Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930, 1900-06-21
WARS NEW ASPECT.
kRuGER'S FORCES ARE NOT YET
CONQUERED.
South African Struggle Has Entered
Upon a Stage Which PerpIexes the
British-Roberts Attacks BOtha, but
Fails to Whip Him.

Interest in the Transvaal war has Deen
greatly increased by the surprising turn
events have taken since Lord KoDertS
entered Pretoria, remarks the Chicago
News in reviewing the South African sit
uation. The day after that event, whlch
was generally accepted in Europe and IN
America as heralding the close OF the
struggle, Lord Roberts line Of communl-
cation was cut at RoOdeval and the mill
tia battalion of the Derbyshire regiment
guarding the railway was compelled AFTER
heavy loss to surrender. This wiping out
of battalion and the news that Lord
MethueIr was engaged in fierce hghtlng
near HeilbrOn ut once gave new aspect
to the war. 1t was perceived that lhe
taking of Bloemfontein and Johannes
burg and Pretoria were incidents, not
crises, to the mobile forces of the Beers,
and that in turn they were applying
Lord Roberts tactics to himself. Whether
this rear attack and severing of the line
of communication by destruction of the
railway for twenty miles will have the
result of compelling Lord Roberts to
retrograde movement remains to be seen.
The later reports that BiOemfontein had
been retaken by the Beers and that De-
wet at the head of $4,000 men was
marching against johannesburg lack con-
firmatiOn.
Gen. KelIy-Kenny has in part retrieved
the disaster at ROodeval by defeating the
force of burghers who cut the British Ene
of communications, but the fact remains
that the war has entered upon a new
and perplexing stage to the British. This
new phase cannot properly be called guer-
rilla warfare any more than the move
ments of the American forces after the
British capture of Washington in 1914
could be so called. In each case the fight
ing forces remained intact-the scene
only of the conflict was changed.
In the case of the Transvaal it is evi'
dent that British occupation of Pretoria
and BloemfOntein will be precarious I'M
til the main body of the Beers has been
met and defeated in battle. That would,
probably, not be a difficult thing for the
British to accomplish with their enor-
mously superior forces, but the tactics
of the Beers are wisely to prevent such
a pitched battle. By breaking up into
comparatively small but effective detach-
ments and striking swiftly as at ROode-
val the Beers may be able to prolOng
the war for some months yet. Their
success in this direction is likely to in
spire them with renewed hope and en-
ergy. 1t is this fact, rather than the ac-
tual loss Of a battalion of men, that dis
turbs London and England to-day. Gen.
Kelly-Kenny's success and the fact that
Gen. Butler has at last pierced the Drak~
ensberg mountains and entered the Or
ange Free State with the result of max
ing the Boer position at Laing's Mex un-
tenable, are the relieving features in the
situation from the British point of view.
Lord Roberts has fought 3 battle with
Gen. Botha, at the end OF which, though
the British gained considerable ground,
the Beers were not beaten. Roberts line
of communication was partially restored
by a victory gained by Gems. MethIen
and Kitchener over Gen. Dewet. The
Boer camp was captured and the burgh-
ers, it is added, were scattered.
As matters now stand it looks as if the
Beers might maintain the unequal strug-
gle for long time, and this considera-
ton, in connection with the grave events
occurring in China, has brought the
English people to more serious mood
than it has known since the earlier and
darker days of the war.