The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1900-08-24
DAMAGED
POPULATIONS
THOSE OF ENGLISH GENERAL SUI
FERISG IN AFRICA.
DE VETS ESCAPE Is HnMILIATIN0
TO THEN.
MILITARY WIEN IN LONDON ADMIRE
BOER GENERAL.

LONDON, August 2n@The escape OF
DE Wet after m elaborate DISPOSE
ton made to surround him h humiiiat-
ing to the English generals and has
done some damage 10 another great
reputation. that Of Lord Kitchener
Lord Roberts sent Kitchener % take
complete control Of the operations
which were 10 end In cDrnering De
Wet. Generals Methuen, Ian Hanil-
ton and Smith-Dorrien were cooperat-
Ing with him, as well as Broadwoo1s
cavalry brigade, so that there must
have been some $1,000 troops endeav-
oring 10 intercept the 1000 mountpd
men who form DE VETS following.
After being buoyed up for weeks
with the hopes that tins superbiy he'd
flying column would be enyiruned, the
British public are not at all pleased to
hear that DE Wet has got clear away
again and has outmarched both Me-
thuen and Kitchener, and Is heading
north TO join Conmandant Dc,arey,
who has taken possession OF Huston
berg and seems TO be practically mas
ter OF the country almost up % Mafe-
king. As to the future, II seems that
the operations may now b. chiefly CON
tined TO two district quarters. DE Wet
and Delarey have wide spaces of west
ern Iransvaal and the Bechuanaland
frontier 10 roam over. and the British
hold on three districts which were
supposed % De subjuSated. Is extreme
ly precarious, as the Beers are prob
ably gaining recruits as they go along
Some strength Left
On the other side, President Kruger
with General Botha and the main
Iransvaal nefd force, now said To be
about 10000 strong. with ninety guns
will establish themselves h Barberton
the mountainous area between SwafZ5-
land and the Portuguese frontier.
AT Koomati Poort General Butler,
with the Natal army, is moving against
them from the south. and General
French and others are coming from
the Pictorial oha nnesburg line on the
west. But Barberton is In u broken,
rugged country, with more formidable
nights and passes even than the re-
gion around Ladysmith and Dundee.
1t is suitable for cattle. and until the
rainy season comes on II IL healthier
than the lower veldt
The CORRESPONDENT of news agency,
who was taken prisoner and kept -of
some time ut Novitgedacht says that
the fighting burghers are quite conf
dent OF their ability To hold oui IN the
Rarberton range for months, even II
their supplies from Deia,oa Bay are
cut OIL
The correspondent himself. who II no
partisan of the Beers, thinks tfrat they
may continue TO make u good fight for
some time TO come, though eventually
they will he Compelled to yield, II only
from Sher exhaustion and failing
numbers.
DE Wet n Model.
The few military men In London are
full of admiration for De Wet, In
whom they admit the Beers have
found leader of light troops of the
most exceptional ability. HIS march
across the Free State from Bethlehem
to the Vaal and UPWARDS from the
river TO Rustenberg is one OF the finest
performances of the kind IN modern
campaigns.
P1ouers I'm a Fright
Not much attention Is paid 10 the
plot against Lord Roberts, as the al
mosphere of Pretoria was always thick
with paots and counter plots, with con
spiracies and revelations, and IT IL in
teresting To observe that some OF fres-
i,3ent Kruger's secret police, who have
been taken into the pay Of the British
military administration are now EN-
Gagged IN unearthtng tre:Aeonabte pr'ic-
ices against their new employers,
Cor,lua. the German lieutenant OF
artillery. who by his own admission
intended To carry OH Lord Roberts
seems hair-m-ained young fellow
whose wild enterprise could scarcely
have been taken seriously by che boer
leaders even If they were told OF IT.
Still as a prisoner who bad broken his
and was plotting violence m the
disguise of British othcer, he Is liable
10 serious punishment II the charges
against him are proved