The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-02-19 00:00:00

WANTED a Good Shoeing and Jobbing
BLACKSMITH.—AppIy at Raiford and Co's.,
Clay Works, Stourbridge.

(to.arbritTe ()batter.

SATURDAI, FEBRUARY 19th, 1881:

IfIE FIGHTING IN THE TRANSVAAL.

AMID the pressing domestic affairs which are
demanding the attention of Parliament, the
fighting in the Transvaal is a subject in which
the public take a very deep interest. Small as
has been the British force engaged hitherto, the
proverbial pluck and gallantry have been shown;
the Government has sent out fresh reinforce-
ments, and meanwhile a message of conciliation
has gene to the Dutch settlers by way of Presi-
dent Brand, the ruler of the Orange Free State.
Whether the war into which we have been
plunged is a larger and more serious one than
any one not familiar sith the country had con-
ceived, is a question time alone can determine.
But it is clear enough that in these well-drilled
and well-mounted farmers we have a most for-
midable enemy to encounter. They know every
defile and shelter, every nook and gully ; they
can haunt the roads along which our troops must
march, and pick off the officers at a distance.
Indeed, in the last-mentioned accomplishment
they have shown a very fatal proficiency. What
our volunteers are expected to do in the case of
an invasion of this country, the Boers are now
actually doing against our own troops in the
Transvaal. They have excellent rifles, plenty of
ammunition, powerful horses, and every possible
opportunity of using them. 'I hey are deadly
shots, and they have learned the power which
markmanship has put into their hands. They
are animated, moreover, by a fierce patriotism,
supported by fanatical religious views, and sus-
tained by race antipathy. It is not eau at pre-
sent to see how, in a thinly-populated country as
large as France such men are to be subdued.
That our soldiers will beat them in fair fight no-
body doubts, but they will never come to close
quarters with British infantry. And so far as
fighting on horseback is concerned, it seems to
, be obvious that a broken country on the spurs of
a mountain range, cut up with ravines, and only
level on the narrow hill-tops, is no place for
cavalry. The Boers picket their horses, creep
within range of the nearest officer or treoper,
fire at him, and then retreat or hide. The Boers
are well aware that they would be nowhere in a
pitched battle, but such a battle they do not in-
tend to fight. Their idea is to make the whole
war, as far as possible, a series of skirmishes in
which our soldiers will present a visible mark to
a frequently invisible or half-hidden foe.
Still, in the face of such 'difficulties as these,
the history of our previous troubles in Kaffaria
and Zululand tells us that we are bound to pre-
vail in the end. Ihe authority of the Crown
will be re-established. Doubtless the details
which have lately come to hand tend to increase
the general sense of the magnitude of the task
before us in the Transvaal, and to heighten our
appreciation of the foe against whom we find
ourselves arrayed. It is necessary to appraise
rightly the situation. Among the very tribe of
obvious morals which may be drawn thus early
from this description of South African warfare
in which we find ourselves engaged, we must
beyond a doubt reckon the fact that it will serve
no good purpose to, under-estimate either the
number or the character of the forces opposed to
us. The numbers have, thus early in the fight,
been overwhelming, and every man is a ski;led
rifleman. The battle of Ingogo was, in fact, a
fight between riflemen at long range. Our ar-
tillery could scarcely be worked, for as soon as a
man stood up to serve his gun he was shot down.
The same cause prevented a charge with the
bayonet. Nothing could live in the face of that
marvellous rifle fire on the part of the Boers.
They fought as Dutchmen are accustomed to
fight, slowly and steadily. Not a head was to be
seen. There was only a puff of smoke to tell
th...ir whereabouts, as they fired under cover.
Their success showed the great value of irregular
troops skilled in the use of the rifle, and trained
to take advantage of cover, though without other
military knowledge. It also illustrated the de
struction that can be wrought by a long-range
infantry even against troops with artillery. There
is another moral, which touches the character of
the foe. There have, it is true, been sinister
rumours of flags of truce fired upon, and of at
least one prisoner shot down while crossing a
river. On the other hand, eye-witnesses have
declared that the Boers have behaved with kind-
ness to the sounded on the battle-field. They
are described as quiet and self-reliant, with no
tendency to swagger. Deploring the war, they
yet avow that it is a sacred duty to shoot down
every invader that sets foot on their territory.
At the same time it is obvious enough that as
British power has before prevailed, it must do
so again. The force of the empire is behind Sir
George Colley, who, notwithstanding a tempor-
are cheek, as the result of an insufficient numeri-
cal force, is bound to win in the end.