Semi-weekly Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1897-1901, 1901-10-01
Britain's Serious Situation.

Il 20, ODO more men, anu unreal
Y ering to resign, utter failure to enlis
5 recruits in England even by otferin
e i've times the usual pay, anothe
3 petition filed with the Hague arbltrH
t ton tribunal demanding interventio
f. especially because of the inhuman wa
: England conducts the war, the publ
: cation of an official bulletin that 1877,
81 persons, swept from their homes, ar
herded in their concentration camp
and that the deaths among them nun
bered 2345 in August, fully 10 time
the normal rate, and worse than tn
mortality in Weyler's camps in Cubs
because of the greater rigor of Thu
cl mate-sucn is the burden of The
past weeks news from South Africa
following the swift succession OF five
brilliant strokes by Beers in the tielC
by which as many British detachments
were gobbled up. Such is the re
Spouse of the heroic burshers to the
barbarc decree of Punishment for all
who would not surrender by Sept 10.
Instead of the reprisals that were ex-
pected and perhaps would be justl-
fed against such policy, the Beers
have paroled the prisoners taken in
these engagements, after the gallant
and chivalric manner that has char
acterized these sturdy farmers war
rors from the beginning.
Preposterous as it would seem from
"a comparison of the population and
resources of the combatantS, which
are much like marbls by the side of
Wantastiquet mountain, the situation
is grave one for the greatest empire
on earth. She is spending So, 500, 600
week on the war whose third year
begins next month who end hardly
nearar ir sight than wheL it began
She has towar1s go, 600, men in the
field, brt twothirds of them are glued
to the single line of railroad on which
the rest depend for supplies, and the
re nainder seem utterly unable to cope
with the small forces of the enemy
scattered all over the vast territory of
the two republics and striking wher
ever they will. Tue South African
summer is again approaching, harmless
to the acclammated Africanders, but
surely bringing euterlc fever among
the invaders, and sure to disable them
by tens and scores f thousands The |
number of Beers in the field which |
Kitchener reported month ago ct |
10, 600 he now fiyes at II, 900, notwith
standing all the casualties of the
month, numbering more than a thou
sand-thus admitting practically that
they are being recruited from British
subjects 10 Natal and Cape Colony.
The last reports of Botha vera that
was winning victories on the borders
Of Natal where the first fighting of
the wer was witnessed, while Boer
threaten even the sea-
ports of the Cape. This area of opera
ions is wider today than ever before,
and it is remarkable indeed if the
Boer forces are not good deal larger
han any of the reports have made
hem. 1t is clear also that the Cape
Jolonists of Dutch descent who were
10 pathetic 10 the EARL stages of
be war, have been driven by the
or Oh of RrttI +D
n active sympathy with their fellow
5oers that is fast taking on the char
cter of open revolt,
While fought to st8ndstill in the
eld, the drain upoa her resources for ;
his fruitlesS war, is large factor.
bough not the only one, in the loss
the commercial supremacy that I'll
an see to be rapidly slipping from !,
ritain The sympathy of the whole
ivilized world is with the little bands s
patriots lighting sucf enormous odds S
pom the South African veldts, and c
Rough reasors of state, prevent any v
,tive Interference, there Is not a peo- u
e anywhere but enjoys the punish 7
ent England is getting would be glad =
extend a helping hand for further
'wnward rush if opportunity offers,
it is very likely to do. India, it
admitted, is becoming harder to y
'vern because of the recent revival u
the pan-Islamic propaganda and =
e loss of British influences with the =
o great Mohammedan rulers, the
ltan of Turkey and the shah of 81
rsla. Autralia, under federation. -
show wing conpicaous tendencies
ward isolation, commercial aud
onomic, from the mother country. -
at this very time We fiud the -
nd Times roundly denouncing the
stralian Parliament for its anti-im- ed
'ialistic Legislation. The same of
dency is inevitable in Cansda, how
II hard loyalists may fight against =,
: laws of Lature rhe sentimental any
,ibition of affection for the mother Ha
lutry since the early days of the "
: has spent its force and the hard f fee,
ctical facts are getting in their a msi
*. And Looming up heyond all is WI
awful economic condition of India, Dru
it of centuries Of miSrule ard al y
that is liable at any time the