Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1900-12-19
THE END NOT YET.

he Emu Nul lei.
The Transvaal war is not over yet,
and it will not be over until Great Brit
ain sees her way to bend her pride to
an extent that will permit Of the grant
ing to the brave Beers something like
the terms to which their patriotism
and valor entities them. Such a con-
clusion seems to be fully warranted by
the events of the past year, taken ir
connection with the developments Of
the past few days.
In THE ENQUIRE Of last Saturday
was a review of the dispatches of the
preceding few weeks. telling how Cen
eral DeWet was about to be rounded up
by strong British columns, which had
him penned in between swollen rivers.
ted to this information were short and
barren of details; but they were evil
IDENTIFY intended to leave no doubt as
to the swiftly approaching end Of the
elusive Boer guerrilla"
accordance with intimations. Satur-
days dispatches denoted active opera
tions in the vicinity Of Pretoria, and
on Sunday came the news not Of the
winding up of DeWet; but of the cap
ture by 200 Beers of four companies Of
the Fighting" Northumberland Fusil-
iers, consisting of about 600 of the fin
est British soldiers in South Africa.
The dispatches do not tell just how the
thing was done; but from the details
as given, it appears that General
Clements had gone out with a strong
force to meet some 1900 Beers. He
found what he supposed was his game
on top of high hill and sent five COM
panies up to take them prisoners.
While the five companies were going
up the hill, thousand Beers attacked
Clements camp from the rear and kept
the main force busy. -Four companies
of Northumberlands got to the top of
the hill all right; but the fifth COM
pany did not go. Before it reached the
top it saw that the companies which
had gone before were not coming back
and it decided that while it was out it
had better remain out.
In the meantime, the 1000 Beers who
made it so warm that the general de-
cided to move back in the direction Of
Pretoria. He went in a considerable
hurry; carrying with him most Of his
men and leaving the Beers all the bag
gage and ammunition he could not de-
stroy. Just how much the Beers cap
tured is not stated; but it was proba-
bly, a pretty good lot, because the
British were rather too much occupied
with getting away to waste a great
deal Of time burning and blowing up
the wagons.
Along with the same dispatches from
which this information is CLEANED, are
other dispatches conveying a vague
idea Of some uncomfortable little Incl
dents tnat may have happened to De-
Wet at another scene Of operations not
great distance away. 1t was stated
that the British got a 15-pounder seve-
raj wagons and about 20 prisoners; but
as yet it is not clear whether it was real
ly DeWet who suffered, or whether, as Il
matter of fact, it was not DeWet who
scooped in the Northumberland as re-
lated above.
The incidents just related occurred
on December IA, exactly one year after
the terrible drubbing that the Beers
gave General Butler at Colenso, and
this fact is making England, which
had just begun to congratulate herself
on the fact that the war had been re-
duced to guerrilla proportions, feel
bluer than ever. A member OF parl1a-
ment said in the house Of common last
Saturday, speaking of the incident:
"This is one of the most severe reverses
suffered by the British, and it is quite
evident that the war will drag on for
many months to come. DeWet is. MAX
ing England the laughing stock Of the
world. We have 100000 men in the field,
yet we are unable to protect ourselves
from disaster at the hands Of small
commanders drawn from a pastoral
population"
When President Kruger heard the
news in Holland, he was very much
pleased, and remarked that such vic
tory on the anniversary Of Colenso
was an excellent augury for the Beers.
The old fellow has not given up the
contest as hopeless yet by great deal;
but he has only small encouragement
to believe that any Of the European
powers will come to his aid.
MERE-MENTI0N.