Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1901-10-17

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ana their capacities are by no means
exhausted. More than all else the Brit
ish have learned how not to do things
in war
Perhaps the greatest lesson for the
British war office will be drawn from
the failure to end the war at the time
of the march from BlOemfOntein north
ward. Hating in the Orange Free
State to gather strength, Lord Roberts
drew the Beers to his front. He faced
northward and Buffers army in Natal
above Ladysmith faced westward, with
the Beers confined in an angle. n fight
of the kind that an army of 100000
men ought to be able to put up against
10000 should have broken the Boer re-
sfstance and left little TO do except
gather in fragments. But Roberts was
too confident. too anxious that the sol
diers eat their delayed Christmas din
ner in Pretoria. With his army strung
out over a line POO miles in length he
marched on steadily and in good order,
but whipped no Beers.
In the American civil war it was
demonstrated that hostile armies and
not hostile positions are the important
things. An army with fighting stuff in
its ranks can take up position after
position, prolonging a war indefinitely.
But when an army is once destroyed
its destroycrs are foot loose to tackle
and destroy another army. Hoods
army was destroyed at Franklin and
Nashville in 1864, and the result would
have been the same had the blow fallen
in a wilderness. The capture of At
lanta by Sherman didn't dispose OF
Hoods army nor the fall of Peters
burg and Richmond put an end to
Lee. Had Grant marched from Peters
burg to Dansvillc, saying, "Pll attend
to Lee when I get there" he would
have done just what Lord Roberts did
after the Beers evacuated Bloemfon-
tein. If Roberts could thrash the
burghcrs at Pretoria, why not thrash
them on the way to the Naal, or at
least corner them with his odds Of five
TO one?
Without a doubt the English officers
and soldiers went into the South Afri-
can war puffed up with Il conceit that
would have been silly in an army of
amateurs They despised the Beers as
fighting men, and in the end are imi-
tatfng BOer methods 1t was the in
tention to smash the burghers before
thew could get ready TO fight. The
original plan Of taking them by sur
prise fell through. Kruger was too
smart for Chamberlain. But because
it was the British way to override
everybody, John Bull must founder
ahead and run into ambush and
slaughter. The Beers held as decided
opinions about who should rule South
Africa as the British themselves.
The Beers couldn't fight-oh, no!
So the Britou rushed along on the open
vcldt, and the Bocr from bush and
kopie shot him down like game. He
wouldn't carry spade nor dig a
trench, nor pile up earth to shield his
devoted head from a miserable Dutch
man. Finally. when the individual sol
dier saw the tactics Of the Beers on
their rocky kopics, he would throw to-
gethcr a pile of loose stones and duck
his head behind it, These stone heaps
were splendid markers and good tar
gets for the Beers. \ shell would
scatter the fragments. and make every
piece q missile to hurt some BritOn.
The Beers intrenched whenever
there were no rocks or kopjes to cover
their heads Perhaps they couldn't
fight theatrical battle, those plain,
simple Lcrdsmcn Of the bush, but they
could take to cover and make the other
fellows fight a losing game. In mil
itary way that IS the best of fighting,
The British have studied prize ring
rules too much for men who wish to
conquer savage yalor. War cannot be
subject to rules when it is a raid of
the strong upon the weak.
Not only did the English troops de-
spise cover in the face of the enemy,
but did their best to make a show Of
themselves for the Beers to shoot at.
Perhaps they meant to overawe the en-
cmy. The effort was not a success.
torr tbo pritisI, didn,t 90 IN hv rrebos
hr+ IN I.on colrn,rs Toorcbirg erect
II r,c+ o,.a,., c,oroo ,.os . rono+i+iop
of poIoI-Io,o - ,,os, r,ooniGoort Inn,
n ,ra, ro+ ,,.or rondon and tho snort
,na ,a,,t,l ma ,.a,Id arar +horaLt =
.,.a'. g,,I,Ti,,o +I,o+ staIi5 pri+ieh ,,7o,, ~
aat+fro, ..,-fII,5 A., MO-, hoantfcnII,.
ma Poor v.fn rfdo rfl,o tho wind 70
his tonfo or rivor Nod tbon dfepount
bfdn his nonv ana frbt brt tho mount
ed Eriton rode like the six hundred in
10 the mouth Of hell sitting erect, and
if ordered TO halt undCr fire would still
sit erect, a good target for the Boer
NauSor For more than % years the
trained cayaIryman Of America has
known how to make a breastwOrk Of
his horse when caught in the open un-
der fire. 1t is a mistake to call the
BritOn's bearing under fire true COur-
age lie is a machine and does as he
is foII