The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 18, 1900, Page 13

1 Paoes | ’0&0«0.0;0; *S FEFIAIX Sx RS HOn SEenErOnIReQ 02 FOAP AP AP A PAIAOX & X GAOXOXOXO XS/ [ Ta2 22 22 22 22 The + VOLUME LXXXVII—-NO. 108. SAN FRANCISCO, O %O %SO Pages i | i § $ : § f | | 02 ‘0*0'0'0‘0‘6 SUNDAY, MARCH 18, 1900—THIRTY-TWO PAGES. PRICE FIVE CENTS. RESISTANCE OF FREE STATERS SOUTH OF BLOEMFONTEIN HAS COLLAPSED: Within a Week Lord Roberts Will Probably Be Able to Commence the March Northward to Carry the British Flag Into Pretoria. Once a Week o thei ment s et e @ g the burghers to t B s s e o +.¢,4<~4.>+¢,+0+.100000" 15,000. LJ ONDON, March 18—The L e under General Pole- ( which was sent by Lord R« ands with Clem has ac- its mission, having Norvals Pont. General re is reported to be as far ne Springfontein. This was the chief item of war news| yeste and added to the re- : o here in honor of St. Pat- It is evident that the the Free Staters 1ce of s Bloemfontein has com- pl sed. Even to the 1e Boers-are wing ent activity. The r ross the Modder River found untouched. Jv th ght probable that within a week Lord Roberts will be able to commence the march north 1 to carry the British into Pretoria. When any| man is asked how long thinks it will take to capture svaal capital he will no opinion except that 1y is bringing the ‘Boer | downiall “nearer. Although the correspondents are not permitted to wire any details as to the movements of troops it is clear h from the hints let drop in | more than one message that im- B e e 0«0+0+@~0 @ R e a2 portant steps are in progress. News is expected soon that the little towns of Ladys Brand and | Wepener, close to the Basuto- | land border, have been occupled‘ by the British mounted troops| and that the whole country be-| tween them and Bloemfontein is being closely watched by parrols. | In this manner the march north- ward of any organized body of Boers will be effectually pre- vented. It is also counted on with con- fidence here that the guns and in Peace or War Comes the Soldiers’ Pay Day. capital are to be armed with an agent British are now to be used in the concilia- The 60,000 soldiers with whom well know and appreciate—gold. The for everything had from the burghers, Ities. Once a week, at home or —averaging say $3 80 per week for sum whose expenditure will go he presence of their conquerors. equipment of the forces recently | opposed to Clements, Gatacre and Brabant will speedily be cap- tured. Apparently the men of these commandoes, which prob- | ably consist mostly of disloyal | colonists with a leaven of Free| State Boers, are already tired of | fighting. It is therefore thought ikely that the number obeying will be very limited. There is practically no news rom Natal, safe to infer that nothing is being done there. Nobody here would e surprised to hear that the 3oers had been driven from their lines along the Biggersherg Range and had been forced to reak up in flight for Laings Nek. The Biggersberg “works are reported to be extensive and as hardly to be held by less than e @ + ! @ $ 4 : TheSiege of Mafeking Be- gan on the * 13th of Oc tober, 1899, and HasLast- ed One Hun- dred and Fif- ty-Five Days : Up to This Time, O+ +0-+0+Q Steyn’s summons to Kroonstad | vet it would not be| It is generally | believed that this extensive posi- tion is only a bluff, and that the | Boers’ object is merely to try to gain time and cause the British advance to pause. As has been often pointed out reconnoissance in that rugged country is very | difficult and dangerous. The de- |lay of the British at this point may be of great service to the | Boers, who are desperately en- deavoring to assemble the rem- | nants of their forces in the hope | that they may yet be able to stay | the British advance. SUCCESS DUE TO [ ROBERTS’ PERSONALITY LONDON, March 17.—Spencer Wilkin- son reviews the war news for the past week for the Auoclated Press as fol- lows: “The great secret ot wit 1 personality,” Napoleon safd. “In war the big thing is not men, but man,”’ and the sudden change in the state of the South African war is due to the presence and power of one man—Lord Roberts. Seven years ago I spent.many weeks with hig in India, accompanying him as his guest W English 1% line of Delence. * = = = English 2% line of Defence: WILL MAKE SOME EXAMPLES OF REBELS. British soldiers arresting a suspected farmer in Northern Cape Colony. From Black and White. ‘While a lenient and conciliatory policy has been inaugurated by Lord Roberts toward the people of the Orange Free State, those of Cape Colony who have taken up arms will be dealt with as rebels against their Queen. as the British troops have reoccupied the disaffected districts of Cape Colony those susps€ted sympathies have been arrested and sent to Cape Town for confinement and trlal at a later day. B o S o S S e S e e o s e e o e o o o on his last tour of inspection of the Indian ar- mies. I saw for myself how 200,000 men wor- shiped him. Since his return from India there have been influences strivirg to keep him in the background. The disasters of the winter gave him his opportunity, and now the world sees what he has made of it. When Sherman set out to march through Georgia he asked General Grant for an old chum—Cavalry Officer Wilson, I think—and when Wilson came he sat up half the night talking to Sherman, who, before retiring, sald: ““Wilson, I'll tell you'where Grant beats all the rest of us. He don’t care a damn for what he can’t see the enemy doing, and it scares me like hell Roberts s just like Grant. He Is too big to be disturbed- at anything, and he quietly does just what he means to do. Accordingly his movements have knocked the Boers out ' of time. Dreyfontein turns out, by the losses on both sides, tc have been one of the hardest fought actions of the war. It has finished the Free Staters. Roberts entered = Bloemfontein on Tuesday, and the result has been the complete collapse of Free State resistance. g The railway opened without difficulty to the Orange River, the' rebellion in the Cape col- lapsed, the Free Staters turning round whole- sale. Meantime the Transvaal Boers solemnly declare that they, have made Biggarsberg im- pregnable, but Buller -has no need.to run his head against Bigrarsbers. Lord Roberts, by advancing’ along the Vaal River, would turn Biggarsberg, and the Boers must then be be- tween two armies. The Transvaal Boers may fight on in the hope of forelgn Intervention. They have no other chance, as either British army outnum- bers them and they cannot escape, being be- tween two fires, except by perpetual retreat. But though I can see no chance for them except through intervention I expect the Trans- vaal Boers will fight until the last. as their animosity to the British is deep and rooted. v Boer line of Investment Already as fast of - rebellious acts or Intervention hardly seems likely, as the Brit- ¢ e i ° + ® + -6 their own against heavy odds. and may reach the place in time. him, led perhaps by Kitchener himself. COLONEL BADEN-POWELL, the Hero of Mafeking, on the Lookout for Relief. The first beset and the last relieved will be the story of the slege of Ma- feking if the long-expected and yet delayed succor reaches the little band of defenders before their last ration is gone and their last shot has been fired. For 165 days now have Colonel Powell and his gallant “six hundred” held Colonel Plumer, with relief from Rhodesia, was but thirty miles away on the north when last heard from bn Marck 3, The Kimberley column, which has not, as far as reported, yet crossed the Vaal River, may, however, get there before *P e ePeee® ish navy is an unknown quantity and me’*—o WNQW&W@WQ British nation is quite determined. The fate of Mafeking is uncertain. Al re- cent reports show that despite the great hard- ships the garrison will ‘hold out; that the be- siegers are growing tired and timid, and that relief movements are’in progress north and south, but the ne is_indefinite. WHITE SAYS WAR WILL BE PROTRACTED + NEW YORK, March 17.—In his article on “The Policy o. Mediation,” which serves as an introduction to ‘“The Story of the Boers,” which will be published during the coming week under authority of the Bouth African republics, Montagu ‘White, formerly Consul General of the Transvaal at London, discusses the pos- sibility of mediation on the part of the United ttates and prophesies a long con- tinuance of the war. Mr. White says: ““With regard to the contention that the United States, though willing to use its friendly offices, cannot intervene unless requested to do so by both belligerents, it may be argued that if the two combat- ants jointly desire peace they can dis- pense with the services of a mediator and settle the matter hetween themselves. To remain passive until such a contin- gency arises and then offer to mediate would be a“cheap and tawdry act of be- nevolence. ‘The esscnce of mediation is that a friendly neutral should act spon- taneously and on its initiative. “The end of the war is not yet in sight. “The defensive campalgn is likely to be less dramatic than the events of the last few months, but it ¥ .. be drotracted ana (From a sketch by a British officer sent by a native runner to Buluwayo. Reproduced from the London Graphic.) .o—m-o—o—o—o—o—mmo«w—ofifl%flm*wwwwmwwwwwmwwmm»mfl v | Englishmen, Wearisome even to the cosmopolitan financiers who are so largely responsible for the whole tragedy. Events involving prompt action may easily happen in other quarters of the worlc where the in- terests of Great Britain are far more vulnerable than the issues in South Af- rica, while the shameful inaptitude which brought about this must daily become clearer and clearer to of adroit debaters.” COLONISTS IN ARMS CONTINUE TO SURRENDER BURGHERSDORP, Cape Colony, March 17.—Cclonists who have been in arms con- tinue to surrender. Commandant Dor- mehel’s forces have sent for some one to come and accept their surrender quickly. They appear to be afraid of Commandant Olivier, who, it is understood, threatens to shoot Dormehel if he surrenders. A number of rifles have been stacked at Herschel, but their ownership has not been traced. At Barkley West 200 disloyal persons have surrendered to the Justice of the Peace and 250 more have given up their arms and ammunition at Herschel. i et DUNDONALD’S PATROLS HAVE A SKIRMISH LADYSMITH, March 16.—Lord Dundon- ald’s cavalry patrols reconnoitered the Free Btate border of Natal to the i $ | | | $ a | | | $ i 3 ! | | | { | } | ! | The British § Force Con- sistsof About 600 Men. There Were Besides in the Place When the Siege Be- gan 1000 Ci- vilians and 7500 Natives. e e S : ? Siege of Mafeking—-Sketch Map of Boer and British Lines. ! unnecessary war | in spite of all the sophistry | De Beers Pass, where a slight skirmish occurred, in which two British were wounded. The Boers were also encoun- tered In some strength at Van Reerans Pass and Tintwar Pass, Kaffirs arriving here report that the Boers are manifesting a vindictive spirit under defeat, and that many kraals hith- erto respected have been burned. A number of ambulances attached to the Boer forces were found near Modder | Spruit, having been abandoned by the Boers because they were unable to keep pace with the retreat. They were brought into camp, where the wounded were car=d for. Transports were subsequently sup- plied and the ambulances were sent (o the Boer lines. ONLY THE TRANSVAALERS WILL GO TO ST. HELENA LONDON, March 17.—A dispatch to the Exchange Telegraph Company from Cape Town, dated to-day, says it has been de- cided to send only the Transvaalers to St. Helena, the authorities finding it difficult to prevent conflicts between the Free Staters and the Transvaalers. Colonel Schiol, who was captured In Natal In the early part of the war, has a special sentry at his door to prevent him from doing himself bodily violence. Captain Johnson and Third Officer Bolt- ege of the steamer Mashona, captured by a British eruiser and subsequently re- leased, were drowned In a gale last night. Four others were drowned and a boat's crew from the Cheshire is missing. miens ol ALL CONSULS CO-OPERATING. PRETORIA, Thursday, March 15 (via Lourenzo Marques, Friday, March 16).— The United States Consul, Adelbert Hay, has not received a reply from the United States since he asked for its good offices in behalf of the Boers toward peace. Sec- retary of State Reitz has received a dis- patch from Washington saying that the war was the subject of friendly negotia- tions with the British Government and containing an expression of the Presi- dent’s earnest hopes for peace. All the Consuls dre co-operating for the general good of the whole community. oo e DEPARTURE DELAYED. CAPE TOWN, March 17.—The departure of the transports with the Boer prisoners for St. Helena has been delayed on ac- count of the fact that many Boers have been sick with vagious infectious dis- eases. The authorities are striving to com- plete the isolated hospital by Wednesday and the transports will probably sail that day. ——-— OLIVIER EVACUATES. BURGHERSDORP, March 17.—Tom- mandant Olivier evacuated his position on a hill in front of the British during the night. Several Boers of his force have surrendered. Dr. Dewet, a member of the Cape Par- llament, and his brother have been ar- rested. ittt BOER DEFENSES COMPLETED. GLENCOE, March 15, via Lourenzo Mar- ques, March 16.—The Boer defenses along the Biggarsburg have been completed mdmllulnv&mpuduo-h. pregnable.