The age-herald., 1899-12-17

England's great general Sir Redvers Henry Butler. who went into South Africa with troops by the thousand and who, it was promised, would march right into the Boer republic and wipe them from the face of the earth, if necessary, has met with sore defeat in his first encounter with the Boers, In the Boer he has met an Apache They ambushed him, defeated him and cap tured his cannon-foreing him to retire. He lost fifteen guns, as well as scores of men, in the first encounter
 Butler has found more of the Apache than the Spaniard in the Boer. They have thor oughly trained generals and have proven themselves superior strategists and superior fighters to the British. A few Boers have defeated an army of the British. The Brit ish casualties have, up to date, been fully ten to every one of the Boers. The result so far has cast gloom over all England, and naturally, too
 Of course, the British must eventually win. They cannot afford to do otherwise. The final and total defeat of the British in South Africa would mean the destruction of the British empire. As 1t is now, Great Britain is in imminent danger. It must put one or two hundred thousand troops in South Africa and thus draw largely from its guard in India, at Hong Kong and at it's other holdings in Asia.
 In the meantime, Russia and Germany are watching the proceedings in South Africa like hawks Russia would have an outlet through Afghanistan and Beloochistan to the Arabian Sea. It would also have larger slice of China than ir has already acquired Germany also wants more ter ritory in China and both nations are pre- pairing to strike the minute they believe England sufficiently weak to make success for them probable. England must whip the Boers and must whip them quickly or else her great empire Is in danger. Already the weakness of the British army has been demonstrated. Strong Epon the seas, Eng land has proven weak in her land forces Her army is 50 per cent. less powerful than the world accredited it, and an almost criminal lack of thorough organization and ability to transport well-equpped troops has been demonstrated
 Great Britain, however, has the funds men are obtainable, and in time the cam paign against the Boers must be successful. But such defeats as the British have al- ready met, unless soon reversed will arouse the Russians and Germans to activity. The British empire is in danger.
 In 1893 in the campaign of the United States regular troops against the Sioux h. dians in North Dakota at the battle of Wounded Knee our soldiers shot down the men, women and children of the Sioux and allowed not one to escape. The American people were shocked at the butchery. The defense of our troops was that the Sioux women and children were armed, and, like the bucks, fought to the death. It a case with the troops of either kill or be killed. They killed.
 Again, in the fall of 1894. the civilized world was shocked at the butchery of the Chinese men, women and children in Port Arthur by the Japanese army. The defense of the Japs was similar to that of the the Chinese fired upon them from the build ings, and that the wounded Chnamen would shoot and stab even while upon the ground in the throes of death. They claim ed that to kill was their only protection. Neither of the above instances were, how ever, so shocl<ingly brutal as the English massacre of the Boers in a fight in South Africa last week.
 The London Times describes the charge of the Fifth Lancers upon 300 Boers. The Boers threw down their guns, fell on their knees and threw up their hands in suppli- cation to be spared. Yet the Lancers