The record-union., 1899-10-15
The English Nation Has Set All Her
Powerful Machinery
AT Work TO Crush Out the Little Republic
in South Africa.
The Next Few Weeks Expected to
Mark Some Sharp Fighting Be-
tween the Contending Forces
Now Modified ON the Borders.

copyrighted, 1899, by Associated Press.)
LONDON, Oct. 14.-War, so often
predicted in these dispatches as being
the inevitable climax to hopeless things,
has come at last, and is now in full
swing for the subjection of the little
republic, whose whole military sun sets
and rises at Majuba Hill.
Great Britain has set going machin-
cry more powerful than that which
crushed Napoleon, and twice as strong
as that which gave her Egypt and the
Soudan. General Sir Redvers Butler
has gone, and already the Boer bullets
have sung a song of deperate def
ance.
That the next few weeks will be
marked by sharp fighting can almost
be taken for granted That the result
will probably be for time not too
favorable to the British is also to be
admitted. The main question is how
long are hostilities to last. The ulti-
mate English victory is almost assured
by virtue of overwhelming strength.
a forecast of the length and nature
Of the campaign should not be ven
tured without knowledge of an eX-
traOrdinary circumstance communi-
Gated to the Associated Press on most
reliable authority, though hitherto not
printed in England, namely, that Gen
eral Butler has gone to take entire
control Of the South African situation.
He will be as absolute as was yelling
ton, and less hampered than was
Kitchener. Therefore, not only the
conduct of the war lies in his discre-
ton, but also virtually the future or
all South Africa, and no prognostica-
tions are of value without first taking
into consideration his personal char
acter for obstinacy and frankness,
traits responsible for the supremacy
he has attained.
Two months ago the Secretary OF
State for War, the Marquis Of Lans-
downe, offered Butler command of the
projected army corps. Sir Redvers
gave a pointblank refusal unless the
War Office would guarantee him be-
tween 60,000 and 10000 men. He Is
quoted as having said on that occasion;
Il shall not be handed down in his
tory as another Sir George Colley.
The reference was of course to the
defeat at Majuba HILL He also said
that if he were to go, it must be on
the distinct understanding that ne
could select his own staff and would
be entirely uninterfered with by the
War Office.
His request regarding the staff, it is
said. was prompted by his suspicion
that Lord Wolseley would attempt TO
pav off old scores by foisting upon him
staff officers antagonistic to him. LORD
Lansdowne demurred, but the stronger
man prevailed, and Butler, having
gained all the points he coveted, ac-
cepted the supreme command.
Prior to Lord Lansdowne's assent,
General Butler freely expressed tne
opinion that when he had driven the
Roers into a corner his hand might
be stayed by a peace-loving puollc OF
a well-ineentioned War Off1ce-a con-
dition of things he could not tolerate
for as he expressed it, his hand was
mot one of those that once put TO the
plow releases it's grip"
It appears that both the Queen and
the cabinet practically acquiesced in
his demand, although, of course, retain
tbe name. Butler is pretty certain to
cut the wires behind him and TO pc
ont of touch with London at critical
moments, for fear the Cabinet might
change it's mind.
It is this man, then, whom some Oh
his own officers do not hesitate to can
a brute, however much they. admire his
determination, who holds the destiny
of the Transvaal and the Orange Free
State in his hand. He knows the Beers,
and he hates them. He has campaign
ed over the whole present battle ground
and is. above all, a soldier from head
to foot. AS soon as he reaches South
Africa he will inaugurate a campaign
of aggressiveness such as the world has
seldom seen, but which he. believes JUS
tifiabIe by virtue of his own superior
force. The sternest measures will not
be too stern for him, and until the last
vestige of Dutch power, whether in the
Transvaal, the Orange Free State or
Cape Colony is swept out, he will not
stay his hand.
General Buffers mission is nearly in
keeping with the spirit of the Colonial
ONCE. Rightly or wrongly, believing
war TO be the only possible method OF
solving the Transvaal trouble, those
officials have made no attempt to con-
ceal their satisfaction at receiving an
ultimatum from President Kruger, thus
enabling them to place the onus of the
war on the Beers.
Once General Butler gets to work it
is believed here the Beers will offer lit
tie organized resistance Something
a. nf ha
they may achieve in the interim, but
the life insurance companies are only
asking an extra premium Of five pence
as a war risk; in other words, placing
the odds at 20 to l. This does not ap-
ply to South Africa irregulars, fighting
side by side with the regulars, but it is
said the Beers will show them no quar-
ter. This it is hard to believe when
it is recalled with what unusual hu-
manity the Beers treated the English
prisoners during the previous war.
The outlook" quotes a member OF
the Cabinet, whose name is not given,
but who is evidently Mr.. Chamberlain,
az saying in private conversation: Abb
solute equality, nothing more and Moth
ing less, is what we intend to secure in
South Africa. There can be but one
fate for the Boer oligarcfy and there
can be left no doubt regarding her SOW
ereignty over all South Africa. When
these ends have been attained a policy
of magnanimity and consideration,
such as has made the French Cana
dians loyal British subjects WILL / have
no doubt, be applied with equal sue
cess in South Africa. To, destroy ruth
| lessly the best traditions and amour