[C] It is disgraceful that
English newspapers should, during the progress of a campaign, print
letters from soldiers at the front which asperse the character and
conduct of their commanding officers. Publicity of this sort strikes at
the root of military discipline and common fairness too, for the public
can scarcely expect a British General to reply in the public Press to
the letter of a private serving under him!
The bells of the Cathedral tolled mournfully as the old year died. Would
that its bitter memories could have perished with it! And then from
steeple and steamship, locomotive and factory, a babel of sound burst
forth as sirens and bells and whistles welcomed the birth of 1900. Yet,
as the shrill greetings died away, one heard the tramp of infantry
through the streets. The Capetown Highlanders--a volunteer
battalion--were under arms all that night, as a rising of the Dutch had
been anticipated on New Year's Day. May the new year see the end of this
cruel strife, and the sun of righteousness arise upon this unhappy land
with healing in his wings! As one sits in the dimly-lit wards while the
train tears through the darkness, and nothing breaks the silence save
the groan of a wounded man or the cries of some poor fellow racked with
rheumatic fever--at times like these one thinks of many things, past,
present and future.
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