Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-02-24
A More Hopeful Feeling is
Shown By Public.
ROBERTS IS THE HERO
He Is Fairly I0liZed by Everyone
Social Season Will be Re0pe1ed
S0on-Death of Member Of Parlia-
ment Who Was Queer Character

London, Feb. 24.-(Copyrighted. 1900,
by the Associated Press.)-Ine nerce
fighting that has made the week memo
rable in the history of Great Britain mas,
in spite of the heavy casualties that ac-
companied it. acted as an exhiliration
upon the nation. 1t is with almost cheer
fulness that the people of Great Britain
are taking their punishment, for now
there is something to show for IT., in
pleasing contrast to the weeks Of wait
ing and suspense that scarcely ever
passed with out adding largely to the
death roll and never seemed to bring
Great Britain's forces nearer to the
goal.
Hand in hand with the relief of Kim
berley and the daily expected relief OF
L~.adysnlith has come the relief OF Lon
don. With the fate of these beleaguered
places off their minds, with the national
honor free once more to take it's chances
on a fair fight field, London has evolved
itself from the depressing gloom that for
months o%verhung it. There is now talk
of balls, dinners and entertaining; there
are brighter looks in the faces Of the
crowds that throng the streets, and even
the women have seemed to have brought
out gayer gowns.
There is to be something Of a season
after all, and Little Bobs" is the hero
of the hour. even at this stage Of the
war, which car scarcely be considered
much more thar initial from the British
point of view. He would be granted
every honor in the peoples power to give
if only public opinion and gratitude be-
came operative. Above every other man
and every other circumstance, he stands
out from those grim happenings in South
A frica clothed i'm The halo of vinfnrv
Loudly he is hailed as giving the living
lie to those who said that the pluck and
brains that made Great Britain victori-
GUS in the Crimea, in India and in At
ghanistan had passed away from her.
The circumstances Of his hurried de-
parture when he s~ubordinated the great
est personal sorrow to the needs of the
country, his feats ON the battlefelds Of
old. his tremendous personal magnetism
n his surprising kindness and sim
plicity are all brought into rapid review
by means OF conversation or the news
papers before the average Englishman
until it is small wonder that the hero of
kandahar has reached that pinnacle
where his country would deny him moth
ing.
General Kitchener's automatic way of
dong things and his hardness of head
nave been so much paraded before the
public since he first achieved greatness,
that he has lost much of his popularity,
and while he possesses the national conf
dence to an almost unequaled extent, it
is patent that the nation as a whole
would rather that the opportunities fell
to "Bobs" than to his IRON willed chief
Of staff.
A curious instance of the utter lack Of
system that prevails in the British war
office occurred this week. Immediately
after the queens proclamation appealing
to the patriotism of her old soldiers and
asking them tn ro-anliSt unaar hho rop
ernments new plan to strengthen the
army was published, there focked to
headquarters large numbers of men anx-
1ous to answer he queens request. They
We're all turned away, because the war
office has not vet issued any detailed in
structions regarding the acceptance OF
such offers nor formulated any specific
plan for putting into action the general
proposals adopted by parliament. The
criticism current is that either the
queens letter was premature or the war
office was dilatory. The latter is gen.
orally accepted as correct and not with
out bitter comment.
m death of Mr.. James Cowen, the coal
mine owner, embe of parliament and
proprietor of the Newcastle Chronicle,
has removed one of the most remarkable
figures in English life and one of the
most extraordinary men in. Europe. His
whole life and personality teemed with
VIVID contrasts. He was a millionaire.
yet dressed in slouchy clothes, and as
brilliant an orator as ever held the house
OF commons GREATNESS attention, vet of
small stature and awkward gait, and he
spoke with a Northumberland burr. A
supporter of Lord Beaconsfeld i'm his
schemes for imperial expansion, vet Mr..
Cover was the friend Of every conspira-
Tor from Moscow to Madrid, and financed
revolutions from his W pocket as read
lily as other ~millionaires buy steam
yachts. At the risk Of his life and
through battalions of spies he carried
instructions to agents in Italy from that
arch conspiratur, Massani. It was at
MI. Governs house that Orsini, who
Threw a bomb at the carriage of Napo-
leon III and was guiIlotined for so doing
spent weeks prior to the perpetration OF
the deed. "
With such an intensely democratic
tendency. Mr.. Cowen was naturally a
nome ruler. yet none were more potent
or OFTEN quoted in articles furnished in
1aVor OF the present war than the arti.
cles penned by Cowen shortly before his
ueath, when he declared that Great Brit.
an was nghtlng to prevent men of Brit
ASH blood from being treated as Helots.'
MANY years ago he retired from active
POltlcs, owing to his independent ideas
devoting his attention to his paper. The
newcastle Chronicle. which wielded al.
most as much political influence in the
North country as Mr.. Cowen did wher
men pointed to him in the house of com.
mons as the next liberal prime minister
he llVed as a r~ecluse, yet directed his
ORIGINATING business until it has become
one OF the most profitable in the coun.
try.