DEATH OF LORD ROBERTS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2308, 16 November 1914, Page 6

DEATH OF LORD ROBERTS

END OF A DISTINGUISHED CABEER

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

By Telegraph Prces Association—Copyright

(Rec. November 15, 3.35 p.m.), London, November 14, Obituary. Lord Roberts.

The Prime Minister has received the following telegram from the High Commissioner:—

London, November 15. Earl Kitchener has received this evening a telegram from. General French: "Deeply regret to tell you that Lord Roberts died at eight o'clock this evening.'-'

Lord Roberts was on a visit to France to greet the Indian troo[ai. He contracted a chill on Thursday, and succunjbed to an. attack of pneumonia..

NEW ZEALAND'S SYMPATHY. His Excellency the Governor yesterday sent the following telegram to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, at the request or the Prime Minister:—

"Myself, my Government, and the people of New, Zealand have learned with the deepest sorrow of tho death of Field Marshal Earl Roberts, who did so much to uphold tho honour and integrity of the Empire ' and who earned the love of the whole British race. Please convey our deepest sympathy to Lady IJoberts and- her familiy.—(Signed) Liverpool."

We are asked to announce that the Patriotic Society proposes to hold a public memorial service at 3 o'clock next Sunday afternoon, possibly in the largo Town Hall. Two bands will be in attendance, together with a massed choir. A BRILLIANT CAREER SKETCH OF THE GREAT SOLDIER. : The death of the veteran Field Marshal removes from the public eye tho most picturesque, illustrious, and bestloved personality in the British Army, a brilliant, strategist, and dashing soldier. In every undertaking Lord Roborts. showed the highest powers of organisation, remarkable foresight, and perfect skill in dealing with every military problem which presented itself to him. His watohword was "Thorough" in everything he undertook. This characteristic manifested itself at the very outset of his career, for it is , recorded of. him that' when he joined the Bengal Artillery he began by riding every horse in his troop, and thus acquainted himself by personal experience with the amount of nerve and skill necessary to make a good Horse Artillery driver. He himself states that this "had the addi-

tional'advantage, that he:was'brought 'into constant contact 'with the men," and thus laid a sound foundation of regimental knowledge. It also throws a light on the immense personal hold which- Lord Roberts has always been able to retain of t'he personal affection of the'men in the ranks. A Soldier's Son. Sir Frederick Sleigh Roberts, first Earl of Kandahar, Pretoria, and Waterfold, : was born on September 30, 1832, bi Cawupore, India, his father, Sir Abraham Roberts, being known as "the Patriarch of Indian Generals." His family_ was Irish on both sides. At the age of fourteen he went to Sandhurst, and after'two years spent there to Adaiscombe, a preparatory, academy for the East India Company's cadets. He left Addiscombe, after two years, to take a commission in the Bengal Artillery. He was sent after a time to Peshawur, where he acted as. aide-de-camp to the father, who was in cliargo of the division] ana did duty with the Mountain Battery of Artillery, to which he was attached. '

. When ho joined the Army his chances of promotion seemed small indeed. He was only a 'Supernumerary officer, and in the Bengal Artillery the average period of service for subalterns in the establishment was fifteen years • before promotion to captain. The Indian Mutiny, however, changed the aspect of things, and the young junior subaltern soon had a chance to show the stuff that- was in him. He served throughout tho whole'of that terrible period, taking part in the siege of Delhi, where he was wounded, and m the actions at Bulandshah, Aligarh, Agra, .Bithur, Kanauj, tho relief of Lucknow, tho battle of Oawnpore, and the pursuit and defeat, of the Gwalior contingent. Then came Khudaga'nj, where he won the Victoria Cross, Fatehgarh, and scores of other fights in which he was ever foremost in tho fray. Work In India. After the suppression of the Mutiny he was naturally marked for special employment, and wa.s promoted to the staff, in the Quartermaster-General's Department, where he served for many years, with occasional spells of active service, including the Umbeyla Expedition and the Abyssinian campaign. The whole of the work of superintending the arrangements for the embarkation of ■ the Bengal Division was in,his charge, and here his high capacity for organisation- was first prominently displayed. When the Afghan War of 1878-84 broke out he got command of the Kurram Field Force, and greatly distinguished himself by his daring capture of tho Pelwar Kotal, which was very difficult, and strongly held by the enemy. The operation was carried out with an admirable combination of audacity, skill, vigour, and foresight. When Sir Louis Cavagnari, the British Envoy at Kabul, was murdered with his escort, Sir Frederick Roberts, as he was then,, was selected to lead . the punitive expedition. His advance over the Slmtargarden Pass into Afghanistan with only, M) 00 fighting men, the defeat of the Afghan army at Charasiali, and his .triumphant entry into Kabul in nine days, . stamped General Roberts as a military leader of the very first rank.' How he held . his position at Kabul throughout tho winter of 1879, and his ever-memorable march to Kandahar in the following year after the disaster at Maiwand, need no recalling. His undaunted courage when the news of the Maiwand affair reached him at Kabul showed the nature of tho man. When the Indian Government decided to dispatch a column to Kandahar, he sent tho famous telegram: ''s'ou need havo no fears about my division. It can take care of itself, and will reach Kandahar under the month." .

All the world knows the result of that, glorious march, and how Roberta's promise was fulfilled to the letter. In the Burmah Campaign of 1885-6 ho showed equal skill and prescience, first in the arrangements for the expedition, and afterwards in actual command in tho field; Tho South Afrloan War. After Majuba Lord Roberts was sent wit to South Africa by Mr. Gladstone's Government to repair the disaster to Sir George Colley, but before bo landed peace had been made with the Boers, and twenty years were to elapse before lie was to meet tho Boers in the-field. In tho dark and tragic days of De-. cember, 1899, Lord Roberts, without a moment's hesitation, took up, tho task that* had proved too heavy .Sot others, and carried it through to brilliant success. -He was then at "an age whon most men would 1m inclined to lay down Jhek arms and toko a ivoll-eoiueu rest,

and he had suffered a terrible bereavement ill the death of his only son, Lieutentn. Frederick Roberts, who lost his life in a heroic effort to save the guns at Colenso. The story,of the South

African campaign is known to all, and it is needless to recall the relentless prosecution of his plan of campaign in the face of difficulties which would have cowod and checked a less resolute general v Rousing the Nation. Since then Lord. Roberts has devoted himself to a different but almost more desperate task, that of rousing the people of the United Kingdom from their contented' apathy and making them realise the necessity of universal military training for national defence. After seven years of strenuous work there is almost a note of sadness in Lord Roberts's last speech at. the Mansion House on this subject, delivered some time ago. Referring to his first address on the subject, the veteran soldier said: "I then, affirmed that the armed forces of this country were as absolutely unfitted and unprepared for - war as they were in 1899-1900. And I grieve to have this afternoon to Tepeat to you that we are no better fitted, no better prepared, to carry on a war than in 1905."

He pointed out that this state of things was due to the tendency of a self-confident nation, devoted to cointaerce and industry, to ignore the contingency of being forced into war, and he declared that "the men who ought

to state the facts in plainest terms and rouse tho nation from its fatal apathy are the men who aTe fostering that spirit, of indifference and 1 eelf-confidence to which the nation is already too prone." As Commander-in-Chief. As Commander-in-Chief of tho British Army (appointed after he left South Africa), Lord Roberts did muoh to place it on a stronger footing, and lost no opportunity of arousing the nation to the necessity of _ increasing its defensive strength against the time when it shall "meet its enemies in the gate." When the office of Commander-in-Chief was abolished to make way for the new scheme of Army organisation which was inaugurated in 19Q4, Roberts continued to urge his'counsels for efficiency on tHe nation.

The audacity of his genius, his noble humanity,. and solicitude for the welfare of his troops, the high view which he took of his profession, his amelioration of its conditions, together with his fine .personal qualities and charm of manners, made "Bobs" the darling of the Army and the' nation at large. His autobiography, ''Forty-one Years in India," presents a masterly and modest record of his Eastern career. His life was- one continuous progress in affection as in fame. •• , Roberts, the Man. An American correspondent in London thus described him in the "Argonaut" :—

"I was impressed with bis resemblance, not in appearance, J>ut in characteristic traits, to General Grant, 'He is quiet, unostentatious, reserved in speech, tolerant in judgment, and sweefcnatured. Short in stature, and without commanding presence, he stands so erect and has so much natural 1 dignity, that he .justifies Mr. Kipling's jingling description of him. His eyes are keen and his bearing is self-possessed and alert, and his face is kindly and reflects the goodness of his heart. Easily approaohed, he sets every visitor at ease Dy talkiug in the most unaffected way. Controversy he dislikes, and invariably shrugs his shoulders whenever voices are 1 raised and there is a menace of heated argument. Tho most versatile and ac; complished British soldier since the Duke of Wellington, he is a. man of' peace in camp and in privat-e. lifo, with- - out jealousy and without a passion , for controversy and Like General Grant lie has nobility of nature and serenity of mind, and underneath these is the guileless heart of a child.'. Of genius required for saving tho Union, assaying: 'General Grant, had the Genius required for saving the Union, and ought not to be placed second toany modern commander.' Lord Roberts had. a refutation for repartee, and on one occasion' he administered a smart rebuke to a' bore which caused'a good deal of amusement. It •was at a* club, and there was a very tall gentleman present, who seized every opportunity of raising a laugh at other people's expense. ,' Now, as is well, known, Lord Roberts is v'e?y short, and when this gentleman was introduced to the famous soldier, he patronisinely remarked: "I have often heard of you, but"—shading his eyes with one hand as though "Bobs" was too small to be seen without difficulty—"l have never seen you." Upon which Lord Roberts promptly replied: "I'have often seen you here, sir, but I have never heard of you." The rest was silence.