ed when with the General yesterday, as
I told you. Sir John Ross is most kind in his remarks, is he not? I
thought I had told you that B. and M.'s matches duly arrived. I am
sure, in fact, that I did do so. Hal is not too young to ride a pony
soon, though Sydney would be; but then you want a man to keep him well
on the lead at first. My idea is, as I said before, that when he gets
absolutely _au fait_ with his donkey, it would be time enough to put
him on a pony. When a boy is over 8 or 9, it is safe to let him ride
regularly. Earlier than that, I don't approve of. I fancy that this
Dardanelles business, if properly run, will lead to great results.
Personally, I always thought that they had too many troops in Egypt
for the sole purpose of defence. Now I suppose they will put some of
them up the Dardanelles, and Dame Rumour says that Generals of the
Naval Divisions have gone across to the Dardanelles already, but, of
course, that may not be true....

(_From Sir J. Ross of Bladensburg._)

ROSTREVOR HOUSE,
ROSTREVOR, IRELAND.
20.2.15.

MY DEAR G----,

Very many congratulations on your being mentioned in despatches, which
we are so delighted to see. All the more credit to you that, although
you have been out at the front for some time, you were not there at
the beginning of the war, and I know in all these cases, when other
things are equal, the "mention" goes to those who have been out the
longest. I think you know about as much of what is going on as we do,
for, on the whole, we are told very little. Yet I am glad to say we
are promised two short official accounts every week, and so we must be
grateful for that amount of news. The main question outside the actual
operations relates to the German intention; if they can torpedo every
ship they see, whether it belongs to a belligerent or a neutral! It
was always held to be a piece of cruel barbarity to sink a trading
vessel without notice, even if belonging to a belligerent nation, the
right course being to find out first whether she is a belligerent or
not, and then to capture her. It was never considered fair warfare to
touch a neutral. But who can say what "Kultur" will bring us to? Most
people would call it unblushing piracy and attempted wholesale murder.
But we will see what happens. Naval "Kultur" began the day be