Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-12-12
Observation-Disclosures -, 1899
THE sToRMBERG DISASTER.

The British have met with another Sc
rious disaster in their campaign against
the Beers. Sunday a part of the force
under General Gatacrc, who has been
operating in Northeast Cape Colony, was
badly defeated at Stormberg, most i'm
portant strategic point. and lost over
seven hundred officers and men in killed,
wounded, and missing.
General Gatacres explanation Of the
reverse" as he terms the defeat in his
official dispatches, is that he was misled
by guides. But for the rest the affair
seems to have been due largely to the
same causes that early in the campaign
in Natal brought a portion Of General
Whites command to grief. The British
appear to have underestimated the Prov
ess and discipline of the enemy, to have
been too confident, and to have pushed an
advance column too far ahead Of their
main body of troops.
That the stormberg disaster will be fol-
lowed up by successful offensive Boer
operations against General Gatacre is
hardly to he expected. Wherever the
British have been on the defensive, whe-
Their by choice or force of circumstances,
they have more than held their own, and
have been enabled to innict telling punish
ment upon the Beers. Doubtless General
Gatacre will be able to maintain his
ground until he has received sufficient re-
Inducements 10 ensure the safety of any
further advance movement he may make
II is more than probable. also. that the
stormberg reverse" may prove a valu-
able lesson TO him, such as Whites re
verse" in Natal seems to have proved to
that gallant officer.
None the less, the most optimistic view
Of the matter is largely Offset by the
probable moral effect of General Gata-
cre's defeat. AS far as is concerned the
loss In killed, wounded. and prisoners. or
missing. General Gatacre seems not to
have Jared worse than White did at
Nicholson's Neck. But the results in the
one case threaten TO be much more far
reaching than in the other, in SO far as
they bear on the question Of adding to
the difficulties in the way Of the British.
force Of General Gatacre was intended TO
cooperate with that under General
French, which is now at DE
Aar. in Northern Central Cape
Colony The object OF this CO
operation was known TO be two
fold--to hurl back the Boer invaders of
the Cape territory and quiet or overawe
the disanected Dutch in the northern.
central. ard northeastern parts thereof.
British possession of Stormberg was re-
cognlzed as almost essential to General
Gatacre's effecting junction or getting
. touch with French. Hence the for
mers failure 10 take the place must not
only interfere materially with Buffers
plan Of campaign, but greatly encourage
the Beers In their work of stirring up
disloyalty and recruiting in Cape Colony.
However. Stormberg and Nichoison's
Neck to the contrary Notwithstanding,
and even IL other disasters are ahead
of the British, the finality is as much
fixed fact as II was when the war began.
1t is that the Dutch power In South
Africa will be wiped out. Aside from all
other considerations, every reverse Great
Britain has encountered. or may encoun-
ter, makes II ell the more imperative that
the end. shall prove to the world an OBJ
feet lesson as to her strength as Il mill
tary power and ability to maintain her
prestige. ...,.5 49,