The National tribune., 1900-04-12
IN SOUTH AFRICA,

Apparently, Gen. Roberts has made
something of the same kind of n mistake
| that Gen. Halleok did after his occupation
of Corinth, June 1, 1862. Halleck then
had the rebels on the run, and could have
| gone anywhere that ne pleased, and should
| have marched his army straight to New
Orleans, Mobile, Chattanooga or Atlanta.
Instead, he put his men into Summer
| quarters along long line OF railroad, and
waited for the rebels to recover from their
CONSERVATION, and do something else.
They did so, and three months later were
trying to run our armies back to the Ohio
River, and recover all the ground we had
taken from them. In the same way, after
capturing Bloemfontein, Gen. Roberts
sat down in the Orange capital, and has
been apparently waiting for over month
for the Beers to recover their courage, and
resume the aggressive. Ostensibly, he
has been resting and refltting his army,
and fixing up his communications. There
is something in this excuse, but it must
be remembered that only n few weeks
before he brought a very finely equipped
army into the field, and while his campaign
against Cronje was active and brilliant it
was very brief, and bore no sort OF com
parison with the long sustained exertions de-
manded Of their armies by Grant, Sherman,
Sheridan, Thomas, and the Generals west of
the Mississippi in the Summer of 1854. The
whole movement on Bloemfontein was q
very minor effort, compared with the fight
ing in Shenandoah Valley, or west OF the
Mississippi, to say nothing Of such grand
campaigns as those of the Wilderness,
Atlanta, and Nashville.
No one then after n week of marching
and fighting stopped to rest and refft for
more than month. 1t is quite likely that
Roberts's men We're pretty badly shaken
up by their campaign. But the Boers
must have been in much worse shape, and
then was Roberts's golden opportunity to
complete their discontinue. That he did
not do so reminds us of one of Lincoln's
pithy reminders to Mcclellan, who COM
pidlIieu IHdJ lle rain peVclIUcu opera
tons.
"You are trying to reverse the Biblical
rule" wrote Lincoln, "for you would make
out that the rain falls only on the just"
The natural result has followed. In the
month that Roberts kindly allowed the
Beers they have recovered courage, and
begun the long-delayed attack on Roberts's
communications That they have not
done this before has been an astonish-
ment TO all American veterans. RobertS's
single line of railroad, reaching back 100
miles through hostile country, with long
mule trains moving in various directions
over the open prairie, would have been a
picnic to such men as Sheridan, Griers)n,
Minty, Fitzpatrick, Custer, Forrest, Wheeler,
other active and cnterprising commanders
Of battaions, regiments, brigades, and
divisions.
The move that the Bocrs finally made
on the communications showed how vul-
nerable they were. Whether the Bocrs
will develop good cavalry leader remains
to be seen. There is rich field waiting
for such n reaper.
The wonder is any one who studies
the map, is why Gen. Butler does not move
out TO the Draakensbergs, clean out the
Beers there, and help protect Roberts's
exposed right flank. But Butler seems
to have lost all his aggressiveness.
The next wonder is why the Beers do
not take Mafeking. 1t never was a strong
position, and they should have been long
ago able TO dig into 1T, if they could not get
in any other way. The excuse that they
do not want to be encumbered with the
prisoners will not serve. There is no
reason why they should not parole the
prisoners. They would get 4 large supply
of arms, some ammunition and military
stores, and the moral effect would be very
great.