The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-02-17
The Way Out.

! The way in was the fostering sore of
/ the defeat of the English forces at Majuba
( Hill, Sunday, February 81. 1881, when one
] hundred and fifty Beers defeated an Eng
! lish regiment six hundred strong. killing
ninety-two, including General Colley,
wounding one hundred and thr,y-four, and
| capturing ilfty-nlne with a loss to them
| selves of one killed and five wounded.
/ All England wished to see that defeat
| wiped out Added to this was the stubborn
refusal of the Beers to acknowledge the
] suzerainty claimed by England. the bit
! ter and incessant complaints of the Ut
/ landers, or English miners, who. without
the shadow of legality. demanded the rigAt
| to be allowed to go to the polls and cut
! vote the citizens of the South African Re-
| public. and rule it, and still retain their
status as subjects OF Her British Majesty:
a class of men of whom it was written
who are only waiting for the time when
they will be able to leave the country"
To their complaints was added the unsup-
ported assertions of Mr. Cecil Rhodes
that all which the Uitlanders claimed was
only their right-and Mr.. Rhodes had
heretofore been successful in persuading
Englishmen that he knew Africa and un-
derstood its needs. Had he told them that
it would require three hundred thousand
troops to conquer the South African Re
publics instead of six thousand it is proba
BILE that the South African Republic would
not now have a war upon its hands.
And then, again, the most potent rea-
son of all was the fact that the gold
bearing reef of the Witwatersrand ex-
tends for almost one hundred miles east
and west, through the TransvaaL Two
years ago it was producing one hundred
and twenty-five million dollars of gold
a year, and the miners had hardly
scratched the SOIL if one considers the
length Of the reef On this reef were fixed
the greedy eyes of the world. for in
way, it is the strong box of uncounted
millions.
Since the outbreak of war the attempt OF
the English to put down and annihilate
the South african Republic has Obliged
them to put in the field over two hundred
thousand men; they have fought FORTY
one actions, and their losses have been,
in killed and wounded, about twelve
thousand men. while they have had very
heavy casualties in the way of deaths by
sickness among nearly all OF their regi-
ments in Africa in active service. Within
the last three weeks Lord Roberts, most
certainly. both by talents and experience,
one of the ablest soldiers in all Europe has
asked for thirty thousand mounted troops
to continue the campaign against the Beers.
This shows the Field MarshaIs opinion
as to the necessities of the service and
the work still ahead of His Majesty's
forces When these new troops reach
Africa the English Government will have
thrown over two hundred and thirty-fve
thousand soldiers into South Africa.
principally for the benefit of Mr.. Cecil
Rhodes and the shareholders and miners
interested in the mines located on the Wit
watersrand gold reef, plus, Of course.
feeling of qualification on the part OF those
EngIishmen who expect to see the South
African Republic eventually wiped out by
His British Majesty's Government for the
part it bore against British interests in
the Boer campaign of 1850 and 1881.
That England can annihilate the South |
African Republic if she is let alone by |
the European Powers. is probably true. II
the Beers had been able to bring into the |
field the seventy-four thousand men with |
which the London correspondents credited |
them year or so ago there would not now |
be any English army, save as prisoners OF
war on African soil.
In 1881 there were less than forty thou |
sand Beers living in South Africa. This
included, of course. men. women. and chill
dren. How, then, was it possible for them
to muster seventy-four thousand soldiers |
eighteen years later? A careful computa- |
ton by disinterested army men has not
been able to show that at any time during
the war in the Transyaal have they had |
as many as thirty thousand men under |
arms. This is not said to cast the |
slightest aspersion upon the splendid |
fighting of the English troops in Africa. |
Far from 1t, for they have shown superb |
and splendid staying powers; so |
much so that in a general way the state !
ment that there has not been coward !
among them would come very near being |
borne out by the facts in the case. But |
Just here another thing is true, for the |
Beers have shown just as much pluck and |
dash and bravery as the British. While !
the British have had the advantage of |
numbers the Beers have had a knowledge |
of the country that their enemies could |
not obtain. and besides that we're perfect |
ly acclimated, another immense advan-
tage So far, then. is soldierly and manly
qualities go into the makeup of the two |
honors are even.
Admitting, then, that England can crush |
out the Beers and the South African Re-
public, as she most certainly can If she |
will put another hundred thousand of |
troops into Africa and carry on the cam
paign to a fnish-say in 1903. for the
Beers will die hard and will have to be
hunted down and finally fought to annihi-
Iation. VIII it pay England to do it?
Edison and the Press.
The Correspondents Club of New York
recently sent out letters to a number OF
-. ,,argopg