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Show THE BRITISH WERE FOOLED. Grossly Misinformed as to the Strength of the Boers. New York, Dec. 26. A dispatch to thj Herald from London says: It appears that a storm is brewing on the subject of the course of the government toward General' Sir William Butler, whose conduct con-duct at the outset of the war met with much criticism. It is said that General Butler, previous pre-vious to the war, sent a series of dispatches dis-patches warning the government against attacking the Boers, giving details de-tails of their condition for war, which have been verified by recent events. But his dispatches were very distasteful distaste-ful to the government, and were put away out of eight, and General Butler was harshly criticised. General Butler, it seems, drew attention atten-tion to the way in which the English were misled by the blindness of the intelligence department, which, from what-has taken place, was totally unaware un-aware of, or purposely misinformed by the Boers as to their arms and numerical numeri-cal strength. It ia well known here that British agents of the intelligence department were sent from time to time to flnd out what the Boers were doing in the way of armament. The Boers knew all about it, but simulated naivete, and conducted the visitors around forts which they chose for their own purposes, pur-poses, where old guns were set uo and shown with an affectation of pride by President Kruger's men, who were cunning enough to inspire strangers by their plausibility. Thus the British intelligence department depart-ment received the most minute reports of the calibre, range and number of the cannon possessed by the Boers, but were merely gulled by the wilv burch-ers. burch-ers. The real guns, with which the war is conducted, the creusots and Krupps, were so carefully hidden that scarce a soul outside of the immediate circle of the government knew of them. The English government sent out guns euual in calibre to what the agents had been allowed to see. In the same view, it Is thought that the Boers understated their numerical forces and small arms. It Is understood that all these things were told to the home government by General Butler, with the result that Butler was called disloyal and pro-Boer, pro-Boer, and rabid papers demanded his degradation. But since war began, people who know the contents of General Butler's dispatches have come forward and ask that they be published.. The attention of members of parliament has been called to the matter, and when the commons com-mons are assembled in six weeks' time, demands will be made for the publication publica-tion of the dispatches. If it be asked why General Butler did not sDeak out, it must be remembered that he is a military man in a high position, po-sition, and says: "My lips are eealetl," but the subject is now occupying the club gossips. One very clever club man remarked that the question really amounts to this: "Is he a traitor or a martyr?" Another said: "Is General Butler the Dreyfus of this war, and has he been snubbed by the queen? For it will be remembered that when the queen visited vis-ited Bristol he was withdrawn from the chief command of the western district, and it was stated that he would have been hooted had he appeared. Has he been insulted by the press in order to shield the war office, which believed the intelligence department rather than the chief of the South African forces?' Some one else said: "Remember Lord Wolseley's recent .speech: 'We have hepn grossly misinformed as to tne strength and resources of the Boers.' The public naturally asks: 'Deceived by whom?' " . - s - ' ' |