From Aldershot to Pretoria | Page 2

great Society on whose behalf it has been written will be amply
rewarded.
W.E. SELLERS. August, 1900.

FROM ALDERSHOT TO PRETORIA
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION: THE EMPIRE AND ITS DEFENDERS
The war in South Africa has been fruitful of A many results which will
leave their mark upon the national life and character, and in which we
may wholly rejoice. Amongst them none are more admirable than the
awakening to the duty we owe to our soldiers and sailors, and the
large-hearted generosity with which the whole empire is endeavouring
to discharge it.
It is necessary to go back to the days of the Crimean War and the
Indian Mutiny to find any similar awakening. It was then that the
British people began to learn the lesson of gratitude to the men they
had so long neglected, whom they had herded in dark and miserable
barracks, and regarded as more or less the outcasts of society.
The glorious courage, the patient, unmurmuring heroism, the tenacity
not allowing defeat, which were displayed during the long and dreary
months of the siege of Sebastopol, and the ultimate triumph of our arms,
aroused the nation from its indifference, and kindled for its defenders a
warm and tender sympathy.
Following swiftly on the Crimean War came the splendid deeds of the

Indian Mutiny, when handfuls of brave men saved the empire by
standing at bay like 'the last eleven at Maiwand,' or, hurrying hither and
thither, scattered the forces which were arrayed against them. The
sympathy which the Crimean War had produced was intensified by
these events, and the duty of caring for those who thus dared to endure
and to die was still more borne in upon the heart of the nation.
=Changed Estimate of our Soldiers and Sailors.=
It came to be discovered that though the British soldier and
man-of-war's man were rough, and in some instances godless to the
extent of being obscene, vicious, and debauched, they were, to use the
phrase which Sir Alfred Milner has made historic, possessed of a 'great
reserve of goodness'; that they were capable not only of good, but of
God. As it were by fire the latent nobility of our nature was discovered,
and the fine gold, and the image and superscription of God were
revealed, in many instances to the men themselves, and in great
measure to the nation at large.
There were many circumstances which aided in this awakening, both in
the War and in the Mutiny. Among them may be reckoned the terrible
hurricane which wrecked the transports in the harbour at Balaclava,
when so many of the stores intended for the troops were destroyed; and
the awful winter which followed, with its numberless deaths in action,
and by hunger, cold, and disease. The horrors of Cawnpore, and the
glorious tragedy of Lucknow, also compelled attention to the men who
were involved in them, and to their comrades who survived.
=Their Deplorable Condition in the Past.=
Previous to these times nothing could well have been more deplorable
than the condition of the soldier or the sailor. It was on all hands taken
for granted that he was bad, and, wonderful to say, he was provided for
accordingly. His treatment was a disgrace. The barrack-room, with its
corners curtained off as married quarters, the lash, the hideous and
degrading medical inspection--samples of the general treatment--all
tended to destroy what remained of manly self-respect and virtue.
Whilst the neighbourhood of the barracks and the naval ports, teeming

with public-houses and brothels, still further aided the degradation. The
creed of the nation, or rather, the opinion that was tacitly accepted,
would be best expressed in the familiar saying that 'the bigger the
blackguard, the better the soldier.'
=Their Devotion to Duty.=
Nevertheless, amidst all these evil conditions, not only did courage and
loyalty to duty survive, but even, in many instances, a chivalrous
tenderness and devotion. There were to be found many earnest
Christian men, and the work of God went on, comrade winning
comrade to Christ, so that it was rare indeed to find a regiment or a
man-of-war which had not in it a living Church.
What, for instance, can well be more interesting or significant than the
record which tells of the men on the Victory, Lord Nelson's flag-ship at
Trafalgar, who had no need to be sworn at to be made to do their duty,
who amidst much persecution sang their hymns and prayed, and lived
their cleanly, holy lives; who attracted Lord Nelson's attention, and so
won his respect that he gave them a mess to themselves, and ordered
that they should not be interfered with in their devotions? Or than the
record of the godly sergeants of the 3rd Grenadiers at Waterloo, who
went into action praying that it might