Waterbury Democrat., 1900-10-27


 General Fuller Is Also Coming Home Next Month-The Cost of the | War Lost Sight of in the Home Com I ing of the Troops.
 i London. Oct 27.-The preparations | here to welcome on their return to 1 England from south Africa the few hundred men who constitute the City | Imperial volunteers have entirely | monopolZetl England's attention thls | week. baniShing from notice matters l of ernational>import Although thlS
 half q regiment of young Londoners, | brokers. clerks and others, has not per | formed any very heroic featS, thou 1 sands of people are pouring into Lon | don in order to witness their home | coming. and windows along the line of
 march have been sold at prices almost | equal to those demanded at the time
 of the jubilee procession. In addition, l decorations and illuminatinons costing | many thousands of pounds. have been
 prepared and Monday night will doubt
 less witness q repetition of the Mafe- king carnival. The announcement of | the non-arrival of the volunteers and l the consequent postponement of the | pageant was a great disappointment 1 to many thousands. People from all | parts of the country are now aimlessly | parading the route. The throngs are 1 so great that business is practically
 suspended and traffic disorganied. It is pointed out that the l intense patriotism which all this is | supposed to signify would be better | appreciated were the returning soldiers | more representative of the forces ill | the field or if there were not hundreds l of colonial volunteers who have fought | in South Africa walking through the | streets of London. unhonored unno- | ticed and uncared for. This circum- | stance has caused some bitter reflec- | tions to be cast on the mother country | by the colonial sections in London. the | justice of which has been acknowl- | edged by several liberal minded or | gans, while the regular army men are not too pleased that the cream of pub | lie enthusiasm over the return of the l troops should be secured by a small | body of volunteers. which, it is freely
 asserted. cannot compare with several | of the irregular units.
 The next big celebration will proba- | bly occur November 10. when General
 Butler is due at Southampton He
 will receive the freedom of several
 cities and will doubtless have a tri- | umphant progress. The reception 1 which will be accorded to Lord Rob | erts. however. will of course eclipse
 that attending Buffers return. Lord
 Roberts is expected in December.
 In the midst of the preparations for | celebrating the return of the victOri- | ous troops. it is not astonishing that
 the people generally fail to realize how
 extremely costly and prolonged has | been the struggle in South Africa. Sta
 tstics carefully prepared up to date by | one of the largest insurance companies 1 show show that, proportionately. more | British officers were killed than the | Germans lost in the war with France
 of 1S7O-71, while the proportion of | those who succumbed to disease was
 three times as great Among the rank
 and file the Germans had 50 per cent
 more men killed. but from disease | Great Britain suffered 63 per cent | heavier than the Germans This in | crease is of such magnitude that even | the climatic differences fail to account
 for it. 1 is asserted that had Great
 Britain put in the field as many
 troops as Germany did against French
 and had maintained proportionate 1 casualties. her mortality would have | reached 39,369 men.
 It is asserted that Major Goold- 1 Adams. the British commissioner in | Bechuanaland will be made governor
 of the Orange River colony. General | Butler Is slated to resume command at | Aldershot. General Kitchener. it is said. will temporarily succeed Lord Roberts in command of the troops in | South Africa. but will, it is further as- | serted, be eventually replaced by Ma | jor-General Lyttleton, and Kitchener | will then be likely to come home and assume the duties of adjutant- nt-general The death of Sims Reeves on Thurs | day last, at Worthington, removes an 1 idol of the British public, who. for thirty years. eclipsed any prima donna of those days. Lengthy obituaries and "reminiscences of the famous tenor ap- pear on all sides. A pathetic feature connected with his death. however, has quite escaped attention. Reeves caught chill few days ago and it developed into bronchitis His condition was so | improved Thursday morning that na was not believed 10 he in danger. and | his wife left home for London to. sing at the benefit for the survivors of Balaclava." Just as Mrs Reeves com menced singing Kathleen Mayourn cen, a telegram was received at the theater announcing the death of Sims Reeves. When the song was finished and the applause was at its height the news of her husbands death was broken to Mrs Reeves. but the audi ence, ignorant of this behind-the-s
 tragedy. kept on demanding an encore The widow was removed from the the l ater on the verge of collapse. .,3l Lady William Beresford (formerly Lillian. Duchess of Marlborouph) has brought action against the young Duke of Marlborough to recover the money which she spent in improving Blen- helm palace during the lifetime of the last duke. The matter came up orjy- inally when the present duke sllcceed- | ed to the title. but owing to the friend. l ly relations existing between the duke and his, stepmother. 1t was tempora rily arranged. Since the dukes marriage to Consuelo Vanderbilt it Is reported an arrangement has grown up be- tween Lady Beresford and her step- l son. Another aristocratic lawsuit which I will shortly be heard in Camera is the 1 application, sas already cahlefi fo fba