On Tuesday the Colonial Office issued a Blue-book contain. ing
a full account of the recent Somaliland reverse. It is explicitly stated that the attack by the camel constabulary on a large force of dervishes was an act of disobedience on the part of Mr. Corfield, the commandant of the constabulary, who paid the penalty with his life. Mr. Archer, the Acting- Commissioner of the Protectorate, had with some misgiving allowed the constabulary to advance beyond the limits of the British occupation in order to prevent strife among the friendlies, but Mr. Corfield had been instructed to avoid con- flicts with the dervishes. It was always possible that an encounter with them would be forced on Mr. Corfield, but he went oat of his way to seek one, and that against an enormously superior force. Nor would he even take the precaution of forming a square. It was almost a miracle that any of the constabulary with him escaped. The dervishes ultimately ran short of ammunition owing to the heroic fighting of those of the constabulary who stood firm—a defence comparable with that of Rorke's Drift in the Zulu war—but if the dervish spearmen had pressed in they could easily have exterminated the small party. Mr. Corfield was an exceptionally brave and dashing officer, and one cannot refrain from taking a pride in his qualities, but the Colonial Office is only doing its duty in severely calling attention to disobedience.
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