Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1900-01-20
|fACTIONALlSM IN
THE ENGLISH ARMY
eaIousy Of Generals Serious OBJ
stacle to British Success IN
South Africa,
rHe PUBLIC IN AN UGLY MOOD
Former Popular idols Are Savagely
CONFERENCE.-The a Promi.
nent Military or Civil
y Parsonage Escapes.


y Parsonage Escapes.
London, Jan. 1s.-(Copyright, 1900,
~ the Associated Press. THE time
las come when the people of Great
Britain no longer keep silent regard
ing the mismanagement of the war.
The noodgates of criticism have been
opened and under the stream OF adj
verse comment pouring forth reputa-
ions are willing. The stern upbraid-
,ng of the government by papers that
almost for q century have been con-
,ervative has already been touched up
)n in these dispatches. Abuse OF the
var Office has always existed put now
I is more bitter than ever before.
What chiefly marks the passing OF
he British from the period OF PASSIVE
discomfort TO most severe faulttinding
8 the outspoken abuse of their gen
erals i'm the field. Those unpleasant
stories of fierce service iealousies and
IN short all the army's shortcomings,
which heretofore have been secretly
whispered i'm clubs, are this week find
ing place i'm print and not in disrepu-
table Journals, but i'm organs that
month ago would have fiercely de-
nounced such tales as unpatriotlc,
whether they were true or otherwise.
II is now well known that General Bull
Ter despises Field Marshal Lord Rob
erts and hates General Eord kitch-
ener: that Lord Wolseley, commander
in-chief, shares General Buffers feel
ngs and that Wolseley is scarcely on
speaking terms with the secretary or
state for war, Lord lansdowne. TO
such n fragrant extent does this en-
nifty go that Wolseley wrote to Lady
Butler that he knew nothing about
Lord Roberts appointment to com
mand the British troops in South Al
rica and that he disapproved OF IT,
Without the enormous obstacles 10
overcome i'm the way Of the Boers
strenuous resistance and initial adj
vantages, this condition of affairs be-
tween the army leaders would constl-
tute stupendous drawback to the
success Of the British.
Butler May Quit.
One paper, usually well informed on
service matters, declares IL is quite
likely that General Butler will throw
up his command and come home and
be a thorn in the side of the govern
ment This is probably an eXagger'
alton, but il is admitted on all sides
he is likely to make himself as dis
agreeable as possible to Lord Roberts
As If this were not enough, ii is open
lv said General Lord Methuen has
gone mad: that his mother died in
sane and that all his life he has been
afraid he might share her fate, hence
il is added his unceasing restlessness
Only this week an Eighth cavalry of
fcer returned from South Africa will
complaints against Lord Methueni
that the general during his hrst ac
tions ordered him to advance with ms
cavalry and that upon the colone
sending the general word that ms
horses and men were too much eX
hausted to he physically capable of do
ing so Lord Methuen is reported tt
have said: "Well, you had better gt
TO hell" The officer to whom this re
mark was made has come home de
manding trial by court-martial, bu
il is probable he will not get it, "a HI
has been slated for another command
Generals White, Gatacre, Clery ant
French have all come in for then
share of abuse and there is evidence
presented that the senior generals arr
divided against themselves. How al
this will end if the campaign drags ol
much longer without serious change
for the better no one can tell. Th'
resignation of Lord Wolseley woult
not surprise those who are cognizan
of the inner workings of the war OF
fee. A great victory would probabl,
uniet the feeling of discomfort till tn,
day of reckoning in parliament ar
rived. But, lacking that, there seem
pending an upheaval which bodies II
for the government. the war office ant
some of the generals in the field, 70
these rankings are current not 81
much among the lower, sensation
loving classes, but among the highes
born and most even-minded of Grea
Britains best citizens.
Ignored Good Advice.
Nor is the discomfort confined to tn
inaction of the generals. Several o
the most powerful civilian factors i
English life, some of them almost a
much financially interested in the IL
ture of South Africa as the govern
ment itself, have repeatedly urged Gel
tain reforms i'm the methods of carry
ing on the war, not meddling with tn
purely military phases, but Offering
for instance. to purchase horses fo
the Cape, pointing out better method
of transport. urging more vigorou
campaign, giving information as
the best routes towards the objective
and supporting everything by exper
witnesses brought, often at great e.
pense. from the Cape. A represent'
tive of the Associated Press learn
that distinguished body, including
former governor and about doze
men who have held civil, military c
irregular positions during the recer
troubles in South Africa, waited o
Major General Ardagh, director of til
military intelligence department
the war Office, the very week previou
to that which marked three disaster