The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-01-11
AN UNPREPARED CONDITION.
BE was Sure Justice Would be DonU
to the Adminisrative System
Of the Army.

etkuHlOut ulu tAat ZIG ASuA - aAaS@-".- =
the campaign will witness the Begin
ming of victories for the British arms.
They are not, however, expected to
produce definite results for some days,
but their mere presence will restore the
shaken confidence Of the men at the
front in their generals.
Lord Roberts finds 10000 men on the
defensive or watching for an opening
Lord Methuen's health, accordingto tho
Daily Mail, has broken down" and the
field marshal may relieve him. Possi-
bly some others win be relieved Of i'm
portant commands. There is certainly
plenty Of rank in evidence in South
Africa. In addition to the field marshal,
there are two full generals, four lieu
teant generals and twelve or fourteen
major generals.
There Is an uneasy suspicion that
when the Ladysmlth casualties are an
nounced they win be dlsheartenlng, and
Will partially destroy the patriotic glow
produced by General Whites victory"
The list Of victims of disease Issued by
the war ONCE gives twenty-five deaths
from enteric fever and dysentery In La
dysmlth in four days, revealing the fact
that the besleged are existing amid bad
sanitary conditions.
LONDON, Jan. 1o.-An incredible ru-
NOR comes from Cape Town that the
Beers have withdrawn from Magers-
fontein. Probably this is an embel-
lIshment Of the native reports that
General cronjc is sending reinforce
ments to Colesbers.
General Lord Roberts, the new COM
mander of the British forces in South
Africa, and his chief of stan, General
Lord Kitchener. have arrived at Cape
Town.
LONDON, Jan. 1.-THE war ONCE an
nounces that the list Of British casu-
alties at Ladysmlth last Saturday has
not yet been received. The following
dispatch dated at Frere Camp. Janu-
ary 10, noon, has been received from
General Butler:
IA Transvaal telegram gives the en-
emys loss at Ladysmith on Saturday
as four killed and fifteen wounded, and
this after. as is admitted, they had en-
dured a witherIng hre from six masked
batteries and been defeated at all
points,
Natives here assert that the Boer
loss in one commando alone was 15O
killed and wagon loads of wounded.
The heaviest loss is said to have been
among the Free staters, who were
forced by the Transvaalers into the
most dangerous places"
This curious dispatch is all the war
ONCE has issued tonight. 1t makes
not the slightest mention OF the posi-
tlon or dolngs of the British forces. It
may be Interpreted 10 mean that Lady
smith is safe, but It Is more likely in
tende to prepare the British public for
a terrible list of casualties.
LONDON, Jan. i0.-A. J. Battour, the
government leader in the house Of
commons, at a luncheon given In Man
chester this afternoon. made speech.
in which he repudiated the accusation
that he was "thick and thin suppor-
ter Of the war office" He declared that
even II an angel from heaven told him
1t was possible in a great war to carry
out everything as written out on paper,
he should know that the angel was
drawing upon his Imagination. It was
not true, he added, that the war ONCE
had sent the British army into the
field with guns which placed them at
hopeless disadvantage with their enc
miles. He did not claim that the army
system was perfect. but the critics
ought not to ignore the extraordinary
military problems of the present war;
between which and the problems with
which the continental headquarters
stafHs had to deal there was no paral-
lei. For the first time IN the history OF
the world. the country had to meet an
enemy entirely mounted. and it was
true that IL Great Britain had entered
into the war with vast number OF
mounted soldiers It would have long
before been concluded. Hereafter, also,
It would be recognized that guns were
not us mobile as horse soldiers and that
field artillery must be made part of the
regular equipment OF every army. But.
seeing that the British war Office had
not Jagged behind the best military
opinion Of to-day, It was ludicrous to
charge It with want OF presclcnce. He
was sure Justice would be done In due
time TO the administrative system of
the army. The last thing the govern
ment desired was any undue conceal
msnt of unpleasant facts,
AMERICAN CATHOLIC UNION.
Age Limit Fixed at Fifty-ave-Pro-
focfinr ~ 40 mn