Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-11-17
TO OUTTRICK Beers.
English Officer Says Watch OFT
For New Tactics.
HOW THE ADVANCE WILL BE MADE
Won't Let the Beers Come Near
Enough tO Use Their Rifles Effect
iveIy-Thc English to Charge on
Them Under Artillery Protection.
Beers Estimate OF Themselves.

L
Beers Estimate OF Themselves.
Something has been said in the pre-
Iminary discussion of the South Afri-
can crisis concerning the Beers reli
ance upon their rifle craftsmanship
against the British army. \ little has
also been said of the British confidence
that the Beers would be unable TO do
any artillery work worth noticing. says
the New York Sun. The South African
newspapers for two months have con-
tanned articles bearing upon both
phases of the situation, which show
that the Beers believe that they can dc
effective artillery work and that the
English. according TO the information
permitted TO get out in the colonies
near the scene of difficulties, have plan
ned to ignore practically the Beers
rifle prowcss and to cut them down
with shell and saber.
Gossip in Natal had been that the i'm
perial forces would introduce n new
policy or new tactics which would sur
prise Europe not less than play havoc
with the Beers, according to the Natal
Advertiser. When an artillery officer
was sent there on special duty, he was
besought to tell something of what all
this meant. He surprised his QueS-
TONERS by giving an answer. His obser-
vationS comprehend an interesting
sketch of some of the local conditions
which the British planned TO meet
This officer likened the Beers boasts.
as to their ability to do all needed exc
cutiOn with their rifles, to the confident
assertions made in John l.. Sullivans
behalf before he went to England To
fight Mitchell. that he would do Won
derful execution with his great left
hand. The consequence was that Mitch
ell prepared for left hand tactics TO
Sullivan's great surprise. That. accord
ing to the officer, is in effect what Eng
land has done regarding the Beers. She
has so prepared herself that the Beers
will find little opportunity to make use
Of their rifle craftsmanship.
81 assure you" lie said. that except
in Il few instances there viii be no
chance for rifle practice. The advance
viii be under Il paralyZing shell fire
from Il line seven or eight miles away,
This is 4 distance impossible for rifle
fire.
The BOer, accustomed to lie behind
a kopje and take deliberate aim, has
what it is to have to lie quietly while
his comrades are slaughtered around
him by Il deadly hail from the sky,
when he looked for aid. Even his idea
of artillery has been OF bullets coming
on level like rife bullets. With mis-
siles picking off men and horses around
him and hundreds of yards behind him
he would become panic stricken, the
81
whose discipline was brought to the
last point of efficiency could not resist
the demoralizing effect of such n sight.
This was proved, the officer observed.
at Tel-el- Kebir. Meantime, according to
this plan, cavalry could advance under
the protection of that fire to within
100 yards of the Boer lines and flank
them. The finish is then described:
Then at n signal Il terrible final vol
ley of shrapnel is poured in, and the
order to charge is given. and before
they know it the Beers will be among
the sabers and lances, with the bayo-
nets of the infantry just behind"
So the British officer wins the battle
and routs the Beers on paper as easily
if not as innocently as the pen glides
over it. Half of their horses will
have been killed by the deadly fire."
he says, land what is the good of a
Boer in the weld without his horse?
They will be picked off," he adds,
quite cheerily, by the cavalry. as
easily as a crowd of rabbits in an in
closure"
He counts on disabling the Boer ar
tillery in an hour, partly because the
Beers poor idea of artillery will not
lead him to risk many lives in defend
ing it. He concludes: I'VE may lose q
thousand men perhaps, but what is
that?-a drop in the bucket"
AS to the forces which were already
available for service in the British
cause in September they numbered APP
proXimately $4,000 men, according tc
editorial information in the Eastern
Province Herald of Port Elizabeth,
Cape Colony. as against i total Boer
force in the Transvaal of $4,000 men.
including the burGhers and the regu-
lar artillery. This estimate of the
Beers included boys and men becom-
ing old. The enumeration of the Brit
ish included forces from Natal, Bechu-
analand and Rhodesia. and the land
ing forces of the navy in South Afri-
can waters. OF them all, 6,OOO could
easily be concentrated in MafekinS
and Tuli. according to the authority
quoted. The forces of the Cape Col
ony were not included in the estimate,
not because the men were not ready
enough. but an unsympathetic, not TO
say hostile. government certainly pre-
vents us from saying what our forces
could do"
The newspaper anticipated, however,
control of the colony would be placed |
in different hands which would permit /
the colony's men to aid in the military |
movements. \ visitor to Pretoria who T
was taken around the fort there, as he
was also at Bloemfontein, by a lieuten-
ant, wrote TO The Cape Times some /,
thing of the Beers estimate of them /