The San Francisco call., 1899-10-15
GREAT BRITAIN'S PLANS TO CRUSH
THE WARLIKE BOERS.
General Sir RedVerS Butler Secures
Supreme Control Of the English
Forces in South Africa, and
Will Give No Quarter to the
Enemy.

from President Kruger. thus enabling
them to place the onus Of the war on the
Beers. England may or may not have
justification for her contention. but the
Government organs, which must know by
personal knowledge the real feelings of
the anti-Boer party in England, have
made pitiful hypocrites Of themselves in
printing jeremiads upon Mr.. Kruger's
perseverance in sending an ultimatum-
The only thing that surprises an impair
tial observer is that the Transvaal Presi-
dent did not adopt this course before Eng
lands reinforcements arrived. The only
explanation of his failure to do so lies in
the report that he overestimates the
strength Of the British peace party.
Once General Butler gets to work, It is
believed here, the Beers will offer tile
organized resistance. Something depends,
Of course, upon the success they may
achieve in the interim, but the life in
surance companies are only asking an ex-
ira premium of pence as q war risk;
IN other words placing the odds at 20 to L
This does not apply to South African ir-
regulars, fighting side by side with the
regulars, but 1t is said the Beers will
show them no quarter This Is hard to
believe when It is recalled with what un-
usual humanity the Beers treated the
English prisoners during the previous
war.
Speaking OF the war Of 1881 It should be
remembered that General Colley's entire
force amounted to less than 2000 men,
while the Beers had nearly 1900. Cen
eral Sir George Stewart White, the Brit
ish commander in Natal, is not likely to
fall into General ColIey's mistake Of a
premature advance. In fact it is rather
presumed that General White, knowing
2 d.
ments on the way, viii remain on the oe-
tensive, rather than risk a doubtful en-
gagement.
All sorts OF surmises are current re-
garding the detailed strategy likely to be
employed One authority says the hostil-
ity Of the Orange Free State confers an
immense advantage upon the British
forces, as it viii enable Sir Redvers Bull
Ter to go direct through that country
into the Transvaal.
The Naval and Military Record, in the
course Of most interesting article
written by an army officer who compares
the forces, says: There is little doubt
that the losses on our side will be
heavy. Our troops will be compelled to
accept the role Of attack upon prepared
positions, while the. Beers, at the very
outset, by means of their mobility, may
be able TO make a dash into Natal re-
u
But it is hard TO believe that they have
staying power sufficient to prolong op-
erations for any length of time General
Butler viii eventually be strong enough
to invest any fortified towns or positions
taken by the Beers and to sit down and
wait until exhaustion sets in among
them. Sparsely populated as IS the veldt,
with q total area scarcely equal to
France, 1t is questionable if 10000 typical
-,
be raised throughout the whole Trans
vaal. The rest are city men, with the
vices Of greed and the love Of ease en-
gendered in centers of urban life.
1T is far from true that the Beers are
a godly. clean-living and generous race.
They have openly given out that the
British are to be uprooted, stock and
branch, and the oft-heard phrase, TO
every man, a damsel or two throws a
lurid light on Mr.. Kruger's pious front
I'VE enjoy the sublime advantage of
eventually posing as the attacking party
and it remains to be seen how far the
Beers are fitted for the wearlsome role Of /
passive defense which sooner or later will
be imposed upon them. The service re-
volver they have in many cases discarded !
for one of ten chambers, but l do not be-
lieve there viii be much hand to hand /
fighting, for Sir Redvers Butler is well
aware that in melee the advantages of
iron discipline are to a great extent lost. |
We do not intend to allow the Beers TO /
close with our infantry, although cavalry
patrol skirmishes will be unavoidable. |
The TransvaaI forces prefer ambuscades, |
and our difficulty will be to get into con-
tact with them. 1t is TO be hoped that
the British-Indian troops will be de-
tailed as an advance guard, for they are
well trained in ambush work"
TQ--11
corps are still here. The Associated |
Press learns that the Admiralty has final /
ly fixed upon October 20 as the first day
of regular embarkaton, this continuing