The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1899-12-21
LORD ROBERTS 1OCONMAND
British Government Has Lost Con-
fdence in Butler.
NEW CAMPAIGN is PLANNED.
Heavy Re-enforcements to DO Hurried to
the Cape in the Fastest Ships of tho
Mercantile Observation-Disclosures viii Ac-
company Roberts.

London, Dec. 19.-Great Britain is
aroused indeed. All her reserves,
strong force of yeomanry, other
mounted volunteers, all her available
colonial troops and a strong division
of militia are ordered to the seat of
war. Field Marshal Lord Roberts will
so as commander-in-chief, and Gen.
Lord Kitchener, of khartoom fame,
will accompany him as second in COM
mand.
These startling orders were issued
by the war Office last night. They
mean that almost the whole strength
of the British empire will be flung into
South Africa.
The mobilization of the troops Will
be pushed with the greatest possible
speed, and the fastest ships from the
British merchant marine will be used
to hurry the forces to the Cape 1t is
calculated that these re-enforcements
will begin to reach South Africa in
about five weeks. Meantime the orig
inal campaign will be abandoned, and
a general policy of mark time will be
adopted by the commanders of the
forces now in the field Gen. Butler
will remain in charge of the Natal
campaign.
Gen. Kitchener will probably COM
mand the main army of invasion, of
which Gen. Gatacre's force Is at pres
ent the representative. 1t is not
known yet whether Gen. Methuen will
attempt to advance on Kimberley or
withdraw to Orange river pending the
Inauguration Of a new campaign. The
latter move seems most probable. as
the spreading of rebellion in Cape
Colony makes his union with Gen.
French only prudent. There is no
doubt that Gen. Gatacres peril will be
the greatest during me month of In
action which must now ensue A large
part of Gen. Warrens division will
probably soon re-enforce him.
The news of Great Britain's tremen-
dous preparations may spur the Beers
into serious aggression before the
fresh British troops arrive, but thus
far they have shown no desire to at
tack intrenched forces while the Brit
lsh disasters have been caused by Just
that thing.
All the indications now point to the
beginning of a great campaign late in
January. Meantime Ladysmith, Kim
berley and Mafeking must wait. Their
situation Is perilous, but according to
all accounts there is no serious danger
that famine will be added to their other
sufferings.
Nine battalions of militia, in addi-
ton to the two battalions which have
already volunteered for service in
Malta and the channel islands, will be
allowed to volunteer for service outside
the United Kingdom, and an equivalent
additional number of militia battalions
will be embodied for service at home.
A strong force of volunteers from Sc
lected yeomanry regiments will be
formed for service in South Africa
Arrangements are being made and will
shortly be announced for the employ
tingent of carefully selected volunteers.
The patriotic offers which are being
received from the colonies will, as far
as possible, be accepted. Preference
will be given to offers Of mounted
contingents. .......
The chief interest in the new cam
paign centers in the governments de-
cision to use as volunteer forces the
yeomanry and militia. For active serv-
ice the yeomanry should supply use
full contingent.
Section D of the reserve, which has
been called out, consists of men who
have completed the term of their orig
inal enlistment and who engage to
serve an additional four years.
The militia are the same class of
men as the regulars and are in camp
a month annually. These, together
with the reserves. number $4,000 men.
Their chief lack is officers The yeo-
many, the backbone of which is
young farmers, are we'll Differed, often
by men retired from the regular cav
airy, who. marrying young, settle on
their country estates. They number
10,207. All are we'll mounted on their
own horses.
In the militia are 14,734 artillerymen
and 1864 engineers. OF the militia
only 1860 are over 35 years of age.
Similar numbers are aged 30 and IS,
and the remainder are under 80. Over
$4,000 are agricultural laborers, $4,000
miners and 10000 artisans. The vol
unteer infantry contains some regi-
ments that are considered the equal of
any of the regular regiments. 1t also
includes the best shots, but their aver
age shooting Is lower than that OF the
regulars. The government does not in
dictate the number OF volunteers that
will be permitted to serve, but Lord
Roberts grand army will probably
reach total Of rather over 100000 of
all arms.
Dlsloyality II Increasing.
There is practically no news from
the seat of war beyond what is cabled
above, and reports from various quar-
tiers of Cape Colony that the Dutch
population are showing an increased
tendency to disloyalty. In some places
they are joining the Beers in large
numbers. The natives, both in Cape
Colony and Basutoland. are FESTIVE.
The news of Gen. Gatacre's defeat was
received with CONSERVATION by the
whites in Basutoland, but fortunately
the natives, according to dispatch