Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-01-14
.BUlLER'S BAD BREAK
he Signaled Gen. White to Surrender
at Ladysmith
AFTER Els FAILURE At RELIEF
New Year Celebrated in London
With Great Brilliancy.
OLD PEOPLE IN ENGLAND
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
LONDON, January 2, 1900.
I referred in previous letter to various
war scandals that our British cousins would
have to fight out. One of these, which
will doubtless result in lot of soiled linen
being washed in public, Is the case of Gen
| eral Colville, who has been dismissed the
army by the new war minister, Mr. St.
John Brodrick. The latters refusal to
give the officers an opportunity to be heard
is generally condemned. and it is the inten-
ton of the generals powerful friends in
both houses of parliament to have
i, he matter thrashed out in debate. One sig
nifca,,I. fact has not escaped notice. When
General Colv.1le's case was first tried Lord
wolse,ev was a. the war Office, and then
the officer was reinstated. AS soon AS the
late commander-in-c chief gives up his post
another inquiry is held. upon which it is
decided to call upon General Colville to re-
sign. In this connection it must not be
forgotten that General Colville's appoint
ment was one of Lord Woseleys recon-
mendations, and it is notorious that the
late commander-n-chief and Lord Lans-
downe's successor parted on bad terms
While conflicting views are heard every
where as to General Colville's doubtful
wisdom in publishing his defense, most
people ADMIRE the HAL pluCh III
the displeasure Of the war office officials.
and in insisting upon fair trial IL Is,
however in an apparently casual allusloH
which occurs in the body OF the defense
that the secret of the present scandal Is
given away. This is the passage which he
adds to the admission that he did not send
help to the assistance of the yeomanry.
The sentence runs: But cannot ADMIT
that the safety of 800 yeomanry, Million
aires though some of them be. Is OF more
Importance than that of 1000 of the High
lad Brigade" In this hint as to the power
full social influences which have moved the
war office in the matter lies the probable
explanation of the whole business. There
is an expression that Mr. Brodrick is even
more under the influence of smart society
than Lord Lansdowne. In General Col
viIle's mind evidently there is belief that
a dismissal after his reinstatement can
only be explained on this ground.
Probably as a result of the Colvllle scan-
dial 1t now seems likely that certain dis
credtable episodes in the war, recorded in
dispatches which have never been puo-
lished. will be revealed to the world.
Ugly RumOr About Butler.
For instance, there is a sinister rumor
afloat to account for Lord Roberts motive
in delaying his return home for the special
purpose of visiting Gibraltar. where Sir
George White is now stationed. 1t Is hint
ed that "Bobs" went to Gibraltar to consult
General White on very grave matter re-
lating to the defense of Ladysmith, after
the disaster at Colenso On this subject
very ugly story has been going round Lon
don ever since the officers and war CORE
spondents returned home from the besieged
town 1t is declared that General Butler
when he failed to cross the 1ugeia after
Colenso, photographed to General White 70
surrender the town to the Beers. 1t is
startling story and an ugly one, nut, TO
my personal knowledge, it Is vouched for
as being absolutely true in the club rooms
freqlented by the officers and war cor
respondents who were in Ladysmith. This
portion of the story has already been limited
at in Birmingham paper, which Is par
tcularly in touch with Mr., Chamberlain's
private views But the remainder of the
story has yet to be told General White is
here praised for having refused to obey
General Buffers orders and for perSisting
in holding out to the end. The facts as
given by the correspondents seem to point
to an entirely different conclusion The
credit for keeping the British flag flying
over LadySmith is due to Sir Archibald
Hunter and his immediate subordinate-to
no one else. General White, it is well
known, grew seriously i'll toward the end
of the siege, so that the command or the
town was really in Hunters hands. Even
before the disaster at Colenso Sir George
White, who was then in a weak state, was
not disinclined to haul down the flag, but
it was the Scotsman's sturdy self-conti-
dence which alone prevented the issue OF
any orders to haul down the flag. This is
the story as 1 have heard it from the lips
of more than one man who was In Lady
smith
New Year Newspaper Enterprisc.
The British newspapers have given more
space to the opening of the New Year than
ever before This is chiefly due, of course,
to its being the entrance to new century
as well.
Most every journal has some special fea-
ture In connection with the event. and
Inv fol
their American contemporaries and collated
the opinions OF prominent people on the
outlook of the twentieth century. For the
last three days columns have been printed
on the subject. both or reminiscent ana
prospective nature.
The Times drawing upon its immense
storehouse, has printed extracts devoted to
the chief event of each year of the past
century as related in the columns of its
own issues
Among these were the reports of the
deaths of Nelson Pitt, Napoleon and By
ron, the birth Of Queen Victoria, the cap
ture of the American frigate Chesapeake
by the British Shannon the progress of the
civil war and assassination of Lincoln and
other stirring events more freshly in our
minds.
The desire for this sort of thing has been
even extended to Russia. as only yesterday
I received politely worded request from
tions for publication in their New year
| edition, which will De printed on our jan
| uary H. the Russian New Year. The Mus
covite editor wanted answers to the ques-
tons: What in your opinion was the
most important event or parsonage In the
! preceding century,
What do you think will be the most i'm
portant event in the twentieth century,"
What in your opinion is the outlook for
| the new century,"
This Is the first time that any Russian
| journal has had the enterprise to do any
| thing of this sort, and it Is more than likely
| that only small proportion of the answers
| will pass the censor
| Watch Services Held.
Hundreds of watch services were held in
| this country as in America. At st. Paurs
| and Westminster Abbey solemn services
were held early in the evening and ser
| mons preached.
| The scenes in the streets as the night
| wore on toward II o'clock We're brilliant
! and striking. The West End was full OF
| life and color. The Strand was as busy as
| at midday almost. and Piccadilly on boat
| race night was not more lively. Greetings
| were warmer here, and attended by some
| little horse play, but the crowd was always
| good tempered. The restaurants. of course.