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Show LULL IN THE BOER WAR 1 London, June 7. 4:35 a. m. Military operations in South Africa are apparently appar-ently at a standstill. For a day or two the tired troops of Lord Roberts are resting, and he is filling the magazines and warehouses at his new base, Pretoria, Pre-toria, preparatory to a long chase after the retiring Boers in the direction of Lydenburg. His cavalry are probably seeking to intercept Commandant General Gen-eral Botha. It appears evident that the Boer commander-in-chief, General Botha, with all his guns, withdrew in good order, probably along the Delagoa Hay railroad, with the view of joining President Pres-ident Kruger. So the ransvaal forces remain practically intact, with Presidents Presi-dents Kruger and Steyn. and General Botha and Secretary of State Reitz all safe and in a position to continue the direction of affairs. The more optimistic see in the fact that President Kruger's wife and General Botha's wife were left at Pretoria an indication that the. president does not count on a long resistance. re-sistance. In any case,"it will probably take Lord Roberts at least a week to oiganize a campaign of pursuit. The military authorities anticipate that the next important news will come from General Buller's direction. Plenty of time has elapsed to complete the turning move at Laing's Nek. A special dispatch from Lourenzo Marquez, dated Tuesday. Junt 5, says: "General Bul'er and Christian Botha met at Laing's Nek. at Buller's request, when a three days' armistice was agreed upon." The dispatch adds that the British have evacuated LTtrecht. A belated dispatch from Mafeking, dated Mav 31, announces the British occupation of Malmania, where ::00 Boers surrendered. Some dispatches are at hand which left Pretoria Monday, while the fighting fight-ing was going on outside the city. They come by way of Lourenzo Marquez. One of them says: "Toward the end of the day. when the British naval guns were shelling the southern forts, a number of projectiles pro-jectiles burst, damaging the suburbs. All day armed burghers have been leaving Pretoria, going east. The greater part of the railway rolling stock has been removed. "General Botha was fighting an essential es-sential rear guard action, his object being be-ing not to defend Pretoria, but to delay Lord Roberts' until the railway switch had been cleared and the main part of the Boer army had started to withdraw! with-draw! The British advance-appears to nave leu open to the Boers the best lfne of retreat along the railway." Possibly Lord Roberts was able to cut the railway before a full retirement Was effected. That Pretoria would be defended was apparently given out after the council of "war, with a view of. misleading the British. Lydenburg. the district to which the provisions originally destined for Pretoria Pre-toria have been diverted, and where a cartridge factory has been erected, and where reserve supplies of all sorts are stored, is a volcanic region of fertile valleys, enclosed by great ramparts of precipitous rocks, penetrated by narrow, nar-row, winding passes. There are herds of cattle in the valleys, and there is much native labor available for fortifying. fortify-ing. Probably the most Important Boer army is at Laings Nek. where both sides are passive. General Rundle and General Brabant have withdrawn a little -southward. General Baden-Powell has extended martial law to the Marco and North Lichtenburg districts. ' Shots were exchanged ex-changed between Boer and British patrols pa-trols eighteen miles east of Mafeking on May 28. Part of the forces lately at Pretoria are reported to have gone westward to meet - Baden-Powell and to make a show of holding the country through which he and General Hunter are moving. ' A dispatch to the Daily Telegraph from Newcastle, dated Tuesday, described de-scribed the Boers there as an unorganized unor-ganized rabble, without flo ur, meat or sugar Their surrender is only a question ques-tion of time. Nevertheless, the correspondent corres-pondent avers they hold strong positions, posi-tions, with a prospect of a safe retreat towards Lydenburg. "It is understood at Newcastle that the British government has approached ap-proached the Natal government with a proposition that Natal shall voluntarily voluntari-ly renounce local self-government for a time in order that a good system of crown government may be instituted for all South Africa, leading in the course of time to federation and the subsequent autonomy of the various states simultaneously. Lorenzo Marques correspondents i attach significance to the number of British warships in Ivbigoa bay. sug- gesting that they are there possibly in . anticipation r' aiding t!i Portuguese j in the event of disturbances on the i Transvaal border. j Lord Roberts telegraphed t the war office as follows: i "Pretoria. June p. m. The oc cupation of the town passed off most ; satisfactorily and th British Hag is : now hoisted on top of the goveriiiiK rit j offices. The troops met with a much more enthusiastic reception than I ::n-I ::n-I ticipated. The Third battalion of the Grenadier guards lined the square I w hen the m.aivh past took place. "'Owing to their having been on duty at some distance around the town. ver few cavalry and in'antry were able to take part in the ceremony. "Several of our o;fi.-.rs w ho had b- en prisoners were among the onlookers." Tht Thirteenth yeomanry battalion, captured by the Roers near I.ir.diey. 'Orange River colony, contains a number num-ber of men in the ranks being closely allied to noble families. Among the officers of-ficers captured are the Ear! of Lei. trim, the Karl of Longford and ih; Karl of Ennismoor. Maseru. Pasutokmd. June, c, . 'trooper of Brabant's horse says in th" last engagement the Boers took four-British four-British prisoners, including an officer, whom they released conditionally. The officers said the Boers between Ficks-bur'g Ficks-bur'g and Bethlehem number fi.Oflt) men. |