The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-27

suggestions for future action While
the results of the meeting were not
made public. Ii is generally believed
| that heavy army reinforcements and
| the mobilization of powerful fleet has
been decided upon
| Lord Wolseley, the Commander in
Chief, was staying at Windsor Castle
last night when the news Of Buffers
defeat arrived. All had retired for the
! night, but news was at once communi-
Gated to the Queen. She had Wolseley
reused from bed and summoned at day
break to discus the news. The temper
of the Continental Powers is awaited
with much interest in London. So far
nothing decisive has been heard from
the various capitals, but England will
not wait for hostile moves before TAX
ing precautions. Her fleet is ready.
There was anxious waiting all day
for further news OF Butler and the 9th
er armies. Not word was received,
save private message to Lord Roberts
that his son. Captain Roberts, was
dangerously wounded at the Tugela
river battle. Sir William MacCormack,
| England's greatest surgeon, now at the
| front, has extracted the bullet, but his
condition is precarious. There is much
sympathy for Fighting Bob's only son.
H. II. Asquith. one OF the leaders OF
the Liberal party, speaking at Newcas-
tie tonight. gave Chamberlain slap;
This Is not the time when IL becomes
responsible parties TO go about whist
ling for alliance among the Great POW
ers. Errors of this kind. against good
taste and good sense. have not been
made i'm the ranks OF the opposition
during the past week-in some ways
the blackest in living memory. we
cannot afford, however, at such mo
ment to spend time In unavailing re-
grets. Sterner, more urgent duties are
laid upon us. We would be unworthy of
the great traditions OF our country to
allow the reverses of today to defect us
for moment from the maintenance
| Of q great and worthy policy
Queens Profound Grief.
LONDON. Dec. 16.--lt h feared In
court circles that this disastrous war
will kill Queen Victoria. She cannot
| forgive herself for consenting To war
of whose Justice and necessity she was
never convinced. Her Majesty Is more
than so years of age. but for the first
time In her long life she complains OF
| insomnia. The repeated reverses, the
heavy losses of her troops, prey 30 In
cessantly on the Queens mind she can
not sleep.
Her intense anxiety Is more easily
understood when one remembers that
many OF the officers commanding the
troops in South Africa are, or were.
personally known to her Majesty and
many Of the troops are those who
closely surrounded her.
Prolific as IL has been in the tri-
umphs of peace, the din of war has
sounded during thirty-six OF the sixty
two years of Her Majesty's reign.
When Sir Redvers Butler took leave
Of Her Majesty on his departure To
take command in South Africa, he as
sured her the war would be difficult,
but would soon end Now comes to
her the news of Buffers defeat.
The information received at the War
Office is filtered to the Queen through
her private secretary. Sir Arthur Bigge.
He receives 1t over private telephone
wire which was laid for this purpose
between Windsor Castle and the War
Office.
But the news thus received does not
satisfy the craving nor allay the anx-
iety of the benevolent woman. herself
the widow of a man she dearly loved,
who knows that hundreds of English
women are being made widows and
thousands OF English children father
less.
The Queen never reads the newspa-
pers except for some special purpose.
But since General Whites repulse.
since she tried to comfort General Sy-
mond's widow. Her Majesty has d.
rected that the Times and Daily News
be laid before her every morning. and
there she has read OF Methuen's de
feat, of Gatacre's, and now, the last
blow to her, of Buffers. Nor has even
the information in the newspapers con
vinced the Queen that she knew the
worst that was happening. To con-
vince herself she has sent for Lord
wolseley and cross-questioned him
With the Queens remorseful grief is
CONSERVATION, for so surely as
Paul Kruger sees the finger Of God In
Boer victory, Queen Victoria sees the
judgment of God in British defeats.
La Patrie's Threat.
PARIS, Dec. 16.-"La Patrie," which
tells its readers that Mr.. Chamberlain
is seeking to bring about a war with
France in order TO restore, In the eyes
Of Europe, Great Britain's prestige, 80
shaken by the defeats of her army by
the Beers, says that few more disas-
ters like that at Magersfontein and Tu-
yela river will mean a British war with
France in the coming spring. and de-
clares that the concentration of the
French northern feet at Brest and the
recall of the Mediterranean squadron
TO Toulon are the first precautionary
measures taken by the French authori-
ties. la Patrie" adds:
"The British army has lived a cen-
-ury on the reputation OF the Duke or
Wellington, and perhaps the navy also
ives solely on the reputation of Mel
son. The war in the Transvaal has
the weak points Of the
British army, the weakness OF the Brit
sh empire, the incapacity of its mill
ary chiefs and the fictitious strength
)f its troops, who only had to fight
,avages."
IT. !. z,... ,,..,.., ..,,r,r;.t,g tbn ranarg