THE BRITISH IN THE TRANSVAAL.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3161, 16 August 1881, Page 4

THE BRITISH IN THE TRANSVAAL.

A gen'-e-T-an who reoenfcl-v paid a visit to tbe battle-fields nt Laine*'s Nek, Tngogo, an' 1 Amaiuba, tells the Natal Mercury thafc fronall nppesmnces, the British troops muef have fought with dairntleß9 valour at the two first-named engagements. A' good pedestrian, carrying no indispensable weight with him, he tested the ascent of the bill up which the PRfch charged at Tming-'s Nek. lie found himself stopping for breath afc the spot where tbe "British infantry, after an exhausting climb, still pressed on througltbe rain of Boer bullets • be repeats thp statements of the Boers that if the retreat bad not- hppv\ sounded, the Nek would have taken by the 58fch. As regards tho .pr-ond engagement, be contends that tho choice of the r-eosro plateau was like offering the whole of the "British ■ foroo to destruction T!*" TSwr? all round fche rising ground woreunder the safe shelter of rocks, from which they killpd the British in almost complete safety. He traced the lines held by the Boers by the caps and paper cartridge cases of the Westley-Eichards' rifle, still lying thickly strewn behind the cover which surrounds the plateau; and upon the open hillock where the brave British stood firm till they fell, innumerable cartridge cases tell of the incessant firing kept up during the terrible hours which fche soldiers experienced till evening closed in. Ho can only account for the Amajuba disaster by the British being suddenly surprised hv overwhelming numbers who crept up under the cover of shelving rocks ; and he is at n loss to understand how, although fche cartridge remnants of the Boers lie in large numbers on the top of the mountain, the same evidences of the Baitish fire are absent. We may add to this testimony .hat from an officer who was engaged in the three battles, we learn that the British infantry were led up the steep slope at Laing's Nek at such a pace that the men were exhausted when they came into action, and while recovering breath and muscular steadiness, were shot down like bucks. They pulled themselves together and charged gallantly, and those who fell died like men. But mounted officers should not be sent to lead infantry, and the staff offloers who personally showed heroic courage were out of their plaoe in such a charge.