Conan Doyle to the Rescue
Conan Doyle to the Rescue is an article published in The Chicago Tribune on 31 december 1899.
Conan Doyle to the Rescue
English Novelist Publishes a Letter Defending the War Office from Recent Criticism.
[SPECIAL CABLE TO THE NEW YORK JOURNAL AND THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE.]
LONDON, Dec. 30. — Conan Doyle, the famous novelist, publishes a letter defending the War office personages from what he terms "unjust, hysterical, and essentially cowardly attacks upon men who are prevented by their official position from replying."
"Due credit," he urges, "ought to be given to the War office for its striking successes in the mobilization and dispatch of so large a force to such a distance in so short a time. All foreign authorities agree that this was a remarkable achievement. See how division after division is being formed and dispatched, and yet how often we have been told that these divisions of reserves were non-existent. Surely here also the War office has scored.
"In the matter of guns I am assured by expert officers that our field artillery is still the best in Europe. Certainly in this campaign it has silenced all field guns brought against it.
"In the exceptional circumstances of guns of position being trundled about the country and used to outrange field artillery the most we could fairly ask is that our authorities should at once adapt themselves to these novel conditions. This was quickly done by the use of naval guns on the spot and by the dispatch of siege guns from home.
"As to mounted infantry, this whole campaign is now a thing destined perhaps to revolutionize warfare, and we can simply meet conditions as they arise. The large mounted force now on its way is a sign of how adaptive and elastic we are.
"The real fact is we are fighting against a tough lot of men, whom we shall certainly wear down in the long run, but who will give us many hard knocks which we must bear in manly silence, without any shrieks of 'nous sommes trabis.'
"Let there be a reckoning at the end for whoever has done less than his best."
