Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1901-10-18

the independence of the two republics,
and is resolved to fight on to the end,
whatever it may be. They were much
encouraged by the results of the fighting
at Vladfontein in May and at Wimans-
rust In June. In the fight at Vladfon-
tein they inflicted serious loss on a
strong British column with loss of only
nine killed and eleven wounded; while
at Wilmansrust they captured the British
camp, all standing, with loss of only
six killed and four wounded to them
selves. The British loss in killed,
wounded and prisoners was over $50, Of
whom 260 were unwounded prisoners.
In the recent fighting in Zululand they
appear to have been less fortunate, but
the details are still wanting; and the
capture of large British convoy close
to Melmoth would seem to imply that
their reported defeat had not seriously
discouraged them. In the attack on the
British camp at Moedwill, west of Pre-
tora on the road to Mafeking, they were
more successful, and struck a heavy
blow at vital point 10 the communica-
tons between the two places. The force
engaged in this affair was under Gen.
Delarey, and was reported short time
before to have been driven north by Lord
Methuen in great confusion.
The present activity of the Beers is
due principally to the fact that their
horses find grass all over the country,
whereas during the winter they were
restricted to the valleys. The British,
owing to the devastation of the country,
have contributed to the restriction of
their own movements, which are rarely
carried to any great distance from the
railway lines and large supply depots.
TO guard Johannesburg and the mines,
they have between 900 and so, 900 men
permanently encamped on the Rand. A
large proportion of the remaining $780,
600 men composing the effective army
are in bockhouses along the railway
lines and In barbed-wire enclosed camps
at the principal towns, or watching the
drifts on the Vaal and Orange rivers.
The mobile force Is thus reduced to
minimum, and is quite inadequate to put
down the insurrectlon in the Cape
Colony and dispose of the commands
operating over a territory nearly as
large as France and Germany.
All the efforts to end the war on the
part of the British have, so far, been in
effectual. The army is with difficulty
kept up to full strength, the men enlist
ing in England falling off both in num-
beers and quality; so much so that many,
both officers and men, have been sent
back to England from South Africa as
unfit for the field. The Cape Dutch who
in no cto Of
war to remain quiet and abide the issue
have, through rigorous administration of
martial law in certain districts, been
practically driven to active rebellion; and
it is only through fear that the Afrikan-
ders of British and other origins than
Dutch would also be driven tOrevOlt that
martial law has not been declared all
over the colony.
What the issue of the conflict is to be,
is not all clear. 1t hardly seems within
the bounds of possibility that the Beers
should win all they are fighting for, but
conditions seem to be arising in other
parts of the world that would appear to
make 1t prudent, to say the least, on the
part of the British government to make
concessions to brave and spirited people.
The British estimate that about IL 900
Beers still remain in arms; they them
selves had in May last 249, 4l6 officers and
men in the field and along the line of COM
munication-thel largest army Great Brit
ain has ever put in the field. At present
nineteen out of thirty-one cavalry regi-
ments, one-third of the field and horse
batteries of artillery, and one-half OF the
infantry battaliOns, are in South Africa,
without counting militia and volunteer
troops. The military question is COM
plicated by financial questions as wei!
the war has already cost one-fourth as
much as the Napoleonic wars cost Eng
land, and the British public is said to be
wearying OF the delay in ending the strife.
Social influence and favoritism, to the
effects of which, rightly or wrongly,
the early British disasters were ascribed,
is reg aiming strength, and it seems as if
the dearly bought lesson of the last two
years might be thrown away. Alto
gether, though the final outcome of the
war cannot be doubted, the future offers
little more hope to the British than the
past two years have had of glory.-New
York Sun.