urs before had tramped out of Chieveley Camp.
Between five and six hundred of them had fallen--a loss which
approximates to that of the Highland Brigade at Magersfontein. The
Dublins and the Connaughts were the heaviest sufferers.

So much for the mishap of the 5th Brigade. It is superfluous to point
out that the same old omissions were responsible for the same old
results. Why were the men in quarter column when advancing against an
unseen foe? Why had no scouts gone forward to be certain of the position
of the ford? Where were the clouds of skirmishers which should precede
such an advance? The recent examples in the field and the teachings of
the text-books were equally set at naught, as they had been, and were
to be, so often in this campaign. There may be a science of war in the
lecture-rooms at Camberley, but very little of it found its way to
the veld. The slogging valour of the private, the careless dash of the
regimental officer--these were our military assets--but seldom the care
and foresight of our commanders. It is a thankless task to make such
comments, but the one great lesson of the war has been that the army is
too vital a thing to fall into the hands of a caste, and that it is
a national duty for every man to speak fearlessly and freely what he
believes to be the truth.

Passing from the misadventure of the 5th Brigade we come as we move from
left to right upon the 4th, or Lyttelton's Brigade, which was instructed
not to attack itself but to support the attack on either side of it.
With the help of the naval guns it did what it could to extricate and
cover the retreat of the Irishmen, but it could play no very important
part in the action, and its losses were insignificant. On its right in
turn Hildyard's English Brigade had developed its attack upon Colenso
and the bridge. The regiments under Hildyard's lead were the 2nd West
Surrey, the 2nd Devons (whose first battalion was doing so well with the
Ladysmith force), the East Surreys, and the West Yorkshires. The enemy
had evidently anticipated the main attack on this position, and not only
were the trenches upon the other side exceptionally strong, but their
artillery converged upon the bridge, at least a dozen heavy pieces,
besides a number of quick-firers, bearing upon it. The Devons and the
Queens, in open order (an extended line of khaki dots, blending so
admirably with the plain that they were hardly visible when they
halted), led the attack, bein