JOTTINGS ON THE WAR.

Evening Star, Issue 11266, 13 June 1900, Page 4

JOTTINGS ON THE WAR.

[Bt Colons. Moms.] As a rule the cables received this morning are favorable. Fifteen hundred Boers surrendered to General Brabant at Ficksburuon Monday. These must be the body of Boers who, we were informed some davs ago, were isolated on the Basutoland border; and again, we learn that 200 Boers at Ventersdorp surrendered to General Hunter, whilst Rustenburg and Potehefstroom are ready to submit—the former probablv to General Baden-Powell and the latter to General Hunter. Thus in the Transvaal it looks as though the burghers were tired of tho war and ready to submit as soon as called upon to do so. It is quite evident that the Transvaal Boers have not the grit that the Free Staters have shown, although hitherto we all held the contrary opinion, and supposed that our difficulties would begin when we crossed the laal. Not only was there no opposition worth speaking of in taking the cities of Johannesburg and Pretoria, but Generals Hunter and Baden-Powell have onlv to show themselves for the Transvaalers'to submit, whilst no real opposition has been experienced by General Buller in clearing Botha's Pass, the Transvaalers, although holding strong and almost impregnable positions, giving way with hardly an attempt to withstand him. Not so in the Free State, for—the surrender of the 1,500 Boers to General Brabant and 600 to General Bundle, who were so hemmed in that there was no escape for them, excepted—the Free Staters in the north-east of the colony are making a good fight for their country. One cause of this is undoubtedly the paucity of troops m this part of the seat of w"ar, which has forced our generals into guarding the line of rail with small outposts far from their supports. In consequence of this the Boers have been able to swoop down suddenly in large numbers and cut off these detachments before reinforcements can arrive. We lately heard of the capture of half a battalion of Yeomanry, numbering 460 men, and now we hear of the capture of 700 men of the Derbyshire Militia, I suppose there can be no doubt of the truth of the story, but the cables are conflicting. The first report was that on Friday Loitf Methuen was engaged, and that Colonel Douglas and fifteen men of the Derbyshire Militia were killed ten miles from Heilbron, and that on Thursday Colonel Wilkinson and fifty privates were wounded at Roodeval. which is at least, twenty miles distant from where Lord Methuen was engaged. To-day we are told that in Thursday's fighting, after Colonel Douglas and fifteen men had been killed, the remainder of the 4th Battalion Derbyshire Regiment (the Sherwood Foresters' Militia), numbering 700 men, were captured. Now, if the disaster occurred on the Thursday, it is probable that it refers to the fighting at Roodeval and not to Lord Methnen's fight near Heilbron on Friday; but in that* case the reference to Colonel Douglas and the fifteen men killed is puzzling. There can be no doubt that the Militia battalions have been chiefly used by Lord Roberts for guarding our communications, and not brought into the fighting line. The fact th& this particular battalion was at the front is clear evidence that Lord Robert"! is short of regular troops j»st at this point, and this disaster, following that of the Yeomanry so soonj will bring it home to him that he most strengthen the forces in Free State. The capture of these unfortunate militiamen will be of little benefit to the Free State Boers—rather a source of embarrassment, for they will hardly know what to do with them. The Free Staters are themselves so closely pressed that they Cannot hold out much longer. General Buller is holding a commanding position in the north-east., Lord Methuen and General Colvifle arc ' about Heilbron, and aow that the Free Staters near

Ficksburg and Bethlehem have surrendered Generals Rundle and Brabant wDI be at liberty to push northward. The Boers cannot withstand these forces, arid must shortly submit, when our prisoners in their .hand"* will.be released. Even if a few fly for"protection into the rough ground in;tb,e'Drakensberg, they have made no provision for holding out, and in a few weeks will have to Submit or starve. We mav thus expect that these captured Yeomanry" and Militia will shortly be at liberty again. We have now received the numbers of British prisoners released at Pretoria, which consisted of 151 officers and 3,500 men. I think that 4,500 of all ranks is a fair estimate of the total prisoners taken by the Boers, and of these staic were recovered in the hospital at Jacobsda.l, and more were found in Bloemfontein, so that wd may estimate the number of our prisoners that have been released at 3,800 or 3,9Q0 officers and men. This estimate .would leave about 600 or 700 as the number carried off by the Boers to Nooitgedacht. Of course, this does not include the loss by capture of the Yeomanry and Militia reported during the past week in Free State. . *

Later. A cable states that the British shelled the train containing British prisoners, believing them to be escaping burghers. It is to be hoped that for once our artillery. practice was bad. It mu6t have been a terrible experience for our poor fellows to find themselves swindled into entering the train and then to be shelled by their own friends! Macbadorp, we are now informed, has been proclaimed the new Transvaal-capital. That is to say, I suppose, that Mr KrUgers railway car is at Machadorp, and 'v&jierc the car is there is the capital. Machadorp iS a nice convenient spot for the President, east of Belfast., where the cross line frpm'Btanderton joins the Pretoria-Delagoa Bay line, so that he cannot well be cut off from" the frontier, although he can be cut off from berg; but that is of small consequence' as long as the way is open to the frontier and Dclagoa Bay. There has been no further cable confirming the news of the capture of 700 men of the Dexbyshires, but the news has beeu received that Commandant Olivier was killed ami Commandant De Villiers mortally wounded at tins engagement at RocikranU. Both these were Frea State commandants, and hence mStst refer to the late engagements in Free Stnte. No such place as Rooikrantz can be found, but about ten miles south of Heilbron is Rooipoort, with a hill mffrked close to it.; and this I believe to be the place indicated. This, then, is that battle fought by Lord Methuen ,on Friday, and it is clear that the Boers suffered heavily and were badly beaten, losing their two' chief commandants; and yet we are told that at this very engagement we had 700 men captured by the enemy! The two things do not agree, and I ajn much inclined to'doubt tho fact that the Derbyshires were captured at all, the cable being "mutilated in passage. It is a curious coincidence that the disaster to the Yeomanry took place on the Thursday previous, and it is possible the cable may be intended to refer to that, In the case of the capture of the Yeomanry, Lord Roberts at once wired to the War Office, but in the present instance we have no official confirmation of ihe capture as yet. No doubt the Derbyshire Militia,were heavily engaged—the loss of their colonel and fifteen men shows that—but I must confess I am not satisfied that the Sherwood Foresters were captured to a man in a battle in which our troops were victorious. I am more inclined to believe the cable is in error. With regard to the two commandants killed Olivier has been frequently mentioned. He. conducted the attack on Wepener and at Koorn Spruit, and was the Commander-in-Chief of the Free Staters. De Villiers has also been frequently named as holding command, but the identity of this particular De Villiers is doubtful.- One De Villiers, an attorney and former Chief Justice of Free State, and by error called Sir John in the cable, was wcunded and in our hospital at Senekal. Consequently this De Villiers must be another of the same name. INVALIDED HOME. WELLINGTON, June "13. Captain Hayhurst (Temuka, Second Contingent), Sergeant Bond (Auckland, First Contingent), and Corporal Symes (Christchurch, First Contingent), invalided home, returned by the Paparoa to-day. [Special to Tint Stab.] WELLINGTON, June 13. The arrivid of the New Zealand Shipping Company's Fstparoa this morning was a complete surpriii-.!. She was not expected for a week hence, but she did not call at Hobart. Captain Hayhurst, Sergeant Bond, and Corporal Symes were passengers, but there was no cne to receive them. About the first intimation of their return was Hayhurst's reporting himself to the Defence Office, where the Acting-Premier and Colonel Penton welcomed him. The reception .of the invalided men was in striking contrast to that of yesterday, there being no display whatever. Your representative was, in fact, the first to welcome Captain Hayhurst and his companions. The Acting-Premier and Colonel Penton met Captain Hayhurst, with Sergeant Bond and Corporal Symes, aboard the Paparoa after the return of the former to tho steamer. The formal reception takes place in the Hon. Mr Ward's office this afternoon. It was R. S. Young, of Karori, Wellington, a member of the First Contingent, and not J. C. Young, of Westport, who is with the Second Contingent, who returned by the Westralia yesterday. DATES TO REMEMBER. PLEASE COT THIS OFT. September 28.—New Zealand Parliament resolves to offer the Mother Country mounted troops. October 9.—Boers declare war (they r:-.y they will drive the English into the sea). Octoher 11.—They invade Natal. October 16.—Kimberley invested. October 16.—Mafeking invested.October 20.—First fight (Glencoe). October 21.—First New Zealand Contingent leave Wellington. October 31.—Buller reaches Cape Town. November 2.—Jjadysmith invested. December 10.—Reverse at Storm berg. December 11.—Reverse at Magersfontcin. December 15.—Reverse at Colenso. December 17.—Lord Roberts. appointed Commander-in-Chief. January 10.—He reaches Cape Town (awaiting reinforcements). January 24-.—Departure of the Second Contingent from Wellington. February 10.—Lord Roberts arrives at the Modder. February 12.—Lord Roberts begins his advance. February 15.—Tarn of the tide; Kimberley relieved. February 17.—Third Contingent leave Lyttelton. February 27.—Crenje capfcored at Paardcbnrg. February 28.—Ladysmitb. relieved. March 13.—Bloenifontsjn captured. March 24—The Fighting Fourth leave Port Chalmers. March 29.—Joubert dies suddenly at Pretoria. March 31.—The Dandy Fifth sail from Wellington. April 4.—Seventeen New Zealanders captured at Koorn Spruit. May, 18.—Mafeking relieved. May 24.—Transvaal invaded. May 30.—Johannesburg surrenders. May 31.—Kruger run* away from Pretoria. June s.—Pretoria occupied. MR SCOBIE MACKENZIE ON THE PRO-BOERS. In the course of his speech at Milton last night Mr Scobie Mackenzie thus analysed the perspß* trko made, up the. pro-Boer ranks:— Considering how keenly President Kruger and some foreign nations have been watching for the signs ef division and discord in our country, it is a m«st fortunate. thing for us that the pro-Boers are but,,a mere streak in the stratum of the populace—what the geologists call a "fault."—(Laughter.) When I was coming down in the train I was trying to analyse how they were made. There are various contingents. First of all there are the persons who are temperamentally aiuemac. You_know what that mean?— the cold, unemotional, fisby people—(laughter) —whese blood is destitute or almost

destitute of red corpuscles., These people! can only see one side of a question, but that is the other side—(laughter)—and they have cultivated this habit or instinct or whatever you call it until it,has become exaggerated into a disease. Their own eountrv jg always wrong. A man ought to be \-ibls to look at both sides of a national question, but if he is only capable of looking at one| then in God's'name let it be his own.— (Applause.) Then you have the maudlin, contingent. They are people with soft, hearts and soft heads.—(Laughter.) They,', are absolutely blind to the necessary part which war and strife of every kind have had in the evolution of our civilisation. They shrink from it as a nervous woman does at< mouse. Then you have the contingent made up of sham radicals. They are alwars posing in one form or another, and thought they proved their radicalism or democracy or whatever you call it by taking the par* of theso so-called Republics against their own greai monarchy. Finally—although there may be more I haven't thought of—yon have tho contingent of cranks. These are the men who seize upon every new thing iuid think it reform, and they are never happy until they find themselves at variance in opinion with the mass of mankind. I tell you that I admire the sure instinct of the English people and the people of the* colonies that, condemned these. pro-Boers to silence while we were grappling with: the enemy, anil I hope you will not be led away by the fustian talked about the suppression of the right of free sjwech. The 1 right of free speech is not invaded until the, law steps in to invade it, and that will; never happen here: What would you think; of ;•. politician who would go whining about j interference with his right of free speech i because his audience, didn't choose to give' him a hearing?—(Applause.) The Government have decided that on i' official news being received of the restora-' tion of peace the Government offices throughout the colony shall be illuminated in the everaust. The Blue Spur admirers of General BadenPowell have succeeded in contriving for Iris acceptance a very pretty and appropriate testimony of their admiration and patriotism, and oiie that should not be the least prized, if only for its uniqueness of design, by the ' " Hero of Mafeking." It consists of f.nely- ' worked gold medal, into which a gold spur has been very ingeniously fitted, each s"dc of the spur being colored"" blue." M : hile the "spur" itself completes the name of the place from which it was sent. On cnesidft of the meilal is tho inscription : " To Colonel our trusty knight of the Empire. .From Blue Spur, Otagn.N.%.. Mav 11, 1900." On the reverse side is: "Dc"fence of Mafeking. 1899-1900—Lnyaltv,' courage, fortitude, contrivance." Of course, the whole is of Blue Spur gold.—' Tuapeka Times.'