Jasper County Democrat, Volume 2, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1900 — WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA [ARTICLE]

WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA

DIFFERENT STAGES OF THE CAMPAIGN UP TO DATE, Relief of Ladysmith Has Cost About All It la Worth—Lose of the Town la Considered No Great Blow to the Cause of the Boers. Gen. Buller’s final success in relieving Ladysmith is a moral rather than a military gain. Considered merely as a military advantage, the release of Gen. White and his small army has cost' about as much as it is* worth. While it sets free this starving and plucky remnant of the original army of occupation in Natal, it also releases a similar force of Boers from siege duty. The honors are even in that respect. The British have lost about 4,000 men in the four mouths' fighting for the relief of Ladysnyth, not including the 1,600 or more who fell or were captured in the battles that preceded the siege. The town itself is worthless as a strategic point’, except for its railway connections. Its loss is no great blow to the Boers. The relief of Ladysmith anil the withdrawal of the Boers from Colesberg and Jamestown mark the beginning of the fourth stage of the campaign in South Africa. The first stage opened with the advance of the Boers into Natal and Cape Colony, about the middle of October. The object was to drive the British from the coal districts of Natal, to gain possession of the railroads extending into the Free State and the Transvaal by way of Laing’s Nek and Van Roenen’s Pass, to prevent the use of the railroads in northern Cape Colony, and to promote a rising among the Cape Colony Dutch. In two weeks the British were driven from northern Natal, and were besieged in Ladysmith; in less time the British force in the west had been penned up in Kimberley and Mafekiug, and the Boers held all the roads in northern Cape Colony leading to the Orange river crossings. The second stage of the campaign opened about Nov. 20, with the re-enforced and reorganized British army advancing in four columns. Gen. Methuen moved

northward from De Aar to the relief of Kimberley: Gen. Buller, north from Durban for the relief of Ladysmith; and Gens. French and Gatacre, northward along the railroads passing into the Orange Free State, to clear Cape Colony of Boers. Gen. Methuen’s column advanced more rapidly than the others, fought four battles, but was not able to relieve Kimberley. Gen. Buller’s column got no farther north than Colenso. Gen. French was stopped below Colesberg. Gen. Gatacre was held at Molteno. The third stage of the campaign opened with the arrival of Gen. Roberts and another reorganization of the British army. Making a feint on his extreme right at Colenso, Roberts moved his main column to flank the Boer position at Magersfontein. This movement broke the Boer line, resulted in the relief of Kimberley, in the capture of Gen. Cronje and his army, in the retirement of the Boers from Colesberg and Jamestown, and was the determining factor in relieving Ladysmith. The fourth stage of the campaign opens with the retirement of the Boers to new lines of defense. The reports indicate that a show of resistance was kept up south of Ladysmith until the siege guns and war material were transferred northward. When this was accomplished no military purpose could be served by the Boers in clinging to the positions about Ladysmith. Their retirement from Ladysmith, and their possible retirement from Bloemfontein, yield great advantages to the British invading columns, but both moves were inevitable. With northern Cape Colony free of Boers, Gen. Roberts has three railroads at his service. This fact simplifies the problem of supplying his army. * The retreat of the Boers in Natal will be less precipitate than in the Orange Free State, because the former have the mountains behind them and are retiring on positions which nature has made almost impregnable. The Boer generals mast guard agaiust a formidable attack from Gen. Roberts in the Orange Free State, must resist the advance of Gen. Buller toward Laing’s Neg and Van Reenen’s Pass, and must at the same time strengthen their lines on the left to resist g flanking movement through Zululand. Withdrawal from the Tugeia and from the Orange river to the mountain passes and to Kroonstad will greatly shorten and strengthen the Boer line of defense. Their line will then represent two sides of a triangle, with the point on the Drakensberg Mountains below Van Reenen’s Pass, with one side line extending northward along the partially completed railroad to Kroonstad, and with the other reaching along the mountains up to and eastward of Laing’s Nek. Kimberley was relieved after a siege of 122 days, and Ladysmith after a siege of 118 days. By laying siege to these two points, both of them of great importance to the British, the Boers practically chose the fighting ground for the first months of the war. A dozen engagements were fought for the possession of Kimberley, and over twenty for the possession of Ladysmith. The President has approved the bill abolishing the discriminating duty of 91 a ton on Cuban vessels and ordering it refunded where collected since (he peace tr\?*ty.