that of a man unembittered by the dispute. Sir Garnet Wolseley, the only conspicuous soldier familiar with the Cape, was therefore selected and sent out.
That the occurrence gave the Government a wished-for opportunity is also true, it being quite clear from the de- spatches that the War Office had become very tired of Lord Chelmsford, his expensiveness, and his dilatory vacillation. The Secretary at War tells him, indeed, that he is not cen- sured, but he tells him also that the Government did not consider his last telegram, asking further reinforcements, justified by the reasons assigned ; and even when explanations had arrived, thought it better to send out 1,000 Marines and some drafts of men, than to "send out additional young battalions." Moreover, while almost apologising to Sir Bartle Frere for his supersession, and basing it upon the heavy nature of his civil task within Cape Colony, the Government supersede Lord Chelmsford in the most freezing of all possible despatches. They " regret that he has been unable to settle this question
[that of the Levies] amicably with his Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, by personal or friendly communication, without the necessity of resort to the Home Government they " trust that by continued care and foresight the troops may be maintained in an efficient condition ;" and they in- form him that " Sir Garnet Wolseley, being qualified to act in a political as well as in a military capacity, will be in posses- sion, up to the latest date and in the fullest detail, of the- views of her Majesty's Government ; the responsibility placed. upon you by Sir Bartle Frere with regard to the enforcement of his demands upon Cetywayo will therefore terminate upon the arrival of the High Commissioner, and any overtures for peace will henceforward be transmitted for decision by him." There is no mistaking the meaning of a despatch like that. The Government is utterly dissatisfied with Lord Chelmsford, and very glad to be able to secure the services of a successor, without appearing to remove him in deference to a popular- outcry. Nevertheless, the opportunity, though eagerly seized, was fairly offered them, in the conflict of authority revealed in the despatches ; and their statement in Parliament, though confused and imperfect, was entirely justified, as far as it went, by the facts on record.
We have a distinct pleasure in making this acknowledgment.. The shiftiness of this Government in making statements has- been of enormous injury to the public service, and it is re- assuring to know that in the Colonial Department, at all events, though we may not obtain the whole truth, any statement made will be in literal accordance with the facts. Moreover, this war has passed altogether out of the region within which party feeling is in any way possible. We doubt if even now- the public understands how very important, and, in certain• ways, how very oppressive an affair it is. It seems so incredi- ble that a savage chief should give so much trouble, that even well-informed observers can scarcely remember that we are fighting on what is for us the great scale ; that we have 30,000 men in the field, and that if a second campaign should unfor- tunately become necessary, we may have to spend a sum which, for one thing, would have put the Indian Treasury straight for- a generation. There is the gravest possible reason to believe• that the war does actually cost £2,000,000 a month—that is,. an eighteenpenny income tax—and only too much ground for apprehension that it may last for another year. The annoying and therefore discredited statement that Cete- wayo has retreated northwards, and given up Ulundi, is now officially confirmed ; while every message received shows. that, at all events until Sir Garnet arrives, nothing final will have been accomplished. The great army is not organised. Two statements indeed have been published which, if they- are not deliberate perversions of fact, will recall to English- men the memories of Walcheren rather than of Abyssinia. The Correspondent of the Standard, recounting Lord Chelms- ford's vacillations, actually telegraphs the ipsissima verba of some replies addressed to him by the Commissariat. Lord Chelmsford had telegraphed on May 10th to Maritzburg :- "' Let me know when three months' supplies will be stored at Conference Hill and Balte's Spruit for Newdigate's 3,000 men and 1,200 horses ; and for Wood's 3,000 men and 1,200• horses.' To which the answer was—' Newdigate's force already supplied at stations of Ladysmith, Dundee, and Conference- Hill for 6,000 troops and 300 animals. Nothing prevents your advance, as you have waggons necessary for the transport, and the supplies are equal to sixty days' march, whilst the distance from Dundee or Conference Hill is only 120 miles. The sup- plies sent between the 1st of April and the 8th of May to the depot at Newcastle, which you are now emptying to supply Utrecht, are quite equal to feed Wood and Newdigate.'" Just think what that means. It is nothing less than this,—that the Commissariat, in absolute despair at the vacillations of their Chief, are allowing their remonstrances to go to the. London public verbatim. And then read this statement by the Correspondent of the Daily News, published on Tuesday, one that, if only true—and how can it be false, for who would invent such a murderous absurdity I—would in any European country be followed by some justified military trials. " The only cause for all the late sickness [at Ginghilovo, where H.M.'s 60th so suffered] was simply bad water. It is fearful, having the appearance of pea-soup. To make matters worse, I know of one dead Zulu that was discovered several days after the battle lying in the stream in a state of decomposition. There can be little doubt where considerable blame is to be attached in this matter ; that is, with the home authorities, for neglecting to send Abyssinian wells, or any appliance what- ever for supplying water. In a military point of view, Ginglnlova
is excellent. Pure water could certainly have been procured by simple mechanical means, for a certain field-officer told me
that he had dug a hole in the ground and come to very good water, but it soon became thick, with being used by so many men. This want of foresight on the part of the home Government supplements the action of the military com- manders here very unfairly, for they are unable to choose positions for their camps that have special military advantages, unless they also are close to good water. In a country like this, the chances are decidedly against them. I have it on good authority that the obvious necessaries were requisitioned for, or at all events suggested, but no notice was taken. More attention was given to the requirements of fire than of water, to judge from what I heard to-day from an officer of cavalry, who asked for sabres with which to arm his men. He was told there were but thirty sabres in store, but if coal-scuttles would do he could have any number of them, as plenty had been sent. This is a semi-tropical climate, with the price of coal at £5 per ton." We must add that though we extract the statement from the Daily News, because its correspondent is known and trusted, it is repeated in far fiercer fashion by another eye- witness. When Parliament returns will some one ask whether that statement is true, who is responsible, and what, if it is true, is to be the punishment inflicted V In the worst days of the Crimean war no blunder so monstrous was ever com- mitted, and it has been committed in South Africa, where the very name of the continent ought to have pre- vented it,—and after our experience of the use of tube- wells in the Abyssinian war. Does no one in the War Office know what it is to carry water for five thousand men and beasts, or what happens if fair water is unprocurable for twelve hours ; or do they all think that Zululand is Bengal, where you can- not march a mile without crossing a stream ? The story seems to us incredible, even as we print it ; but there it is, with the authority of an experienced soldier behind it ; and it is all of a piece with the state of affairs revealed in the extraordinary telegrams quoted above, and which, as we have said, are either forgeries, or the ipsissinza verba of communications of which nothing but necessity could justify the publication.
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