A GREAT PUBISC SERVAN

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 50, 22 November 1907, Page 10

A GREAT PUBISC SERVAN

I DEATH OF SIR JOHN ARDAGH. Announcement recently-made of the death of Sir John Ardagh will not convey to the newspaper reader consciousness of how great a man has been lost to Israel. "For 30 years" (writes Mr. H. W. Lucy in his London letter to the "Sydney Morning Herald") "Sir John had his hand on one or othor of the levers that control the machinery of the British Empire. -It happened that his; work was chieily of a confidential characterwhich brought bini under,, the notice ,;of-.more, prominent figureheads', whilst he,' actually of moro value, modestly- ; kept .in the background. ' The last; big jjißco.he,,filled, as . usual behind the curtain,''-'was'-that of Director of Military. Intelligence.- • He held this post before the outbreak'of'the'Boer war, and retained it till 1901. If there was one failing more glaring than.. another in the conduct of the Ministry responsible- fer tho war, it was lack of military' intelligence. They.went- into what- proved 'the most, stubborn, costly, and • bloody contest of • modern times with a heart as light .as Napoleon Ill's War Minister Olliver pirouetted.'.. into the war with Germany. Their own expedition inadequately equipped,, they were amazed to find the Boers armed with munitions of tho highest class, of the latest stago of efficiency. It was said in extemia-'- , tion of the Cabinet that they must have, been-' - badly served by their own agents—shame-•■■ lossly misled by their 'Intelligence Depart-!--, ment. ■ . ' " - ■ _ ■ • ■ •. "I happened to meet Sir John Ardagh at dinner at the time this, reproach was on ■ everyone's tongue. It was Christinas time • in the year 1899. The country had just wearily dragged itself through the blackest-• .hours of; the war, a period extending fromDecember 7to the 17th. Within that tinio threo battles had been-lost, 3000 men had been killed or made prisoners, and 12. guns captured. Sinco the Crimean war no such j gloomy Christmas time had dawned on England. In the-circumstances tho Transvaal ■ was not a topic on wiheh to open conversation with tho .Director of Military Intelli- ■ gence. Sir John led up to it himself,' and in his quiot way'of speaking, that made tho.-, story more amazing, ho told mo that for more than a year before a gun was fired the ' War Office, and, through them, tho Cabinet, were rnado fully aware of the preparations of tho Boers; their resources of armament .' were catalogued to a cannon and , a rifle, aiid tho force they were able to put in , the field was tabulated with an accuracy justified . when tho war broke out.

"As the nation knows to its sorrow, nothing was done to meet the emergency. The army with some of the officers' baggage hilariously booked "to Pretoria," tumbled into battle, and were/equally surprised and hurt to find themselves brought up by superior force in tho opening engagement. Tho first lessQn the hapless British Generals learned was that their 15-pounder field gun,, on which they counted to swoop tho enemy off the veldt, was outranged by tho Boor artillery. This was among the many facts.garnered.in good time by the Intelligence Department, and docketed in a pigeonholo at the ■ War Office. "When told the story seems incredible. It was confirmed by evidence reluctantly given before the commission appointed—on the venerable principle of locking tho stable door when the steed was stolen —after the war was over to enquire into its direction and administration. . The man whom the country would liko to have heard on the question was tho Director of tho Military Intelligence Department. That would, howovcr, have been too embarrassing, and an opening fortuitously occurred for the despatch of Sir John Ardagb out of tho country on business which lasted as Tong us tho Commission, sat. Through other channels the truth came out; and stands recorded in the evidence in the report of the Commission."