PREFACE
A WAVE of
military enthusiasm is passing over the land, and there is, at
the present moment, a rising tide in the affairs of the army,
which, it is to be hoped, our statesmen will have judgment to
take at the flood. Whatever reforms may be carried out as the
issue of our South African experiences —and that radical changes
will be demanded no one doubts—nothing, we believe, will more
tend to raise the status of the service or improve the morale,
of its individual members than the promotion of a larger
proportion of men of valour and worth from the ranks. Restore
the old French idea of the Marshal’s baton in every knapsack an
idea that was often realised as fact under the regime of
Napoleon—let the recruit feel that somewhere in his kit there
lies a commission, which, by his being loyal to his colours,
“good at need,” and, above all, true to his own self, may some
day be the guerdon of his devotion,—and the army will become in
time of peace what war-time always perforce makes it appear—a
worthy career for the able, the well-doing, and the ambitious.
But this naturally suggests an all-important question. Why
should the income of an officer be incommensurate with either
his position or its expenses? It is not quite to the credit of
the nation that, in even a single instance, the reward of a
commission should mean to a gallant soldier either ruin or the
life-long misery of a sense of social inferiority. When General
Macdonald had his choice of the Victoria Cross or promotion from
the ranks, he chose with the wisdom that has characterised all
his actions in life. And to the honour of the bluest blood in
our magnificent array of officers be it said, he has never been
made to feel other than an equal of whom all are proud — one of
Nature’s nobles.
But even Macdonald, if all accounts are true, has not held his
commission without some family sacrifices of the most honourable
kind, and a less dauntless spirit, especially if entirely
destitute of friendly backing, might have shrunk from a position
involving possible isolation and the withering influence that
comes from a haunting feeling of a seat below the salt. It is
not difficult to divine the reasons that might lead a brave but
sensitive man to choose less wisely than Macdonald. The army
will undoubtedly gain in prestige, efficiency, and numbers by
the promotion of capable men, and it should not surely be beyond
the wisdom and ingenuity of those in authority to devise a
scheme whereby all fear of such a reward should be eliminated.
Let the pay be made sufficient, or let special grants and
endowments accompany preferment from the ranks for distinguished
service. The people that ungrudgingly, nay gratefully, vote huge
sums to successful Field-Marshals, would hail with enthusiasm
any proposal which would enable men of the stamp of Hector
Macdonald to accept, without financial apprehension, positions
in which they could render still greater service to Queen and
country.
This brief sketch attempts to tell the life-story of a former
private in the Gordon Highlanders, who is now a Major-General of
the British army, and Commander of the Highland Brigade in South
Africa.
The biographical details have been gathered from many
sources—from information orally obtained, from letters,
speeches, newspapers, and magazines —and the writer has
endeavoured to sift the wheat of truth from the chaff of myth,
and to present the career of Hector Macdonald in a connected and
popularly interesting form.
Where materials have been so freely “commandeered” from all
quarters, individual acknowledgments are impossible, but special
thanks are due to General Macdonald’s brother, County Councillor
William Macdonald, of Rootfield, without whose valuable help
this Life would have been wanting both in completeness and in
accuracy.
D. C.
The Philosophical Institution, Edinburgh.
General Hector A.
MacDonald, C.B., D.S.O., A.D.C. to the Queen LL.D. (Glasgow)
A Biographical Sketch by David Campbell, author of "The Scots
Reader" and "Old Scottish Stories" (pdf)
