Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1902-04-18
SPlON K0P DISPATCHES
All of Them Now Made Public by
British War Office.
MORE CENSURE FOR BUTLER.
Yhe Publication Shows How Bitter
the Controversy Was Between
That General md Warren-Re-
sponsibility For the Retreat.

London, April 1S.-All the official dis
| matches referring to the defeat sustain
ed by the British troops under General
Butler at Spion Kop, Natal, on Jan. "a,
1900, have been given out. Those hith-
| erto unpublished merely emphasize
how hopplessly muddled were the prep
arations for that engagement. The con-
troversy between General Butler and
General Sir Charles Warren is proved
| to have been even more bitter than
previously limited at, while new eX-
tract from one of Lord Roberts dis.
patches brings additional censure on
| General Butler. Lord Roberts declares
that General Buffers endeavOr to put
| the responsibility for the defeat on
| General Warren was not justifiable
and holds that it was Buffers duty to
intervene when he saw things were 60
! ing wrong. This remark was caused
by a dispatch from Butler, in which he
says:
saw no attempt on the part Of Warren
! to either grapple with the situation or
command his force himself We lost our
| chance by Warrens slowness. He seems
| to be man who can do well what he can
do himself but who cannot command
can never employ him again on an indie
pendent command. l ought to have as
sumed command myself when l saw
things were not going we'll l blame my
self now for not doing so.
Butler explains that he failed to SUI
persede Warren because it might have
discredited the latter with the troops,
which was an especially serious mat
ter, az, il Butler had been shot, Warren
would have succeeded to the supreme
command.
The question of the responsibility for
the actual retreat from Spion Kop ia
shrouded in maze Of dispatches,
proving that a mistake was made in
sending a Telegram and that there
was a general desire to shirk the onus.
Beyond this washing of dirty linen
nothing appears to have been accom-.
plished by the publication Of the dis
patches.
Check to Peace Negotiations.
Serious differences, it is said, have
arisen between the Transvaal and Free
State delegates who are discussing
peace terms at Pretoria. General Botha
and Acting President Schalkburger, it
Is reported, have given the Free State
representatives until April 21 to come
to decision, threatening that there.
after the Transvaal delegation will
continue the peace negotiations indie
pendently of the Free State delegates.
1t is further declared that Botha and
Schalkburger had practically agreed
upon terms for surrender prior to their
visit to Klerksdorp, but that out of
loyalty to their allies they insisted on
conference, though with slight hopes
that their views would be shared by
General De Wet and the other Free
State leaders.
The colonial secretary, Joseph Cham
berlain, in the house of commons re-
peated the now familiar formula that
to make statement regarding the
peace conference at Pretoria.
Although there is no indication that
Colonel Arthur Lynch, who fought on
the Boer side and who was elected to
represent Galway city in parliament,
has any intention Of placing himself
within reach of the British courts, the
government is bringing witnesses from
South Africa to testify in support of
the charges of high treason brought
against him.
Lewis Handley, an American by
birth, but naturalized British SUBJ
ject and farmer of the vicinity of
Glencoe, Natal, has just landed in Eng
land. He says Colonel Lynch was the
leader of Boer force, principally com.
posed Of Irishmen, which raided his
farm in 1900, confiscated his stock and
destroyed his crops. Lynch informed
Handley that he was British subject.