New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-01
TIE RLrNDrR At LADYSNITH.

Oro pritcn Is not strong enough 10 whip ten
Dr,ch,,en That does not seem TO he n startling
proposition. II expresses, however, the gist OF
the decidedly startling news from South AFRICA
rcported ia our special cable dispatches from
London yesterday and more fully again toua!'
If some nltra-Jingo takes exception 10 it per
haps we might modify II GO rs 10 say the one Is
not strong enough TO take tho aggressive against
the ten on their own chosen ground u any
nostscriptum BE desired 1t may be found in the
statement that guns which Will shoot -FOUR mics
are better than those which will shoot only
three. Likewise that n snail force in a secure
Mace. confronted by vastly superior force hui
certain soon to be amply reinforced shouid re-
main on the defensive until renforcemcn's ar
rive. That Is about all.
The occurrence ut Ladysmiih Is scarcely 10 DE-
described as disaster. TO do so would DE I"
exaererate its importance. Neither Is II pcs' 10
he called a defeat though defeat in measure II
unouestionably was 1t was above all else Il
blunder In eenoraship. fact which me rcspoh
sible commander appears 10 recognize l"'N
was the situation: All British forces III 'ha'
uort of Natal had been concentrated M Lazy
smith for the defence Of that important place
They numbered about ten thousand. lhcI were
confronted by BOer army or probably 'hlI'H
thousand They were strong enough 10 holP
Ladysmith against the Beers for months II
necessary and they were assured Of ample rein
forccments within fortnight. Manllesty 'h'y
.bou,d hay. rcinalncd on the defensive. In
stead of that their General ordered them our
into the field 10 attack the Bocrs. The Beers
plavcd upon them the familiar trick OF ielgmng
70 fall back. The British pursued them. Fiji
had I'm .lla ff
The Beers. When they had been lured on far
enough the Beers sprung the trap surrounded
,houn and conturcd all that were left after = dcs-
pcrate fight in which The British were ouinum-
bered ten 10 one Nearly The entire British
army was hurried out 10 the rescue, but II had
~ fall back before odds If three or four to one.
II was n blundcr comparable with Balaklava
and Majuba Hill
We have referred 10 the superiority OF the
Poor guns We said weeks ago that tbc Bocr
field artillery was superior 10 the Brlish. MT
Kriicer recently spent small traction OF MS
VAST fortune In lot Of the newest ana BEST
-uus Essen and Crcusot could turn out. 30 II
occurred that at the first Of The attack upon
Ladysmith the BOcr guns were enectlVc NJ u
distanc. at which the British could not rcach
them Had that condition continued General
White might have had some excuse for taking
the aggressive since his position might have
been made untenablc. But tust IN the nick OF
time as our special cable dispatch related. a
corps Of blucjackets arrived with some long
range naval guns from warshlp and knocked
out the Boer guns 50 II was reported With his
superiority in artillery thus secured General
White might safely have remained within his
forthcations Mt Ladysmith. where his troops
could surely have held their ground even against
odds Of ten 10 one They are doing better than
that ut Mafeking.
But he was not content 10 do So and now we
see the deplorable result Why1 Only he can