Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-02
SOUTH AFRICAN WAR
Was One Of Surprises and
Military Inaptitude.
PRIN CIPAL ISSUES
SUZERAINTY QUESTION PARA
MOUNT TO OTHERS.
Complete Chronology Of Conflict That
Has Proved Costly to Both
Nations.
PRIN CIPAL ISSUES

prises and military inaptitude. The points
at issue between Great Britain and the
Transvaal at the beginning of the war
were:
First, Great Britain claimed suzerainty
over the Transvaal under the terms of the
convention of 1881. The Beers disputed
the claim, invoking the convention Of 1891,
in which the term 'suzerainty" does not
appear. The Beers said the omission was
deliberate; the British that the queens
suzerainty was understood though not
specified and that it was the governing
principle of the convention of 1884
Second Great Britain demanded increased
facilities for naturalization of outianders
Boer laws required outlander DESTROYS
Of naturalization to take an oath renouncing
allegiance to his former government, and
then. after twelve years. residence, and pro-
yided he had the affirmative votes OF three
>fourths of the burghers in his district, he
became a citizen of the South African re-
public. The Beers at one point of the nego-
tiations offered to reduce the probationary
term to five years.
Third. Great Britain demanded for the
outlanders a share in the election of the
president and increased representation for
/ the gold fields In the raad. or legislature.
The Beers said they were willing to con-
cede these points, but under conditions
which the British declared were likely to
Hldhc Tue CoiSeSSioiiS AiuSoky
A Question of Suzerainty.
Originally the suzerainty question cut lit
tie figure in the dispute, but the more the
Beers insisted upon it the more it became
the paramount feature of the trouble. Great
Britain throughout fatty refused to discuss
the point and also refused arbitration.
The rush to the johannesburg gold fields
caused Britain, through Joseph Chamber
lain, the colonial secretary, to insist that
the outlanderS be given the franchise by
which the British could have ousted kru-
ger and seized possession of the govern
ment. The ill-starred raid led by DR.. Lean
der S. Jameson in 1895, when he attempted
to start revolution in the Transvaal.
thoroughly alarmed the Beers and con-
WINGED them that the British were deter
mined to have the gold fields at any cost.
Britain began to try coercion on the
Beers by rapidly sending masses of troops
to South Africa. President Kruger, seeing
that at such a rate his country would soon
be overwhelmed, issued an ultmatum de-
manding that no more troops be sent.
The Ultimatum Presented.
On October 8, 1899, the Transvaal ultima
tum was presented. The Transvaal COM
mandoes had been modified on September
q. and the proclamation calling out the
British army reserves was issued on Octo-
Der 7. On the day following the dispatch
OF Mr.. kruger'S communication requesting
the withdrawal of British troops from the
borders of the republics under threat of
war Mr. Conyngham Greene, British agent
at Pretoria. applied for his passport and
left the Transvaal. On October IL war ac-
tually began. On the following day the
Beers who had been concentrating in great
force on the border, invaded Natal. On Oc-
tober 13 a Boer force under Cronje, which
had crossed the western frontier, invested
Baden-Powel's garrison in Mafeking.
On October 20 was fought the battle Of
Dundee. the enemy's force being about
1900 The Boer position was CALAMITY
stormed and captured, but during subse
of the British force consisting Of the 18th
Hussars and Dublin Fusiliers. was sur
rounded and captured. On October 30 the
Royal Irish Fusiliers and Gloucester Regi-
Nicholson's Mex. On November the Beers
were repulsed with heavy loss at Lady
smith
Methuen and Butler Defeated.
On the Odd they were defeated a. Belmont
by Methuep; on the 18th they sustained an
other defeat at Graspan; on the 18th Meth
uen engaged and defeated the enemy for
the third time. General Gatacre on Deem
Der 10 suffered a serious reverse In at
tack on the Boer position at Stormberg. On
the following day Methuen was equally un-
fortunate at Magersfontein. where the
British night attack failed with heavy loss.
the Highland Brigade being the principal
sufferers. General Butler, on December ID,
in attempting to force the passage of two
drifts near Colenso, met with disaster, los
ing eleven guns. It was in the attempt to
save them that Lord Roberts son was
killed. These three reverses occurred in
what is known as the BLACK Week of De-
cember," and certainly British prospects at
that time looked very gloomy.
On December II Lord Roberts was ap-
pointed commander-in-chief in South Africa
with Lord Kitchener as chief of staff On
New Years day, 1900. Pitcher inflicted Sc
we're defeat on a Boer force at Sunnyside in
Cape Colony, and on January q Sir George
White, after a hard fight. beat off an attack
on Ladysmith. The 23d witnessed the oc-
cupation of Spion Kop by Warren, but the
position was abandoned the next day with
heavy British loss. Butler. on February B.
advanced across the Tugela at two points
and seized Vaal Krantz. On the 18th Lord
Roberts began his famous march from Ems
lin to Bloemfontein and Pretoria. The sue
ceeding day French's cavalry crossed the
Modder at several points, capturing five
faagers. On the 18th the siege of Kimberley
was raised, and Cronje and his force fled
from Magersfonten to Paardeberg Butler,
on the 18th, turned the Boer flank at
Chieveley, driving the enemy across the
Tugela and Capturing large quantities of
supplies and ammunition. On February 27
(Majuba day. Cronje, who had withstood
a ten days bombardment in the trenches at
Paardeberg, Internationally surrendered
with nearly 1000 men, and all his guns and
munitions Of war
Ladysmith Relieved.
On the following day, February g. Lady
smith was relieved, Butler entering the be-
sieged town on March 1. Five days later
Gatacre entered Stormberg without OPPOSE
ton. and the two republics offered to make
peace on condition that Great Britain recog-
nized their independence. Lord Roberts,
pressing forward from Paardeberg on
March Z, met and defeated at Poplar Grove
a force under De Wet and Delarey Kruger
and Steyn were present at the engagement
and in vain sought to rally the fleeing
burghers. Lord Salisbury, on March II. re-
plying to the Kruger-Steyn communication,
declined to accept the Boer terms of peace
Two days afterward Lord Roberts before
whose advance the enemy had steadily re-
treated, after decisive victory at Driefon-
TEN, entered Bioemfontein, where the Brit
ish flag was hoisted in his presence. Large
surrenders of Free State burghers followed
the fall Of Bloemfontein. On March p
General Olivier, with 5000 men, made good
his retreat from Stormberg General Jou-
bert, who had been communicative of
the Boer forces when the war broke out,
died at Pretoria on March q.
On the 10Th De Wet successfully ambush
ed Broadwood's force at Sanna's Post,
when several guns were taken. French on
Aprfl 30 defeated a force which had at