The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1900-02-22
THU II BRITISH LOSSES
In Latest Fighting May Equal
the Losses at Colenso.
ROBERTS MEAGER DISPATCHES.


ccsses the Boer Report 1hat Cronjs
Has Beaten the Britons to a stand
sim Is Credited In London.
London, Feb. 22.--Lord Roberts list
of 40 killed and wounded officers, in
Guiding Generals Macdonald and Knox,
in the engagements up to Sunday even
ing, causes anxiety, especially as in the
officers list neither the losses Of the
| Welsh and Essex regiments nor those
of the mounted infantry are included
This Is about the number that fell at
Colenso, where the non-commissioned
officers and men brought the total
losses to 800.
1t Is considered strange that when
sending his casualties Lord Roberts
gives no information as to the result
of the fighting. II he has sent such a
report the war Office is Withholding it.
Moreover. nothing is known as to
what took place Monday, Tuesday and
| Wednesday. This absence Of details
from Lord Roberts dispatch, contrast
ed with his rather full narratives dur
ing the first part of his operations,
produces uneasiness among military
observers. All the comment in the
morning newspapers, both editorial
and critical, is threaded with the dis
turbng suggestion that, despite hard
fighting, General Cronje has been able
to beat off his pursuers, has escaped
and is being reinforced by rail from
Ladysmith and by forces on foot and
horseback from northern Cape Colony,
as well as the late beleaguers Of Kim
berley.
The Daily Mail prints the following
dispatch from Mafeking, dated Feb. 20:
The houses in the women's lager are
riddled with bullets, Notwithstanding
the Boer promises. A woman who was
standing with sucking child was
shot through the breast, while among
400 women and children. An explo-
sive "a FOUNDER sheet burst in the
lager, piece fixing itself in the spine
of 9-year-old boy. The explosive
used causes blood poisoning and he
fingered several days in agony.
AS the correspondents with Lord
Roberts are silent the kilograms from
Boer sources receive some countenance.
The latter aver that General Cronje,
while the British were endeavoring to
surround him between Paardeberg and
Koodoosrand, received achievements
under Dewet, and that together the
Boer commanders fought the British
to standstill. General Dewet claims
to have captured, in an attack upon the
rear guard of General French's col
umn, 1870 wagons of provisions. and
ammunition, $500 oxen and IS men.
According to Cape Town dispatch
special correspondent of the Cape
Argus telegraphs that paper that Gen
eral Cronje is surrounded at Paarde-
berg Drift, but is offering a stubborn
resistance. The British are Smelling
the Beers vigorously, and expect to
capture the whole force"
However, all this may be, public
opinion here will not be treasured I'M
til the war Office issues explicit state
ments Of successes, which of course
would clear away the gathering doubts
respecting the uninterrupted success
of Lord Roberts forward movement.
No one doubts his ultimate success,
but there is fear of temporary disap-
pointment and that lot of hard fight
ing is yet ahead of the British.
The latest report regarding General
Butler was that an agent of the De
Beers company had received a cable
gram from Cape Town, which must
have passed the censor. to the effect
thsf General Barton's fusilier brigade
had reached the hills commanding
Ladysmith. Quite apart from this,
however, and from every other rumor,
the early relief of the beleaguered gar
risOn is thought inevitable.
The Cape Town correspondent of
The Daily News says
1T Is of the very gravest Importance
that the British should not be carried
away by recent successes into a belief
that the war Is practically over. Moth
ing could be more fatal to a satisfac-
tory prosecution of the war, and above
all to satisfactory settlement of the
whole country after the war, than any
relaxation Of military activity, any
stoppage of achievements, any tenn
porizing or bargaining with the Free
State or the Transvaal through mis-
taken ideas of magnanimity toward an
assumedly beaten foe.
"The highest authorities and the
soundest opinion here say that the
war has really only just begun in
earnest. Indeed they say that the real
struggle will only begin when the
present military operations end.
81 have the best reasons for assert
ing that an attempt is likely to be
made by Boer supporters in the COL
ony to force easy terms for the Free
Staters, now or soon, by holding out a
threat Of Dutch rising in the colony.
ANY idea of leaving the Free State
It's independence would be fatal to
British interests. The British people
must not deceive themselves into
thinking that 1t is now only walk
over. They have a most dangerously
subtle and powerful foe to deal with
in more ways than it would be polite
to discuss publicly.
"There should be no hating in send
ing out troops. A quarter of a million
of British troops will be none too
many. The more we have and the
sooner they are here the quicker will
be the end of the war;"