The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-06-09
LULL IN THE BOER WAR

London. June I. ABS a. MILITARY
operations in South Africa are appar-
emily at standstill For day or two
the tired troops of Lord Roberts are
resting, and he is filling the magazines
and warehouses at his new base, Pre-
toria, preparatory to a long chase after
the retiring Beers in the direction of
Lydenburg. His cavalry are probably
seeking to intercept Commandant Cen
eral Botha.
1t appears evident that the Boer
commander-in-ch chief, General Botha,
with all his guns. withdrew in good
order, probably along the Delagoa BAY
railroad, with the view of joining Pres
ident Kruger. So the Jransvaal forces
remain practically intact, with Presi-
dents Kruger and Steyn, and General
BOtha and Secretary of State Reitz all
safe and in a position to continue the
direction of affairs. The more optimistic
see in the fact that President Kruger's
wife and General Botha's wife were
left at Pretoria an indication that the
president does not count on long re-
sistance. In any case, it will probably
take Lord Roberts at least a week to
organize a campaign of pursuit
The military authorities anticipate
that the next important news will come
from General Buffers direction. Plenty
of time has elapsed to complete the
turning move at Laing's Mex.
A special dispatch from Lourenzo
Marquee, dated Tuesday. Junt 3, says:
General Butler and Christian Botha
met at Laing's Mex, at Buffers request,
when a three days armistice was
agreed upon
The dispatch adds that the British
have evacuated Utrecht.
A belated dispatch from Mafeking,
dated Nav 81, announces the British
occupation of Malmania, where 200
Beers surrendered.
Some dispatches are at hand which
left Pretoria Monday. while the fight
ing was going on outside the city. They
come by way of LOurenzO MARQUEE. One
of them says:
Toward the end of the day. when
the British naval guns were Smelling
the southern forts, number of pro-
jectiles burst damaging the suburbs.
All day armed burghers have been
leaving Pretoria, going east. The
greater part of the railway rolling stock
has been removed.
General Botha was fighting an es-
sential rear guard action, his object be-
ing not to defend Pretoria, but to delay
had been cleared and the main part of
the Boer army had started to with
draw. The British advance appears to
have left open to the Beers the best
line of retreat along the railway"
Possibly Lord Roberts was able to
cut the railway before full retirement
was effected. That Pretoria would be
defended was apparently given out
after the council of war, with a view
of misleading the British.
Lydenburg, the district to which the
provisions originally destined for Pre-
toria have been diverted, and where a
cartridge factory has been erected and
where reserve supplies of all sorts are
stored. is a volcanic region of fertile
valleys, enclosed by great ramparts of
precipitouS rocks, penetrated by mar
of cattle in the valleys, and there is
much native labor available for fortify-
ing.
Probably the most important Boer
army is at Laings Mex. where both
sides are passive. General Rumble and
General Brabant have withdrawn a
little southwark
General Baden-Powell has extended
martial law to the Marco and North
Lichtenburg districts Shots were ex-
changed between Boer and British pa
trolls eighteen miles east of Mafeking
on May 90. Part of the forces lately at
Pretoria are reported to have gone
westward to meet Baden-Powell and
to make show of holding the country
through which he and General Hunter
are moving.
A dispatch to the Daily Telegraph
from Newcastle, dated Tuesday, de-
seribed the Beers there as an unor
ganized rabble, without flo ur, meat or
sugar Their surrender is only ques-
ton of time. Nevertheless, the cores
pendent AYERS they hold strong posi-
tions, with a prospect of a safe retreat
towards Lydenburg.
1t is understood at Newcastle that
the British government has ap-
preached the Natal government with a
proposition that Natal shall voluntari-
ly renounce local government for
a time in order that a good system of
crown government may be instituted
for all South Africa. leading in the
course of time to federation and the
subsequent autonomy of the various
states simultaneously.
Lorenzo Marques correspondents