The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-02-16
CRoNJE IS CRAFTY.
It Is Not Believed That He Was
Taken by Surprise.

New York, Feb ia dispatch to the
Tribune from LoudOn says.
The details of Lord Roberts tnrning
movement are not understood by mill
tary writers with precision owing to
the impracticability of Identifying the
drifts and villages mentioned in the Of
fetal dispatches with the fording pla ces
and settlements shown on the maps of
the intelligence department. But thera
is a general agreement upon the tacti-
cal effect of the whole operation. Gen.
Cronje will either abandon the siege of
Kimberley and retreat by the only road
left open to him, or his position will be
encircled by a superior force which will
cut off his supplies and compel him to
fight under conditions more favora Bile
for the British than those of Magers-
fontein. Military writers unite i'll prais
ing Lord Roberts strategy as the best
work displayed on the British side dur
ing the war, but they are not sufficient
ly on their guard against undertaking
Cronje'S defensive resources and practi-
cal sagacity. He cannot have been
President Steyn, from political reasons,
may have forced him to send a portion
of his force to Colesberg against his
will He is a resourceful general, whom
many of the best informed South Afri-
cans consider superior to Joubert in
craft and subtlety.
The general impression that Kimber-
ley is near the end of its resources, that
Gen. ROBERTS CONSIDERS II an urgent
duty to relieve the garrison and town
with the least possible delay, is proba-
bly, inaccurate. A high authority in the
war office, when asked whether Cecil
Rhodes and Col. Kekewich We're eating
their horses, has assured me that no
apprehension was entertained respect
ing the power of Kimberley to hold out
Indefinitely.
Il wish 1 could say the same of La
dysmith. he added, graveIy.
n T,Or g n nf
MOdder river as the center of concen-
tratiOn and operations was neither the
desperate condition of the Kimberley
garrison nor political pressure for the
deliverance of Rhodes. There were
sound military reasons for Gen. Rob-
ertS' course. Gen. Methuen'S army
could not be massed with the Sixth and
Seventh divisions without raising the
siege of Kimberley and the railway, un-
der guard from Orange to Modder river,
was a convenient line of supplies from
his base for an advance toward Bloem-
fontein without the delay which would
have been inevitable if the Colesberg
and Stormberg districts had been clear
ed. The Dutch were anxious to have
Gen. Roberts conduct his camDaign in
these mountainous districts, but he has
not consulted their preferences.
One result of the sudden revelation of
a great army corps of so, 600 men of all
arms marching toward Kimberley with
remarkable mobility and perfection of
organization has been the diminution of
public interest in the opera tiOns in 9TH
er portions of the field. A clear perspec-
tive view has been obtained after a long
period of darkness ana rog, and Natal
Stormberg and Rensburg are now seen
In reduced proportions, with the march
of Roberts army as the one great fact
of the situation.
For this reason there has been a
shrinkage of news from all other sour
ces. Natal has fallen into the back
ii - III
of Ladysmith by long detailed accounts
published this morning of the expert
ences Of the garrison when they were
witnessing Gen. Buffers s. show fight.