The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-09-21
RUSH OF PREPARATIONS
ENGLAND is WORKING NOW
NIGHT AND DAY.
WILL NOT PREClPITATE HosTIuTlEs
The Orange Free State win Join the TransvaaI
Merchants of johannesburg Erect Bar
icadeS in Front of Their
Shop Windows.

London, Sept 20--Despite all outward
show of calm, Great Britain is in practi-
cally the same condition today as was the
United States a few weeks before the
opening of the war with Spain. Be
meath the crust of diplomatic reserve.
the military officials are working night
and day, preparing for the signal to be-
elm hostilities, whether that comes or
not.
England is not going to be caught
mapping any more than the Transvaal-
While Lord Salisbury is quietly at home
in Hatfield House, Mr.. Chamberlain IS
buried in work at the Colonial Office.
and double forces at the Royal Arsenal
and dock-yards are straining every nerve
to equip and transport troops to the.
Cape.
Lit may be set down for certain tina
Great Britain will do nothing to preci-
pitate matters, and the Colonial Office is
far from admitting that the case Is hope
less The report that Great Britain had
demanded the (lismantlement of the forts
at Johannesburg, together with mate
rial reduction in the armament of bur-
CHEERS, the Colonial OFFICE today would
neither confirm nor deny, although 1T is
much doubted.
Meanwhile the Marquis of Lansdowne.
Secretary of State for War, who re.
turned this morning from Dublin, has
held long conferences with General Lord
Garnet Wolseley, Field Marshal, and
General Sir Evelyn Wood, Adjutant Gem
eral to the forces, and the ac-
tiyity at headquarters is reflected in the
contract, supply and transport depart
ments.
The departure of the transport Jelunga.
for the Mediterranean today with 81, 100.
troops was witnessed by large and en-
thusiastic crowd.
At Woolwich activity increases daily,
especially in the ordnance department.
where Maxim guns, Iyddite shells, bal
loon equipments, gas reservoirs, wagons
for lime-hght apparatus. water carts,
ambulances, army wagons and other
paraphernalia of modern warfare are be-
ialg hurried forward
While rumors of the reassemblmg of
Parliament are current, the fact is re-
called that in the Afghan War in 1873,
Great Britain declared war first and then
assembled Parliament.
mis- evening the Marquis of Lansdowe
issued a strict order to the staff Of the
War Office. warning all subordinates to
refrain from giving the press any infor
nation without the authority of their
sirperiors, and calling attention to pre-
vious breaches of duty in this respect.
which, the order says. will be no longer
tolerated.
Adyices from Cape Town this evening
IL. Al 4 g. IA 4 4
clare that the Transyaal will not yield
further. and that if the Imperial Govern
ment docs not reeede from its present
position war is inevitable. The South
African News supports the contention of
the Transvaal that the convention of
1884 abolished the suzerainty.
According to ether ady1ces the burgh-
ers are rapidly going into laager, while
the exodus from Johannesburg yester-
day reached 1000 persons The stock
exchange at Johannesburg has resolved
to close the moment martial law is pro-
claimed, but all current contracts will
be carried cut until the proclamation
suspending all business. In the mean
time the merchants are erecting barri-
cades in front Of their shop windows.
At Pretoria the interest seems to be.
cemtered in the meeting of the Orange.
Free State Volksraad tomorrow Thurs
day. which it is hoped may somehow.
suggest nodus vivendi than would save.
the situation.
On the other hand advices from.
Rl0emfontein announce the arrival
there of large number of members of
the Raad, adding that the result of tor
morrow's sitting is already agreed upon,
as the Orange Free State will throw in
it's lot with the Transvaal, all the Free
State burghers being fully armed and
ready to start at a moments notice.
A special dispatch from johannesburg
says that four hundred and fifty per-
sons left by one train today.
Right Honorable Sir William Vernon
Harcourt, Liberal member of Paria-
ment for West Monmouthshre, and
former leader of the Liberal opposition
in the House of Commons, IN the course
of an address to his constituents this
evening in New Tredegar, said he could
not read the persistent attempts of tine
war press to aggrayate the Transyaal
situation without Indignation.
Great Britain" said the speaker
''cannot claim general sovereignty in the
Transvaal when she has only partial
sllzerainty. and President Kruger can
not claim for the Transyaal the position
of an international sovereign state.
Both sides, therefore, have made ale
cations which cannot be maintained by
either"
Sir William declared that there was
no casus belli and expressed the hope
that q shameful catastrophe might be
averted.
AN APPEAL TO VICTORIA.
Cape Town, Sept 20.-1he arrest of
Boer officials by the Portuguese is re-
garded as likely to create serious COM
plications.
The Band of Women is preparing a
peace appeal to Queen Victoria.
STILL HOPE FOR PEACE.
Cape Town. Sept. 90 Sir Alfred sI..-
ner's dispatch to President Steyn, i'll