Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1900-01-20

sE EGEiSH ARMY
ealoasy Of GsRaSsIs Serious 0b,
stacIe 10 British Success Id
South Africa
Torrner Popular fsIols Are satAgcly
ccpdcmacd--- Hardly Prcnl.
nent Military on Civil
~ Pcrsonage Escapes.


NV Pcrsonage Escapes.
London, Jan ID Copyright i9Oo,I
81 the Associated Press. yfhe time
las come when the people Of Great
Britain no longer keep silent regard
ing the mismanagement Of the war
sfhe noodgates of criticism have been
3pened and under the stream OF adj
verse comment pouring forth reputa-
ions are willing. The stern upbrald-
,ng OF the. grZsrt tlr1ent by papers that
almost for a century have been con-
seryatiye has already been touched up
,n ia these dispatches Abuse Of the
war office has always existed but now
{ II more bitter than ever before.
What nhiefy marks the passing or
lie British from the period Of passive
discomfort to taost severe faultfnding
Is the outspeken abuse of their gem
erals In the field. Those unpleasant
stories Of fierce service jealousies and
m short all the army's shortcomings,
which heretofoge have been secretly
whispered in clubs, are this week find-
ing place In print and not In disrepu-
table Journals, but I'm organs that q
month ago would have hercely de-
nounced such tales as unpatriotic,
whether they were true or otherwise.
II Is now weil known that General Bull
Ter despises Field Marshal Lord Rob
erts and hates General hord kitch-
ener; that Lord Wolseley, commander
ln-ehief shares General Buffers feel
inps and that Wolseley ~ scarcely on
spenlsing terms with the secretary Of
state for war, Lord Lansdowne. To
such fragrant extent does this en-
nifty go that Wolseley wrote 70 Lady
Bnller that he knew nothing about
Lord Roberts appointment TO COM
mand the British troops in South Az
rica and that he disapproved Of IT..
Without the enormous obstacles TO
overcome in the way Of the Beers
strenuous resistance and initial adj
yantapes, this condition of affairs be-
tween the army leaders would constl-
tute stupendous drawback to the
success of the British.
BuIIcr May Quit.
One paper, usually well informed on
service matters, declares it is quite
likely that General Butler will throw
up his command and come home and
be thorn IN the side of the govern
ment. This is probably an exagger-
ation, but II is admitted on all sides
he is likely TO make himself as dis
agreeable as possible to Lord Roberts.
Az II this were not enough, 1t is open
ly said General Lord Methuen has
rome mad; that his mother died in
sane and that all HIS life he has been
afraid he might share her fate, hence
Il is added his unceasing restlessness.
Only this week an Eighth cavalry Of
fcer returned from South Africa with
complaints against Lord Methueni
that the general during his hrst ae-
tions ordered him to advance with his
cavalry and that upon the colonel
sending the general word that his
horses and men were too much eX-
hausted 10 be physically capable of do
ING so Lord Methuen is reported 70
have said. "Well, you had better 60
10 hell" The officer to whom this re-
mark was made has come home de-
s,saepVing !, triui Dy 9s,uf t'irraI, ,r''i, ioS'
IL Is probable he will not get IL, as he
has been slated for another command,
Generals White, Gatacre, Clery and
French have all come in for their
share of abuse and there is evidence
presented that the senior generals are
divided against themselves. How all
this VIII end If the campaign drags on
much longer without serious change
for the better no one can tell. The
resignation of Lord Wolseley would
not surprise those who are cognizant
of the inner workings of the war Of
ice. A great victory would probably
quiet the feeling of discomfort till the
day OF reckoning in parliament ar
rived. But, lacking that, there seems
pending an upheaval which BODIES III
for the government, the war office and
some Of the generals in the field, for
these ranklings ere current not SO
much among the lower, sensation
loving classes, but among the highest
born and most even-minded OF Great
Britain's best citizens.
Ignored Good Advice.
Nor IS the discomfort confined to thC
inaction Of the generals. Several Of
the most powerful civilian factors In
English life, some of them almost az
much financially interested in the fu
ture OF South Africa as the govern
ment itself have repeatedly urged Ger
tain reforms in the methods of carry
ing on the war, not meddlihg with th'
purely military phases, but offering
for instance, to purchase horses foi
the Cape. pointing out better method
Of transport, urging a more vigorous
campaign, giving information as t
the best routes towards the objective
aud supporting everything by exper'
witnesses brought, often at great eS
pense, from the Cape. A representa-
tive Of the Associated Press learn
that distinguished body, including ;
former governor and about a dozei
men who have held civil, military ol
irregular positions during the recen
troubles in South Africa, waited oI
Major General Ardagh, director of tn
military intelligence department o
the war office, the very week previou
to that which marked three disaster