12 National Life 



badly defeated, by a social organism far 

 less highly developed and infinitely smaller 

 than our own. We felt like the giant be- 

 wildered, not by the strength, but by the 

 skill and ingenuity, of our opponent. We 

 had lost the power of foreseeing, and our 

 soldiers the power of adapting themselves to 

 a change of environment. We had to learn 

 from our foe the very armament suitable to 

 the conditions ; we had to learn that guns of 

 great calibre could be taken into the field 

 and, what is more, withdrawn from it; we 

 had to learn the arts of making and of taking 

 shelter ; we had to learn the existence of 

 something which was neither cavalry nor 

 mounted infantry ; we, a nation of horse- 

 breeders and horse-riders, had to learn the 

 right horse for a rough country and the 

 right manner of handling him ; nay, to some 

 troops we even issued a new rifle, and let 

 them practically gain their first experience 

 of it in the field. We, no doubt, felt in 

 those days of depression that we should 

 learn, or partially learn, all this, and per- 

 haps more ; we hoped, with a distinguished 

 statesman, that we should 'muddle through 



