Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1897 — PLAYING WITH DEATH. [ARTICLE]

PLAYING WITH DEATH.

England Irritated by the Bad Management in India. Popular irritation increases in England over the conduct of the campaign against the tribesmen in India. There is a cry for such another man as Lord Roberts of Kandahar to crush the growing revolt. In government circles there prevails a feeling of gratitude that parliament is not in session. They know that embarassing questions would be asked touching the recent reverses, and that Lord George Hamilton, secretary of state for India, would find himself sorely puzzled to explain the culpable dilatoriness that has marked the actions of the India Government. People say that officials danced and banqueted at Simla while the rebellion was hourly gaining in force. It took days for Lord Elgin and his entourage to grasp the situation. They believed at first that

the tribesmen would disperse upon viewing the coats of the British punitive force—that,it would be hardly necessary to fire a shot. These dreams have been shatteied in a tragic manner. A dozen officers and scores of the rank and file have fallen before the unerring aim of the Afridis! Orakzais, Mahmonds and ether wild dwellers of the frontier. Many posts have been captured and destroyed, and the fearful work is ntill progressing. News comes that the lower Mohmands, whose habitat is south of Peshawur, have submitted and have agreed to pay a heavy fine and to surrender their arms, but these are only a few of the thousands who are now fighting against British rule.