The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-10-17
DETERMINATION OF THE B0ER INFLU-
ENCE DETERMINED UPON.
ENGLAND'S POLICY OUTLINED
BY the Character Of the Man Put I'm
Command-Sir Redvers Butler Made
Dictator--His Conditions Imposed
Upon the War cffice Before Accept
ingCompnand With a.. Iron Hand and
Beers, He Begins War ofExtermi-
nation.
Copyright by Associated Press.)

! Copyright by Associated Press.)
I London October 14.-War. so often
predicted in these dispatches as being
an inevitable climax to hopeless nego-
| tiations, has come at last and is now in
| full swing for the subjection of the lit
! tie republic whose military sun sets
and rises at Majuba hill. Great Britain
has set going machinery 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
desperate defiance.
| That the next few weeks will be
| marked by sharp fighting can almost
be taken for granted. That the result
| will probably be for a time not too ia
vorable to the British is also to be
| admitted. The main question is: How
| long are hostilities to last? Ultimate
English victory is almost assured by
4 virtue of overwhelming strength. A
| forecast of the length and nature of
the campaign should not be ventured
| without knowledge of an extraordinary
| circumstance communicated to the AS
|
! ty, though hitherto not printed in Eng
land, namely: That General Butler has
gone to take entire control of the South
| African situation. He will be as alb
| solute as was Wellington and less
| hampered than was Kitchener. There
| fore, not only the conduct of the war
lies in his discretion, but also virtually
| the future of all South Africa, and no
representations are Of any value with
out first taking into consideration his
personal character 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 point blank refusal unless the
war office would guarantee him be-
| tween 60,0Oo and 10000 men. He is quot
ed as having said on that occasion: II
shall not be handed down in history
as another Sir George Colley." The
reference, Of course, was to the defeat
at Majuba hill. He also said that if
he were to go it must be on the distinct
understanding that he could select his
own staff and would be entirely unin-
| terfered with by the war office.
His request regarding the staff, it is
| said, was prompted by his suspicion
that Lord Wolseley would attempt to
| pay GIL OIu SCOIeS ny IOlSllIlS UPON uIIu
| staff officers anita gOniStic to him. Lord
/ LansdoWne demurred, but the stronger
man prevailed and Butler having gain
ed all the points he coveted, accepted
the supreme command. Prior to Lord
Lansdowne's assent, General Butler
| freely expressed the opinion that, when
he had driven the Beers into a corner
| his hand might be stayed by a peace
| loving cabinet, or a well intentiOned
war office-a condition of things he
| could rot tolerate for, as he expressed
| it, his mind was mot one of those that,
| once put to the plow, releases its grip"
1t appears that both the queen and
the cabinet practically acquiesced in
his demand, although, of course, re-
| tanning a nominal control scarcely
worth the name. Butler is pretty GER
/ tain to cut the wires behind him and
to put himself out of touch with Lon
don at critical moments, for fear the
cabinet might change it's mind
| 1t is this man, then, whom some of
his own officers do not hesitate to call
a brute, however much they admire his
determination, who holds the destiny
| of the Transvaal and the Orange Free
| State in his hands. 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 camgaign
4 of such aggressiveness as the world has
| seldom seen, but which he believes JUS
| titled 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
the Cape Colony, is swept out, he will
| not stay his hand.
| The idea is we'll illustrated by Sir
y n1' arfn in 80
Punch, representing John Bull saying:
LAS you will fight, you shall have it
this time. 1t is fight to the finish
General Buffers mission is nearly in
keeping with the spirit of the colonial
| office. Rightly or wrongly believing
war TO be the only possible method Of
| solving the Transvaal trouble, these Of
ficials 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, England may or
may not have justification for her con-
tentions, but the government organs,
which must know. as the Associated
Press knows by personal knowledge
| the real feelings of the anti-Boer party
in England have made pitiful hypo-
critics OF themselves in printing Jere-
miades upon Mr.. Kruger's perverseness
! in sending an ultimatum.
/ once General Butler gets to work, 1T
is believed here, the Beers will offer lit
| tie organized resistance. Something
depends, of course, upon the success
/ they may achieve in the interim, but
/ the life insurance companies are only
asking an extra premium of per cent
as a war risk; in other words, placing
the odds at 20 to 1. This does not apply
ITO South African irregulars fighting
side by side with the British regulars,
| for it is said the Beers will show them
no quarter. This is hard to believe,
when it is recalled with what unusual
humanity the Beers treated the English