Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-10-29
Copyright, Associated Press

battles which have already taken place
in Natal has brought out strenuous
protests from many quarters against
the ancient custom Of British officers
in refusing to take cover when under
fire. From figures at Glencoe it is ap-
parent that one out Of every four men
killed was an officer, whereas the or
ganization exists upon the principle
that to every twenty-five men there is
one officer. 1t is evident that If the
same ratio of mortality Is kept up the
British forces will become seriously
mnder-oficered. Among the enlisted
men at Glencoe the proportion of killed
to wounded was 80 to 1876, while 10 Of
f1cers were killed to % officers wounded.
The difference in the percentage leads
to the conclusion that many Of the Of
fcers were hit more than once and
kept on leading their men after the
first wound. Emperor Williams recent
criticism Of the British officers refusal
to take cover is now frequently quoted.
The feeling in the army itself is that
though the Regulations" do not say the
officers must not lie down, it is such an
eld-established principle that it would
take a brave man to inaugu ate
change, and the adage Of the British
soldier, Follow wherever the officer
leads" is held still to be intensely true,
for though the officers believe the per-
sonnet Of the army is as good as ever,
1t has been the history of Great Britain
that they at the same time maintain
that Tommy Atkins" needs more
leading than any man in the world, so
the splitting of Great Britain's best blood
Is likely to continue for the present.
The proportion of the casualties as
whole has caused
A THRILL OF HORROR
and sympathy throughout Great Brit
ain, for the people now begin to realize
what a fight with a. civilized enemy
means. Old soldiers point out that at
the Alma, one of the bloodieSt battles
in Great Britain's annals, the casual
ties totalled only six per cent, where
rs, in the recent Boer engagements,
they considerably exceed that figure.
General Whites strategy and the
execution of his movements are warm
ly praised and it is said at the clubs
that General Sir Redvers Butler will
have to hurry UP or General White
will get peerage first. General White
representes the Indian element in the
British army, and those who have serv-
ed in India have always maintained
that the commander there had a more
important post than the Communicating
chief himself. AS General Lord Rob-
erts was considered too old for another
campaign, Generals White, Symons
and Hunter were sent as sop to the
Indian faction, for General Butler has
always been more or less antagonistic
to General Roberts and his partisans.
Regarding European Intervention,
Great Britain's plans to meet such an
emergency continue. The Journal De
Geneva publishes a dispatch from Con-
stantinople saying that Russia intends
handing the Porte a note at an early
date demanding the opening Of the Bos
phorous and Dardanelles. Unless Great
Britain Is a party to such a demand,
Russias action will undoubtedly stir
up a hornets nest, compared with
which the Transvaal question will be
quite insignificant.
Such reports have a depressing effect
on Consols, and In spite of the boom in
South African securities, there is con-
siderable uneasine5s on the stock ex-
change regarding the future action Of
Russia and France. South African
mine shares are no longer referred to
as "Kaffirs." They are now called
British" while South Africa is opti-
mistically described as a mineralized
Egypt.
Russia is reported to be endeavoring
TO RAISE A LOAN
OF 920,000,000 in Paris, but, so far, she
has been unsuccessful.
The internal conditions of labor in
England have not been improved by
the war. About 1000 Welsh miners
are likely to be thrown out OF work
November 1 by a threatened strike of
the surface engineers and other me-
chanics, who are claiming shorter
hours. The negotiations on the sub
ject have failed and the surface men
announce at the strike win begin on
the date mentioned. 1t will then be
practically impossible for the miners
to continue underground.
Mr.. Joseph H. Choate, the United
States ambassador, is enjoying a holt
day at the Duke Of Sutherland's place,
Trentham Hall.
Society is busy. In London there has
been series of dinneds and luncheons,
and the Bradley Martins and Mard1
boroughs frequently figure on the lists
Of guests.
Lady Dixie has just published a
critique on French painters, and the
Duchess of Sutherland also appears as
the author of book dealing with the
life of a factory girl, a subject she