The age-herald., 1900-01-13
GEN. BULLER.s TASK
Its Terrible Difficulties Pointed eut by 8
 General of Our Civil War
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
 To the Editor of the sun-Slr: Prophecy Is always unsafe-propheey in military mat ters-as well as others. It is we'll to keep in mind the maxim. "Never prophecy until you're certain" It is quite possible that before this can reach you the question of General Buffers plan of campaign and his success or failure may have become his tory. The problem before him is to relieve the garrison of Ladysmrth. He is now, January 6, at chieveley, twelve miles south of Lady6mfth, with the Tngela river-now said to be at fiood-ln his front.
 The Boer position extends along the ride or chain of hills parallel with the north bank of the river from Springfield, above the forks of Little Tugela on the west QefD, to the wagon bridge on the Weenen road on the east (rfghD, distance of more than sixteen miles. The Boers have had more than two months in which to intrench this position. They have it connected by rail-earried around Ladysmith-directly with the Transvaal their base of supplies. That they are not without engineering ability the British have learned to their sorrow at Magersfontein and at Colenso. They are on ground with which they are thoroughly familiar. The bridges not al ready destroyed are doubtless mined, ready to be blown up by electric contact at the proper moment. The bridges must be counted out. The drifts or lords are few and far between and difficult at the best. It is alleged that they are obstructed with barbed- wire entanglements, which will make the passage under heavy fire prac- tically impossible Besides, it may be counted on as morally certain that every ford is commanded by rapid-fire and ma chine guns and concentrjc rife fire, which would approximately annihilate any col umn that might attempt to cross against such obstacles.
 In this war the character of the Boers is to be taken into the account. They are of the sturdiest stock that history records. They are the children of heroic race. They are not easily stampeded Their fathers fought the warlike Kaff1rs and Zu- Jus, sometimes fifty to one-eyen at greater odds-and behind their wagon kraals beat them off They are little nation of marks men. They thoroughly appreciate the diff ference between accurately aimed and un- aimed fire They shoot to hit. They do not waste lead. They are all horsemen. Their handy little horses, ready saddled, wait behind the hills back of the Tugela to carry the commandos in the least possi- ble time to the threatened point. They move under cover, while their antagonists must come out into the open.
 Thus far the Boer artillery has shown itself equal to that of the British or super for to it in power, and nearly or quite equal in accuracy. According to all accounts, they are we'll equipped with Maxim ma- chine guns and Maxim Nordenfelt quick fires. The Maxim automatic gun (rfe call ibre) is good for 600 shots per minute, while the 11A-inch Maxim (37 millimetre) is good fer 25O shots per minute. The Boer sharp shooters-they are all shorpshooters-are armed with the breech-loading magazine Mauser or Martini, equal in all respects to the British arms. With these rifles the cool-neaded Boers can send at least ten well-aimed shots into the enemy in min ute so long as the cartridge belt holds out
 Talk about the British bayonet," "eold steel" etc. Before the fire of such line of sharpshooters and machine guns the bravest column of troops that eyer marched would be piled in windrows, as were the dervishes of the Kalifa at Om- durman.
 Mir Julian Ralph declared that at Mod der river the British line did not advance a yard after they came under the "helish fire' of the Boer rifle pits. At Mafeking, on the day after Christmas, Col. Baden Powell attempted to rush" little work at Game Tree, but nothing could stand be fore the deadly fire. The bloody repulse at Colenso hardly need be mentioned.
 I beg to repeat what I have said in sulo- stance in former communication, t11at charging intrenched positions manned by cool-headed and careful-aiming troops, supported by machine and rapid-fre guns and modern breech-loading artillery, is bb- solete-it is one of the lost arts. In the civil war, with the muzzle-loading Spring field we regarded three to four hundred yards as the maximum charging distance against an intrenohed line. But with the Mauser and the Maxim the zone of fire is extended to 900 or 1000 yards. Within that fiery zone vaor does not count
 Unless General Butler has longer range artillery than the Boers (which he does not seem to have)' and has ample pontoon trains for laying bridges and sufficient wa gon transportation to enable him to cut loose from the railroad, so that by wide- turning movement he can compel the Boers to leave their intrenched position along the Tugela, the relief of Badysmith will, in the words of Lord Methuen at Modder River, prove ''the bloodlest battle of the century,"
 Grand Rapids, Mich, January 6. B.MC.
 JOHN AND JESS
 From the Centreville Press.