n, six hundred, about equally divided between
the Irish Rifles and the Northumberland Fusiliers, had been left as
prisoners. Two guns, too, had been lost in the hurried retreat.

It is not for the historian--especially for a civilian historian--to say
a word unnecessarily to aggravate the pain of that brave man who, having
done all that personal courage could do, was seen afterwards sobbing on
the table of the waiting-room at Molteno, and bewailing his 'poor men.'
He had a disaster, but Nelson had one at Teneriffe and Napoleon at Acre,
and built their great reputations in spite of it. But the one good thing
of a disaster is that by examining it we may learn to do better in the
future, and so it would indeed be a perilous thing if we agreed that our
reverses were not a fit subject for open and frank discussion.

It is not to the detriment of an enterprise that it should be daring
and call for considerable physical effort on the part of those who are
engaged in it. On the contrary, the conception of such plans is one of
the signs of a great military mind. But in the arranging of the details
the same military mind should assiduously occupy itself in foreseeing
and preventing every unnecessary thing which may make the execution
of such a plan more difficult. The idea of a swift sudden attack upon
Stormberg was excellent--the details of the operation are continually
open to criticism.

How far the Boers suffered at Stormberg is unknown to us, but there
seems in this instance no reason to doubt their own statement that their
losses were very slight. At no time was any body of them exposed to
our fire, while we, as usual, fought in the open. Their numbers were
probably less than ours, and the quality of their shooting and want of
energy in pursuit make the defeat the more galling. On the other hand,
their guns were served with skill and audacity. They consisted of
commandos from Bethulie, Rouxville, and Smithfield, under the orders
of Olivier, with those colonials whom they had seduced from their
allegiance.

This defeat of General Gatacre's, occurring, as it did, in a disaffected
district and one of great strategic importance, might have produced the
worst consequences.

Fortunately no very evil result followed. No doubt the recruiting
of rebels was helped, but there was no forward movement and Molteno
remained in our hands. In the meanwhile Gatacre's force was reinforced
by a fresh battery, the 79th, and by a strong reg