War's Brighter Side Part 15

Sir William Lockhart's death, as recently announced in Army Orders, will be deeply deplored by his many friends in the Army in South Africa. It was known that he had been seriously ill last September, but he had seemingly recovered when he visited Burma in December. On his return to Calcutta in January, symptoms developed themselves which caused great anxiety, and, although he telegraphed to the effect that he hoped soon to be all right again, the end was not far distant.

Apart from his ability as a soldier and administrator, Sir William Lockhart endeared himself to all who had the privilege of his personal acquaintance by his charming manners, his genial hospitality and his kindness of heart. Born in 1842, he joined the Indian Army in 1858, and during the Mutiny he was attached to the 7th Fusiliers. He afterwards served with the 26th Punjab Infantry, the 10th Bengal Lancers, and the 14th Bengal Lancers. He was employed on the Staff in the Abyssinian Expedition.

When the Acheen War broke out he was attached to the Headquarters of the Dutch Force, where he made himself extremely popular. It was interesting to hear him describe the Dutch method of fighting, which, as might be imagined, led to no decisive result. The climate being tropical, the Dutch would only attack the enemy in the early morning; the rest of the day being spent in camp. The enemy were more active, and caused the Dutch much annoyance by frequently disturbing their afternoon siesta. As no means of transport were asked for or provided, the campaign was of a purely defensive nature, and at the end of it things were virtually in the same state as at the beginning.

After remaining in Acheen about eighteen months, Lockhart returned to India, where he joined the Quartermaster-General's Department, and at the beginning of the Afghan War he was chosen to take charge of the line of communications up the Khyber. He afterwards joined Lord Roberts' Staff as a.s.sistant Quartermaster-General at Kabul, and for a short time acted as Chief of the Staff on Charles MacGregor being selected for the command of a brigade. In that capacity he had hoped to accompany his ill.u.s.trious Chief in the march from Kabul to Kandahar, but General Chapman being his senior on the staff, it was decided, much to Lockhart's disappointment, that he should return to India as Chief of the Staff with the troops under Sir Donald Stewart's command.

He received a C.B. and brevet Colonelcy for his services in Afghanistan, and was afterwards appointed Deputy Quartermaster-General for Intelligence at Army Headquarters, where he remained until 1886, when Lord Roberts became Commander-in-Chief in India in succession to Sir Donald Stewart. He was then sent on an exploring expedition with the late Colonel Woodthorpe, R.E., to Chitral and Kafiristan, and the admirable report which he drew up was of the greatest value to the Government of India in considering what steps should be taken to guard the northern pa.s.ses between the Pamirs and the Peshawar Valley.

On his return to India, Lockhart was offered the Quartermaster-Generals.h.i.+p in that country, but he preferred the command of a Brigade in Burma, where he greatly distinguished himself by his activity in pursuit of Dacoits. His health, however, was undermined by continual attacks of fever, and he had to be invalided home, where, after a short interval, he became a.s.sistant Military Secretary for India at the Horse Guards.

After holding this post for a couple of years, he accepted the command of the Punjab Frontier Force, which was offered him by Lord Roberts, and in that capacity he commanded a brigade in the Black Mountain Expedition under the late Sir W. K. Elles, and held the chief command in the Waziristan and Isazai Expeditions. No abler or more sympathetic general ever commanded the Punjab Frontier Force; he was beloved alike by the British officers and the Native ranks; he maintained the traditions of the Force and raised it to the highest standard of efficiency; and when he left it he had good reason for regarding it, as he always did regard it, as the _corps d'elite_ of the Indian Army.

In April, 1895, the Presidential Armies were broken up and the Army Corps System was introduced, Sir William Lockhart being nominated to the command of the Forces in the Punjab. In this appointment he displayed administrative talents of a high order, his main object being to decentralise responsibility and authority, and to diminish office work and official correspondence. It was in a great measure due to his efforts in this direction that the new system worked so smoothly. When he became Commander-in-Chief he kept the same end in view by granting the fullest possible powers to the Lieutenant-Generals of the four Commands and to the General Officers commanding Districts, and by insisting on their making use of those powers to the fullest extent.

In March, 1897, Sir William Lockhart went home, having been advised to undergo a course of treatment at Nauheim. Meanwhile, disturbances took place along the North-West Frontier, which culminated in an outbreak of the Orakzaia and Afridis, and the capture by the latter of our posts in the Khyber Pa.s.s. In September he was hurriedly recalled to India for the purpose of commanding the Tirah Expeditionary Force.

This is not the place to discuss the operations in Tirah, which were much criticised at home. The fact is that the British public had become so accustomed to almost bloodless victories over savage enemies that they failed to appreciate the extraordinary difficulties of the Afridi country, and the advantages to the defence which the possession of long-range rifles and smokeless powder confers. Moreover, there are no better marksmen in the world than the Afridis, who are born soldiers, and the mobility of hardy mountaineers in their native hills necessarily exceeds that of regular troops enc.u.mbered with baggage and supplies.

Anyhow, the result of the expedition fully justified the choice of its commander. The Afridis acknowledged themselves to be thoroughly beaten; and Sir William Lockhart's tact in dealing with them after they had submitted has led to the re-establishment of friendly relations between them and ourselves on a firmer basis than before.

What their present att.i.tude is may be judged from the fact that Yar Mahomed, the head of the Malikdin Khels, recently pet.i.tioned the Government of India to be allowed to raise 1,500 tribesmen for service in South Africa.

On the conclusion of the Tirah campaign Sir William Lockhart took leave to England, and came out again as Commander-in-Chief in India in November, 1898. He died on the 18th of March, 1900. In him, as Lord Roberts has remarked in his Army Order of the 20th inst., "the soldiers in India have lost a friend, and the Indian Empire a trusted counsellor who cannot soon or easily be replaced."

The late Commander-in-Chief was one of the few remaining representatives of the Quartermaster-General's Department in India, and to the admirable training which that department afforded much of his success as a soldier must be ascribed. No better school of practical instruction in Staff duties could be desired. Among its pupils may be mentioned Lord Roberts himself, Sir Charles MacGregor, Sir Herbert Stewart, Sir William Lockhart, and Sir Alfred Gaselee.

Now, alas! it has been abolished, or, at least, incorporated in the Adjutant-General's Department.

THE QUARTERMASTER'S YARN.

E. J. K. NEWMAN, LIEUT. R.N.

DEAR MR. EDITOR,--The following lines were written by me on board the mail steamer, about two young soldiers now serving with the army:--

'Twas on the deck, that around our s.h.i.+p, from the mast to the taffrail ran, I saw alone, in a chair (not their own), a tall young girl and a man.

Her hair was light and fluffy and swarthy and dark was he, And I saw the c.o.o.n, one afternoon, a-spooning that girl quite free.

So I spotted a Quartermaster bold as he went from the wheel to tea, And I asked that Jack, if upon that tack, the pa.s.sengers went to sea.

"Lord love yer honour, we often sees that, the stewards and the likes of us; There's always couples a-spooning there, but we never makes no fuss.

"If you look around, you'll see, I'll be bound, each day at a quarter to three, A tall young fellow with curly hair and a girl in black, quite young and fair, That's another couple," says he.

"And every night, I a.s.sure you it's right, straight up on this deck they'll come And spoon around, till it's time to go down. One night 'twas a quarter to one."

"Now it suddenly struck me early one morn, this might be a serious thing.

Perhaps they loves, these two little doves, and has offered them the ring.

So I leaves them alone in the world of their own; and this 'twixt you and me, I hope I shall, by each little gal, to the wedding invited be."

LATER.

Then the Quartermaster brushed away a tear with his h.o.r.n.y hand, The last couple now have had a row, and don't speak, I understand.

'Tis not a fable, she won't sit at his table As she used to do of old; But has taken up with a married man, At least, so I've been told.

OLD SALT.

THE SECOND RELIEF OF KIMBERLEY.

DEAR FRIEND,--I suppose that General French and his lot think they relieved Kimberley? Well, that's all right, and in spite of his name being forrin, he's a good chap; so, as Billy the Sailor says, let's make it so. But I should like to know where would French be now if it wasn't for Billy and the Yank?

Now, you being an up-to-date paper, we thought you might like to have an account of the battle which hasn't ever yet appeared in any paper in the world, yet, as our Adjutant would say, was the most strategically important part of the whole blooming show.

It was me and Billy and the Yank. Billy's a sailor--says he was leftenant in the Navy, and I really believe he might have been--he couldn't have learnt to ride so badly anywhere else, and how he faked himself through the riding test is a miracle--then his langwidge is beautiful. The Yank's a Yank; you can tell that by his langwidge, too, and me being an old soldier (12 years in the Buffs and discharge certificate all correct), I was made No. 1 of our section; our No. 4 was an Irishman we left behind at Orange with a broken head, all through fighting outside the Canteen.

Well, when French left Modder, February 15th, we hadn't a horse among the three of us fit to carry his own skin; so there we was left. Our troop leader said he hoped to Heaven he'd seen the last of us, but all the same he gave us a written order, correct enough, to catch up the squadron as soon as possible. There wasn't much doing all day, barring a bit of cooking, but that evening we was sitting round the fire when an M.I. chap comes round and says he's heard there'd be free drinks for the Relief Force in Kimberley, and perhaps our pals was drinking 'em now. That was the first time our Billy really woke up all day.

"Free drinks," sezee; "that's my sailing orders." Me and the Yank didn't mind, so we sounds boot and saddle to ourselves in the dark, and off we slips without a word to n.o.body. My horse seemed cheered up by the day's rest, but before I'd gone half a mile I found I got the wrong horse by mistake! and you'll hardly believe that both Billy and the Yank had made mistakes too! Lor', how we did laugh! but there, there ain't no accounting for horses in the dark.

We each had our own notions of the road; the Yank swore he was tracking the big English cavalry horses; Billy was steering Nor' Wes'

by Nor' on some star or other; and I didn't want to argufy, so I just shoves on a couple of lengths and marched on the Kimberley flashlight.

We was going a fair pace too ("making six knots"), and had done near two hours, when all of a sudden we comes over a kopje right on to the top of a bivouack, fires and all.

"Let's get"--"Go astern"--"Sections about"--and we did so, back behind the kopje, linked horses, and crawled up again on our hands and knees.

"First thing," says I, quoting our Adjutant, "is to kalkulate the numbers of the enemy."

"Twenty thousand," says Billy, who always did reckon a bit large.

"Make it hundreds," says the Yank, sneering--"and I wouldn't mind betting a pint myself that there was the best part of two dozen of 'em."

"Next point," says I, "who are they?"

"I bleeve they're Highlanders, after all," says Billy; "see the way they're lowering whisky out of them bottles."

"Well then," says the Yank, "you'd better ride up and say you're the General, and they'll drop the whisky and run."

"Highlanders," says I, "don't care a cuss for Boers nor Generals, but say you're the Provost Marshal and they won't stop running this side of Kimberley."

"Those men, sir," says the Yank, "air not Highlanders. Billy's eyes was took with them bottles and got no further. Those men don't wear leg curtains, nor even loud checked bags. They air Boers." And by Jove he was right.

"Well then," says I, getting back to point three, "what's their position?"

"Straight there," says the Yank. "Mostly lying on their stummicks,"

says Billy.

"My friends," says I, "if your Adjutant should hear you now he'd break his blighted heart. Look here, there's General French lowering free drinks in Kimberley, ain't he? There's the British infantry at Modder, ten miles back, ain't they? And there's twenty thousand Boers plunk in the middle, ain't they? That means, as Adjy would say, General French is busted. Vaultin' ambition! Another orful disaster!"

"My friends, we must reskew General French."

"General be blowed!" says Billy; "let's reskew the whisky."