The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1900-12-15

to carry on the campaign is Lord
Kitchener, the butcher of Omdurman,
but outside of burning the homes of
the people and driving the women and
children off the farms into the towns,
he has not yet distinguished himself,
and is not likely to succeed where
Roberts failed with force of 100000
to 10000, or 8 against 1.
Kitchener is the very incarnation Of
cruelty, but if he carries things too
far there may be a terrible retalia-
ton. OF the 100000 whites in Brit
ish South Africa, all but 100000 are
Roer sympathizers, and their hatred of
the English has been aroused to the
fever point by the outrages perpetrat-
cd by Kitchener's soldiers The Anglo
Irish commander is a ruthless warrior,
before whom Weyler sinks into insg-
nificance.
Tomorrow is the sixty-second ami
versary of Dingaans Day, and it will
be celebrated by the farmers of the
Transvaal and Orange Free State, as
best they can, under very unfavorable
conditions. On Dec. 16, 1888, their
fathers, to the number of 600, defeated
$4,000 Zulus; in other words, the Z,l-
lus, though twenty-five to one, We're
routed by the brave Beers. The de-
scendants of such sires are not afraid
of Kitchener and his British savages.
Writing on this subject the Dublin
Freeman's Journal says:
Lord Ilitchener's claim to military
leadership in South Africa is based on
his defeat of the Dervishes at Khar-
toom. On that occasion, according to
English accounts, the strength of the
Khalifa's forces was $4,000. 1t was a
great host, but its armament-spears
and assegais-were hundreds of years
behind the times. Opposed to it Lord
Kitchener had $4,000 trained soldiers,
furnished with the most modern weap-
ons, and supported by the most deadly
field guns. 1t was an unequal combat.
and in the end became a mere battue;
yet for a time the issue was in. doubt,
and had it not been for Colonel Hec-
tor Macdonald and his Soudanese Reg
iment, it might easily have resulted
very differently. We recall this So
called battle in order to point the con-
trast between it and that which took
place between the Zrlus and the b.
ers. On the 10th of December, 1888,
as we have said the Zulus We're 49,
900; the Beers We're only GOO. That is
to say, the Zulus were twenty-five to
one. At Omdurman the Dervishes
were only two to one. On the former
occasion the white man had nothing
to help him but antiquated rifles; on
the latter he commanded the very best
modern implements of war. The con-
trast between these two incidents is
worth noting, as the "Hero of Omdur-
man" enters on his task of annihilat-
ing the sons and grandsons of the real
heroes, whose names are enshrined in
the memories of Dingaan's Day in cv-
cry Dutch household in South Africa.
Is it conceivable that the cheap victor,
who, through his glasses, watched the
Baggara being killed by the hundred
by his MaNims, is any match in the
warfare of the Veldt with the descend
ants Of the six hundred farmers who,
from sunrise to sunset, kept Dingaan' 5
fifteen thousand braves at bay, and
as day closed, sent them, defeated and
demoralized, flying north to Swazi-
land? There was no peerage for the
man who did that mighty deed, but
the deed lives in the hearts of the
Boer people, and nerves them to-day in
Lord Kitchener is to get "free hand.
But the Beers have free hand also.
If Lord Kitchener attempts to intro
duce savage warfare fairly and
squarely without any technicalitics,
he may be sure that the Beers, not
withstanding their desire to see this
business through on civilized lines, will
retaliate. They are extremely handy
men, these Beers, at taking British
prisoners. Unfortunately, owing to
their present situation, they have no
place to put these prisoners, and for
the most part have to release them
after time. If Lord Kitchener en-
tiers on the free hand" campaign with
which he is credited by the London
Press, the Beers may think them
selves justified in treating their British
prisoners in Il much more summary
way. The "free hand" in fact, has
two sides to it!
A despatch from Johannesburg, now
| nonnnio1 Inv tho Rr;t;eh saws tbo& ho