The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-12-22
Following the Recent Exhibi-
tfOn of Patriotism.
GRUMBLERS AREMANY
Little News Is Now Received
From the Front
And What Comes Makes Most
Dismal Reading.

a cold fit of suspiciousness and de-
preston has followed the hot fit of pat
1iotic ardor with which the country met
the ministers call to arms The em-
baro upon news from the front leaves
the newspapers under pressure for fill
ing their columns with croaking critic
ism, explanations Of defeat, structures
upon official shortcomings and general
pessimism.
The Daily Mail and other journals
by opening their columns to popular
discussion of the methods of conduct
ing the war are enabling all sorts and
conditions of diSpirited Br1tOnS 10
grumble aloud and sniff al the numer-
GUS Jonahs who ought to be thrown
overheard Amateur strategists are ad-
NisinS the withdrawal of Methuens s
force from MOdder river, the abandon
nent of the Kimberley garrison to a
hopeless struggle against starvation
and even so desperate an eXpedlenI as
attempt by White to cut his way
south with the bayOnet, since the BOer
line of fntrenchments is too strong to
be attacked again in front The crOak~
erS are finding fault with every branch
of the fighting services and are joining
in a frantic hunt after a scapegOat.
More dismal and disheartening read
ing could hardly be invented by DR..
Leyd's press bureau for the discourage
ment of recruiting than the English
press, with a few notable exceptions, is
supplying at critical time, when the
nation itself is pulsating with patriot
ism. when the militia battahOnS are
volunteering for foreign service and the
reserVists are rallying to their cOlOrs
and when new imperial forces are being
organized from the yeOmanry, cavalry,
cross country riders and citizen soldiers.
one effect of this dOleful reading may
be salutary- There may be a relaXa-
tiOn of the press censorship, in order to
give the newspapers employment less
harmful than Wailing and gnashing of
teeth. Rigorous as that censorship has
been, it has not prevented the publica-
tion of reports that Ladysmith was
short of ammunition, while it has cut
off daily news from the armies that
would have Interested the public with
out benedting the enemy. 1t has rem
dered descriptions of the chief battles
of the war unintelligible- Buffers bat
tie remains a mystery a week after it
was fought. with a maze of cOntradic-
tiOns respecting the various features OF
the engagement and futile surmises re-
garding the responsibility for the loss
of the guns. Englishmen have been de-
MED one of the most precious consola-
tions for defeat. that of reading detail
ed accounts of the gallantry of their
soldiers, and have been Surfeited with
genera1zatOnS upon the superior mo-
bility of the BOe- burghers and their
complete success in cOncealing their
positions, so that a frontal attack across
exposed ground was doomed to failure
whenever an order was received for an
advance.
The opinion among military experts
has become general that both Butler
and Methuen have been tied to the
railway by failure of other methods of
transport by mule train and wagons,
and they have been unable on this ac-
count to attempt a turning movement
and compelled to attack in front pre-
cisely where the invisible enemy was
prepared to meet them. CzataCre and
French, being forced to fall back are
incapable of keeping under restraint
the diSafeCted Dutch, who are rapidly
drifting into open rebellion and are on
ly held back by the influence of Prem
Ter Schreiner and Mr.. HOfmeyer. The
army corps has not accomplished any
practical result. and the four sections
of it are now blocked by the enemy in
front. This is the situation which the
pessimists consider disheartening. al
though they hope that the fifth and
sixth divisions Will arrive in time for
the relief of both Ladysmith and Kim
berley.
General Roberts has chosen as staff
officers men who have heen recon-
mended to him by Lord WOlseley and
the Duke Of Cambridge rather than the
men associated with him in India. Gen
era1 Prettyman was with him during
the Afghan war and was an efficient
staff officer during the march from Ca
bul to Canadian. NiscOunu Downe has
been the close friend of the Duke of
COnuaught and the Duke of Cam bridge
Lord Settrington has been with Lord
Roberts in ireland and is heir after his
father to the Duke of Richmond. The
staff does not represent in any marked
degree what is known as the Roberts
school in Indian fighting. One or two
appointments are understood to have
been recommended by General Kitchen
er. who knows the details of every
branch of the service.
LOSS OF LIFE DUE To ECONOMY.
New York. Dec ga dispatch to the
World from London says:
The London Morning Post of today
prints the following from its military
expert:
IF it be true, as well informed per
sons assert. that the troops in South
Africa are without transport divisional.
brigade or regim except such OK
trains as the generals have been able
TO get together. many things which at
first sight appeared absolutely mex
pHcable become intelligible. Even the
dispersion of a force becomes capable
of, if not justification, at least explana-
ton A general can do nothing with
troops he can not feed
The situation resulting from these
conditions is not pleasant to contem-
plate 1t led to attacks on prepared
positions which every general would
have preferred to flank or turn.
The neglect in this case has been
that OF the political clash of leaders of
both partlPS- They have not for many
years taken seriously the possibility of
war as a conflict in which the nations
existence or that of the empire might
be staked.
out the idea that the military depart
ment of the war Office is out of order
but there are many things which the
military department can not do of its
own initiative, one being the spending
b of large sums of money not set down
in the annual estimates. The economy
0f money due TO a false estimate OF the