The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-24

their fists dehanty at the hostile camp,
Which lay two thousand feet below and Of
which they could now see every detail
Tome up mere, you beggars" they cried;
and II Alfred Aylward may be trusted
two hundred and twenty three Beers ac-
cepted the invitation. Part Of the Boer
assailants took cover at once with their
usual SKIN. and opened a long-ranged
hre 90 the summit of Majuba. This ire
shot at nine hundred yards mortaliy
wounded the brave Romily, commander
OF me naval contingent. But, generally
speaking, the defenders of the Hill took
good care not to expose themselves UNI
necessarily TO the craftsmanship of the
Beers with the result that the actual loss
intiicted BY the long-range Are was small
Though the Beers kept IL up necessarily
an that long summers morning, scarcely
any one except poor Romilly was touched
Nevertheless. the Beers were not throw
ing away their powder for nothing They
succeeded In their object OF compelling the
detenders OF the hill to keep closely under
shelter and prevented them from observ-
ing what happened on the slopes below
the enclrcling girdle of cliff. Protected
small parties of Beers were creeping as
stealthily as deerstalkers over the wide
spaces or the mountain side where the
clin wall above screened them both from
the sight and from the fire OF the de-
renders Sir William Butler gives an ex-
cellent map shaded so as to exhibit
clearly the dead portions of the HILL
side across which these experienced hunt
ers made their way unobserved. So
theX took the whole morning over their
stalk; but their caution and skill were
crowned with perfect success.
AZ one part of the circumference OF
Ma1uba there is a little outlying kopje or
peak, which is really the key of the po-
sition. with unerring instinct, one of tho
cordlng to Sir William Butler, he had
about sixty men with him; and when he
arrived quite near H. with his party still
undiscovered, he detected q picket OF
several soldiers, who we're standing In au
exposed position, unconscious Of the near
neighborhood of their foes The Boer
leader ordered a number of his men to
hold their rifles at the present" step
back out of cover. and fire a rapid voliey.
Inc rPnoeuvre was sktllfully executed:
the whole picket was clean swept away.
and in a few minutes more OF tho Bores
had got the key of the position in their
the left of the British troops, who we're
holding the northern face Of the rim, and
took them In the iank; The troops thus
rim, and Immediately other parties OF
Beers rushed up by another gap and SELF
ed the abandoned positions.
Practically, MaJuba was taken by sur
prise. TIL The enemy were actually on
the top, the general and hts staff never
dreamed that they could lose the hil.
But, once established on the summit the
rapid and accurate fire of the Beers swept
away the defenders. IL seems as II no
pectcd contingency OF the Hill being
stormed; no second line of defence had
been provided, and such reserves as ex-
listed were either not ready or could not
be got into place at the critical moment:
and a general sauve qui peut followed
IL Is a scene that one does not care to
think about. Cooley, endeavored to rally
his broken lines desparingly fronted the
hailstorm OF bullets that moved down his
men, and fell with his face to the foe
Nearly half the British force were Killed.
wounded or made prisoners. The Boer
losses are given by Sir William Butler
at six, of whom only one was killed.
Here indeed was q lesson TO every COM
mander 10 secure his weak podnt lake
every other post of vantage Majuba Hill
had its vulnerable spot. and that spot was
neither sufficiently fortified nor guarded.
Moral Effect in the sOudan.
With MaJuba hostilities came 10 a stand
still. That well-equipped army, indeed.
for which Colley had hoped arrived IN
South Africa after his fall; but il was not
allowed to retrive the furnished glory of
the British arms. For good or for evil.
a peace was made which doubtless SEEM
cd TO be honorable and satisfactory 10
those who were responsible for It, believ-
ing as they did that TO continue the war
would involve us in the sin OF bsood-guilt-
mess. However, the remote consequences
of our actions are often far other than we
expect; and the many and bloody battles
we have fought since then I'm Egypt and
the Soudan, down to the recent reconuiiest
Of Khartoum, may be traced to the loss
OF prestige that unquestonably followed
the disasters la South Africa.