Baden-Powell of Mafeking

by J. S. Fletcher

"With these few simple, soldierly ceremonies, a stirring epoch in the history of the war was closed."

There was yet another ceremony, this time of an altogether jubilant nature, at Mafeking. On May 24th Baden-Powell (now Major-General) gave a dinner at Dixon's Hotel to the commanding officers of the relief columns and the garrison, and to officers who had distinguished themselves in the defence of the town. Here he made some more speeches. The first was in proposing the health of the Queen. He said:—

"Gentlemen,—It is customary on occasions like these for the president to rise at this juncture and to say, 'Gentlemen, the Queen.' In these three blunt words we Englishmen convey a very great depth of feeling. The other day, when the relieving column met the garrison, we merely shook hands with them and said, 'How do you do?' but I do not hesitate to say that there was more real feeling expressed in that hearty handshake than in the weeping and embracing by which foreigners are accustomed to give expression to their relief. At a time like this I feel as if I could drink the health of Paul Kruger himself, coupled with that of Mr. Rhodes, because Paul Kruger has been the cause of this great outburst of Imperial feeling, and Mr. Rhodes was the red rag to the bull which drew him on. Well, we showed the rag, and the bull charged, but he did not expect to be surrounded by such a crowd of matadors and picadors as are harassing him now, and to-day the old bull is beaten down upon his knees. In the arena round us sit some of the men and all the women and children of England and her Colonies. At their head looking on is that great and gracious lady Her Majesty the Queen."

Then later on he spoke of the splendid march made by the relieving columns, comparing it with Lord Roberts's famous march to Kandahar, and pointing out that while Lord Roberts's troops made from 15 to 16 miles a day, Colonel Mahon had averaged nearly 20 miles. Finally, in replying to the toast of his own health, proposed by Mr. Whiteley, the Mayor of Mafeking, to whose great services and splendid loyalty he paid a well-deserved tribute, he once more thanked the Town Guard, the members of which, though nominally non-fighters, had done such valuable work during the siege.

When the news of the relief of Mafeking reached England the whole nation rejoiced with a fervour and abandon that was surprising even to those who rejoiced. There had been jubilation at the succour of Kimberley and gladness at the raising of the siege of Ladysmith, but the rejoicings on these occasions were as nothing to those which took place all over the country when it was known that Mahon and Plumer had at last shaken hands with Baden-Powell. The news of the fall of Pretoria, which arrived some weeks later, was received with gladness and satisfaction, but those who saw the London streets on Mafeking night and afterwards compared their appearance with that which they presented when Pretoria fell will remember that the fall of the Transvaal capital did not occasion one-tenth of the mad delight which broke out all over London when it was known that Baden-Powell and his garrison had indeed "sat tight and shot straight" and won in the end. And it was not only in London and in England, but all over the British Empire that men rejoiced. Men, whatever may be their faults and failings, love courage, and endurance, and determination, and the siege of Mafeking had given the world such an exhibition of these qualities as it had rarely seen before. And Englishmen in particular felt that this exhibition had come at the right time. We began the war none too well; some of us began to whine and whimper, and some to scold and threaten, because things were going wrong with us, and here came the Man for the Moment, who feared nothing, fought against fearful odds, helped and encouraged those who fought under him, and made himself a very rock and tower of strength in the hour of need.

"These chaps have got an exaggerated idea of the importance of my personality," remarked Baden-Powell to an interviewer when the siege of Mafeking was over. Well! that's as may be, and it is good that a great man should be backward in estimating his own greatness. But we English are what we are because we love, admire, and in our own small way strive to emulate the example of our heroes, and in the man who held Mafeking for seven weary months, who heard thirty thousand shells crash into the little town, and who came out of the struggle as cheery and good-humoured as ever, we see a hero the importance of whose personality we do not think it possible to exaggerate. It will be a bad day for us when we give up putting our great men on pedestals. A great man set up upon a pedestal is a light and an incentive to thousands who, but for knowing of him, would be more than inclined to believe life a ghastly failure and to go down in its struggle without a single effort. It seems to me that in Baden-Powell's career as we have seen it so far—and may God make it go much further and to still greater things, for England's sake!—there is realized the grand central idea which runs through Browning's Epilogue to Asolando:—

"One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward,
Never doubted clouds would break,
Never dreamed, though right were worsted, wrong would triumph,
Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better,
Sleep to wake.
"No, at noonday in the bustle of man's work-time
Greet the unseen with a cheer!
Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be,
'Strive and thrive!' cry 'Speed—fight on, fare ever
There as here!'"

THE END

GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LTD., ST. JOHN'S HOUSE, LITTLE SUTTON STREET, CLERKENWELL, E.C.