Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1900-05-29
ERE latest utterances of two

SIlG ldteSt auCCerdNCeS OF Two
prominent men, one on either
side of the Boer- British contro-
versy, would seem to indicate
khat the spirit Of neither is crushed,
and that the war will be pursued to the
bitter end Says President Steyn of the
Orange Free State: I'VE will fight at
Ehe Vaal river, at Pretoria and after
ward in the mountains. We have moth
ang to gain from peace-everything by
lighting
Safe within the guarded confines of
The tight little island" thousands of
miles distant from the roar of battle
and the din of conflict, England's pre-
mler, Lord Salisbury, Oracularly deliy-
ers himself as follows: Under the bril-
lant guidance of Lord Roberts 100000
soldlers-a larger army than has ever
before been sent across the same ex-
panse OF sea-are now engaged in re-
uucing to obediency to the queen those
territories which never ought to have
neen released and in restoring to South
africa the only chance it has Of peace.
development and tranquility"
There is little doubt that these two
voice the sentiments of either side.
There is as yet no holding out of the
olive branch, and if any one thing could
more enrage the sturdy Beers than an
other 1T is to be informed that they are
70 De reduced to obediency to the
queen" which is only another way Of
saving that they will be expected to
contribute toward supporting the royal
1amily OF Great Britain. 1t was Just
because these Beers would not consent
80 become the slavish and servile adu-
iators OF royal puppets and refused
opedlency to a foreign sovereign that
tney trekked" out from the Cape, and
tnen again far beyond the veldt and
INTO the mountains, where their capital
is now situated
But 1T is one thing for Lord Salisbury
70 declare what his intentions are and
quite another to force the Beers TO
terms. 1t is nov seven months since
war was declared and Generals Gatacre
and Butler landed in Africa, with their
baggage marked Pretoria, via the
z Cape" seven long months since the
Warcry was raised-"On to Pictorial
and what has been accomplished?
AT the very outset the British were
taken by surprise and the bodies of
troops they had at different points ready
TOT invasion of the Transvaal instead of
q spelns allowed to march forth to ravage
ana conquer found themselves, much to
Il tnelr disgust, surrounded by over
sWheimlng forces of the enemy Then
* ensued that long period of humiliation
10 which the British We're forced, when
one after another their abIest generals
walked meekly into the little traps the
boers had prepared and were brought
to standstill.
me trst engagement Of the war was
az az. Mafeking Oct. Is, 1899, when the
& Brltlsh We're driven behind their in I
Irenchments. General Yule was forced
20 seek refuge in Ladysmith, his men
almost naked and demoralized, and
there his superior, General White, after
several disastrous engagements with
me enemy, withdrew within his forti-
ncatlons and endured for months the
siege that has passed into history.
meanwhile three large expeditions had
landed in Africa and were sent forward
one to relieve Kimberley, another to in
wade the Free State and another for the
relief of Ladysmith. The first, under
General Lord Methuen, had. not .,ad-
vanced more than two days from its