New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-03-03
THE BOER COLLAPSE.

a Shrewd observer some time ago likened the
Boer lines of war TO a shell II was, he said,
well designed shell, and n stiff, strong one. But
it was only a shell. and the moment 1t
pierced at one point the whole would be in dan
ger of collapse, for there was no solid backing.
The incidents of the last fortnight have seemed
to justify this estimate. For the shell has been
pierced and has collapsed. Lord Roberts pierced
it with his swift rush to the relief of Kimberley.
The moment he reached JacObsdal he was
through the shell In few days General Cronje
surrendered. Then there was tremor all along
the Orange River and the Tugela, toO and
then In a single day. Ladysmith was relieved
and Colesberg was redeemed, and the whole
shell lay in ruins. The Boer lire has failed at
every point. The aim was 70 take Ladysmith,
Kimberley and Mafeking, and to ALLEVIATE the
northern part of Cape Colony Kimberley and
Ladysmith have been relieved. Mafehing is
holding out, and doubtless will 10 the end, and
Cape Colony Is rid of the invaders In every
one of these four details the Beers have failed.
The wonder is of course, not that they have
failed but that they resisted failure so long and
indeed came near succeeding. For with all
their superior readiness for the war, due largely
10 their long cherished design of driving the
British from the Cape and making all South
Africa exclusively Afrikander, and despite the
unreadiness and oyerconfdence of the British,
the odds hopelessy unequal. IT Is doubt
full whether many Of the Beers, apart from the
leaders, realized how unequal they were The
charge has been made. with seriousness and
much show of truth. that the people Of the
Transvaal were deceived by their own leaders
in 1884 into thinking that the suzerainty had
been abolished and the State been made inter
nationally independent although as the leaders
well knew. such was not the case. We cannot
whether OhyiOuSly might
easily have been so. And obviously II would
have been possible for designing leaders to per
suade the Beers. after Majuba Hill, that there
no especial disparity between them and the
British in military resources and power 1t Is
easily conceivable that the average rural Boer
went into this With the idea that the British
nation not much more numerous than his
own. The leaders of course, knew better. But
it is obvious from the recent doings OF DR..
Leyds and Others that they counted pretty
confidently upon some sort of intervention from
some of the Powers. In that they have been
deceived as much the simplest OF the
burghers The exaggerated fancies of Boer
strength and the wild hopes of foreign aid have
alike collapsed along with the shell of the line
of battle. and the Beers now see themselves for
what they area small people In the irresistible
grip of a mighty Power, with no hope of aid or
Succor
In such plight, what is there left? Nothing
one would say, but to accept the inevitable with
good grace. They may not. They may try to
reconstruct the she'll with smaller radius and
| Try TO make on the ,aal the defence which has
failed on the Modder and the Tugela But 1t
will be vain performance The reconstructed
shell cannot be made strong as the one which
has been broken. And the shell of fancies and
| hopes can never be reconstructed. Henceforth
| the must go to battle with the conscious
ness that they are overmatched and that they
will get no outside help. Nor is there any moral
excuse or reason for such desperate resistance
Their lives, their fortunes their civic liberties
are not in jeopardy Every one of them knows
| or should know, that after the war and after
| the establishment of British sovereignty his