Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 February 1900 — BRITAIN IS DAZED. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BRITAIN IS DAZED.

Retreat of Buller Regarded as a Second Yorktown. SUFFER GREAT LOSS. Fifteen Hundred British Said to Have Been Slain by Burghers. Imperial Forces Recross Tugela River After Serious Defeat at Spion Kop— Ladysmith Relief Column Flees from Terrific Fire of Men Under JoubertBoer* Had Prepared a Trap Resultins in the Slaughter of Warren’s Soldiers —Dismal News Casts Gloom Over Entire England. The English people are dazed by the stunning blow Gen. Buller has received at the hands of the Boers in Natal. The sacrifice of England’s best blood has been in vain, for the British are back where they were a month ago, and the relief of Ladysmith seems an impossibility. Buller’s report of the disaster contains uot one cheering note. He frankly admits that he found the Boer left flank impervious, and t nsidered it discreet to retire to the south side of the Tugela. He says nothing of his losses, but from Boer sources conies the statement that the English lost 1,500 killed and 150 prisoners. Their list of wounded consequently must be enormous. Gen. Buller has now had two chances to try and relieve the beleaguered troops under Gen. White at Ladysmith, and has dismally failed each time. British arms are face to face with the worst disaster since the surrender at Yorktown. Naturally there is jubilation at the capitals of nil the powers in Europe, and the rumors of intervention are growing more persistent. When, about a month after Gen. Buller’s defeat at the Tugela river, the movement for the relief of Ladysmith was again begun, word was given out that there would be no turning back and that whatever orders the troops might hear they should remember chiefly the one to “Advance!” It was supposed, or at least hoped, in London that Gen. Buller had employed, the interval after his first defeat in studying the situation and obtaining definite information about the enemy and the best way to relieve the sorely pressed and gallant garrison at Ladysmith. The crossing of the Tugela without serious opposition and the capture of

Bpion kop added to the confidence of the British people that at last the tide had turned. The garrison at Ladysmith also welcomed the sound of Buller’s cannon and the sight of the bursting shells he threw into the Boers’ lines. Then followed an interval of suspense, and, considering tho tremendous issues involved in this conflict, it is not surprising that the world waited for news from South Africa with almost as much interest as the British themselves. Now that Buller's story of disaster itnd retreat has been made known London is dazed at a catastrophe which even the Times admits is “almost without precedent in our military history, and, indeed, without parallel except in the surrender of Yorktown.” The mention of Yorktown in this connection is significant of England’s appreciation of the situation. After a long dream of empire in Africa from Cairo to the Cape London’s most influential journal suggests a parallel that hints at the loss of South Africa ns America was lost more than a century ago. It is useless to minimize the gravity of the situation now confronting the British empire. Ladysmith is not only unrelieved, but beween it and the relieving column lie the victorious Boers in apparently impregnable positions. A sortie by the garrison to cut its way through tho Boers is so desperate that it would be a useless waste of life to attempt it, while Buller, twice beaten back, can scarcely hope to place the relief of the beleaguered town alongside that of Lucknow in the war story of the British empire. As to the wider complications that may ensue from the British reverses in South Africa, Ixindon is now beginning to fear the worst. Russia is already knocking at the gates of Herat ami rumors of intervention by the continental powers now have a much better basis than they have had before. The Loudon Morning Post dwells upon the danger of further rebellion at the Cape and of possible European complications. It urges that* the navy be prepared for “any emergency.” The Standard and other papers reflect the anxiety of the public to lea hi how much truth there is in the Boer accounts of the fighting at Splon kop. There are trying days ahead and every civilized country is interested in the result. That Great Britain’s defeat in South Africa would moan consequences of gravest import to the empire is recognized by England herself. Patronize those who advertise.

GENERAL JOUBERT.