The Transvaal WAR.

Evening Star, Issue 11252, 28 May 1900, Page 2

The Transvaal WAR.

BOER FORTIFICATIONS. BULLER REPORTED ADVANCING. FREE STATERS TIRED OF FIGHTING. • PREMIER SCHREINER ON THE WAR. Press Association—By Telegraph—-Copyright. BOERS AT MAJUBA. BULLER’S ADVANCE. LONDON, May 27. The Boers are fortifying in a semicircle extending from Majuba to Pougwana. Six guns are visible. There are indications that General Bailer is advancing with a view to turning the Boer position at Laing’s Nek via the Buffalo River. FREE STATERS SURRENDER . LONDON, May 27. Loms Koch, a Free State magistrate, has surrendered to the British. He informe i General Buller that all the Harrismith and Vrede burghers had returned to their farms. MARTIAL LAW. LONDON. May 27. Martial law has been proclaimed throughout Rhodesia. MR SCHREINER’S VIEWS. . LONDON, May 27. Frfimier Schreiner opposes the proposal to build a hall to perpetuate the names of the dead who ba,ve fallen in the war, and he predicts that the-nation will eventually deplore the war as neither necessary nor inevitable, NOT GUILTY. wii- t. . DURBAN, May 27. vvilham Begbie, arrested on suspicion of causing the explosion at the Johannesburg arsenal, and charged with attempted murder, has been acquitted. OBNOXIOUS TO THE AUTHORITIES. , LONDON. May 27. Khmke, the Transvaal State Mining Engineer, who opposed Boer interference with the Johannesburg mines, has been removed from office. Mr W. J. Munnik, State Mining Inspector and Assistant Engineer, succeeds him. CASUALTIES. SYDNEY, May 28. Xt „ followi °g casualties are reported to New South Wales troops Trooper Kite died from enteric fever Lieutenant Macarthur Onslow and Trooper M'Donald, severely wounded. Major Bridges (Austrahan Artillery) and Major Owen (New bouth Wales Second Contingent) have been invalided home. DEATH OF A NEW ZEALANDER. o- . .... AUCKLAND, May 28. Sir A. Milner has cabled the Governor thac Sergeant James H. A. Brock (No 1 Company First Contingent) died from enteric fever at Bloemfontein on May 25, JOTTINGS ON THE WAR. [Bt Colonel Mobbib.] ♦l,?*®?' 01 .. i ' lti , nlati ? n has been received tim Eord Roberts s vanguard crossed the Vaal River, near Pary’s Drift, on Thursday. 1 lie Boers are retreating. . Parv’s Drift 'is about ten miles from Vredefort, where General French was reported to be, and about twenty miles north-west, from Heilbron road station, on the railway line. Another cable informs us that British scouts are at Viljoeu s Drift, where the railway crosses the \ aal River, and that General lan Hamilton s division has reached Boschbaxik, near Hmdhque’s Drift, a little west of the line, .the Boers have retreated all along the line, and abandoned all idea of defending the passage of the Vaal. We also leam mat there is considerable trouble in their ranks, especially among their foreign legions, General Botha having disbanded the Italian commando for insubordination. Foreigners, tempted by high pay, flocked to the Boer standard, and in success might have been useful f uxiliaries, but in times of reverse and disaster, when privation and hard work fell upon them, and the probability of losing the high wage for which they fought, thev become a trouble and a hindrance, as the Boers are now discovering. The true patrit, fighting for his country with his heart and soul in the cause, may bd depended upon in all emergencies, but the hireling is not worth his salt, and is only a source of danger. Commandant Snynmp is said to be entrenching a.t Bultfontein, ten miles east of Mafeking. I think there can be no doubt that General Botha’s plans are to defend Johannesburg, and for this purpose he will call in all his available' troops, leaving, however, a force to check the British advance from the west and east. For this purpose a force will be placed between Mafeking and Pretoria, whilst another will defend the pass at Laing’s Nek. The remainder of his troops will be entrenched at Johannesburg to meet Lord Roberts with the central army. Before Lord Roberta, however, can advance I think he will settle with the Free Staters, so as to clear his flanks and rear. The War Office are clearly not going to trust anything to chance, and reinforcemnts to the extent of 11,000 troops embark for South Africa in June —more than sufficient to replace all casualties. The disaster in Natal General Bethune attributes to Captain Goff’s impetuous attack upon an entrenched commando without waiting for reinforcemnts. This would not point to our troops having fallen into an ambush, but to a gallant but foolish assault of a few brave men upon a far superior force, entrenched. That there was a terrible blunder somewhere is certain. Captain Goff has paid for his share in it with his life, bub British men will look leniently on his fault, as valor even to hardihood the* nation will forgive. A cable states that 1,200 Free Staters on the Rhenoster River deserted their defences, which extended for eleven miles, covered by thirty guns. This, of course, refers to the affair of a .week ago, and unless there is some error in the cable, say, 1,200 instead of 12,000 Free Staters, I should say small blame to them. Twelve hundred men, spread oyer eleven miles of entrenchments, would give them but a little over 100 men to the mile, and as Lord Roberts’s division marched upon them there is little wonder that they deserted the position. From this cable, however, we would understand that the entrenchments on the Rhenoster were manned entirely by Free Staters, and that the Transvaalers, after the split which took place at Kroonstad, started straight away to quit Free State territory. Hitherto we were rather led' to understand that it was the Transvaalers who made this stand, and that the Free Staters had divided into two bodies, marching to Bindley and Heilbron. Whether President Steyn’s persuasions and lies will have the effect of putting heart into the Free Staters to continue the war remains to be seen. We should ere this have heard .the result of the advance of the commando of 2,000 towards Clocolan, but nob a won! of it has reached us. As I have previously stated, I believe they have melted away on the road.

Later. From Natal we are told the Boors are

fortifying a semi-circle, from JiTajuba to Pougwana. Majuba HUI is 1 on the west of tM railway line leading to Laing’s Nek, and. Pougwana bn the east, so that the enemy are fortifying the approach to Laing’s Nek. The cable goes on to state that there are indications that General Duller proposes to turn the Boer position at Laing’s Nek by crossing the Buffalo River. There is nothing impossible in this. General Duller could leave a sufficient force at Newcastle, .and with the remainder of his troops make a detour tp the east into Transvaal, and thus turn the enemy’s position at Laing's Nek. What makes me doubt his doing this, however, is the fact that this intention of his is allowed to get wind, and be published in the papers. , It appears to me more probable that, whilst the Boers are waiting for and expecting an attack on the east, General Duller may slip through Botha’s Pass on the west, and turn -the position equally well. It would seem that a magistrate of the Free State, one Louis Koch, has surrendered,- and has informed General Duller that the burghers of Harrismith, and also of Vrede, the new Free State capital, have all dispersed and returned to their farms. If this statement is true, then there is absolutely nothing whatever to prevent General Buller’s troops from entering Free State through Botha’s Pass, and, by working round to Volksrust, turn the* Boers’ position at Laing’s Nek. As I have said above, the Boers, if they intend to stand at Pretoria or Johannesburg, will certainly endeavor to prevent General Duller from-taking a hand in the attack, and the fortifications at Laing’s Nek are for that purpose, A proposal has been made to build a memorial nail in London to perpetuate the names of the heroes who have fallen in the wai\ Premier Schreiner objects, and givfes as his reason that the nation, will eventually deplore the war as being neither necessary nor inevitable. • He calls this a prediction! If I may be permitted to predict; I should say that eventually Mr Schreiner will find that not only will he cease to be Premier, but that he will never rise to that position again ; that the Afrikander Bond will cease to exist, and with it will fall the power of the Afrikanders in Cape Colony, which will, after the war, become a truly loyal colony and be_ governed by truly loyal Ministers. Is is simply as a matter of policy and to avoid complications during the war that Mr Schreiner has been permitted to remain in office, and. like his Boer friends, he interprets Sir A. Milner’s action in leaving him in power as a confession of weakness or fear. He • will find his mistake when the war trouble is over.