THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA.

Evening Post, Volume LX, Issue 115, 12 November 1900, Page 4

THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA.

With the fall of Lydenburg, the flight of Paul Kruger, and the September proclamation of Lord Roberts, it looked as though the Transvaal war had practically closed. It was hoped, and indeed generally believed, that the Boers remaining in the field would voluntarily bring in their arms, make, their peace, and return to their farms ; after which peace would be proclaimed amid general rejoicing throughout tho Empire. Then came the surrender of Prinsloo and his

4000, which must surely make 'the most dospemte of the irreconcilables despair of their cause and abaadon the unequal conJlict. As weeks Avent by, De Wet, De ie Hey, Viljoen, and Botha rallied the broken lemnants of their forces, and operating hundreds of miles apart, slowly forced the conviction upon the public mind that if the British army had posession of the territory its people were as yet unsubdued. The British Government being asked to name a day for celebration of the termination of the war and proclamation of peace, gave answer that it had at present no intention to fix a date for national rejoicing. Clearly Mr. Uhamberlain realised that it would be a vainglorious thing to celebrate an event yet to arrive. And as the days go by, if becomes increasingly evident that the prospect of peace is further removed; until it has become manifest that without a standing army in, the field, the little war now . being so "desperately fought by the Boers may prove in the end as costly and almost as bloody as the greater campaign that may be said to have closed with the surrender of Prinsloo. Day by day it becomes clearer that the Boers still in the field are fighting to kill or be killed, as witness the burghers' charge on the British to within 70 yards at Komati River on Wednesday last, which Lord Roberts has described as "unprecedented." Note also the fact that the British Government has not yet officially notified the foreign Powers of the annexation of the Transvaal. On paper the Boers have not more than 15,000 men still in aa-ms, yet the British army must number not less than 200,000 men. This i-jj an enormous disparity of numbers, but it must bs remembered that probably not more than a tentih of tihe British force is in the fighting lines, the remaining nine-tenths being occupied in garrison duty or protecting linos of communication. The truth seems to be that not only is early pacification of the country % vain hope, but that the British occupation will be met by theunquenchable hate of the whole of the Boer people. Coming to .the stirring events of tho past few days, we find that De Wet has met with a succession of defeats that mus>t hardly tax both the 'feetourefcs and fedlomitiable ooua-agie of even that redoubtable commander. The famous raider seems to have worked his way round from some distance north of Pretoria through the Rustenburg district down through the broken country of the Gatsrand Mountains to Fredericksbad, which li<es about 60 miles sioutiiwest of Johannesburg. By this time De Wet seems to have gathered up a commando of 2000 men, with several guns. Apparently on th" 5 26th ult. Major-Gene-ral Barton got to grips with the Boer army, the British force achieving a decided viqtory, and scattering the /Dutch commando. We next hear of De Wet at Rensburgi Drift, on the Vaal, 25 miles 'south by east from the scene of the battle of the 26th. At the drift, which — with Barton on his rear — De Wet must apparently cross, Knox lay in wait with a force that inchid'ed the Australian Bushmen under De Lisle. Here further severe defeat was infli-cted, with loss of five Krupp guns. Again, on Monday last, Knox and Le Gallads came up with the Boer foree — by this time diminished to 1000 men— at Bothaville, 75 miles southwest of Rensburg Drift. The account of this acbion we publish to-day, and, as will be* seen, it resulted in a complete victory bo the British, though unhappily the cost included' the life of a brilliant cavalry General officer. Here again the colonials, > with De Lisle at their h&ad, are reported to have borne themselves admirably. It. J is stated that De Wet and 'Steiyn.' fled when: the first shot was fired. This sounds improbable, particvp krly as to De' Wet, though, as he was reported wounded at Rensburg Drift, his j staff may have urged him to retire from the field when defeat was immanent. ( In the Far East of the Transvaal SmithDorrien, near Komati Poort, has had two days' hard fighting with seemingly inconclusive result. We may, look for more fighting in this direction presently, as this men of Botha's command-, who some weeks ago crossed into Portuguese territory, are now returning. Some days ago it was reported that Ladybrand", on the Basutoland bordter, was again threatened, and it seems strange that the censor has not vouchsafed us amy further news on the subject. Hunter or Hector Macdonald ought to be thereabout. At latest Louis Botha was some distance north of Pretoria, but was. said to be invalided. It is not unlikely that De Wet's latest commando was in part composed of Botha'a force. 1