| Show WHO IS RESPONSIBLE What Lord Robertss Dispatch to tho War Office Contains London April 17Time War office publishes In the Gazette n i dispatch from Lord Roberts dated February 13th submitting Gen Bullers dispatches dispatch-es describing the Spionkop and other operations from January 17th to January Janu-ary 21th Lord Roberts teas severely with Gen Warren and some others Even Gen Buller does not escape Lord Roberts complains that the plan of operations In not clearly described in tho dispatches After sketching Gen Bullors Intentions as communicated to Sir Charles Warren who commanded com-manded the whole force Lord Roberts points out that Gen Warren seems to have concluded after consultation with bis odlcorH that the flnnlthiK move inrnt ordered bv Gen Ruller wan Impracticable Im-practicable and therefore HO changed the plan oC aUvnnre 31to necesamuH the capture and retention of Spionkop SHOULD HAVE ADAMS10D BULLER Lord Roberts continues As Warren War-ren consldorul It impostlble to make the wide flanking movement which wna rccommnded if I not actually pre l2 erll > ed In the secret instructions ho should forthwith have arq uairm ted Gen Butler with the course hf proposed to adopt There is nothing to show adopt r he did so ornot But It i only fair to Warren to point out that Buller appears throughout to have bueii aware of what was happening WITHDRAWAL FROM SPIONKOP Regarding the withdrawal tom Spionkop the retention of which had become essential to the relief of Lady smith Lord Roberts says I regret to be unable to concur with Duller In thinking Thor croCl exercised wise discretion In ordering the troops to retire re-tire I am of the opinion that Thorny crofta assumption of responsibility and authority was wholly Inexcusable During Dur-ing the night the enemys lire could not have been formidable and it would not have taken more than two or three hour for Thornycroft to communicate by i messenger with MoJ Gen Coke or Warren Coke appears to have left Spionkop at 930 p m for the purpose of cdnsulting with Warren Up to that hour the Idea of withdrawal had not been entertained Yet almost Immediately Imme-diately aLter Cokes departure Thorny croft issued j the order without reference refer-ence to superior authority which upset up-set the whole plan of operations and rendered unavailing the sacrifices made to carry it into effect IOn I-On the other hand it Is only right to say that Thornycroft appears to have behaved in a very gallant manner man-ner throughout the day WU PENS MISTAKES I is to bo regretted that Warren did not himself visit Spionkop In the afternoon or evening knowing as he did that the state of affairs was very critical and that the loss of the position posi-tion would involve the failure of the operations Ho consequently was obliged to summon Coke to his headquarters head-quarters and tho command at Spion kop thus devolved on Thornycroft unknown un-known to Coke who was under the impression im-pression that the command devolved upon Col Hill us senior olllcer Omission Omis-sion or mistakes of this nature may be trifling In themselves yet they may exercise an Important I Influence I ocr the course of events and I believe 1 Buller was Justified In remarking there was a want of organization and system which acted most unfavorably on the defense WHEttK BLAME RESTS The attempt to relieve Lad smth was well advlsod and I agreed with Duller jn thinking it ought to have succeeded That It failed may In some measure have been due to the dllllcul UPS of the general und the commandIng command-Ing poHlilons held by the enemy arid probably also to errors of Judgment and want of administrative capacity on thc part of Warren But whatever faults Warren may have committed the failure must also be attributed to thc disinclination of the olTlccr liv the Hiipreme command to assert his authority au-thority and see that what he thought best was lon and also to the unwarrantable unwar-rantable und needless assumption of responsibility by a subordinate officer MEN BEHAVED WELL The dispatch concludes The gratifying grati-fying feature of these dispatches is the admirable behavior of the troops throughout the operation Gen Bailers report commenting on Gen Warrens reports of the capture and evacutlon of Spionkop after djs jmtlng the correctness of some of War reiTH assertions and describing the dangerous situation occupied by Warrens War-rens force tells how he saw the force at Spionkop had given away before Warren i knew i of It Buller therefore telegraphed to Warren Unless you put a really good hard fighting man In command on top you will IOHO the hill I suggest Thornycroft LACK OF SYSTEM Gon Buller continues I have not thought It nccescary to order an Investigation In-vestigation I at sundown the defense de-fense had been taken In hand iu trenchments laid out and the dead and wounded removed the whole place would have been brought under regular regu-lar military commands and the his would have been held I am sure But no arrangements erc made Coke appears to have len ordered away Just as he would have been useful and no one succeeded him Those on top of the hill were Ignorant of the fact that limo guns were coming up and generally there was a want of organization organi-zation and system that acted most unfavorably un-favorably on the defense I Is admitted ad-mitted that nil ot Thornycrofts command com-mand acted with the greatest gallantry throughout tho day and really Led the situation But preparations for 117 second days defensive should have been organized during the day and commenced at nightfall As this was not done I think Thornycroft exercised discretion discretionWARREN WARREN EXPLAINS Gen Warren sets forth the fact that the Spionkop operations had not entered en-tered Into his original plans as his instructions were to occupy a plain north of I On consultation with the commanderlnchlef January 21st however when the question of retiring from or attacking Spionkop was discussed dis-cussed Warren expressed his preference prefer-ence for attacking This was successfully fully accomplished by Gen Woodgate Then came the order of the command prlnchief to put Thornycroft In command com-mand on the Hiimmlt In the meantime mean-time Warren had sent Gen Coke up to reinforce him with orders to assume as-sume command EFFORTS TO HELIOGRAPH Ineffectual efforts were made to heliograph Thornycroft and ask whether he had assumed command Toward sunset he was finally enabled to get orders through and concluded the position could bo hold the next day If guns could be provided and shelter obtained Both these conditions were about to bo fulfilled when In the absence ab-sence of Coke whom I had ordered to come and report In person on the situation situ-ation the evacuation look place under orders given on his own rcsnunsibllUv by Thornycroft This occurred in the face o the vigorous protests of Cokes brigade Major and others In conclusion Gen Warren said I Is JL matter for tho commanderln chief to decide whether there will he any Investigation Into the question of kop the unauthorized evacuation of Spion |
