Times Hist Of The War In South PDF Download

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 edition. Excerpt: ... those promises were uttered, and how heavy were the sacrifices that still remained to be made. The Government was partially but not wholly awakened to the gravity of the position. In making their provision for the year 1900 they had calculated that until the end of September it would be necessary to maintain the army in Africa at a strength of 230,000 men, that from October to December these figures might be cut down to one-half, and during the first months of 1901 to one-quarter. These calculations having proved mistaken, Mr. Brodrick, who, upon the reconstruction of the Government and the transfer of Lord Lansdowne to the Foreign Office, had succeeded to the post of Secretary of State for War, was compelled to ask for a supplementary vote for sixteen millions. On making this announcement to Parliament on December 11, Mr. Brodrick described with pardonable pride the great military effort which the nation had put forth. He showed that Napoleon had been compelled to detach 400,000 men in Spain for five years against an enemy miserably equipped and inexpert in the field; that 30,000 to 50,000 Cubans, in a small island, had held at bay 227,000 Spaniards for two years, and that even America had been compelled to send 100,000 men to the Plulippines to suppress the insurrection in her new possession. But he failed to draw the true logical inference. The future, not the past, was in question. In justice to Mr. Brodrick it must be recorded that he fulfilled to the letter the demands made from the seat of war; but it would have been better if, instead of allowing himself to become involved in the details of a grandiose scheme of army reorganisation, which could not possibly be carried into effect until the end of the war, he had thrown his...