The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1896-01-14
Two British Squadrons Equipped,
but Their Destination
Is a Secret.
PRISONERS TO BE PROTECTED.
Authorities Will Not Permit the Con.
flscation of the Property of
Arrested Americans.

LONDON, ENG, Jan 13.-There has
been dearth of news regarding the stu
alton in South Africa and England's rela-
tons elsewhere, but it can be said that the
outlook in general is better now than it
has been for some time past. The excite
ment has almost completely died away,
but the naval preparations of the Govern
ment are proceeding apace, and so far as
| is known to the public have almost been
completed. Nothing has yet been learned
as to the destination of the flying squad
ron, although much conjecture is INDUCED
in as to where its field of duty will be.
The fact that Count Won Hatzfeldt, the
German ambassador, went from London
to-day to make visit to Brighton is pretty
strong evidence that there has been no fur
ther tension in the Anglo-German rela-
tions. The ebullitIon of popular feeling
against Germany, caused by Emperor Will
liams' attitude toward the Transvaal, was
altogether too violent to last long, aud
there are now very few evidences of any
great desire to open active hostilities
against Germany.
l t may be stated that the suggestion
made to-day by the Manchester Guardian
that the preparations now under way are
intended to support q new British policy
anent Armenia contains some germ of
truth, but doubters ask why it was neces-
sary to make ali these naval preparations
against Turkey when one of the strongest
fleets the world has ever seen was lying at
anchor within easy distance of the Golden
Horn. So far as the Transvaal is con-
cerned, all serious trouble in that direction
is undoubtedly ended.
AS stated in these dispatches yesterday
the rank and file of DIR. Jameson's expedi-
ton has starsed for the Natal boundary,
and the release of the officers of the expe-
dition is expected shortly. Every effort
will be made to protect the members of
the Rand Reform Committee who have
been placed under arrest, including the
Americans. 1t is certain that a bitter
fight will be made against allowing the
Boer Government to confiscate their prop
erty as punishment for their alleged OF
fense.
The statement of ex-PrIme Minister
Rhodes at Kimberley yesterday that his
political career was just opening and that
he hoped to live long enough to do much
good for South Africa again arouses the
idea that the objective point of his ambi-
tion is the establishment of a South Afri-
can republic that will include all the ter
ritoly south of the Zambesl River, includ-
ing the Transvaal and the Orange Free
State. In or out of Office he wields vast
influence, and his doings in the future will
be watched with even greater interest
than in the past.
Little reliance can be placed in many of
the newspaper dispatches published here
purporting to explain the attitude of the
noverS toward Great RritaiD Tho Can't
mental nations may not be friendly to this
country, but it is thought that any one of
them would hesitate for long while be-
fore striking blow at England. The repre-
sentative of the United Press, colIating all
the information it has been possible to OBJ
tain, has all along predicted that the
storm clouds world blow away, leaving
the political atmosphere clearer than it
was before, and this prediction bids fair to
prove true in a very short time unless
some hidden trouble whereof the public
knows nothing complicates the present
situation.