The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-11
INTERVENTION SUG-
GESTED.
FRIENDLY


According to a Berlin dispatch. Emperor
William, in a conversation with the Brit
ish ambassador on Friday, touched upon
the feasibility Of friendly intervention in
the South African war. The Emperor may
have been led to do this by his belief tnat
The British have very little prospect OF
| conquering the Beers, or he may desire
to see the war brought to a speedy end
! because of sympathy for the Beers and a
desire for their independence.
There is certainly room for doubt of the
ability of the British to conquer the
Beers. 1t is true that they have the al.
vantage of numbers; but numbers do not
| appear to be everything in these days Of
long-range guns The Beers are on the
| defensive, and being splendidly armed, a
small number of them, behind the al
most impregnable natural Notifications
with which their country is so plentifuily
supplied can successfully resist the ad-
vance of a force three or four times as
large.
Gen. Butler has failed three times in his
efforts to relieve Ladysmith. Each time
he has been repulsed with severe loss. It
is doubtful if he could overcome the DIFF
fculties which obstruct his advance if he
had twice as large a force. In order for
the movement in behalf of Ladysmith to
be successful he must not only cut his
way through the Boer intrenchments, bu;
he must win such victory as would make
it necessary for the Beers to retreat from
the vicinity of that place.
But if Ladysmith should be relieved
and it is apparent that it can be relieved,
if at all, only at a great cost of life
what would be gained in the direction
of bringing the war to speedy close?
Ut is true that the 5000 men shut up there
would be released for active service, but
it would cost the lives of more than that
number of soldiers, in all probability, 60
release them. AS a matter of fact. there
fore, the British force in South Africa
would be weaker when the Ladysmith
garrison was released than 1t is now. The
| Beers would lose some men of course,
but their loss would be small in compari-
son with that of the British because they
are 50 well protected by their fortifica~
tons.
This view seems to be finding friends in
| England. In our dispatches yesterday.
the Times of London, was quoted as say
ing that the great issues of the war are
not to be fought in Natal, and that a ter
rible mistake was made when subsidiary
| operations were permitted to overshadow
the Importance Of striking directly at the
chief objective point.
1t is hardly probable that another at
tempt will be made to relieve Ladysmith
The territory of the Transvaal and the
Orange Free State will be invaded The
theater of war will be in the territory OF
the Beers instead of that of the British.
The British are just beginning to realize
how great the cost of the war is likely 10
be. 1t has already cost many millions
of dollars more than it was thought 1t
would when it was begun. The expense
| of maintaining an army of 100000 men in
South Africa is immense. And it is i'm
| possible to predict how long it will be
necessary to keep such a large force IN
the field. 1t seems to be admitted that
the Beers will be able to hold out as long
as their ammunition lasts, and it is known
that they have a very large supply. AMI
if the British do not win victories soon
the sympathy for the Beers in all parts
of the world will become so great that a
way will be found to get ammunition to
them. Not only will they be supplied
with ammunition, but their fighting force
| will be kept strong by additions of sympa-
thizers from this and other countries
| Great Britain must bring about a change
in the situation very soon if she would
avoid trouble more serious than she has
| known in half a century