The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-02-09
ROBERTS, REPORT
MS SOUTH AFRICAN DISPATCHES
PUBLISHED.
BULLER is CRITICISED.
,1rCHENER REFERRED TO IN
WARM TERMS.

r,.o condition of Affairs as He
round II ON His Arrival - The
rorrex Much Scattered and no
rrousDOrt-BuIIer Was Unwilling
to Force Relief of Ladysmith.
uuch Remains TO Be Done to Meet
the Conditions of Guerilla War
fare. says the Report.
london. Feb. S.-Lord Roberts detailed
mail dispatches, ranging from Feb. 6 to
Nov. l5 1900, were gazetted this evening.
They fill 157 quarto pages and make up
tbe official history of the war, although
without throwing new light upon several
interesting disputed subjects, such as the
sanna's Post affair.
Hundreds of officers, non-commissioned
officers and men are favorably mentioned,
including Lord Kitchener, who is referred
TO in warm terms.
Sir Redvers Butler comes in for criti-
cism.
The first dispatch undertakes to give
. concise account of the state of affairs
in this country (South Africa on my ar
rival Jan. TO-" 1t describes the forces
as much scattered. He decided to leave
Gen Butler with a free hand in Natal,
hat otherwise to remain on the defensive
until reinforced and until transport had
been organized. He found no transport
corps existing The colonial forces had
not been sufficiently used. Cape Colony
was restless.
al ,ah
Roberts says:
Gen. Butler, Feb. 6, wired that he had
pierced the enemy's lines, but that to give
his artillery access to the Ladysmith plain
would cost from 1000 to 5000 men. re-
piled that he must relieve Ladysmith even
al that cost. Butler telegraphed, Feb. 9,
that he was not strong enough to relieve
Ladysmith without reinforoements and
regarded the operation in which he was
engaged as impracticable. 1 replied that
my Instructions must hold"
In the course of a sketch of the capture
of Gen. Cronje, the occupation of Bloem-
fontein and the long wait there, he wrote:
The enemy knew exactly how we were
situated and had accurate information as
to the condition of our supplies, transport,
artillery and cavalry horses, and they re-
gained courage"
The marches to johannesburg and Pre-
toril We're uneventful as described by
Lord Roberts, his chief concern being to
provision the army. I'VE were practical
" living from hand-to-mouth,' he wrote,
'aud at times had not even one days ra-
tons to the good"
lie finds that no specific blame can at
tach TO Col. Broadwood in the Sanna's
Post affair, as ''the disaster was mainly
due to the failure of the patrol at Boes-
mans kop to warn their comrades that
ar ambush was prepared"
Writing from johannesburg, Nov. 10, he
said:
with the occupation of Komatipoort and
the dispersal of Louis Bothas army. the
organized resistance of the two republics
may be said to have ceased" but there
still remains much for the army in
South Africa to do to meet the condi-
tons of guerrilla warfare with forces
broken up into small columns and op
Grating over an area larger than France,
Germany and Austria combined"
The batch includes a report of Gen.
Eaden-Powell that the newspaper corre-
spondents gave him much trouble, as the
enemy derived "a great deal of informa-
ton as to our circumstances in Mafeking
from the newspapers"
Gen. Butler mentions favorably Col.
Steel Maj Jarvis, Maj. Belcher, Capt.
Alackie and Lieut.. Magee of Strathcona's :
horse.