THE LESSON OF RORKE'S DRIFT.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3165, 10 April 1879, Page 2

THE LESSON OF RORKE'S DRIFT.

The first excitement at the news, of the recent untoward disaster is, to some extent, abating, although much anxiety naturally must prevail until we know that Lord Chelmsford is strengthened and safe. There is a stern consolation in the knowledge that Englishmen are as little likely npw as ever to show the white'feather. But it is also a fact that the disaster at Eorke's Drift ought never to have occurred. That the general in chief command was in error when he made a reconnaissance to search for an enemy who was close at hand in overwhelming numbers, is plain; but the actual responsibility for the catastrophe rests with the commander who

was lured out of his camp to fight in the open, and indirectly upon the present military system which gave him a battalion of raw lads to command. It will cause us the expenditure of much blood and treasure to retrieve these mistakes, but the lesson will hardly be thrown away. We shall not another time turn a deaf ear to reiterated warnings, nor can we again risk our national prestige by repudiating the responsibilities of the vast empire we own. We can do this less iv Africa than elsewhere, because in that still undeveloped continent we are brought face to face with vast latent forces, and limitless possibilities, which will redound to our wealth and glory if we are. only firm and faithful to our national traditions.