The Irish standard., 1900-09-15

rested for this Offense."
individual work must be done by
all those interested in total abstinence
If the cause is to succeed" remarked
the bishop in closing.
Davitt Exposes british Dishonesty.
Mr.. Michael Davitt, the famous
Irish leader, has rendered public
service by exposing and refuting the
British contention that the South AZ
rican Dutch had plotted general ris-
ing against England, and that when
the two little republics declared war
the London authorities were terribly
surprised at the extent of their pre-
paredness for the conflict. Chamber
lain, Lansdowne and Woolsley in
formed the public that the early Brit
ish reyerses in Natal were due to the
fact that England had been taken una
wares and that her troops We're con-
fronted by well-equipped armies when
they had every. reason to expect only
a few scattered commanders armed
with antiquated weapons. But all
this was mere .pretence, England
knew the fighting strength. of the
Beers; she knew precisely the number
and calibre Of their guns, the. amount
and quality Of ammunition at their
disposal and the strength of every for
titled position, says the Boston Repub-
lie.
While Mr.. Davitt was in Pretoria,
last winter and spring, he obtained.
copy of n secret circular sent out by
the British war Office to the officers of
the several commands both in Africa
and in the home camps. This docu-
ment was found among the effects Of
an officer who had been captured by
General Botha's army. Its official IT,
tie was as follows: Military notes on
the Dutch republics of South Africa,
compiled in section Il, intelligence d.
vision, war Office" 1t was marked
''secret." and n predatory note declared
that the paper was transmitted by d.
rectiOn of the secretary of state for
war. 1t bore date, June, 1S99." 1t
was, therefore, issued four months be-
fore war was declared, and Il brief
note was added to the title proving
that it had been corrected up to date.
The circular contained twelve chap
ters, four appendices and three topo-
graphical and military maps. The
main subjects treated were the phys
ical features of the Transvaal and
Orange Free State, the military forces,
armament, field organization, tactics,
roads, hills, rivers and railroad con-
nectiOns.
On page Is Of the secret document
Mr.. Davitt found Il detailed: report ON
the number of rifles in possession of
the Transvaal Republic. There were
$4,000 Martini-Henrys, 2,S5O Lee-Met-
fords. 24,o00.. .Mnusers, 1000. Guedes
and 100 Krag,Iorgensens. or 62,950 in
all. Besides there. were G,OOO Webley
revolvers and 1000 carbines. In the
comment ,.of Lord, x. Lansdowne upon
this condition Of BOer armament we
find the best refutation of the claim
that the Afrikanders had / for years
been preparing for n concerted attack
upon the British population in South
Africa. The secretary of war distinct
fy tells his officers and commanders in
this secret circular that only 10000
rifles We're in the country prior to the
Jameson raid. "The whole of the re-
mainder," he adds. ''have been pur-
chased since that date in England,
France, Germany and Belgium. This
enormous stock Of rifles would suffice
to arm more than double the num-
her of the whole force of the Trans
vaal." In other words, the Dutch far
mers realized at the time of the Jane
son raid, which was planned by Cham
berlain, Rhodes and their clique, that
the Interior purpose of the jingo ele-
ment and the stock johbers was to
seize the little republics by force. and
they proceeded to arm themselves for
defence, The British government was
aware of this move, because it knew
that a large part of. the war supplies
We're purchased in England. There Is
this entry on page %: 'From the
records Of shipments made in the
United Kingdom. 1t is known that the
supply Of ammunition in possession Of
the republic is sufficient fol-. q protract-
ed campaign" ,,...s,,.
The war office next proceeded to de-
tail the number of men available for
military service, the different organ
izations that could be made effective,
the number and range of all the field
guns, etc. The secret intelligence de-
partment had, accurate information on
all these. points,, and this information
was communicated with great minutes
ness. This part Of the circular con-
cludes with a detailed statement of the
available fighting force of the. two re-
publics, which We're summarized as
follows: Transvaal, 10000 men; Or
ange Free State. 1850; disloyal Colo.
nists, 1000, or a grand total Of $500.