New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-02-02
DEBATE IN PARLIAMENT.
WHY GENERAL BUTLER RESIGNED
WYNDHAM, BALFOUR AND CHAM
BERLAIN IN DEFENCE.

/
Lar sdowne, said he desired formally TO
nOInce that Lieutenant General Sir William
Francis Butler resigned command of the British
forces in South Africa because OF political di-
vergence of opinion with Sir Alfred Miner, the
British High Commissioner and Governor of
Cape Colony which so great that he
cluded that his command of the forces in South
Africa would become a source of embarrassment
to the High Commissioner
Sir Charles Dixie Advanced Radical, Member
for the Forest of Dean Division o. Gloucester
shire. resumed the debate in the House of Com
mons Lord Edmund Fitzmaurice's amend
ment to the Address in reply to the Speech from
the Throne. He said he thought could
deny that the net result had been to kill the be-
lief OF the world in Great Britain's ability to
conduct The countrys military reputa-
ton, he added, was never lower and even
the Government failed to grasp the seriousness
of the war
GOVERNMENT SIDE OF THE STORY.
George Wyndham, Parliamentary Secretary
for the War Office, who followed admitted the
War Office had not been impeccable. but he ar
gued that the Government had done it's best
considering the limitations of the military sys-
tenn, and welcomed criticism, the country
would thus be enabled to turn to best account
the tide of patriotism and the lessons of the
war. If the Government had done wrong, he
continued, il had done it with the right motives
The two cardinal points in the campaign We're
first, a desire to give diplomacy a chance, and.
second, the decision of General Butler to
lieve Ladysmith 1t must not be supposed that
he criticised General Buffers decision. General
Butler was on the spot and could doubtless eX-
plain his action. II was easy to conceive other
disasters which might have occurred along an
other line OF advance. They might have had
universal rise of the Cape Dutch.
Mr.. Wyndham again deplored the amendment
which, he asserted. would be misunderstood by
the Continental CRITICS. by our fellow subjects
in Natal and by our kinsmen in America who
watching the vicssitudes of the struggle"
As regards the forces engaged, Mr.. Wyndham
said that, exclusive of the Eighth Division and
the Fourth Cavalry Brigade, Great Britain had
142, 900 foot and artillery, 3 100 cavalry, 36 siege
guns 3S naval guns. 30 howitzers, n batteries
of horse artillery and 234 field guns. while the
combined forces OF the two republics were esti-
mated in 1898 at $1,000 men.
The Government parried most Of the ques
tons in regard to the war in South Africa. Mr.
Wyndham maintained that the information fur
nished by the Intelligence Department was gen
orally accurate. and he added that information
in regard TO the forces remaining in the United
Kingdom would be included in the statement
which the Government would make shortly.
Relative TO the speech made by General Lord
Wolseley. the Commander in Chief, explaining
the British reverses in South Africa. Mr. Wynd
ham said that General Wolseley merely intended
to convey the impression that the military quail
ties shown by the Boers were OF a higher order
than had been anticipated. AT this remark the
Irish members cheered.
NO WAR NEWS TO COMMUNICATE.
Asked if he had any war news to communicate
to the House, A J. Bafour. the Government
leader and First Lord Of the Treasury, replied
in the negative.
Mr. Balfour in answer TO another question
said that while the military operations pro
| ceedinG he could not answer any inquiry TO
the slaughter Of the Hghanders at Magersfon-
tein.
Regarding the dispatches Of Major-Gener
Sir William Francis Butler who In com
mand Of the British troops in South Africa until
August. 1899. when he relieved by Lieu
tenant General Sir Frederick William Forester
Walker, it being intmated that General Buffers
sympathies were in favor of the Beers, Mr.. Bal
four said there was no reason 10 present them
TO the House. General Buffers opinion on South
African affairs, he added was well known. The
General had never suggested to the War Office,
either publicly or privately that the number OF
troops required would be anything like the num-
Der actually sent.
In regard to the suggestion that Indian troops
should have been used in South Africa, the
House, Mr.. BalfOur said, would understand the
impOSsibility of this.
Replying to questions relating TO the letters of
B +. HaWkeSley, counsel for the British South
Africa Company, and other letters published by
the "lndependance Beige" the Secretary of
State for the Colonies. Mr.. Chamberlain, ad-
mitted that those of which he had personal
knowledge We're published substantially cor
rectly. The letters. he added, We're stolen from
Mr Hawkesley's office by a clerk who was sum-
mary dismissed In 1897. Mr.. Chamberlain
further declared that he only aware Of the
existence Of the letters a few days before they
were published.
Mr. Balfour, replying to a question by John
Gordon Swift MacNeill. Nationalist. Member for
South Donegal, in regard to the letters published
by the Independence Beige" and what the Gov
ernment proposed to do when the Cabinet Minis
ters were deliberately charged with personal
dishonor and public falsehood' said that, ac-
cOrding to his view of the case such accusations
ought to be treated with contempt
The Parliamentary Secretary Of the War Of
flee said he would have to ask the House for
large financial means. in order that the
might be brought to the only possible conclusion
a sound footing
ENCOURAGEMENT FROM Liberal.
Sir Edward Grey Liberal. Member for Ber-
wick -on-Tweed, after some further debate said
he recognized t1lt the speech of Mr.. Wyndham
was one which gave greater strength to the
Government and had done something to lift the
gloom that had fallen on the country.
There are differences Of opinion among the
Opposition" he continued, but the amendment
is not intended to cover these differences We
cannot withhold cenSure for what is past, but
we are prepared to give the Government our
support in the future, and prepared to help in
prosecuting the to the end The dominating
object OF the Governments policy is equality of
rights between the white races in South Africa
and, next in point of Importance, to that
never again shall it be possible for a vast ar
senal TO be formed there under other control
than that of Great Britain. To that end the
Government shall have our support"
Sir Edward said there thought that
the Government had provoked unjust war:
but it certainly the speeches of the Minis
ters that had Occasioned the amendment He
was proceeding with detailed criticisms of the