The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-10-05
WAR -sPECULATIONs.

At the very beginning of our war with
Spain. when 1t was generally thought that
Spain was better prepared for war than the
United States, and the relative strength OF
the two navies and the ability of our coast
defenses to repel attack were matters OF
conjecture, some of the English papers.
friendly but somewhat apprehensive, said
that while there could be no doubt as to tho
ultimate outcome Of the war, Spain would
probably give us IAN ugly quarter of an
hour at the beginning" Many Americans
thought the same. and the waiting for that
ugly quarter of an hour, which never came.
was an unpleasant experience.
In a spirit of dispassionate judgment the
same remark may be applied to England in
the early stages of war with the Transvaal.
AS to the final outcome there can scarcely
be a doubt, but the Beers may give the
British an ugly quarter of an hour at the
beginning. They are ugly fighters, especial
ly from ambush, and with their superior
knowledge of the country and the advan>
tage of chosen positions they may infict
some hard blows on the British at the be-
ginning. They have done it before. and IL
they are permitted to adopt the same style
of fighting they will be apt to do it again.
Great Britain is a formidable power. but
her greatest strength and best hold is on
the sea- In a naval war she would almost
be a match for the rest of Europe COM
bined. But this will be essentially a land
war and in a distant country. The Trans
vaal Republic does not possess a water
craft of any kind, and probably not one in
a hundred of the Beers ever saw salt water.
In a war with them England's navy will be
as useless as cavalry would be in a naval
war. Therefore Great Britain's immense ad-
vantage and best hold will be eliminated
from the problem at once. And on land she
is not a very formidable power except in a
long war that would give her time to
mobilize all her forces and draw upon the
resources of distant parts of the empire.
Her total fighting strength was reported
| last year as 655 .344. divided as follows:
Regular forces at home and in the colonies.
143, S74; army reserve. 1912; militia, 12O.Os4;
yeomanry. 10. 1s4; volunteers, 236.O65; British
soldiers in India, 1896. OF the 4O,105 Brit
ish troops in the colonies in 1898, 10.62S were
stationed at Malta, 5.4O4 at Gibraltar, 6,447
in Cape Colony and Natal. 1871 In Bermuda,
1878 in Jamaica, Barbados and st. Lucia,
1.74 at Halifax, 3,44S at Hong-Kong, 1,655
In the Straits Settlements. 1.76s in Ceylon.
1.219 in Mauritius, 1861 in West Africa. 136 in
Cyprus and 79 at St Helena. The total
number of troops in the British Islands at
| the same time was 100, Gal. 1t will be seen,
| therefore, that England's regular army Of
trained soldiers is not very large and IS
very widely scattered. Her so-called army
reserve, volunteers and militia, who con-
stitute much the largest part of her fighting
strength. are not equal to our militia and
volunteers in respect of raw material and
aptitude for war. and little If any superior
in point of drill.
1t has been a long time since England has
been called upon to put a large land force
in the field. In the Crimean war. 1854 to 1856,
she furnished only 1900 troops to the allied
army operating against Russia, and the
transportation of these troops tested her
resources In that regard to the utmost. This
was considerably less than nalf as many
troops as we will soon have in The Philip
pines. and the work of transportation was
nothing like as great. England has never
modified and moved a long distance as
large armies as the United States did dur
ing the war with Spain. and more recently
to the Philippines. 1t might be added there
is no equal number of officers and soldiers
in the British army the world over who
have seen as much service and lone as
much fighting as our little regular army.
At present England has in Natal about
$500 troops, including 1000 volunteers; in
Cape Colony about 11.O0O troops, including
5000 volunteers, and on the ocean en- route
to Africa, about 5000 troops who have been
dispatched from England. India and Egypt.
making a total of about 1000 troops, largely
volunteers, which she will have in Africa at
the beginning of the war. Against this force
the Beers can put in the field 10000 men,
every one of. whom is a sharpshooter, an
athlete. accustomed to life in the open, with
a thorough knowledge of the country and a
logged determination to fight to the bitter
end. A majority of these troops are fairly
well drilled. and the artillery especially is
said to be thoroughly organized. with guns
of the newest patterns and trained gunners
In the war of 1880 the Beers inflicted terrible
punishment on the British, in one fgh,
almost annihilating a British regiment
and in another, that of Majuba mountain
storming and capturing a fort held by the
British with a loss to the latter of 50 killed
including the commanding officer, and Is
wounded. The Beers are much stronger
and better prepared to fight now than the,
were then, and while England may have
twice as many troops in Africa now as sh'
had then, the Beers will have more thar
three times as many. 1t is reasonably GER
tain, therefore, that If war comes the Boer:
will give England an ugly quarter of al
hour and perhaps a very black eye befor'
she gains any advantage. If she were Wis
she would send twice as many troops to tn
scene of action as she Is doins.
WHY HE TALKS OF GAS METERS.
When Thomas raggart became mayor tn,