The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-07-14
KITCHENER IS FALLEN
.sRvnnn cnITIcrsM OF TEANs-
 vAAL MARTINEZ.
The vlakfontein Incident Has come Near to Spelling Waterloo TOT the Salisbury Government.
 Liberals Split UP.

London, July 13.-The Vlakfontein in- cident has come near to speliins wa ter2oo for the Government.
 An apparentIy unimportant incident, the censorship of one of the newspaper dispatches, has had the effect or crys- taiizing all the widely differing sorts of public dissatisfaction concernlns the conduct of the war in south Africa. The dissatisfaction has long been pent up and now finds free vent not. strangely enough, through the COL umns of the opposition newspapers put in the Government journals
 For months the public belief in and admiration for Lord Kitchener have been waning. and now he is openly and severely criticised. A rumor. which cannot be substantiated. IS cur rent that he will shortly be succeeded in the command of the British forces in South Africa by General Sir Bindon Blood. who has been operating In East Transvaal. Should this change occur, it would probably be due to the diff ferences of opinion existing between Lord Miner of Capetown. and Lord Kitchener. and it would be announced in the form of promotion, accompanied by the statement that the operations in South Africa no longer justified the presence there of an officer of the se- nfosfty of Lord Kitchener.
 There is little doubt but that Lord Milner and Kitchener have had sev. eral diaagreements and the High Com missioner does not want to return tc south Africa as long as the hard, high handed General Kitchener remains in control there.
 Amid the storm of disapproSai re- sulting from the Vlakfontein affair, and which the Governments support CTS are pouring upon the War Oflce on account of the suppression of news and the fragrant vagaries of the cen- sorship, the Liberal Party, through it's hopeless diflcuities of opinion, is obliged to sit stupidly and see the best opportunity ever offered pass out Of it's hands.
 The extraordinary spectacle has been presented of an advanced radical news paper. The. Daily News, batting the War Office and Lord Kitchener on the back for suppressing the story of al- legged Boer outrages on British wound ed. while The Times and other govern nient papers, though less radical, say the feeling aroused in the general pub lie who have up to this time blindly and enthusiastically supported the governments war policy can scarcely be estimated.
 Officials of the War Office are more worried now than at any previous time during the war. and they are working strenuously to explain the mistake. The incident has awakened in the pub lie mind an eagerness. most unfortu- nate for the government. to know the details of operations. and ever-increas- ing dissatisfaction with the progress of British arms in South Africa.
 Prominent members of the Conserv- alive Party believe that if their party had to go to the country now, it would be defeated. provided a semblance could be mustered. In this connection there is some talk of the possibility of new Liberal organization consisting of combination of the old Liberal Unioniets and the Liberal rmperialists, many of whom would like to see a cabinet including Lord Rosebery, the Duke of Devonshire (President of the CounciD. Joseph Chamberlain Colonial Secretary). and H. H. Asquith Geader of the Liberal Imperialists), which some men believe may eventually be feasible.