The evening times., 1902-06-02

The points at issue between Great
Britain and the Transv-al At .hc begin
ming of the war may be briefly stated as
follows:
First-Grcas Britain claimed sUzcrain-
ty over the T-ansvaaI under the terms
Of the convention Of 1881 The Beers
disputed the claim. invoking the CONVEX
ton of 1884. il which tac term ''suzer-
ainty'' does not appear. Tho Eoc-s said
the omission was deIibe-ate; the British
said the Queens sUzersiEty was Under
stood. though not specified, and that It
was the governing prtEci. le CT the con
vention of 1884
Second-Creat BTitaia dc-a-frd In
creased facilities for naturalization c
Outlanders. Boer laws rsq-..ci 81 Cut
lander desirous Ct naturalization 70 ia-e
an oath renoUncing allegiance % hrs %
mer government, and then after tNl-.-
years residence. and provided h1 lad
the affirmative votes Of thTcc-fou-ths CT
the burghers in his district, he came Q
citizen Of the South Asr-gc.G 8e.u- lie
The Beers at one point Of the reGctiG-
tions offered to reduce the probacioaa-y
term to fise years.
Third-Creat Britain demanded for the
Outlanders a share in the e!ec-c7 OF she
President and increased ToprczcEJ1-lr z
for the gold fields in the TGsG. % J. -
Iature. TSe Beers said they were will
ing to concede these potts. Du- 4l..--
conditions which the British said were
T~oT-o 10 ~ourC-ST0r=G IlIEECE--.
@Suzerainty" the Real Issue
Originally the suzerainty question cut
little figure in the dispute. but the more
the Beers insisted upon it the more is
became the paramount feature Of the
trouble. Great Britain throughout fat
" refused to discuss the point, and also
refused arbitration
The rush to the johannesburg gold
fields caused Britain. through Joseph
Chamberlain. the colonial secretary, to
insist that the OutIanders be givla the
franchise by which the British couI[
have ousted Kruger and seized posses
sion Of the government The iil-sta-Te-
raid led. by Dr.. Leander s. Jameson. IT
1898. when he attempted 10 start
revolution IN the TransvaaI thorough
alarmed the Beers and CCaTinced then
that the British were determined tc
have the gold fields at any cost
Ultimatum-War Begins.
Britain began to try coercion on the
Beers by rapidly sending masses o.
troops tc South Africa. President KTv
ger. seeing that at such d rate his
country .-ouId soon be overwhelmed is
sued an uItimatUm demanding that nc
more troops be sent
The British having declined to ac>ede
10 the terms Of the uItimatum, an an
swer being required not later than 3
D. m October Il. fSs9.' war at once
began With the invasion CT Natal oy the
Beers Kimberley. in Cape Colony, aue
Mafcicing. in British Bcchuanalana
we're soon invested, the forces of the
Orange Free State cooperating II con
sedupn,e OF q treaty which obligated the
two Bosr republics 10 act together
Tho first encounter wss at Dundee
Natal. October 20 when the British car
ried the Boer position by a frontal at
tack. having their commander, General
Symcrs. killed AID losing 425 men, IN
Guiding 2e6 taken prisoners Next day
AT FfsnIslaagte they had loss eqUiTOCa5
r1Icces-. but lest 223 killed and wounded.
Or. OctCrer q there was q fight a. Riet-
fontein. with British loss Of III, while
the force at Dundee had 20 retreat BY a
cireuitoUs route. Soon afteTwaTd. Oc-
tober 50 at FarquhaT's farm and Mich
olson S mex. there was a severe British
defeat. Gen. Sir George Stewart White
losing I .226 men. 7of whom 925 were tax
en prisoners. The whole British army at
Natal vas soon shut up in Ladysmith
and so remained till February q, so
Butler Beaten Back
Gen Sir Rcdvers Butler. who had DIS
tinguished himself in the Zulu %ar and
in India. had meanwhile been appointed
csmmander-in-chief, and was expected
to end the war in short order. The ez-
pression Pretoria by Christians IS
credited to him. But he never reached
that goal. and but for the prodding Of
Field Marshal Lord Frederick s Rob
erts. who soon superseded him. would
never have accomplished the relief CT
L4.dysmith HIS recent admission tEat
he advised General White to surrender
Iadysulith has proved q startling reve-
Iation
The Iasr months of 1899 were full Of
humiliation for the British. in view OF
the fact that three British garrisons-
al Ladvsmith. Kimberley. and NafeEing
we're being bcsiegcd. with 10 prospect
CT carly relief. NethucH gained a doubt
fuI Success al 8cImont &Novembe- % at
Gres0an November ., and a. Mcddcr
River November IS where by frontal at
tacks nc drove he Beers out of their
positions. but with losses TO himself ag-
gregatinc gl6 At Nugersfontein De
cenber II his advance was arrested by
a severe check. in which MS loss was
g02. Of whom los were prisoners
British dismay and less of prestige
were further incT sasc5 when. a few
DAYS later. at Strcmberg. Gen Sir VII
liam Forbes CataCrc vas beaten in a
night attack. with a loss Of t02. as many
as G2c being taken prisoners.
The depression was dce-ened on De
cember u. when BuIle-. who had gath
cred a large army for the relief OF
Ladysmith. was crushingly Beaten in q