Daily inter mountain., 1900-12-29
BIT TER HOLIDAY
RAIN, WRECKS, BoER WAR, POOR
CHRISTMAS SALES.
'ENGLAND's MIND OUT OF JOINT
Army Backbiting Spoils All Christmas
Cheer-Affront to Indian
Soldiers.

London, Dec. % Miserable rain, fog
and dirt made Christmas week of evil
memory for England. Depressing gloom,
in thorough harmony with the weather.
settled over the country. The coasts
were strewn with wrecks commerce was
out of joint, and the public was bitterly
digesting the criticisms of the British
army. The demand for Major General
Sir Henry E. Colville's resignation,
thrown as sop. only served to whet the
ravenous appetites of those VINO are
howling for the responsibility of the re-
verses in South Africa being brought
home to individuals More heads are de-
manded. Where so many must be blam-
able, it is felt that the selection of Gen
eral Colvile is woefully inadequate, II
not unfair Indeed it is already said
that had not the yeomanry force at Lind
lev which Colville failed to relieve, IN
cluded some of the nobility and other In
fuential persons. Colville would never
have been recalled. The bitterness felt
by these yeomanry in being compelled to
surrender because, they allege. COL
vile refused to render the aid within his
power, has never been wiped out. and it
will probably result in one of the most
interesting court martlais in British his
T. tory.
on the acceptance By the war office of
contingent of Maoris from New Zealand.
The Star says:
The effect of this stupid blunder on
the Dutch will be terrible. After declin-
ing to employ Indian troops. we are
taking a paltry hundred Maoris. This
will not only infuriate the Dutch, but 1t
will insult the Indian troops who will
regard it as declaration of their in
feriority to an inferior colored race. Co
on, government of muddlers.
However there are signs of the dawn
of that common sense the lack of which
the English critics so deplore in their
military system. for cavalry now going
out to South Africa is dscarding the
lance and carbine for rifles and sabres.
After years fighting. the authorities
have woke up to the utter uselessness of
lances and carhnes, considering that
thousands of British soldiers have never
seen a Boer during the many engage
ments.
While Great Britain is tied hand and
foot in South Africa, the navy, which is
not escaping the wave of criticism, is
quietly increasing it's strength and
morale. For months both men and ships
have been kept in an unusual state of
readiness, and there are now building in
10 cruisers and IA smaller vessels. total
ing nearly 400 coo tons. These exclude
vessels which have been tried but are
unfinished. -
The gradual removal of the social bar
riers which formerly restricted English
political and educational life, was never
better instanced than by the appoints
ment this week of Mr.. Joseph Owen to
fellowship at Oxford. Six years ago
Mr.. Owen was millhand at Oldham,
helping to support his poor parents. He
attended a night the university eXten-
sion lectures and so much ability did
he show that the lecturers got up a fund
and sent him to the great university
where, with his wife, he settled down
i'll humble cottage. He knew no Greek
and little Latin. His first success came
when he won the Brackenburg history
scholarship, to the surprise of many
learned, arstocratic competitors. Foul
years of determined uphill work passed
and the final examinations drew near
A few weeks before the ordeal his young
wife died suddenly. Mr.. Owens friends
thought it impossible for him to accom-
plish anything. but the millhand's gri
stood the strain and Mr.. Owen gained
the coveted first class with the degree
His appointment as extension lectures
quickly followed, and DIR. owen ;ecture(
where, six years previous, he had learn
ed. The climax in his career came thi
week when Pembroke college elected
Mr.. Owen. out of all the Oxonians t.
the lucrative and honored post of fel
lowship.
There are few original pictures of Ger
Washington in England, hence the dis
covery of another miniature is interest