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

mon could easily have beat the fires out In ten
minutes, but Il was no special duty Of any
particular officer 10 suppress yeldt fires. 20 they
were left 20 spread wide over the country until
at one time or another every column was $50
lated by the wonton carelessncss OF men be-
longing to It. At vredefort road on the morn
ing Of May rs Gen. Hamllton's entire division
crossed the railway just in front of Lord Rob
ertS's column and moved toward Pary's Drift
on the Vaal River. where Gen. French had
crossed the frontier a day before.
Thus the entire mission round Lindley and
'Hcllbron was utterly f~ruitleSs. PrOClamations
were read. submissions received. officials re-
moved, but all for what purposep The only
active enemy in the whole area was there and
moro active than ever. II l. said that Gen,
Hamilton had, according 10 the plan OF opera
tions. TO be on the banks Of the Naal River
by q certain date. no matter what amount Of
success his eastern march secured, SO much
the worse for the plan, for It merely eliminated
In an empty record Of places occupied md
evacuated by a peaceful crossing Of the Vaal
n day after Gen. French had. with trifing loss,
already invaded the northern republic.
To what cause Is DeWet's easy evasion Of a
big division of picked arms TO be ascrihed2 II
happened nearly three months ago and the ques-
ton il still unanswered. Gen. Hamilton is
80 'A' - NV illbN' VI i''N = y
divisional commanders. and hs cen mand
Is stnl. comparatively speakinE, Ihe envy Of
his colleagues. But 1t proved that in point Of
actual accomplishment this flying column"
was no faster than its slowest wagon. Until
these wagons arrived at the end Of the days
march the men were lying around, dog-tired,
p%assively waiting for the arrival Of the meal
which 1t was somebody else's duty 20 prepare
for them Among the cavalry It was little
different. The prevalent idea Of a hard days
work was to he in the saddle about 3 O'Clock
In the morning and scarcely out 81 II for a min
ute until dark, the saddle Girths scarcely ever
loosened, the entire kit weighing down the
beasts back whether a Boer was within miles
or not. About the third day Of this mode Of
seeking the enemy came the periodical announce
ment that so-and-sos cavalry had stopred
and were waiting for remounts. Until the be-
ginning Of July. at least, this state Of things
had not improved. 1t was SO much more i'm
portant than everything el'o that o ID kitch-
ener was finally sent down TO Kroonstad 10
mount a force Of 5000 or 5000 cavalry, the best
riders on the best horses. He. If anybody,
should make the best of the material he has TO
work upon, although il is known well enough
he has no exalted idea of its quality. II Is a
safe guess TO say that his available mounted
force must already be reduced by nearly a
half If. he has chased DeWet from Kroonstad
to near Rustenburg. and has not oyertaken
him yet.
This radical defect is not TO be accounted
for by ascribing supernatural qualities TO the
Boer. What the burgher almost invariably
knows Is the difference between a tired horse
and a done horse, the way ont Of a position
before he goes intoit a formation in he country
that will enable him 10 see a good deal more
readily than he can be seen, and not to exhaust
his food, water and forage before knowing
whore to get "a fresh supply. And In what do
these qualities differ from the cropping careless
ness which has again and again ended in igno-
miniouS surrenders. explained away by OK
hausted ammunition" taking the wrong
route" or suddenly surrounded by superior
numbers? | am assured II is 4 fact that the
capture Of the Derbyshire Militia early in June
followed on their pitching their tents ut the
bottom Of a hill actually held AT the time 10y
Beers. No British patrols or pickets were
thrown out and the Beers simply made sure Of
their own way of with a certain haul and waited
for dawn 10 make their work easier. Before
the Derbys we're up they had some shot and
we're a beaten force from the start-spread
ont in the 81 on among their baggage below n
useful hillside holding some waEeiul. resOlute
Beers. The stories Of other surrenders n de
tached forces IL scarcely different,
LErTINt THE Beers ESCAPE PROM PEEroHIs.
Having already failed TO secure DE Vets
force concurrently with the first British advance
on the Vaal River, the next de development assured
the escape Of all the other commaudos then
around JohannesburC and Pretoria under
Botha. Dslaray, Grobolaar and Niljoen. French.
Hamilton and Tucker were all thrown on the
west side OF the railwav-over 2oOOO men
10 make the feint attack on the Ulipryersberc
Mountain range, while the headquarters col
umn with Gen. POle-Carew and " ounted
infantry under Coils. Ross and Henry turned
east and seized the railway NJ Elandsfontein
Junction. The safety Of the mines was assured,
but so also was the escape Of the main Boer
force. Certainly the three consecutive columns
which moved up west OF the railway were
never needed for the work that had to be done
there. and il is hard 10 believe that such oppo-
sition rs would have called them all into action
WAS expected. on the other hand, had elthcr
French or Hamilton never been taken
across to the west one OF the other
might have been in Middelburg within two
DAYS OF the infantry entering Pretoria.
which surely should have put a different COM
plexIon on the war many weeks before now. II
n mounted force could not reach Middelburg
soon enough 10 bar the retreat from the capt.
tai of its defenders against the great
forces OF infantry that were there, one would
like To know what the British leaders under
stand BY a mobile force or by cavalry at all.
Lord Roberts himself must certainly have
pondcred these things, and. resist as he may.
the explanation must again and again have
forced itself on him that, with every equipment
of food. ammunition. forage, and horses, he
has not got the sort Of men who can spare and
store their resources so as to be Of striking
Use when. II ever. they got within visible chasing
distance Of their enemy.
By retaining the entire British force for the
advance on Pretoria itself what was effected
On June 3 Botha came down from the north
10 Pretoria and called for volunteers to defend
the town. On June 4 Delarev took out 1900
Boars 10 Six file Spruit, south Of the capital,
and kept more than 20, ooo troops 50 busy all
day that he got every one Of his cannon away,
and his fghtinR men, too, with probably small
loss His adversaries we're too unwieldv TO
overwhelm him; they could only press him back
for a stage and then reRather themselves In
case they should lose sight Of their neighboring
columns and get lost on the veldt.
M%ErHrEN's COSTLY MISTAKES.
Nh, a. ,here So LITTLE damage 10 show for