The National tribune., 1900-03-08
BRITISH VICTORIES.
Ladysniitil Relieyed-Vigorous
Prosecution OF the War to
Continue by the British.

The people Of England have been in
state of mbiIation for several Gays a
t a result of the surrender of CronD. a
, announced III our last issue. and the rC
lief of i.adysmith. Cronh SURRENDERED o.
Tuesday and Buffers advance cutarc
Eadysmith on Feb. IS. British impas5iyc
ness gave way before feelings of great r.
lief ut three victories in quick succession
and various popular demonstrations tooi
place.
With the receipt oc til" news of the relic
of Kimberley auI the surrender OF Croujn ;.
army England Was uumoyed so faras an5
outward manifestation of fe,Ii8g went
This was not IL" thing on which the hear
of the Nation was sgt. Those bloody d.
fcat5 in Natal, disaster Succ4at'ing disaster
have wounded British pride as it Dayci
suffered LefoTc in this gciicrItiou. and tn
| dearest wish of every Engli5hmau fJ
weeks past has bcen to retrieve the British
fortunes and rc5cue Gen. Whites army
But when The seeming miracle Of the re!iet
of the nearly 1000 mrn who had been
shu. up 50 long was accomplished, fierc1
and reckless Joy took possession of tn,
Bri tish public. Those who have cleal
memory Of London after t'le Crimcan vic
to les SLY thcra WAS nothing like it then.
Early ia thn day all London hung out
| flags or thr national CJlDr5 in one form OT
| another. JOY b. lis rang from all the churc,i
towers, cannon Wcre fired aboard ships aad
| at the arsau@ls, and all the street bands
| played God Sav" tho Queen" and "Ruic
! Britannia" At dusk many private houses
| were illuminated BII5 I'll this vas in3ufii-
cieut. II was no escape valve for the trc-
mendouss tension in every mans breast. B!
common impulse. all London rushed into
the street 10 parGGr and shout, and Iuig-
ing from reports from other English cities
all England took up the demonstration.
BULLER RELIEVES LADYsMITH.
Tl.e first intmation Of vital change
in the LadySmjth situation was received
on March l. when Butler cabled under
Gen. DGndonald. with the Natal Car
bineers and u composite regiment. en-
tered L1hy5m' tn last night. ? The country
between me and Ladysmith Isl reported
clear Of the enemy. | am moving on Mel
thorpe. 49, .'.--...
The f5llowing is the text of Gen Buffers
second dispatch. dated AT Neithorpe. March
L:
Il have Just returned from Laly5mith
Except a small guard, north of Surprise
Hill, the whole Of the enemy lately be
seging the town have retired IN hot haste.
and to the south OF the town the country is
quite clear Of them. The garrison were on
half pound of meal a man per day and
Supplementing the meat ration by horses
and mules. The men will want a little
nursing before being fit for the field"
1t viii be remembered that the siege be-
gan with the isolation of the Natal town on
Nov. 2. four months ago Attack and
bom5ardment by the Beers were followed
at first by sorties of the troops under Gen.
White, but, as the weather became Intense
ly hot late iii December and many cases
Of fever developed within the town. the
messages transmitted by heliograph to the
relief column became less hopeful After
Jan. !, however Gen. White rcpulsed the
Beers at all points in a general assault on
I4adysmith.
the earlier attempts of Butler to relieve
LadySmith and failures are matter of
history. Gen. ROberts's counter-demon-
StratiOn caused a withdrawal Of some of
the BOers around Ladysmith. Feb. Is
whsh Butler. having resumed operations
in the direction % Colenso, began his
first successful movement s'~ '.'''s'F
In the following days the British troops
continued to move forward. capturing the
hills east OF COlenSo and operating at all
times under heavy fire from the Beers.
Their progress was not interrupted by any
general reverses. The most serious
incidents in the closing days of Buffers
advance was that of the evening when the
Inniskiilng Fusliers, attempting to rush
the BOcr position on Peters Hill, lost IA
out Of Il officers killed and wounded and
about go nOn-cOmms msSiOned officers and
men killed and wounded.
All the correspondents at T.adysmith
with Gen. Butler agree that the engage
ment on Feb. 28 was a notable fight. the
Beers resisting stubbornly. Boer prison.
er5 say they never believed that the British
would attack the intrenchmants on the
hilltopS from which the Irish brigade.
previous to their undaunted assault. had
been repulsed. A majority of the prison.
ers are Hollanfers. Very few OF them
are genuine Beers. They declared that
they had not heard of Commandant Cronje's
surrender. and they refused to believe it.
Their losses We're heavy. The British
lyddte shells caused fearful havoc. Some
of the Bcer wounded We're quite yellow
from the effects OF the lyddite fumes.
The WON N remained i'll the trenches
with the men until within three hours of
the British bayonet charge. Two women
We're found, one dead and the other wounded
The latter died subsequently. She said
that her husband would not let her 20
because she was such good shot. She
was only 10 years old
1T is impossible 10 depict the enthusi-
asm of the beleaguered garrison; cheer
upon cheer ran from post 10 post and staff
officers. civilians. and soldiers fiocked to
greet them. At the ford of the Kip River
women with children in their arms tear
fully pressed forward To grasp the hands
Of the gallant band. Sisters and brothers.
friends and re'ativeS met again. 1t was
the most moving scene L have ever wit
messed"
Since the investment the total casualties
We're: Killed or died of wounds - officers
and 30 men; died of disease. Is officers and
$40 men; wounded, 40 officers and go men,
exclusive Of white civilians and natives"
NO DISCLOSURE OF ROBERTS'S PLANS.
There was some fighting with portions of
a large force of Beers on and after Feb. IS.
concentrated against Roberts. it was re-
ported but details have not been received
Lord Roberts apparently did not propose
10 have his intentions as To future move
mentS published. for after the story of the
of Cronje and Buffers pursuit
of the Beers who retired from Ladysmith
was given to the world. a close censorship
was once more placed over the cables. 4
invasion of the Free State
with BlOemfOntein as its main objective
and of the Transvaai. with Johannesburg
and Pretoria as ObiectiveS, or Il combined
movement on Bloemfontein first. is fore
casted by the military critics. While it is
not 10 be supposed that the English victories
are but mileStones in the course of British
yet they are doubtless great
blows to the Beers. and have greatly
,tr tho icb pp,iti,n IN E,f