Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-11
pecial Correspondence of The Evening Star.

70 nav as mart of the price for the rapid
means of communication which exist 10
day The strict censorship thought 10 ne
necessitated by the exigenc1es OF the Hill
tary situation Is responsible lor the ope ioas ~
maltreatnent of many messages. 1t Is, OF
course quite within the power OF a censor
TO emasculate everything which IS submit
ted to him. He is an irresponsible oInceF'
hest not only to safeguard secrets or the
war office but also to mark the niue es-
TEEN in which the war correspondent Is
generally held by the bgwigs OF the army.
Again il rs no part Of a censoTs duty 10
correct erroneous information which Is CIV
en- In the form of reports from this or that
source even II he Is in posltlon 10 90 so.
and indeed 1t may be questioned "helher
the military authorities do not to some e6-
tent welcome erroneous reports, Whlch may
deceive the enemy as well as the nome
public The safe rule, therefore, seems W
be to treat all unofficial news as suspect IN
loss il has direct reference to what mas
hanpened within the observation OF the
person sending it. This rule would, OF
course exclude ntne-tenths OF the s1oii =.
that reach us about the Beers but II IS
nrohable we should not be the losers Dy lo4-
lowing it.
The B0er Strength.
Very conflicting reports are current as to
tho strength of the Boer forces south OF
Co1enso. In some quarters the number Is
,,,,+ as high as 5000 or 10000. General Jou-
bert could not reduce the investing force
at I,advsmith below 14oo0 or 10000, and he
can hardly have been able to spare more
than . 600 or 3 900 to send south of Colenso.
I: is possible that this force may have been
Joined by another commando OF Beers
from Zululand. Even if it be admitted that
the commando was 1000 strong, there
would not be more than $50" men south of
the Tugela. That force is formdable
enough. and there will be good deal OF
hard fighting before Ladysmlth can be re-
lieved In these circumstances II Is salts
factory to hear today that it can, II neces-
sary, hold out for months.
The disparity between the British ana
Boer forces in South Africa will soon dis
appear OF the South African field force
over 81. 600 have now arrived and this week
IL is estimated thai 5000 or 5000 more will
there will be about 30 900 men in South At
RIGA. Sir Redvers Butler now feels himself
strong enough to send column to the re-
lief of Kimberley. and In week or two
he will be able to begin his advance on
Boemfontein and Pretoria. There are now
over 5000 men at Durham and Estcourt, but
10 the Boer forces in that region are as
strong as reported 1t may be necessary to
send another 1900 or 1000 men to Natal.
The war office has been growing little
too soon. 1t is not quite such perfect in
stitution as Lord Wolse.ey would have 1t
believe. II 1t had not had the navy to
marks addressed to it by the British public
at the present moment in language very
far from polite.
AS everybody knows, big guns were not
Included IN the defensive equipment of
Ladysmith, but at the last minute four
twelve-pounders and four seven-inch guns
were sent round to Durham by the Power
full, and got TO Ladysmith just in the nick
of time. But for their long range-the
twelve-pounders can throw a shell 5000
yards. and the four seven-inch guns their
lyddite projecti,es 1900 yards-the bonn
parchment of Ladysmith would not have
been the semi-farciCal affair that it has
The Beers would have been able TO plant
their big guns just outside the range of
the field artillery, and shell the place at
their leisure.
Now, thanks to the naval guns placed
at Sir George Whites disposal, the Beers
have had to keep their big guns at a re-
spectfui distance. But no thanks to the war
office for that Its big guns are only
cerned Ladysmith might have been cap
tured half a dozen times over.
Capt. Scott's Good Work.
The real deus ex machina' who saved
the situation was Capt. Percy Scott of the
cruiser Terrible. He saw that long range
guns were urgently wanted and he pro-
posed to mount ore of the long naval l.
Founders for field service. Experts laughed
at him; but by the aid of an old pair OF
wagon wheels, baulk of timber and the
brains Of a ships carpenter, he mounted
his guns. When he tried one of the Al
inch guns the experts laughed again. They
said that the l2-pounder would smash its
trail the first time 1t was discharged, and
that the 4.7-lnch gun would turn a somer-
sault with the recoil.
The guns were fired however and neither
prediction was verified. Capt. Scott had
calculated his stresses with such skill that
mis- roughly improvised carriages came trl-
umphantly through the experiment. AS
soon as II was seen that the thing would
work more guns were mounted and dis
patched to Durham, where they were landed
just In time to save the situation. IT'S
way they have in the navy" The arrival
/ OF our guns. writes a member of the naval
brigade at Ladysmith to a correspondent OF
| the Times, practically put the royal artil-
| lery guns out of Use, for they can come
| into action 1900 yards behind those sup
piled to the soldiers, and then make bette,
practice Their arrival has, everybody
| admits, quite changed the situation.
Lady SaIisbury's Death.
The death of Lady Salisbury will excite
| deep and general sympathy with the prime
minister. He bears on his shoulders the
| burden of the empire, and to this heavy
weight is now added a great domestic sor-
row. Lady Salisbury was a daughter OF
| the late Baron Anderson. The marriage OF
| Lord Robert Cecil, as he then was, to the
| daughter of an English Judge was consid.
| cred by the Cecils mesalliance, and fol
| long the late Lord Salisbury refused tC
| receive his daughter-in-law. The allowance
| to Lord Robert was put down, and, bens
| then younger son. this was seriou.
matter. For a time Lord Robert Cecil hat
| to supplement his income by journalistic
| work, and It was during this period that h,
| wrote both for the Saturday Review ant
| the Morning Herald. Lady Salisbury her
| self was also an occasional writer in tn,
| Saturday Review, and to her pen was at
| tributed some of the causttc articles OF
women which appeared in that journal II
its most brilliant days. The death Of hi
elder brother made Lord Salisbury heir I,
| the title-to which he succeeded in 1868
and this, of course, entirely changed hi
position.
| The prime minister Is a man of very do
nestle tastes and habits. and he will fee
deeply the loss of his wife. Lady Sails
| bury was a woman Of considerable attain
nents and cultivated mind but she sam