Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1900-12-01

London. Nov. ?S-The war Office pub
fishes the following dispatch from Lord
Roberts, dated Johannesburg. Nov. ID:
AS reports of plot against my lif'
viii probably reach you, | think yuu
tRap fnGlP" "Washa brot in eHlsHhSlii 'lhd
Eve Italians four Greeks and oIe
F'renchman We're arrested Nov. IL. and
are how awaiting trial. Their intention
was To explode mine under st. Marys
church during the morning service, held
at II o'clock on Nov, IS.
The Daily Mail publishes this morning
the following alarmst dispatch from
Cape Town.
THE antlBrltlsh feeling in Cape Col
ony is assuming dangerous proportions
owing to the false stories spr, I'D OF
British barbarty in the Orarg' ttv.r
colony and the Transvaal. Lrya.iSts
fear that the Dutch congress next week
will be the signal for rising. AID they
demand that martial law b. plo claimed
throughout the colony. The situation
is declared to be graver than at any pr'-
vious period during the war"
Referring editorially to its Cape Town
advices, The Daily Mail adopts most
serious tone, asserting that the anti
British movement is accontuated by thr
withdrawal of troops from Cape colony
and calling for vigorous action by the
British government,
a dispatch. to The standard from Pre-
toria says ii is reported that the 20 Is
proprose to strike again M the boz d rs
of Cape Colony, where it Is believed mum
har Of, I,
and hidden weapons, are waiting to join
them. The Beers seem to take fresh
heart. They have become eNtrem aly
energetic in almost every part of the
Transvaul and the Orange River col ny
The Paris correspondent of The Daily
Mail wires that he had II conversation
with Mr.. Kruger yesterday, and that the
Boer statesman grew excited and We
hemCnt when the reporter hinted that
England would ignore all attempts to
secure arbitration and would tight any
combination of powers rath. than giv.
up the republics. Mr.. Kruger insisted,
says the correspondent, thai Mr.. Cham
Jerlam had signed The Hague conven
ton, and could not withdraw. He said
that England had earned Il Just punish
ment, and that if there was Il God. she
would be punished.
The Vienna correspondent of The Daily
Chronicle says lle hears that President
Kruger has petitionel the powers for ar
bitratiun, under The Hague conventions
that two rowars .c"edad to his request
but that all the others rejected the peti-
ton.
The meeting of parliament next week
will not take place too soon. The BRIT
ish public is dazed and bewidered by the
confusion which prevails both in South
Africa and China. The trend of events
will be clearer when the ministers ar
in their places to answer questions and
the leader writer's are provided with
cues by those behind the scenes. A war
costing S7jOO,OOO weekly is going on
and nobody seems to know when ii Is
likely to stop. Everybody is in critical
mood. Lord Roberts is sharply crit
cized for a mistaken policy of leniercy:
there is an amazing outbreak of invec
tive and abuse directed against General
Kitchener: there are remonstrances in
Liberal journals and from pro-T}oer
platforms against the barren policy of
burning farms and starving the burghers
Ill Tue lllDoNtl lsh't lIulNll anu
Lord Salisbury is attacked for neglecting
to inform France and the other powers
that the two Bocr republics have been
annexed, and that the Beers are no
longer entitled to recognition as beliger.
erts when they are merely rebels. guar-
illas and bandits,
When so many games at cross pur-
poses are in progress it Is impossible for
the public to know what Is going on.
The only point on which there is a gen
eral agreement is that the French gov
ernment has maintained correct atti-
tude during the past week. and that the
English people have 10 reason to COM
plain of the reception to Mr.. Kruger.
Lord Salisbury has clearly acted with
some intelligent motive In refraining
from changing the status of the Roels
from belligerents to rebels.