But General French was not one of the officers prominently mentioned.
Yet, he had already risen to a position analogous to that which
General von Bernhardi then occupied in the German army. In any other
European country his name would have been practically a household
word. Even to the English newspaper writer it was a paradox and a
problem.

"Who is this General French?" people asked one another, when news of
his first victories came to hand. Scarcely anyone was able to answer
the question. One finds curious corroboration of the prevailing
ignorance of French's career in a society journal of that date. In
January of 1900, a then most popular social medium was almost
pathetically confessing its perturbation on the point. After giving a
description of General French, the writer goes on rather in wrath than
in apology--"Since I wrote the above paragraph, I have found a letter
in an Irish paper, which declares that the French of whom I have just
spoken is not the hero of Colesberg. The French of whom I have spoken
is George Arthur (_sic_), while the Colesberg French is John Denton
Pinkstone French. Of John Denton Pinkstone French I have found no
details in any of the ordinary books of reference. Probably some
correspondent will supply me with the details." There was a lapse or
six weeks before any further information was forthcoming.

But there was one man who knew his French. General Sir Redvers Buller
had found his worth on the Nile Expedition, in repeated autumn
manoeuvres at home, and in many a long discussion on military topics.
His casting vote, therefore, made French Commander of Cavalry in
Natal.

Major Arthur Griffiths has supplied an admirable little sketch of