The San Francisco call., 1896-04-19
There Will Be More Soldiers
Under Arms Than Since the
Sepoy Mutiny.
DANGERS OF THE NILE ADVANCE
Work of Putting Down the Matabel,
Uprising May Be Complicated by
the Beers.
Icopyright, 1896, by the New York Times.l

LONDON. ENG, April 1s.-The mos
warlike British lingo can no longer COM
plain that things are dull. Each London
paper has from four to six columns daily
new from the headquarters of the British
armies in the field or the points where
British subjects are in hourly terror of
their lives, and it is practically admitted
by the Government at last that before
autumn there will be more of the Queens
soldiers under arms in active service than
since the Sepoy mutiny was put down,
nearly forty years ago.
Even without any European entangle-
ment or rupture of peace England has
enough fighting on her hands for 1896 to
make the year conspicuous in her records
Now that it is known that 10000 British
troops with three battallions of the house
hold brigade and Redyers Butler in COM
mand, are to go up the Nile as soon as the
floods render an ascent practicable. people
are naturally angry at the wanton lies told
and persisted in for weeks by the Ministers
on this whole subject. The most charita.
DISCRIMINATION Is that there were sharp
divisions in the Cabinet and that Salisbury
Balfour and Curzon were hoping against
hope, when they gave pacific assurances
that they could hold their own against
Chamberlain's aggressive iingoism.
AT all events no one is making headway
against it to-day. and now that blood has
begun to flow the chance of England's s
listening to any peace party is hardly
q worth discussing Only some ovefw helm
ing catastrophe in the campaign can work
that miracle now, and what caution, large
preparations and unlimited force can do
to avert this danger is all being done. Il
is generally understood that big draft of
native Indian troops VIII be employed later
on, but the details are unknown.
The news that the Egyptian soldiers ac-
quilted themselves SO well in the opening
sklrmishes with Osman Digna's men
is made much of, but there are
still grave doubts what they will be
like when the Dervishes get really at
them, hand to hand. Their very appear
ance in the field is regarded as an unpar-
donable insult by the Dervishes, whose
contempt for the FelIaheen is boundIess
and they know that if they fall into Der
wish hands their fate will be thing to
shudder at. Hence they fight with ter
rible despair, if there 0e no way out, but
there must be powerful pushing force of
British behind them all the while.
The Matabeie rising furnishes for the
moment much more exciting theme, for
there appears to be genuine danger that
Bulawayo will be sacked and put to fire
and sword before help can reach it. The
beleaguered garrison could hold the place
against indefinite odds so long as proyi-
sions and ammunition lasted, but these
both are pretty short, and, worse still,
hundreds OF natives are inside the Lager
whose loyalty is more than suspected
Every day brings bulletins of new massa-
cres IN the outlying mining territory of
prospecting parties and among the vic
Tins an exceptional proportion of young
men of weil-known families. Exciting as
all this Is, 1t is not an unfamiliar expert
ence to the English, and under ordinary
a conditions they would not dream of bor-
rowing trouble about it, but it happens
that something much more important
than smashing mutiny of savages is
involved, an6 the uncertainty OF just what
this is makes the people nervous. The
whole Transvaal problem is darkly mixed
up with the Matabele difficulty, and all
England's steps toward restoring order in
Rhodesia have to be picked carefully in
order not to tread on Kruger toes.
This makes the Tories impatient here
and they are beginning to cry out to
Chamberlain to go ahead regardless of the
Boe.s and whip them. too, if they insist
on being disagreeable. This is all reported
at Pretoria, where pre-existing prejudice
has been intensified to sober rage by
wholesale lies cabled to and from South
Africa by agents, parasites of Johannes
burg and gold-field syndicates. As re.
&c
the garrison of regulars at Cape Town,
and will probably find herself sending out
still other forces as the summer advances.
The Times this morning says this
doubling of strength at Cape Town is done
because in case of European war the
Suez canal would be bloc cked and all traffic
would have to go round the Cape and the
security of this splendid British harbor
and base OF supplies would be an i'm pera-
tive necessity. If this be an authorized
statement 1t may we'll set Englishmen
thinking They can only reconcile them.
selves to the spectacle of their country wad-
ing waist-deep into the African morass by
taking 1t for granted that the peace of Eu-
rope has been provided for.
Meanwhile if this has not been done.
and il England finds herself confronted
suddenly by hostile Continental. comb1na-
tions TO her detriment while she has her
hands tied in Ethiopia, l should not envy
Lord Salisbury his experience with the
British public.
Until the French Senate meets tuesday,
all sorts of contradictory rumors fl, ,sting
he stability OF everything in Fr nc /, xlll
struggle together to promote |, blic ap-
prehension. 1t is harder than 4 was n