The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-09-02

cold. Everybody had to 20 through the strict
exercise Of going without. or course there
we're no tents. A soldier carried his baggage
on his back He lived In his clothes day and
night. His one blanket. when soaking wet.
was worse than none at all. over 2O wagons
Of supplies. intended TO meet some Of the re-
auirements Of a siege Of Cronie which was al
ways forseen. we're captured by the Beers The
previous week at Waterfall Drift, outside
Jacobsdal, They could have been res
cued. even retaken. But that would have
disturbed the calculations Of Lord Kitchener
made weeks before at Cape Town. lie would
have a certain number OF men. traversing n
certain number Of converRing routes to reach
a certain place at a certain time. And the loss
OF a few hundred thousand pounds worth of
stun. more or less. wa not going 10 make him
alter his factors in his problem. 1t would seem
that he. like the others. suffers from lack Of
adaptability Yet certainly the achievement
Of enoircling Cronje was his and no Others.
although the enormous resources he required
TO accomplish 1t must detract from It's glory
a. a military achievement. Except the hard
worked Highland Brigade who had only crossed
back from Koodoesberg the previous week
and had forced marches Of over twenty miles
a day on their route TO Paardeberg. all the
other troops were comparatively fresh. How
other than to lack Of individual value as fight
ing men can one ascribs the fact that IL took
nearly 40 90 OF them ten days TO reduce about
5000 Boers who had trekked without a stoppage
from Masersfontein and were finally held up
in a position not Of their own choosing, the
British having all the while an overw helming
preponderance in artillery?
There seems no sense in the artillery forma-
ton in batteries. Why should gunners be
trained in the idea that their battery is to CON
4 oil, 90 a - .,,n. ,,,l,r a N 1x a-I .LaN ,Aa. a.
to be their unit. In the latter part Of the cam
palgn, IL is true, they have been split up into
sections when thought necessary, but not very
often. Yet I have never seen a battle yet
where tina reg ular battery formation seemed
to serve any useful purpose. Good work
recognized "a done by one gun Ia an incentive
to do better and for Others 20 do their best.
but turning a battery loose on a position means
a day OF perfunctory performance. The in
dlvidual gun can accomplish vastly more when
worked by itself than when in battery forma-
ton. Moreover. shrapnel has proved to he
more deadly ammunition than either common
shells or high explosives of the Iyddlte class.
The last named must he very destructive
among masonry or rocks. The Beers know
this and do not remain in house-built places
to be besieged or among masonry and rocks TO
afford object lessons in the terrible power Of
1 ~ nv iH h'''AA' - = HlblN
officers. who call the Beers damned skulking
fellows" or at least very unconsiderate for not
conforming TO the STAFF college examination
text books,
THE TALK or WHITE FLAG T~REACHERY."
II is a custom to talk Of "treachery" when
minor disasters are reported 4 mounted
party goes out-frequently with proclamations
asking farmers to disarm and promising pro-
ta,tI,p II raturpe urifb gpt,a man -b1ft poagi-
bly, 1t does not return. In either case abuse Of
the white nag" is the stock explanation. Doubt
less IT has been ignored, whether deliberately
abused or not | cannot say. And II generally
comes to be ignored In this way. A proclama-
ton party goes its rounds and gets a certain
number 81 submissions. Protection, Of course
il promised; II is not afforded, although the
farmer on parting with his arms hoiSts a white
raG on his house, thinking II a protection. 4
Bocr patrol comes down, finds a burgher who
has given up his arms 20 the English. The
patrol says oh. you are a hurgher who have
deserted and given the enemy your arms.
Come along with US. You will have to be tried -
lie is dcported and his farm is left deserted.
Possibly a British patrol encounters the Beers
removing their prisoner. There Is a fight. the
luckleSS white flag hanging helplessly near by.
l. that an abuse Of the white flag, or il the
white fag only 10 be used properly In rendering
a surrender while actually engaged In fighting?
II il not altogether a simple question TO answer.
I am certain that the white flag business alto
gether should be cut down by nine-tenths.
An individual or group wishes to surrender
and up goes the white flag, Many ~ their
comrades be they either British or Beers
mean to fight on. Yet IL the white flag i to be
properly respected. all firing should cease
within the zone In which 1t Is shown. probably
| for a mile around. We do not hear ~ actual
commanding officers showing the white flag,
and who other is entitled TO authorize II or
have it respected over an area which will in
sur- that no one will be shot who has shown
himself or allowed himself to be approached
on account Of IL? There Is a striking ~illustrs-
ton ~ the readiness TO believe the cry Of white
flag treachery' in a nascO known as the Crabbe
reconnOis qnce AZ Bishops Glen, about twelve
miles north OF Bloemfontein last April The
parties concerned were Col, Crabbe Of the
Grenadier Guards. Col. Codrington of the
Coldstream Guards and Lieuts. Trotter and
Lyon, aides to their respective Colonies. The
news came that all four had been treacherously
shot by the Beers. As a matter Of fact Lyon
was killed. Trotter had his arm badly shot and
| amputated, Crabbe and Codrington were
wounded, But how did II happen? Col.
| Crabbe wished TO 60 buck shooting; Col. Cod
rlngton was willing. and the two juniors simply
had TO 60. They were not successful in sport,
but Col, Crabbe saw some horsemen in the di--
lance. He called out: Why Here are some
Beers! Let's round them up" Two Of them
had sporting rifles. the others revolvers, Thus
equipped they proceeded to round IN a dozen
mounted Johannesburg police. They pur-
sued to a kopic, where the Beers dismounted
and turned upon their pursuers with the result
I have mentioned, They laid the dead officer
out at a farmhouse. dressed the wounded
officers and sent a message to Bloemfontein
telling what happened and advising British
surgeons to come out. The shooting was
nowhere near a white flag, and there was no
treachery whatever.
Take another white flag case. When Gen.
Pole-Carew marched his division from Bloem-
fontein 10 Dewetsdorp in April he burned a
farmhouse belonging 10 a Free State burgher
named Richter. II was a punishment for a
white flag outrage" A British officer had
been killed near the house. It ia true that the
farmer himself. an old man, was met some
miles away on the road But he was said to be-
a party'to The shooting Of the officer. The house
stood under the shelter Of a hillside. and
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