New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-02-21
ROBERTS AND BUTLER AT WORK


Lord Roberts does not rest upon his laurels
He Us not only commander but a leader He
does not bide at Kimberley or at Jacobsdal
and direct his army from such point On the
contrary, he himself moves forward, if not at
the very front, at least close behind the van
guard. The other day in the most nonchalant
manner he dated dispatch from Jacobsdal,
thus giving the first intimation that he was
within many miles of that place Now he dates
a dispatch from Faardeburg. That is thirty
miles east of Jacobsdal. or more than one-third
of the way TO Bloemfontein. The ostensible
purport of his dispatch is to tell us that the
railroad to Kimberley will be ready to-mor-
row"-that is to say, was ready yesterday But
it is still more important to know that "Bobs"
himself is on the road to Bloemfontein. For, Of
course, the mass of his army is with him. And
that means that the grand advance upon the
Boer capitals is proceeding
Nor is that ALL The complement comes from
the eastern border. Sir Redvers Butler is at
work in earnest upon the relief of Ladysmith.
He has captured the town Of Colenso which for
many weeks has been the Beers central fortress
and chief obstruction in his path 1t is only a
dozen miles from the very heart of Ladysmith,
and there is no reason to suppose there are any
formidable Notifications behind it, Sir Redvers
has, moreover, occupied Hlangwane Hill. That
is about six miles east Of Colenso and is one Of
the most important positions in that whole
region. 1t fully commands the east side of the
Boer position south of Ladysmith, and the rail
road and the river for several miles, 1t is, by
the way, an interesting circumstance that the
brigade which captured the hill is composed Of
four regiments, one English, one Welsh, one
Irish and one Scotch thus representing all the
members of the United Kingdom.
The comparative ease with which Sir Redvers
Butler has accomplished these great gains, after
the disastrous failure Of two or three former at
tempts, is suggestive. When Kimberley was
relieved and the invasion of the Orange State
began. the opinion was expressed in these col
umns that the Orange Free State contingent
which had been bearing the brunt of the cam
paign at Ladysmith, might deem 1t fitting to
abandon the Improbable undertaking there and
hasten back to the defence of BlOemfoutein
That surmse appears TO have been realized.
The announcement has, indeed, been made that
a large part of the army investing Ladysmith
has withdrawn and retired to the Free State
The ease with which the British are now break
ing through the BOer lines confirms that report
1t need cause no surprise if within the next
few days, if not hours the siege of Ladysmith
collapses, that Of Kimberley did and the
chase across the Orange State plains is paral-
leled by one up the wedge of Natal That will
not necessarily mean that the war is over, or
nearly over. There may yet be some stubborn
fighting in the highlands of the Transyaal But
the tables will have been turned The Boer in
vasion of British territory, for the establish
ment Of Boer supremacy over it and over all
South Africa, will have given place to British
invasion of the Boer States for the purpose of
establishing, or confirming, British supremacy.