The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1900-12-26
ARTHUR ROPES. General Editor
The War in South Africa .

southern. In South Africa the war
that prophecy foretold would be short,
sharp and decisive of the fate OF the
Beers has dragged through summer
and a winter and is now in the second
midsummer. The Orange Free State
has been overrun by the British, but
large part of the soil of the Transvaal
is still untouched by the foot of the in
vader. A war that was to end in the
speedy triumph of the aggressor is still
vigorously waged by the defenders of
their country, and is still straining to
the utmost the military strength OF
England.
Retrospective criticism finds errors in
the early management of the older
Boer leaders, particularly in conform
ing their methods to the ways of regu-
lar warfare. The surrender of Cronje,
the death of Joubert and the fall of Pre-
toria, brought younger and more ad
venturous men to the leadership of the
broken bands of burgher warriors, and
the recent successes of Botha and
DeWet, pursuing different methods,
are cited in confirmation of the criti-
cism. In defense of the policy OF the
old leaders il is maintained that show
of moderation would win the sympathy
of the powers of Europe and dispose
England to grant them generous terms.
Time and events have dispelled illu-
sions and brought stern enlightment.
The New York Sur, usually well
informed, impartial in its opinions and
utterances on foreign affairs, thus
writes of present conditions in South
Africa:
The conditions under which the war
is being carried on will be rendered
tenfold more trying for the British
troops by the summer heats of the next
four months. Already stories are COM
ing from South Africa of the democrat
izing effect on the British regulars of
the apparently endless character of the
warfare in which they are engaged.
Incessantly on the move, sleepless
nights, harassing pursuits of an enemy
who refuses to stand and fight, with in
creasing difficulty attending the trans
port and distribution of necessary ra-
tons, are said to be telling on their
discipline. On the Boer side, on the
other hand, there is nothing to cause
the fighting men to desire to quit the
field. The families of most of them
are in the power of the enemy and
their homesteads are destroyed and
property looted. For themselves, if
they surrender, there is the prospect of
prison pens at st. Helena or Ceylon.
They are native to the climate, and
their perfect knowledge of the country
is an element in the mobility which
enables them to harass their enemy,
necessarily encountered with provision
trains which he dare not leave.
Official returns of the losses of trans
port cattle, mules and horses since the
beginning of the war show that over
half million animals have persisted
either in battle or from exposure and
overwork. The casualties among the
british troops, that is to say, men aud
officers killed in battle, dead of disease,
or permanently rendered unfit for SER
vice, now mount up to AZ 900, and the
will continue to grow so long as the
Beers can keep commando in the
field.
What the limit of their ability to
fight is, there is no direct means OF
knowing, the ordinary communications
with South Africa being altogether
under British control. OF their de-
termination to resist to the end of their
power, however, there appears to be
no doubt.
In the British Parliament, Pitt, Fox
and Burke, who championed the cause
of the American colonies, in speeches
which American school boys are still
rehearsing, have left no successors.
Occasionally the voice Of Morley or a
British commoner is raised in protest
against this unrighteous war, or in ia
vor of generous terms to the PROSTATE
farmer, but there is not found the in
domitable spirit or heard the defiant
voice that Numbered in the thrice ia
miliar declaration of Pitt, eff were ar
American, as / am an Englishman
while single foreign troop remained
on my native shore would never lay
down my arms-neUer, NEVER, NEW
ERR" Instead, there is the sullen dog
gedness of the souless Chamberlain
and the stubborn will of the cold ant
phlegmatic Salisbury, converting thu
war, proclaimed for the protection o
the rights of Englishmen in the Trans
vaal-the purpose or intent of conques
being loudly disavowed-into sordi
contest of merciless subjugation, TIA
utter extinction of the last vestige O
Boer independence or territorial pos
sessions.
The Canal and the Treaty,