St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1900-05-09
WAR IN THE TRANSVAAL.

London, May S-The Beers are every
where retiring before the British, except
on the Natal frontier and at Mafeking,
to the inner circle of their defenses.
They appear determined not to fight
until the Kroonstad hills are reached.
Lord Roberts is expected to do another
40 or so miles and then to wait for
time in order to bring up supplies and to
repair the railway. There are one or
two hints in the dispatches from the
front that he may rest for a few days at
Smaldeel.
General French's 10000 cavalry have
not been mentioned in the official or I'M
official dispatches for four days. 1t is
by no means likely that he is idle; and
the conjecture is that he is either de-
touring toward Kroonstad or TaldlHS
the Ladybrand district
Fifteen thousand British are now
operating on the western frontier of the
Free State. As the deadlock at War
renton has been broken and the Beers
are retreating. there is nothing formid-
able. except distance, between Warren
ton and Mafeking,
The most hopeful advices from MAIZE
king on April % were that the garrison
would be barely able to hold out for a
month. At that time the fever was
spreading,
According to advices from Maseru,
Rasutoland, several thousand Free
Skaters are north of Ladybrand, where
they have collected great herds, The
district is rich in food for men and
horses: and the Beers seem resolved rot
to move northward. but to be preparing
TO resist where they are, If they are let
alone they will menace the line of com
municatons after the main British
army has passed into the Transyaal.
Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener per-
sonally directed the artillery in the Vet
river engagement.
Six thousand four hundred and fifty
eight troops are now at sea on the way
to South Africa. No others are under
orders to go except as recruits to fill up
the losses of regiments at the front.
The movement that eliminated in the
capture of Winburg and Smaldeel was
part of a great general movement eX-
tending from General Hunter on the west
to General Rumble on the east. Lord
Roberts admirable strategy resulted in
placing everywhere five British to one
Boer. Out of what appeared the in
extricabe confusion of divisions and
brigades order was quickly evolved, and
the Beers We're compelled to meet Lord
Roberts under unfayorabe conditions.
What is more important is that the
British are now able to wait. Their
front and strong positions are safe in
the knowledge that their thanking col
umns will advance and outiank the
Beers.
On Saturday the Beers really held a
strong position from which, earlier in
the campaign, they could only have been
forced by hard fighting, General Ham
ilton's arrival at Winburg, although not
directly outfanking the Beers. made
their position extremely uncomfortable,
General Hutton's movement on the left
was even more successful than at first
imagined. Forty Beers were killed.
The march Sunday was short but Gen
eral Pole-Carews division marched SIS
miles in four days
Lord Roberts has been very strict in
his examination of the farms with the
result Of disclosing the fact that nearly
every house is a miniature arsenal,
Mausers, Martins and abundant ammu-
milton being found. If these had not
been discovered, the army would be
leaving in its rear the material, in men
and arms, for a dangerous movement
among the inhabitants.
All along the railway the culverts,
wherever Of any size, have en- ut
terly destroyed, but the engineers hope
to make a detour in some cases, and in
others they will fill up the gap.
Three or four spans Of the Vet river
bridge have been utterly destroyed, and
1t will be necessary to make a temporary
line down the river bed, as at the Modder.
Reports have been heard showing that
more cuverts and bridges are being de-
strcyed northward.