Show ENGLAND UNPREPAREDNESS I In one way at least the Boer war has I I been of Infinite benefit to Great Britain Brit-ain In serene English confidence and obstinacy the English army had stood I still from the close of the Crimean war up to the breaking out of the Boer war I Tha result was fearful Men under incompetent in-competent ofilrers were slaughtered I unrrlcrclfully by the Boer sharpshoot I ersLti ore was no thorough organization organiza-tion anywhere the soldiers had grown I careless and neglectful of the commonest com-monest duties and for months nothing but disasters were reported and British Brit-ish prestige suffered as It never had bb fore And this was all most dangerous for I the knowledge of it spread not only through Europe but through all the Mohammedan realms of Asia and northern Africa the news was spread that the English were being shamefully shame-fully ben l6h by l 1 foe vastly Inferior in numbers a nd destitute of everything 31d cc except guns and ammunition The result NYas f mighty clamor Iliac the British army be placed on a real fighting basis and under competent officers fjjtyie old arrogance received n mighty blow the fact was finally driven Iqlo the In sot British soldiers sol-diers that modern warfare meant a great deal mote than personal courage and that rapid Jlrc and magazine 1 suns using smokeless powder and with ranges extending beyond human vision needed something more than a charge In column to stand off hell work The cry is old fogies to the rear new blood new rules new organlza 1 I 1 tion are all demanded and many n I Englishman Is asking What would have been had tlje ya r been against a real modern power The loss of life in the war perhapssaved I to England ten times as muCh loss for notwithstanding notwith-standing her thousand years of wars and conquest when the Boer war broke out Great Britain found herself absolutely unfitted for the task before her though the foe numbered at best but n few thousand men I |