Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-12-21
THE WARS OF TODAY.
for the Henry L. N1enckeal
Written for the Dispatch by Henry L. MenckeR.)

| The year Of grace 1902, which saw the
| end Of the Boer war, the practical end
| of the rebellion in the Philippines. the
| restoration of peace in nearly al Of
China, the termination OF half dozen
South and Central American revolutions,
will probably go down into time labelled
as a year OF supreme peace. And yet,
as the bells ring it out, and 1908 takes its
a dozen countries, and war will be
abroad upon every Continent;
| The average newspaper reader, II asked
to name the wars now in progress.
| would very likely stop uncertainty alter
mentioning the Venezuelan contest and
the struggle between Britain and natives
| only two wars Of the day. by any
means, and neither are they the most
spectacular, nor the zones most Ek likely
list Of the places, whereat battles are
| bow going On. with3the names CT the
crDcs:ng forces:
Observation-Disclosures VS.. Germans and
| British.
The Atghanistan-Indian Border-Wazi-
Northwestern Morocco-s1oors vs.. Bent
der khabyles.
Upper Nigeria--Arabs vs. British.
Sonaaliland-British vs.. Somalis
Southern Ara bia-Arabs VS.. Turks.
Macedonia urks VS.. Macedoniars and
sarawak-Br,tish native force VS..
/ Dyaks.
Korea-I1o.ean regulars vs.. rebels.
| SuLaatra-Dutch VS.. Achinese.
The guerilla warfare in the lower Phil
! ippines and the aftermath Of the Boxer
troubles in China are not included
\ SEVENTE-FIVE YEARS WAN.
How many of these lesser wars figure
! in the news dispatches of the day? Ger
tainly not more than a few OF them. We
hear much, it is true. of the trouble in
Somaliland, and now and then stray
caoiegram comes from Morocco or Mace
donia or Arabia, but little indeed. is the
news that makes its way under the sea
| and the Indian border. And vet the war
in Sumatra. TO take one example. is far
more spectacular and bloody than that
in in; Sor1aliland It has been in progress,
seventy-tlve years. ana during. this time
i thousands OF Dutch soldiers have been
lilled by the spears and arrows OF their
'alEed enemies and the feyHrS OF the
Sumatra jungles
The -Achinese are race of Alalays who
inhaplt the far northwestern corner Of
the Island Of Sunatra, which lies south
ward OF India, The Dutch have been in
possession OF the remainder OF the island
FOR centuries and never. despite their
sallant Strusgles. have they succeeded
the territory of the Achinese. a year
ago the Dutch force after six months
efforts, drove the Achinese from one Of
heir strongholds and captured several
portant Dutch victory for dozen years.
Weakened and incapacitated by the dead
y jungle fevers, Queen Wilhelmina's
valiant soldiers fight the treacherous
natives year after year, but though they
have slaughtered vast numbers and cap
tured more. peace seems as far away as
ever
HEAD HUNTERS AS ENEMIES.
"a p1,<-t1 rpt
SO near in reality-is the Island of Bor-
neo. on the north coast OF which the
independent kingdom Of sarawak:, over
Brooke, relgns as Ratah. Sir Charles
uncle Sir James Brooke wrested Sara
wax from its original native rulers and
see himself up as absolute monarch. and
since then 1t has been fairly peaceful
as eastern island kingdoms go. But this
does not mean that 1t has been without
war. The Dyaks. or head hunters Of the
the rampage. and just at present they
are battling with an army in command
Of Sir Charles nephew. Vyner Brooke.
Not long ago young Brooke started out
seemed near an end, when cholera unex-
pectedly broke out among his men and
killed half of them. Since then another
expedition has been started for the in
fore long OF a great slaughter of Dyaks.
The Brooses have always been merciless
VlctOrs. The original Brooke. during q
war with the pirate N1alays Of the coast
Of Borneo, killed 20,0t0 Of them. The
British Government, which. in the tnte-
rests OF commerce. had offered IS for
every pirates head brought to Singapore,
paid him in all more than 100000.
ON THE INDIAN FRONTIER
During Queen Victorias reign England
fought sixty wars. nearly half OF which
sssSe either in India or upon the Indian
sFStater. There has not been time for
.y4Iy years that the British In India have
not had Afghan foes to combat AT
present they are having a serious and
costly tussel with the Wazris. who live
in the Himalayas, along the Afghanis-
tan-Indian frontier. A year or more ago
the Waziris who are incorrigah able ban
dts, made several raids into the region
between the towns of Bannu and Thai. |
When soldiers were sent to arrest and
punish the culprits their tribes1nen
f1ocked to their aid, and before long a |
full-t1edged border war was in progress.
-Four British columns, each 500 men
strong. are now battling witt, them.
General Egerton, who led the. British
force during the WaZiristan war Of 1884, |
1895, is with one Of the columns. and by |
the summer 1t is hoped to have the re-
bellious trtbesmen once more cowed. |
Recently n severe battle was fought near |
Gumatti between a large force Ct Wall |
yis and British column under Colonel |
Vincent Tonnochy. Hundreds Of natives |
were killed by the Maxtms Of the British
side by any means. for Colonel Ton
many Of his Sepoy soldiers were killed.
No ryto Co IL u