The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1899-10-16
EUROPE WATCHING
England in Her Conflict With the
Trausyaal.
IMMENSE PREPARATIONS

IaAFNSE PREPARATIONS
FoF the Conduct Of Operations in
South AfrIca-oger Fifty Thousand
Men TO be shipped There Nothing
Like It Ever Undertaken Before by
Great Britain-The Flower Of the
Nobility Is Going TO War.
Copyright, 1889 by The Associated PressI
LONDON. oct 1b,-All Europe IS
Ratchiug Great Britain Of this crucial
moment IN her military afialrs, Foreign
Statesmen and military experts regard
he result Of the war with the Boers as
q fofegone conclusion. What they scan
with such anxious interest Is Ehgiand'a
Tremendous preparations for the con-
nest BY tbs result OF these efforts win
her strength be gagged. In assembling
an army twice as large as that which
she sent to the crimeR, and consider
ably greater than wellington's force at
Waterloo, England % Offering al illus
tratIon, for the frst time in many de-
cades. Of her ability to fight on land.
Although her naval strength has Of
ten been demonstrated to advantage It
has SIN been q matter Of doubt wheth-
or her military arm would compare
fayorabiy with that Of continental ma
lions, and In the throes Of such q test
che has been engaged this week. day
aud night Gangs OF men are working
necessarily at the ports that dot Eng
lands ahores, transforming liners into
troop ships. Largely augmented forces
are Ceaheiessly turning out ammunition
and ordnance stores. Some Idea Of the
activity IN this branch can be gained
from the fact that 100000 rounds OF
small -arm ammunition left Woolwich
last week Although the manufacture
Of the favorit0 new bullet Mark 5" has
5 been retarded by an outbreak Of lead
poisoning among the employees, this de-
pnrtment Is working day and night.
Tons OF scrap zluc ARE being shipped to
make gas for the war balloons, which
are being taken out on more extern
Bive scale and with a more complete
equipment than ever before.
Meanwhile the men for whom these
implements Of war are being made are
pouring out Of barracks to the ports.
standing by to embark. drilling, ma
neuverlhg and practlclng at targets ev-
cry spare hour. The reserves are
SWnrming into Aldershot in unheralded
b6tches and Remembering their rifles
as II the transformation from civil to
military life was merely an everyday
occurrence,
The huge mobilization at Aldershot is
now In charge OF Major General Thorn
rs Kelly Kenny, inspector general Of
auxiliary forces and recruiting, who hns
succeeded General Sir Redvers Butler
All the work Is new. It Is the first time
that anything Of the kind has been at
tempted since tho short service system
went into effect. A visit to Aldershos
produces the impression that every
thing Is going like cloclSwork, but It is
too early yet to express definite opin'
ion regarding the British mobilization.
FOR the reserves themselves, who are
ohliEad to leave their wives and faml!-
les on n pItlsul plttancG from the gov
eminent, much public sympathy has
besn aroused, exempllfylnS the truth
OF Ruf-ard Klplins's jeer. "a special
train To- Atkins when the band begins
TO play" a number OF reserves who
were not called on have asked to be
allowed to serve in South Afrlc2, and
sImilnr spirit If spontaneous, practica!
patrlotism Ia seen on all sides.
Sir Redvsrs Buffers force includes the
flower Of the English nobility. The eX-
ccllent Boer craftsmanship, combined
with the fact that II Is an unwritten
rule In the British army that officers
must always stand under fire. even
though the men are lying down, makes
mourning probable In many q noble
British house.
The admiralty Is perhaps more on
trial than the army, especially as It Is
well-lsnown that General Lord Garnet
wolseley, the commnnder-in-chief,
does not approve u system which gives
the nnvy such far-reachinE power In
transporting troops. In 1882 Great Bril-
tain dispatched 5000 troops In three
weeks to Alexandria, Egypt, a feat that
ELECTED the intense admiration OF Count
won Moltke, but the task OF shipping
more than $1,000 men has no parallel In
the history of England. Already the
ming to blame each other for various
delays; but It Is scarcely apparent that
there has yet been any serious lack OF
facilities The shlpbrokers have un-
doubtedly worked something like cor
ner on the admiralty, as they did during
the Hispano-Americnn war, md the re-
cent breakdown OF two transports is
stIll the cause Of considerable abuse OF
the admiralty These two vessels were
repeatedly offered to the United States
during the war with Spain. but owing
to the astuteness Of the American naval
Representatives they were never pur-
chased.
The most remarkable point In connec-
ton with the transport arrangements Is
that about eighty ships can be taken
Into the government service without
materially disturbing the shipping
trade. The weakest point in the whole
mobilization seems 10 be the army SER
vice CORPS. corresponding to the United
States commissary. The various sta
lions have been Quilted to obtain the
necessary officers md men. yet many
line officers say che arrangements are
gravely inadequate for such a corps.
Recent Charters.