When
Kipling At The Dawn Of The War Had Sung Of 'fifty Thousand Horse
And Foot Going To Table Bay,' The Statement Had Seemed Extreme.
Now
it was growing upon the public mind that four times this number
would not be an excessive estimate.
But the nation rose grandly to
the effort. Their only fear, often and loudly expressed, was that
Parliament would deal too tamely with the situation and fail to
demand sufficient sacrifices. Such was the wave of feeling over the
country that it was impossible to hold a peace meeting anywhere
without a certainty of riot. The only London daily which had
opposed the war, though very ably edited, was overborne by the
general sentiment and compelled to change its line. In the
provinces also opposition was almost silent, and the great colonies
were even more unanimous than the mother country. Misfortune had
solidified us where success might have caused a sentimental
opposition.
On the whole, the energetic mood of the nation was reflected by the
decided measures of the Government. Before the deep-sea cables had
told us the lists of our dead, steps had been taken to prove to the
world how great were our latent resources and how determined our
spirit. On December 18th, two days after Colenso, the following
provisions were made for carrying on the campaign.
1. That as General Buller's hands were full in Natal the
supervision and direction of the whole campaign should be placed in
the hands of Lord Roberts, with Lord Kitchener as his chief of
staff.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 225 of 842
Words from 60506 to 60765
of 225456
