Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-25
B0ER WAR ENDED
BRITISH CONTROL ALL AVENUES
INTO THE COUNTRY.
PORTUGUEsEDISARM REFUGEES
Rifles and Guns Hidden in Mountains
For Future TroupIe-Pollce
Work For Years.

New York. Sept. ga dispatch to the
Tribune from London says: The Duke
of Devonshire has replied to the chal
lenge from Dalmeney. ana Messrs. Bal
four and Chamberlain. the Earl kimber-
lev ana scores of ~canvassers have been
speaking within twenty-four hours. But
Lord Rosebery's letters have impaired
the chief impulse to the liberal canvass,
while Lord Roberts has done the most
effective work Tor the unionists. He has
fully confirmed the earlier reports of the
occupation of Komatipoort by the Brit
ish army and the appearance of the Boer
commanders in Portuguese territory
after a few rifle shots had been fired.
The guards brigade. which has held the
post of honor throughout the campaign.
led the way into Komatipoort, the final
objective point of Lord Roberts strategy.
That brigade has marched in the course
of the year from Deaar to MaSersfon-
tein under Methuen and to Bloemfontein
and Pretoria and the frontier under ftob-
erts, and it now stands guard over the
back door of the neutral base through
which the Dutch received their arms
and supplies. The war has ended with
the destruction of guns and ammunition
on the edge of the frontier and with
the disarning of the efugees by the
Portuguese officials. Every mile of road
in the two Dutch states is now under
British rule. and every important town
has been garrisOned. Lord Roberts has
finished his work and can return to
England. after proclaiming a state of
peace in which the belligerents will be
liable to punishment as out
laws and murderers.
The Delagoa Bay railway will now be-
come an instrument of peace. 1t is NOM
inally owned by a Holland
b1,t hoe >irt,a1lv haHn tha nrnTprtv If
the Transvaal government. The Hol.
land directors could not prevent the con-
tiscation of this line by the British, who
will put it into working order for sup
plying the army of occupation.
The Neutral base, without which the
Beers could not have armed themselves
and kept up a years campaign, is con-
verified by the completion of Lord Rob-
ertS' campaign into a center of COM
merce with the victorious army and min
ing camps which are behind it. The
Boer refugees are disarmed and wen i'm
prisoned, and the merchants of Delagoa
Bay are settling down at nee for a
period of brisk trade with Pretoria and
johannesburg The railway bridge at
kooma tipoort has been saved, probably
through the good Offices of the Portu-
guese. and raiders who interfere with
the prompt resumption of business all
along the line will have no friends in
Delagoa Bay. The entire influence of
this element will now be set against the
depredations Of train wreckers and row
ing guerrilla bands.
Methuen has captured large droves of
cattle and sheep. Paget has broken up
the camp of Erasmus commando and
other commanders are picking UP Wag-
ons. ammunition, horses and livestock
and here and there squads Of famished
and desperate burghers. These are the
closing episodes of a campaign which
had cost more in blood and treasure than
any WAY Of the queens reign, and the
uni0nis party parades it with large
headlines for political effect.
Favorable as are the dispatches from
KonlatipOort. there ere croakers in the
military clubs who forecast a long period
OF b~rigandage and plumber in the con-
quered territory and assert hat British
commanders will find the last stage Of
Dutch resistance more difficult to deal
with than guerrilla warfare, encountered
with its trains, wagons and droves of
cattle and sheep. They assume that the
thorough d~isarming of the Beers will
require years of systematic surveillance,
since guns, rifles and ammunition have
been sOwn like dragons teeth among the
Fopies and mountain Businesses. Police
work of this kind will. however. cease
to be dignified as warfare, and will pass
without observation.