The Chester Courant and Advertiser for North Wales

THE STORY OF THE BOER WAR WHAT BROUGHT WAR ABOUT. The Boers are descendants of the early jJutch settlers in South Africa, combined French Huguenot immigrants and Germans, who chiefly came to adopt Dutch as their lan- guage. They are a race of hardy farmers and stock-keepers, frugal and industrious, sternly Calvanistic in religious conviction, narrow of view, and distrustful of all foreigners, with especial antipathy to the British, under whose rule they came when Holland ceded South Africa to us in 1814. The Boers are stub- bornly conservative and averse to change and progress, careless in the main of developing trade, education, and advancing civilisation generally. They very much disliked our ■^mancipation Act of 1833, which abolished slavery in the Cape Colony, and all subsequent aW3 passed for the protection of the native races have caused great dissatisfaction among the Dutch. Indeed, the liberal policy of the Government towards the natives is at the bottom of the hostile feeling of the Boers Against the English. This and other causes led up to the trekking of the Boers, and the colonising of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. The difficulties between the Boers of the Transvaal and the Uitlanders originated in the discoveries of gold at Barberton in 1885, and later on the Witwatersrand reef. The increase of population and the prosperity of the auriferous districts greatly enriched the coffers of the Transvaal State; and the Uit- landers concerned in mining contributed something like four-fifths of the revenue. They were stubbornly denied political rights Or control over the expenditure of the country. Nothing tangible came of lengthened agita- tion and persistent petitioning of the Volke- raad. Then came the defiant reform move- ment, culminating in the disastrous raid under Dr. Jameson, which ended in the sur- render of the irregular troops from the ter- ritories of the British South Africa Company to the Boers at Kruger«do.p in the Transvaal on the New Year's Day of 1898. To make a long story short, all the struggling from within and. from without to force t'e South African ■Republic to treat the ;i tiers equitably achieved no satisfactory result; and the pa- wence of the British Government, which had taken up the cause of the o ■ p e: cd, was quite exhausted by the autumn of JSrs. The Natal garrison was reinforced by ten thousand men, and the British forces ht the Cape strong thened in preparation for eventualities, it having become apparent the Boers were resolved to resist the d. ;nade on behalf of the Uitlanders to t, e fc d, and had been secretly and extensively ''¡> The breach between the British and the Boers widened Until our Government dictated terms of re- form to the South African Republic by Suzerain right. This was repudiated by Pre- sident Kruger, and the war was the resultant. NATAL INVADED. The Boers of the Transvaal, immediately after the declaration of war, concentrated in the neighbourhood of Laing's Nek, a pass over the Drakensberg into Natal, similar Movements being made in the vicinity of Vaa Keenen's Pass by the Boers of the Orange State. A British force was despatched to Dundee in north-east Natal, with headquar- ters and base at Ladysmith, the permanent camp of the British garrison. The Boer plan of campaign was to attack in force the ad- vanced past at Dundee, and, after reducing that town, to concentrate upon Ladysmith and compel its surrender before the arrival of reinforcements. But General Sir Redvera Buller, with an Army Corps under his com* mand, had been despatched to frustrate this. THE FIRST FIGHTS. The opening battle of note took place at Glencoe, near Dundee, on October 20, when General Sir W. Penn Symond's, who was mor- tally wounded in the hour of victory, drove back the enemy, and so p) evented the matu- rity of his plan of sub.. uent attack. The Boers appeared the next in great strength with heavy siege guns, and General Yule, who succeeded Gene-al Hyc-ous, fell back on adysmlth unobserved, Gc -ral White divert- ing the enemy by an atta k at Elands Laagte «4. n tlanwat K-i: t tein on October Z °n October -30 an t to bring about a general engagement at ^.sinith was un- successful and part ci =. e British force (about 8o0 offir crs avd w,- n3 isolated and captured Bu, Whit, g for Buller, galiantly helOrOut. vie, Mafeking, „ a ransvaa-. was being p endidly defended bv t -irison under General Baden-Powell olonel Keke- lch was as stubt'O?niy ..9; the town of Kimberley against the i Ltack. GENERAL BULL 1DVANCE. Towards tUe end of O eneral Buller commenced his gent ;■■■ in Natal, his initial objective bellS, if beleaguered Ladysmith, around v. <xant fighting Was going on. C'a e s invaded by the Orange State eginning of November, and Nerval's lured on the 3rd. Martial law was proclaimed all over the north of Cape Colony, a i d garrisons with- drawn from Stormberg ar d elsewhere. The bombardment of Kimberley began on Novem- ber 7th, and Lord Methuer's !livision hurried forward from the north of Crne Colony, do- jng some stiff fighting on t-e way with the Grange State forces. Lieut -Col. Keith Fal- coner was killed in a battle near Belmont ON the 10th of November. ARMOURED TRAIN ATTACKED. An exciting incident of f early portion of the campaign was the she' :i an armoured train by the Boers near t. the engine getting back with 15 w< ■ a good many British, including Captain ;ane and Mr. Winston Churchill, the -.var co. respondent, being captured and taken as prisoners to Pretoria. BELMONT, GRASPAN, AND THE MODDEft Lord Methuen had a bntt at Belmont on the 23rd of November, in h the Boers re routed and over eighty i ihe enemy slain. **0 took 40 prisoners also. lading Colonel Shiel, a German command" t in the pay of the Boers. Our losses ei 0 slain and 245 founded. In a fight at Beat-on Hill (Willow grange), Geneial Hildyard lost 11 killed, wounded, while ttiere wer1 nine missing, The battle at Graspan produced four hours' desperate fighting, but finally the Boers were driven back. British loss 24 killed, 160 bounded, 7 missing. The battle of Modder liiver saw 8000 Boers routed. Fourteen hours' desperate fighting. Total British losses, 475; four officers and 68 men killed, 6nd 19 officers and 377 rank and file wounded, Mth 7 missing. There was on the 28th ol ovember a successful sortie fromKimberley; Tii1ri8*\ca8ua^es> 22 (including Major Scotft GS ^led> 31 injui ed* Snd eyab Clery reached Frere Camp on th* General p^^ber, and a few days late* Frere T ?1Ier left Pietermaritzburg for tion with° £ ethuen established communica- the 6th balea2uered Kimberley garrison oa betwpon a*i 0D"^he 8th there was a sharp fight Boer r*ethuen and the Boers near Enslin. 8am POSl^on near Ladysmith was about the ame time captured two guns destroyed, and on a«inri token; one British soldier killed, fT6 officer wounded. General Gatacre suf- r»n Serious reverse in attacking Stormberg the 10th of December, being misled into a Boer ambush bv guides. Twenty- 7 «e OUr men were slain and 58, including officers, injured while 13 officers and 620 iniss" Were rePorted as taken prisoners or MAGERSFONTEIN. Then came the fierce fight of Magersfontein, on December 11th, in which we had twenty- hree officers and 182 men killed on the field, J^th 45 officers and 645 men wounded, the */ave commander of the Black Watch, Wauchope, being among the slain. hu, part of tne Kimberley Relief Column 0 8urprised in the dark and defeated by an w^whelming force; and the sad reverse tle a most painful impression. Including soners, we had in this battle 970 casualties y,e an army of 11,000, third of whom jj ,re never engaged, and ii> the heavy casualty 65n Highlanders contributed as many as d' officers and men. 1 British were *Ven—some say misguided II;) to cunningly- r aced Boer trenches cover Cronje's men, 8onCe the fearful ca.ragi he Scotsmen their lives deartv. :ui't tlie list of the -°er slain v. "here had to 4ea^ day'8 armiBtice for the burying of flu WaT' i and the mtermen+ of the heroic ton,! °Pe hy his weep' r d idolising men Waj 6 0Qe °f m ictures of the COLENSO. Now comes Colenso. It fell on the 15th 01 December. Buller was forcing his way Lady- smithwards. General Barton's brigade were ordered to occupy a big kopje three miles to the south of Colenso, and helping them was the Naval Brigade under Captain Percy Scott. Clery and Hildyard, Dundonald and Lyttleton, Hart, and others were in this tremendous battle under Buller on the Tugela River, and right gallantly did the Dublins, the Connaughts, the Inniskillings, the Borderers, and all the rest behave; but we lost to a superior force, better placed, and with more effective artillery. And what a loss! Seven officers were killed, including the chief of the medical staff and brave young Lieutenant Roberts, the son of the Com- mander-in-Chief who lest hi. life in trying to save the guns. His father wears two Victoria Crosses to-day, one worthily won long ago by himself, and one which his boy would have worn had the young lieutenant not fallen for his country. One tiundrea and forty men were slain, and 43 officers and 719 men wounded, while 228 ciHicer and men were reported missing. The country was stunned by these defeats and roused to retrieve them. It was recognised now the Boers had been underestimated. Volunteers for the front came thick and fast to offer their services, and the Imperial Yeomanry was formed, while London City organised its gallant C.I.V. Heavy reinforcements were arranged, the reserves extended and utilised, money as much as needed given, "Fighting Mac"— Hector Mardopald-once a private, now a general, put ,n the place of poor dead Wauchope, and last, not least Lord Roberts sent out to take supreme command, with Lord Kitchener as Chief-cf-Staff. All our Colonies offered help with mounted men and with infantry, and their help was gladly accepted, and splendid service, indeed, has been rendered by the stalwart sons of the Empire in many a hot fight through the months that hav sped since then. A quarter of a million men in all were placed at the beginning of 190G in the field. RENSBURG TO SPION KOP. The Suffolk Regiment lost heavily near Rensourg, on the 6th of January, over a hundred prisoner being taken, and a deter- mined Boer attack on Ladysmith was repulsed with h-avy losser on both sides. We had 14 officer-, killed and 164 men, the wounded numbering 33 and 287 respectively. But the Boers were defeated and Ladysmith held out doggedly. The 8th of January saw a successful British reconnaissance from Sterkstroom towards Stormberg. On the 9th a cavalry reconnaisance from Modder River entered the Orange State. Lord Roberts and Lord Kitchener (new Commander-in-Chief and Chief-of-Staff) arrived on the 10th at Cape Town. Dundonald, having crossed the Tugela, engaged the Boers near Acton Homes. Spion Kop was captured and held during January 24th, but had next night to evacuated. About the operations involved i. the lamous fight there has been very muck dispatch writing, and some indiscreet speak- ing since, and it is not pleasant memory to any of us at home, and painful to many who were engaged. It cost us the lives of 30 officers and 294- men, while 53 officers and over a thousand rank and fil were wounded. Besides this, three hundred odd were either captured or missing. It was emphatically the biggest thing of the whola war, bigger than Paardeberg, where Cronje was subsequently captured. Our men fough- like heroes at Spion Kop, but they were placed in an impos- sible position. CROSSING AND "RECROSSING THE TUGELA.—KIMBERLEY RELIEVED. Buller again crossed the Tugela on Feb- ruary 5, and captured Vaal Krantz, but was unable to hold it, and again retired. Lord Roberts arrived on the 9th at the Moddef River. General French seized De KeiFt Drift on the River Riet, and on the 13th cap- tured five laagers and a quantity of sheep and cattle. The same gallant General suc- ceeded on the 15th in relieving Kimberley, after capturing stores and ammunition depot. The siege, in which all the inhabitants bore up bravely, has lasted 123 days. Monte Christo was, on the 18th, taken by Buller, after severe fighting, and a Colonial division, under Brabant, entered Dordrecht. Bullet once more crossed the Tugela, on the 26th, and to the joy of every Britisher, Ladysmith was at length relieved on the 28th, Lord Dun- donald ridins first into the garrison that had held out against heavy and" constant assault for exactly 118 days, and prevented the Boere carrying out their plan of marching on Dur- ban. Now the tide of battle had turned, and England looked for an earlier ending of tM war than actually came. PAARDEBERG. Meanwhile, Roberts had been executing a masterly move against the main Boer army under Cronje, and at length cornered him near Paardeburg, where the leader of the enemy strongly entrenched himself. But Bobs was the best man, captured Pieter's nill, and bombarded the Boer out of his fast- ness, securing on the 27th of February the surrender of Cronje and his 5150 men. They were deported, some to St. Helena, some to Ceylon, some elsewhere and Roberts went marching on Pretoriawards by way of Bloem- fontein. And this was Majuba Day! The glad news of Paardeberg was received with the wildest enthusiasm all the Empire through. PLEAS FOR PEACE.—BLOEMFONTEIN. On the 5th of March the Boer Presidents, who evidently saw their game was up, made impossible overtures for peace, and that same day Gatacre occupied Stormberg. Lord Salisbury piomptly rejected the Boer offer, and the British Army proceeded on its con- quering path. French, on the 12th, occupied the hills about the Orange State capital, and the day following, without further fighting, Lord Roberts rall up the British flag at Bloem- fontein, the Boers retiring on Kroonstad. Lord Kitchener, on the 19tli, entered Prieska and received submission of 200 rebels. One Guardsman officer was killed and three wounded and taken prisoners 13 miles north of Bloemfontein in the course of an injudicious ride, and on the 27th General Joubert died of an internal malady, accelerated, some say, by chagrin. General Broadwood was, on the 31st, attacked at Waterworks during retire- ment R.H.A. and convoy entrapped at Koorn Spruit; six guns were lost, 350 casualties. TO THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING. A detachmer.t of about 600 Royal Irish Ri- fles and Mounted Infantry were, on April 3rd, surrounded near lleddersburg, and taken pri- soners. The British, on the other hand, two days later, captured about 50 Boers near Boshof, and their commander, the French General Villebois, was killed. Commandant Cronje and his wife landed, with many other prisoners, at St. Helena in the middle of April. Lord Roberts requested Mafeking to hold out until May 18th, and on the 6th of that month Wynburg surrendered, the Boers going in full retreat towards Kroonstad. Lord Roberts entered Kroonstad on 12th, and the next day a determined attack on Mafe- king was repulsed, 108 Boer prisoners being taken. Mahon and Plumer engaged the in- vesting Boers, driving them from their posi- tions on the 16th of May, and by the lbth Mafeking's relief was accomplished, on the very dav promised by Lord Roberts, to the wild delight of many at home in Britain. Events now passed rapidly. On the 24th of May the advanced portion of Lord Roberts 9 force crossed the Vaal River, he got to Ger- miston on the 29th, and on the 30th President Kruger fled from Pretoria, while Roberts pushed on to Johannesburg. OUF FLAG UP AT PRETORIA. It was on the 15th of June, 1900, that our flag went up at Pretoria, and then we all thought, and Lord Roberts thought, that the real war was over. So it should have been had the Boers been logical men but they were pig-headed, and kept on fighting, after Kruger had fled from South Africa, and Steyn had become a mere hunted nomad; and the guerilla war continued, in consequence, rather longer than the deciding campaign. This was, and is, ultimately lamentable, for all the lives sacrificed and all the millions of money spent since midsummer two years gone have in one deep sense been wasted. But to continue the tale. On the 8th of Juno Botha's Pass was captured, and on the 11th Laing's Nek and Majuba were evacuated, Wakkestroom surrendered shortly after this, and then Krugersdorp was occupied without resistance. Next De Villiers's commando capitulated, and the Union Jack was hoisted at Heidelberg. In early July Greylingstad was occupied, and then came the complete restoration of railway communication between Pretoria and Natal. July the 7th saw eight hundred British prisoners released by the Boers, and the occupation of Bethlehem. Boer officials surrendered soon after at Heil- bron then came a British reverse at Nitra^s Nek: but on June 21st Lord Methuen r1 feated Boers at Oliphant's Nek, and a week later the Boer General, i'IU.CJ- dered at Naauwpoort with 5000 troops. A plot was discovered in August to seize Lord Roberts at Pretoria, and a fortnight afterwards witnessed Hans Cordua, the originator of the plot, shot. On August 26th, the fiery General Olivier and his three sons were captured in a defile near Winburg, by a small force under Bruce Hamilton. TRANSVAAL ANNEXED TO BRITAIN. —KRUGER'S FLIGHT. On the 1st of September a Proclamation was issued annexing the Transvaal. Ex- President Kruger quitted the Transvaal for Lorenco Marques on the 11th and about the same time Steyn left Hector Spruit ostensibly for the Orange River. French then occupied Barberton, releasing British prisoners, and capturing 100 Boers and many locomotives, rolling stock, stores, and ammunition. Quick- ly thereafter General Stephenson occupied Nelspruit and French secured 50 more loco- motives. Next Methuen captured a convoy near Hart's River, and Hildyard occupied Vryheid. On the 23rd Lord Roberts reported collapse of enemy; while 3000 Boers surren- dered to the Portuguese. GUERILLA WAR. Guerilla war waged from this point on, often with very lamentable resultant; but 'the organisation of Baden-Powell's South African Police was initiated, and pushed vigorously on. In early October, Buller bade farewell to his troops at the front, and the C.I.V., who had quitted themselves in the field like men, returned home. A small Bri- tish contingent was on the 11th of October ambushed near Kaapmunden. Mahon suc- cessfully engaged Boers near Machadodorp later, and then President Kruger secretly embarked at Lorenco Marques oil the Dutch cruiser Gelderland, while General de Villiers died at Bloemfontein. Jacobsdaal was in- effectually attacked by the enemy, Cape High- landers losing heavily. This was succeeded by a sharp fight with De Wet, arising out of which engagement three Boers had to be shot for abuse of the white flag. A sad incident of this period was the death from fever of Prince Christian Victor, at Pretoria. RETURN OF THE C.I.V. November 1st saw the return to London, amid the wildest enthusiasm of the populace, of the C.I.V. Simultaneously, we heard of further fighting near Bethelehem, in which Lord G. R. Grosvenor was wounded, and then Bothaville was destroyed by the British. Schoeman's laager in Steenkampsberg wai now captured; then we were apprised of a Boer rout near Bothaville, Steyn and De Wet narrowly escaping; Colonel Le Gallaii and two officers slain, eight men killed; Bri- tish took seven guns and 100 prisoners. Sir Redvers Buller landed at Southampton on the 11th of November then we heard of more hard fighting; Generals Prinsloo and Fouria killed, Grobelaar wounded Gravett, another Boer commandant, died. Lancers soon after this defeated George Brand's commando near Barberspan.. A disagreeable happening was that in which an outpost of Buffs were sur- prised, with serious loss, near Balmoral, by Boers. Kruger landed at Marseilles on No- vember 22nd. ROBERTS RETURNS.—KITCHENER IN COMMAND. At the end of November, Lord Roberts re- linquished the lead in South Africa, on hia return home to take up supreme command of the British Army, leaving Lord Kitchener in charge of operations, which it was then hoped would have been finished long ago. Decem- ber 1st was the 'ate of Lord Kitchener's first despatch, and on the 3rd was issued Lord Roberts's farewell order eulogising his troops, and immediately thereafter left Durban for the Cape. Knox and Pilcher soon after this engaged and drove off De Wet near Bethulie then came fighting with Erasmus and Viljoen near Pretoria. Knox next took a Krupp gun and a load of ammunition from De Wet, whe had released over 400 British prisoners cap- tured by him, and was himself trekking north- ward in desperate straits. The official list of British casualties in South Africa to this date showed 3329 officers and men slain, 1045 died of wounds, 13,998 wounded but living, 1250 missing or unrecovered prisoners, 96 died in captivity, 180 accidental deaths, and 6729 of all ranks died from disease the total number of the British forces serving in South Africa on December 1, 1900, was officially notified as being 210,293. A special war gratuity of £5 or upwards per man for every soldier em- ployed during the campaign was announced in an Army Order dated December 8th, and a little later General Clements attacked at Nooitgedacht, near Pretoria, by superior force of Boers under Delarey; British loss, 5 officers, 9 men killed, many wounded 18 offi- cers, 556 men missing and captured (after- wards released). This brings us to the begin- ning of last year. KITCHENER'S PROCLAMATION. Kitchener issued a proclamation from Pre- toria to this effect: It is hereby notified to all burghers that if after this date they voluntarily surrender they will be allowed to live with their families in Government laagers until such time as the guerilla warfare now being carried on will admit of their returning safely to their homes. All stock and property brought in at the time of the surrender of such burghers will be respected, and paid for if requisitioned by the military authorities." Early in 1901 partial good effects followed this, and we find many Boer refugees were settled in camps, many of which they assisted in guarding from Boer raiding parties. A. return as to the farms and other buildings burned by the British forces showed that from June 1900 to January 1901 the number was 630. TROUBLE IN CAPE COLONY. Then some of the still untamed remnant of 8Ie Boer leaders planned what they hoped trould be a grand coup. The idea was for the tovaders of Cape Colony to meet a vessel which was Baid to be bringing guns and ammunition from Europe, and then to seize Cape Town if possible, while Botha was to enter Natal and make a dash upon Durban. The Boer forces concentrated for this pur- pose round Ermelo, Carolina, and Bethel, and Lord Kitchener determined to sweep the country between the Natal and Delagoa Bay Railways with a number of columns under the command of General French. The movement commenced (January 28th), tlud Commandant Beyers was driven from his position in the Wilge Valley. Other bodies of the enemy were driven before the converg- ing columns with heavy loss in many casew, and Ermelo was occupied (February Gib). On the same day General Smith-Dorrien attacked by Botha at Hotln-yell, but tho Ie the enemy off after hard fighting. Event i the Boer forces were driven on to the Swazi- [and borders; and as a result of his sweep General French reported that he had takan two 14-pounder Creusot guns, one one 9-pounder, one 4.7, one Maxim, two Hotchkiss guns, with large quantities of rifles, ammunition, etc. Plumer came to the aid of French, and though Hertzog joined him he was so hunted about the Orange State that his forces were scattered, and he lost a lot of his baggage, guns, and other belong- ings, at various points. BLOCKHOUSE WORK. Lord Methuen, working in the west, was making huge captures of stock, and a small force of his at Moddcrfontein was incidentally overwhelmed by Commandant Smuts. Lord Kitchener's aim everywhere was to work along the lines of railway, abandoning places remote from the line, and so do away with convoys and render his force more mobile. Blockhouses, built of sheets of corrugated iron, 4in. apart, with the space filled up with gravel, were built at intervals of 3000 yards along the railway lines, and in chains across the country, especially in the more difficult parts of the Transvaal. The blockhouses were garrisoned with infantry, and to each was attached a patrol. Mr. Brodrick said, towards the end of last year, that 14,700 square miles of the Transvaal and 17.000 square miles of the Orange River Colony, haa been shut in by them. They have worked admirably, under Lord Kitchener's strenuous administrative methods. "A SORT OF WAR." Since the early spring of last year, a soft of war," as a distinguished personage styled it, has been going on, costing more and more millions and many more precious lives, for no real avail. We must run quickly and baldly over the leading items. On the 9th of February Smith-Don ien beat off Botha at Bothwell, killing General Spruit and many Boers; our loss 24 killed, 53 wounded. In chron.-h.i. n'rences thus succeed :—Boer convoy of fiO waggons taken bv French burgher prisoners. De Wet across the Orange at Drift Plumer captured 20 waggons and a Maxim, with 20 prisoners. Methuen defeated De Villiers vvitn ju avy loss, our men killed, 34 wounded. Colonel Owen took without loss from De Wet, near Hopt'town, a 15-pounder, a pom-porn. 50 prisoners. French captured three guns. Eighty Kitchener's Scouts sun-en der ed in early March after a hard fight. Bt.-tha refused pre- ferred peace terms, considerably offered him later, and then General P. Br his brother, was slain. Next we find De.tarey defeated by Babington near Venters'iovp with a loss of two 15-pounders, six MavJn.s. pom-pom, and 140 prisoners; British unities trifling. Commandant Englebi r-i ,t surrendered, Prinsloo captured. A dc-t'ton'ient of lancers and yeomanry were eapuutd by the enemy near Aberdeen. Cclle.>r-!ride.i- captured 50 Boers near Petersbu fi: O ..v.»,:al Schoeman killed. Delarey was r r. bv Dixon, near Viakfontein, after ik-c- ;h?'ating, our casualties 183, inclu:!i:y, officers killed. Jamestown, in Cape nv, en the 4th of June, surrendered to .<» ilinger; next French was appointed tl; i command, and pursued active me.>. every hand. Just before midsurntm.r uic-i defeated De Wet near Vrede, our > • 20 killed, 25 wounded. Midland 1 Rifles were shortly thereafter cut by Boers near Waterkloof, 10 killed, 'jr'oijers. Later Field Cornet Depriez n.ramando sur- rendered. Briefly we uc-rsubsequent incidents in the long-dr.vwn niggle, as they arose. Grenfell captured U"; prisoners at Hopewell. Boer and many prisoners taken by Methuen near Zet a-a. Broadwood surprised Rietz, capturing the whole so-called Boer Government,except > .,wbc harrowly escaped. Scheepcrs captured a t-airi and 113 troops and stores, three Fbitish killed. Potgieter was next surprised, and all his waggons captured; Myburgh's commando surprised, leader and men taken; B. Viljoen defeated, losing a pom-pom, 20 waggcns, and 32 prisonet^, Commandant Froneman was killed in v:ly August. De Villiers and two field cornet* surrendered. SURRENDER OR B.i N fSHMENT Lord Kitchener, wearying of drives and costly guerilla work, to bring by firm- ness the Boers to their soe.M's, with slow re- sultant. The British c.ntm.mder issued a plainly-worded proclamation demanding sur- render of leaders still in the fi« id before Sep- tember 15th, on pain of baoh-bment and se- questration of property hiu. hteyn, De Wet, and Botha defied the edb f, ad 70 British troops were shortly after captured north of Ladybrand. Then while P. Delarey was taken prisoner, Colonel Vandaleur, of the Irish Guards, and nine men were killed, be- sides 17 wounded, in a ushi blown up by Boers near Pretoria. Lott.n-'s commando was captured near Herschell, Vandermerwe was killed, and Lieutenant i)upiess captured, by Crabbe's men. Three Mounted Infantry companies, under Major and three guns, were ambushed near O. Jager's Drift, with heavy British loss; hwuts rushed a squadron of 17th Lancers t Eland's River Poort, our casualties severo. Lieutenant Miers, Somerset Light imantry, murdered by Boers on Zulu border under white flag. Delarey and Kemp at tacked Colonel Keke- wich's camp at Moechvili, but were repulsed; British losses, 55 (mrlud ■ four officers) killed, 140 wounded. Cohniu Benson was on November 2nd attached by Botha at Bracken- laagte, two days fierce lighting; Boers eventu- ally driven off, heavy loss on both sides. Col. Benson and 11 other officers killed, 14 officers wounded rank and file 86 killed, 216 wounded, two guns lost; Boer loss 140, including Colonel Opperman killed and tian Botha wounded. Major Fisher was mor* tally wounded and 350 troops captured near Villiersdorp, but released on arrival of Rimington's Column. Chai n s Knox towards the end of November captured 36 of Joubert's commando, including the commandant; and Lyons' commando was taken by Mackenzie in Orange River Colony. This takes us to the beginning of the present year, since when guerilla fighting and attempts to procure peace have gone on altern:Hfly, and some- times hand-in-liand, with tardy step, for the Boers have refused until the end to see what others saw so long ago. WORKING FOR THE END. Our colonies have all helped splendidly, and Australia especially has been wanting to send more men into the field an along. We ac- cepted further reinforcemem.o: gratefully from the Commonwealth at the beginning of this year, and they have done their "share 111 bring- ing on the conclusion of a drugging and diffi- cult campaign. Only one or two outstanding incidents of the later mouths of parley and drive "—with mishaps intenening-—need be adverted to, for recent occurrences are closely in mind. Bruce Hamilton captured Field Cornet La: oux and ICrasmns on the 6th of January, and killed Field-Cornet Pretorious and others; while General Opperman was slain by Plumer later at Onverwacht. Botha narrowly escaped, as Steyn had done before him, after a long chase by Iiruee Hamilton, and General B. Viljoen was caught near Ly- denburg. One hundred and thirty-one of De- larey's commando, including Landrost Pot. gieter, were taken on the Jth of February; but De Wet, after much chasing, escaped through the blockhouse line, by cattle rush- ing, on the 9th, having lost 300 of his men in a few days' driving." Colonel Park, with his National Scouts, captured a lot of trouble- some Boers at Nooitgedacht later, but the Boers got an empty convoy of ours and two guns, with 451 men (who had to be released subsequently). Manie Botha was slain, and six hundred odd of the enemy captured in the Harrismith-Van Renan blockhouse line in the last days of February, while on our side Von Donop had 5 officers and 45 men killed, and many wounded and missing, 744 casualties in all. But far and away the greatest matter of interest was the unfortunate capture and de- feat of Lord Methuen by the ubiquitous De- larey, on the 7th of March, with 1200 troop. and 5 guns in the vicinity of Vryburg. Both sides lost heavily, but Delarey won, and Lord Methuen was badly wounded, though he hap- pily recovered afterwards, and was released, the Boers having no convenience for holding prisoners. Since this point, it appears, peace counsels have gradually grown more potential amongst the burgher fighters. Lord Kitchener has allowed conxeieuoes between the leaders of all the Boer commandoes, and though they met him afterwards at Pretoria, and learned precisely what Britain will not yield, it has taken them a very long time to come to grasp the inevitable, and a good deal of long suffer- ing on our side and much speculative an- nouncement on the part of intelligence pro- viders has ensued. We were resolved, atI Mr. Chamberlain said at Birmingham, on the eve of Whitsuntide, that we should end the whole war so that there could be no possi- bility of another "Majuba," and the Boers were reluctant to sacrifice anything they thought they could possibly retain. They had to learn, and to admit at last, that to the TWo tbr belongs the making of terms.