The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1900-12-18
NO THOUGHT FOR CANAL
Situation in South Africa Only
Subject Attracting Atten-
ti0n at Present.

uSply uA1 JVeA aAASl .
defeat at Colenso, effectually disposes
OF any hope that the war in South
Africa is nearly ended and has COM
pletely abated the hope that opera
tions there were merely of a guerilla
nature. As Mr.. Lloyd George, lib
eral, said in the house Of m to-
day: This is one of the most evere
reverses suffered by the British and it
is quite evident that the war will
drag for many months to come. De
Wet is making England the laughing
men i'll the field, yet we are unable to
protect ourselves from disaster at the
hands Of small commanders drawn
from a pastoral population"
The extent Of the reverse and dis
grace OF such a large body of men sur
rendering to a small contingent Of
Beers has created a feeling Of shame
and astonishment which finds free
vent. With a somewhat cruel coinci-
dence the Northumberland are
known as the Fighting Fifth The
second battalion to which the cap
tured companies belong was one Of the
heaviest sufferers at Stormburg a year
ago. The regiment has often been
pronounced by home and foreign crit
les to be one of the finest in the Brit
ish army.
All the forebodings and criticisms
which Colenso gave rise to a year ago
have been resurrected by the disaster
at Magliesburg. The wal office has
,ott;,,r -, a., l,,t <p,,;,, o,,I 1o,,, ;fts
and trust to time. Until Kitchener's
forces are transformed into mounted
infantry and the mounted polio get to
work, Broderick sees little hope of
Improvement in the military situa-
ton. But whoever was responsible
for the surrender at Magaliesburg is
likely to suffer, for the new val
Office officials are determined to. make
examples of the generals or any other
agement or worse, which it seems
must have occurred at this last defeat.
The stern attitude on the part Of
the authorities, however, by no
means decreases the scorn and ignom-
my with which certain liberal men,
bers Of parliament, who IRE avowedly
pleased with the Boer successes, are
regarded by the major part of the
community. At a pro-Boer meeting
on Friday, at which Leonard Courtney
presided, Lord Kitchener's name was
greeted with cries of villain"
butcher 'beast, while mention
Of Steyn and DeWet elected loud
cheers.
The Pail Mall Gazette today edi-
torially declares that such men as
Courtney, Bryn- Roberts and Lloyd
George ought to be put in conventry
and be not spoken to by any self-re-
specting Enlgishmen. This expedi-
ent, severe as it is, is likely to meet
with approval in all quarters, not OK
Guiding the moderate liberal journals.
Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman,
liberal leader in the house of COM
mons, does o escapt criticism for
tacitly permitting his alleged follow
ers to take up such an avowedly anti
British attitude.
In view of the events in South
Africa it is scarcely surprising that
the public refuses to be cajoled into
taking burning interest in the Mica
raguan canal, in spite of the special
American cable dispatches which
broke the records for length and SER
iousness. The London Times cores
.pondent today makes a passionate
comparison between the present stage
of affairs and that which existed at
the time of the Venezuela dispute and
bitterly arraigns President Mckinley
and the senate, yet Lord Pauncefote
has not cabled a word to the foreign
office, which only heard of the vote
on the Davis amendment through the
Associated Press. Such pessimistic
and indignant cable messages as most
of the London dailies are receiving
from their American correspondents,
find no responsive echo in Downing
street, where depreciation is freely ex-
pressed of these cable efforts to APP
prise the British public of how badly
the senate is alleged to be treating
their government.
The foreign Office officials, although
expecting the treaty to be amended,
were frankly surprised at the size of
the majority, which served more than
anything else to open their eyes to
the fact that there was no truth in the
cabled dispatches that the railroad
interests were solely responsible for
the opposition. or that irrational
jingoism had suddenly become cpl
demic in the United States. There
exists in the foreign Office sane appre-
ciation of the Americna objections to
building the canal and not being al
lowed to. fortify it.
TAKES HOLIDAY.
London, Dec. f5-Parliament was
dismissed today until the middle of
February.