Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1900 — FROM FOR EING LANDS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FROM FOR EING LANDS

The war in South Africa has taken an unexpected turn. Gens. Dewet and Delarey have apparently outwitted Lord Kitchener in a movement as brilliantly conceived as it' was adroitly executed. For several weeks a Boer force lias been operating iu a circumscribed territory, partly iu the Transvaal and in the Orange Free State. The British generals sent in pursuit have lost heavily, their forces narrowly escaping capture on several occasions. But while Delarey and Dewet were engaged in drawing the British troops northward from the Yaal river, a much larger force of Boers ha-s crossed the Orange river, invaded Cape Colony and seized Colesburg, thus beginning a lively campaign in the region In which Gatacre and French were held at bay a year ago. The danger to British interests in this new Boer invasion of Cape Colony lies in the menace of a rising of theJDuteh colonies. The Dutch outnumber the English residents in the eastern part of the colony and if they should decide to east their fortunes with the Boers they could add thousands of men to Dewet and Delarey’s army,* to say nothing -of the assistance they could give in money anil provisions. There is in England, beyond question, a growing sentiment favorable To The Boers. Public meetings, called to express sympathy with the burghers, are no longer interfered with, and men openly proclaim their hope of seeing independence restored to the South African republics. More troops are badly needed in South Africa, but unless regiments of volunteers can be raised the troops will not be forthcoming in large numbers; and the English citizen is slow to volunteer to fight a war of which he has long been weary.

It is somewhat difficult to gain a comprehensive view of English sentiment relative to the amendments to the HayPauncefote treaty and the proposal of the United States Senate to abrogate the Olayton-Bulwer treaty. Newspapers like the Times and the Standard declare that England will not accept a mutilated treaty. On the other hand, men like Henry Lahoucherc, Sir Charles Dilke and others noted for their independence of thought, declare that England has no reason to oppose the idea of a canal built by American money, guarded by American guns and controlled by America. It is entirely within the probabilities that most of the English people are indifferent and that those who are interested are divided in their opinions. The powers interested in China have at last reached an agreement on the preliminary terms to he demanded of the Chinese government. The points to the agreement have been repented so frequently that ttye public is tolerably familiar with them. China must pay indemnity anil furnish sufficient safeguards for the future. The importance of the agreement lies in the fact that the powers have been able to reach it at all. And If it is carried out China will emerge from the crisis without loss of territory, and with little loss of prestige. But it will be years before the commerce lost in the last seven months is regained. There is a trace of poetic justice in tlje news that Oouut Esterhazy, the French officer who, more than any other one man, hanged the-* Dreyfus affair around the neck of the French government, Is starving in London. proved himself everything that was vicious. He condemned a man .to exile on forged evidence. He stirred the French army to the verge of mutiny, demoralized the courts, and kept the government in a turmoil for years. His present condition is exciting little sympathy anywhere iu the world. „