[Illustration: _W. W. Ouless, R.A._] [_By permission of Messrs. Graves._
LIEUT.-GENERAL SIR FREDERICK SLEIGH ROBERTS (NOW LORD ROBERTS).
In the bearskin coat which he wore in Afghanistan.]
As with Lord Nelson, to look upon him was to love him. "I have known many great faces, but that of Lord Roberts is a face apart. I fancy that, in the minds of their worshippers, some of the soberer gods of the old mythologies had faces like his," wrote Mr. Ralph. And the face portrayed the man, at once stern and gentle, noble and humble, patient with the vast patience of one who knows men and their petty failings, steadfast and strong.
[Sidenote: DEC. 16-23, 1899.] _Lord Roberts' Generalship._]
For the command in South Africa Lord Roberts had many peculiar qualifications. He was no stranger to the art of making war against a brave, half-civilised enemy in difficult and mountainous country. If in the Abyssinian War of 1868 he had seen nothing worth the name of serious war, he had in the little wars with the hill tribes on the Indian frontier, and especially in the second Afghan war, gained valuable experience. In many ways the Afghans resembled the Boers. Both peoples were soldiers by instinct and expert shots, with a talent for taking cover. The Afghans in the war of 1877-8, the Boers in the struggle of 1899-1900, were both for the first time acting in masses with the help of artillery. Both could rely upon the great distance to be traversed by the British troops and the comparative barrenness of their country, which yielded scanty supplies of food and forage, as their best auxiliaries. But of the two races the Boers were incomparably the more formidable enemies.
LORD ROBERTS GOING ON BOARD THE S.S. "DUNOTTAR CASTLE" AT SOUTHAMPTON.
Lady Roberts accompanying him to witness his departure, December 23, 1899.]
Lord Roberts' generalship in the Afghan War had been of a very high order. In command of the Kuram column he distinguished himself early in 1879, so that in the autumn of that year he was appointed to lead the army which was to avenge the murder of the British Resident at Cabul. On October 1 his real advance began. It was made with startling rapidity, and on the 13th he marched through the streets of Cabul. Here his small army had to pause, as in March and April 1900 the British Army had to halt at Bloemfontein, and the enemy rallied, inflicting more than one minor reverse upon his troops. But it was his great march from Cabul to Kandahar, in the summer of 1880, which best illustrated his judgment and daring. Cutting loose from his base, living on the land as General Sherman had done in the famous march to the sea, he led his little column, 10,000 strong, on August 8, out of his camp at Cabul. On the 31st he entered Kandahar, having covered in the twenty-three days 320 miles, and this in sweltering heat. So rapid were his movements that he everywhere forestalled his enemies and met with no opposition on the march.