The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-02-04
sOI-Tu AFRICAN WAR.

Tho South African war continues to
monopoliZe the interest OF the capital
to the exclusion OF almost every topic
One of the leading military men VINO
commanded q brigade during the clVll
war assures me that he rises every
morning at daybreak and waits for tho
morning paper to note the progress OF
events as cabed from London and Cage
Town. The strong interest which the
general public take in the war was
demons trated by the remarkable out
pouring which marked the great pro-
Boar meeting at tina Grand Opera House
last Sunday morning. The theatre was
packed from pit to dome by an audience
of men and women whose general APP
Dearance would have graced grand
opera house performance. Both Dalco-
MES were crowded to su6ocation, ana
ladies were standing up in the top gal
lery waving their approval at every
strong pro-Boer sentiment scored by
the speakers of the evening. Hundreds
of people Were unable to gain admission
In both branches of Congress the mem
bers share the intense interest manifested
by the general public. One or two ad-
ditional victories for the Beers would
probably send 4 series of resolutions OF
thy with the Beers through both
Houses with little opposition. particu-
larry as the ineNplicable conduct Of
Great Britain in delaying the release of
the American flour seized in Delagoa Bay
is provoking considerable Indignation. 1t
is pointed out that Germany quickly and
.effectually forced England TO release
the seized vessels blonging to the Ger
man mail line. whereas England. despite
her nrotestG:ions of friendship, is ar
bitrariy delaying the release of Our flour
Several resolutions of sympathy are now
pending, but as yet no action has been
taken.
An American military critic has APP
Daared in print with the assertion that
the war in South Africa has demon
strated the fact that the English army
will not stand up under hot fire. He
proceeds TO prove his remarkable as
sertion by showing that the loss in the
battle which General Methuen described
as las the bloodiest of the century was
only seven and half per cent. in killed
and resulted in the capture of wholly
disprCportionate number of prisoners.
He then proceeds TO show what the
losses were in our civil war and in the
war between Germany and France. he
shows that the loss of the Germans and
Americans in several hotly contested bat
ties ranged high as forty-seven and
forty-nine per cent. in killed and wound
ed. and that at the battle Of Gettysburg
tie fatalities amounted to fifty per cent,
and in these various battles the number
Of surrenders was very small, showing
eoncll1sively that the British. If they
ever possessed the eminent fighting
qualities of which they boast, have not
sustained their reputation as fighters
in the present African campaign, and
that Methuen's fight was mere skirm-
ish compared with even the minor bat
ties of the civil war.
James F.. Dunn, of Lowell. Mass, who
is fighting with the Beers, in a letter
of November 29th. describing the en-.
sascment at Dundee. says: It never saw
a, worse beaten. demoralized crowd than
that same British army. The English
artillery is fairly good, though their
guns are not up to ours, but their IN
fanIry and cavalry can't hit a flock OF
barns And speaking of Skirmish
around I4adysmith. in which the brigade
of mixed Americans, Irish and Germans.
under Colonel Blake. of the United states
army. repealed an attack OF the Glouces-
tershire regiment, he says: I'VE went
at them In good Irish fashion. and some
i of the Yanks and Ohio chaps were wilder
than the Turks. The redcoats wouldn't
stand for it, but went down the hill on,
break, and out into the open, sprint
ing like greyhounds. We marched back
about one-sixth of them, and there was
badly mauled lot lying around that
we sent into the English lines that night.
as we preferred to let them have the
bother of docterIng them II they
don't get any better material than that
to fight with the English are more likely
to march into the Indian ocean than
into the Transvaal -
JOINED THE Beers.
Describing the condition ct the out