The record-union., 1899-10-29
BRITISH LEADERS
TOO RECKLESS.
The Large Number of Officers KILL
ed in Battle
Has Brought Out Strenuous Protests From
Many Quarters.
British Forces in South Africa
Likely to be Seriously Crippled
If the Ratio of Officers Killed to
the Number of Men as in the
Battle at Glencoe Continues.

the Number of Men as in the
Battle at Glencoe Continues.
| copyrighted, 1899, by Associated Press)
LONDON, Oct. 2S.-The large num-
Der Of British officers killed in the bat
ties which have already taken place in
Natal has brought out strenuous pro-
tests from many quarters against the
ancient custom of British officers IN
| refusing to take cover when under fire
From figures at Glencoe it is apparent
that one out of every four men killed
was an officer, whereas, the organiza-
ton exists upon the principle that to
every twenty-five men there is one Off
Ger. 1t is evident that if the same
ratio of mortality is kept up the Brit
ish forces will become seriously under
officered. Among the enlisted men at
Glencoe the proportion of killed TO
wounded was thirty to 156. while ten
officers We're killed to twenty-five off,
GERS wounded. The difference in the
percentage leads to the conclusion that
many of the officers were hit more than
once and kept on leading their men
after the first wound. Emperor Will
Jams recent criticism of the British of
ficers' refusal to take coter is now fre-
quently quoted. The feeling in the
army itself is that though the regula-
tions do not say the officers shall not
lie down, it is such an old-established
principle that it would take a brave
man to inaugurate a change, and the
adage of the British soldier, follow
wherever an officer leads is held still
to be intensely true, for though the
officers believe the personnel of the
army is as good as ever, it 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 spilling of
Great Britain's blood is likely to con-
tinue for the present.
The proportion of the casualties as a
whole has caused thrill Of horror and
sympathy throughout Great Britain, 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 Brit
aims annals, the casualties totaled only
& per cent, whereas, in the recent Boer
engagements they considerably exceed
that figure.
General Whites strategy and the ex-
ecution Of his movements are warmly
praised, and it is said at the clubs that
General Sir Redvers Butler will have
to hurry up or General White will get a
peerage first. General White repre-
sents the Indian element in the British
army, and those who have served in
India have always maintained that the
commander there had a more important
post than the communicative chief him
self. As General Lord Roberts was
considered too old for another cam
paign, Generals White, Symons ana
Hunter were sent as a sop to the In
dian faction, for General Butler has al
ways been more or less antagonistic to
General Roberts and his partisans.
Regarding European Intervention
Great Britains plans to meet such an
emergency continue. The journal de
Geneve" publishes dispatch from
Constantinople saying that Russia in
tends handing the Porte a note at an
early date demanding the opening of
the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. I'm
less Great Britain is a party to such
a demand Russia's action will un-
QOuDl6Qly Slll up d UOTuGl nest, COin-
pared with which the Transvaal ques-
tion 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 uneasinesS on the Stock Ex-
change regarding the future action or
Russia and France. South African
mine shares are no longer referred to
as "Kaffirs'' They are now called
British while South Africa is op-
timistically described as a mineraIized
Egypt.
Lord Rosebery's appearance in the
world of politics, by his speech at
Bath Wednesday, caused a renewal of
speculation as to the future of the Lib
eral leadership. 1t is asserted on the
best authority that Sir Henry Camp
bell -Bannerman speaking at a private
dinner to Lord Rosebery at the Reform
Club recently, emphatically insisted on
the inevitableness of Lord Rosebery's
resumption of the leadership. In his
speech at Bath, Lord Rosebery gave an
interesting intimation of his intention
to write a biography of the elder Pitt.
Russia is reported to be endeavoring
to raise a loan of f20,000,00 in Paris,
but, so far, she has been unsuccessful.
The conditions of labor in England
have not been improved by the war.
About 1000 Welsh miners are likely to
be thrown out of work on November
1st by a threatened strike of the sur
face engineers and other mechanics
who are claiming shorter hours. The
negotiations on the subject have
failed, and the surface men announce
that the strike will begin on the date
mentioned. 1t will then be practically
impossible for the miners to continue
underground
Joseph H. Choate. the United States
ambassador, is enjoying a holiday at
the Duke of Sutherland's place, Trent
ham Hall.
Society is busy. In London there have
been a series of dinners and luncheons,
and the Bradley Martins and Marlbor-
oughs 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 a book dealing with the
life of a factory girl, a subject she
seems remarkably we'll acquainted
with.