Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-04-18
CriticiZeS the Ability Of
Butler and Warren
LIKELY TO BE RECALLED
1000 Men Advancing to the Relief OF
Wepener--V Violent Storms Interfere
With the March-More Soldiers
For Africa.

London. April Is, 4 a. m.-The govern
ment has chosen this as the moment to
publish a dispatch from Lord Roberts
pronouncing censure upon Sir Redvers
Butler and Sir Charles Warren, two of
his most important subordinate COM
manders. This dispatch, written Feb
ruary 1S, has been in the hands of the
wal office for five weeks. Just why it is
published now in the middle of the cam
paign is not understood unless it is ex-
pected that General Butler and General
Warren will ask to be relieved of their
commands. The revelation of their inca
pacity must tend to undermine the conf
dence of the troops in their leadership.
Lord Roberts dispatch, with the en-
closures, is the great feature of the Lon
don press this morning. In a long edi-
:orial the Daily News speaks of the
somewhat appalling language" of the
dispatch and goes on to say: Upon the
whole these dispatches are disquieting
and disheartening in no ordinary degree.
Following Immediately upon the recall Of
General Gatacre they indicate a wide
spread feeling of uneasiness and
anxiety"
The Standard, which is supposed to be
in the confidence of the government. says:
1T is. scarcely likely that the publication
of Lord Roberts dispatch is without a
purpose. 1t irresistably suggests wheth-
er it is not to be followed by further inn
portant changes in the South African
commands. Painful as such measures
may be there must be no hesitation in
carrying them out if they are required in
the public interest"
The Daily Telegraph compliments Lord
Roberts upon mot hesitating where great
national interests are at stake to wound
private susceptibilities."
The Daily Chronicle confesses to "a
feeling seeming like CONSERVATION when
reading the extraordinary passages of
the ditpatch.
The Times says: Lord Roberts Sc
we're condemnation is justified only too
clearly by the official narratives of what
took place. The story is painful. but it is
we'll for the nation and for the army that
It should be told clearly and simply with
out concealment or exaggeration. 1t is
not the least Of the great services Lord
Roberts is now rendering the country that
he exposes with judicial impartiality and
wise, whole soul severity, errors and
omissions in high quarters which have
cost us so very much"
Whether the government has any spe-
cial purpose or not in publishing the dis
patch, the way in which it has been re-
celved will make it most difficult to retain
the censured commanders in active SER
vice.
Lord Roberts long wait and the Boer
activity have seriously disturbed public
~enuaninity. He is still 800 miles from
Pretoria. No one doubts the ultimate sue
cess of British arms, out behind the Brit
ish army that brushes the Boer armies.
an army of occupation will have to be in
stalled. From various sources hints come
that more men than are already provid-
ed for will have to be sent out.
Lord Roberts indicates that at least ten
thousand men are ADVANCING to cut off
the Beers who are investing Wepener. AS
there are reports from the Basuto border
that firing has been heard in the direction
OF the hills toward Dewetsdorp it is pos
sible General Chermsides' advanced
troops are already in contact with the
Beers. Lord Roberts wires that he ex-
pected to clear the southeast section Of
the Free State. east Of the railway and
then to swing round to the north and to
turn one after another the positions held
by the Beers north of Bloemfontein. Cen
eral Buffers prohibition of all press tele-
grams in Natal until further notice is
k to Indicate that a movement is
about to. begin there.