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Show He Will Try to Defeat the British Relievijis: Column on Its March From Durban. ; ; Attack on the English Forces at Mooi River is Now in Progress Pro-gress Still Aiming at Ladysmith. London, Nov. 23. Although it is evi- j dent that the situation in , Natal is again becoming- sufficiently alarming, j nothing can be officially ascertained to allay public anxiety or the curiosity felt regarding the disposition of the reinforcements rein-forcements recently landed' at Durban. The war office, dispatches are confined to a mere recital of a few casualties aS Mooi river, which confirm the reports of skirmishes there, but give no details as to how the engagements happened. The special correspondents are-' only permitted to describe Major General Barton's camp at Mooi river vaguely as large" or "ample." One correspondent correspond-ent says that 7,0'Ki Boers are within twenty-five miles of llowiek Falls, near Pietermaritzburg, and that the inhabitants inhab-itants are fleeing to the capital. Evidently, a considerable force of the enemy is now within thirty or forty .miles of Pietermaritzburg. but it is officially announced from there that no anviniv Tirfvuil h furrison number- I ing l.ooo men with six guns.. General Jouberfs plan, apparently, is j a daring attempt to defeat the British relieving column from Durban in de- tail, while still attempting the redue j tion of Ladysmith. A serious attack on Mooi river camp is now hourly expect- ed. with the object of destroying the bridge at Wester. Should this be .accomplished .ac-complished the Boers would be free to turn their . attention again to Estcourt, Est-court, while if it failed the enemy would retire again on Weenen and rejoin thg investing forces around Ladysmith. Messenger Is Captured. The Boer report, that General Hild-yard's Hild-yard's messenger 'asking General White for assistance -vvas captured causes some uneasiness, but it. is argued that if General Hildyard had not been strong enough to hold out he would some time ago have been ordered to retire to Pietermaritzburg. Pie-termaritzburg. Therefore, small credence cre-dence is given the- story. Nothing is known regarding the food supplies of the garrisons thus isolated. ' It is believed that Estcourt is well provided, pro-vided, but' there is less confidence in the case of Mooi river.-- - ' '- - , I mere is .no turtner news irom tn western frontier, except the list "of casualties, cas-ualties, showing that one trooper was killed and nine were wounded at Kimberley Kim-berley on Nov. 16. and confirming the accounts of the sortie previously reported re-ported from Boer sources. It was announced from Paris thai Colonel Ville de Boise Mareuit. a French officer, has accepted the post of chief of staff to General Joubert in succession succes-sion to Colonel Schiel. the German officer offi-cer who was wounded and taken prisoner pris-oner at Elandslaagte. From the same source it is reported that the Russian officers. Lieutenant Colonel Gonetzki of the guards rnd General Zeetz of another crack Russian regiment, have resigned and are going to join the Boers. - ' ' BOERS ATTACK THE BRITISH. Make a Rush, at Mooi River, But Are ' Repulsed. ' London, Nov. 23. The Daily News has the following from Pietermaritzburg, under Wednesday's date: "Your correspondent managed to escape es-cape from the Mooi river district yesterday yes-terday before the arrival of 6,000 Boers, who are looting the farmsteads in all directions. The Natal Boers, encouraged encour-aged by the successes of the Transvaal ers, joined in the looting. ".The main body of the Boers made a rapid march from Ulundi, southwest of Estcourt, to a point near Nottingham, south of the railway, in a single day. They are within forty miles of Pieter-maritzburg Pieter-maritzburg at the farthest, and it is said they intend to attack the town." A dispatch to the Daily News from Nottingham Road, Natal, dated Tuesday, Tues-day, says the Boers have arrived near there. The Morning Post's correspondent at ; Pietermaritzburg. telegraphing. Tuesday evening, says: "The Boers are now all around Mooi river station, where an-cther an-cther of your correspondents is reported report-ed to be with the troops." The Daily Mail publishes a dispatch from Nauwpoort, -dated Wednesday, which says that a large force under General Methuen has crossed the Orange Or-ange river and is advancing to the relief re-lief of Kimberley. Durban, Nov. 22. About 3,000 Free State Boers . with guns are marching from the west by way of Fort Notting-ham. Notting-ham. The Boers opened fire on the Mooi river camp on the north, but without casualties to the British. Mooi River. Natal. . Nov. 22. Tho British fired several shells which are believed be-lieved to have caused havoc among the Boers, the latter taking advantage of the heavy rain and retiring. The Boer shells were apparently aimed at the bridge. It was a surprise attack, but had been fully guarded against. The British had three wounded. Durban, Nov. 22. Owing to the prox-imity-of tire Boers at Pietermaritzburg it has been necessary to alter the defenses de-fenses of Durban. Estcourt is still silent. All accounts point conclusively to a determined rush cf the Boers toward Pietermaritzburg with a very large force. Seven thousand thou-sand men, with guns, are reported twenty-five miles from Howick. They are said to be under the personal corn-map corn-map d of General Joubert. GEN. JOUBERT IS ACTIVE. Reports From Pretoria That Fall of Ladysmith Is Predicted. Pretoria, Tuesday, Nov. 21. The following fol-lowing dispatch has been received from the Boer headouarters near Ladysmith: "The field comets of the Pretoria commando reported that British gun carriages and some horsemen had. been heard moving last night in Ladysmith Our outposts observed the British endeavoring en-deavoring to sortie towards Lombard's kopje and Buluwana hill, where our I Maxims opened fire. The range was too great, and therefore our artillery began shelling, which drove the British ! bac k. About daybreak the British bat- teries fired upon our positions. Two burghers were wounded. . i "It is supposed that the object of the sorties was to relieve the Estcourt force which had sent an urgent message to Ladysmith requesting aid. The burghers burgh-ers captured the messenger, but finally allowed him to proceed." It is reported the Natal police have captured a number of Transvaal dis-. patch riders. In his latest report General Gen-eral Joubert says: "I am cutting off the retreat of the Estcourt troops to Pietermaritzburg and driving them back on Uie Tugela river." It is also reported that the Boer commander, com-mander, with the forces, near .Ladysmith, .Lady-smith, has "comprehensively surveyed the different points from which the fall of Ladysmith can be insured." FUTURE OF THE TRANSVAAL. Sir Charles Dilke Discusses Peace Offerings Of-ferings to Be Made. London, Nov. 22. Sir Charles Dilke, member, of parliament fer-the forest of Dean division of Gloucestershire, speaking at Chelsea this evening, said:.! "When the British forces enter Bloemfontein, some declaration regarding regard-ing the future will' have'to be made. If. the peace to be offered is one in which the colony can concur, the, Free State will abandon the violent element in the Transvaal forces. "The settlement, in order to pacify South Africa as Canada has been pacified, paci-fied, must be a settlement in which the constitutional position" of Cape Colony and Natal must play the leading part. The-big-'guns and forts must ' be got rid of." ...... CASUALTIES OF THE BOERS, f But Ninety Killed and 200 Wounded! " Since, the War; Began. 4 Pretoria. : Tuesday, "Nov; :21.-The offi-t rial returns-of the Transvaal, casual-i ties since the outbreak of. the war" show that ninety men have been killed and 20 Owounded,' of whom a number havi recovered and returned to the front. Newspaper reports from Cape Colonv say a general rising of the Dutch farmers far-mers is imminent in Natal, and thai the colonial' Boers in those districts which have been proclaimed republican republi-can territory have already joined the Boer forces. TO HELP THE BOERS. j Independent Red Cross Society Form-J ed In This Country. ! New York, Nov. 22. A. committed with John . L. Pruyn of Albany as chairman was organized in this city to assist Red Cross work in the Southj African republics, especially within th Boer lines. The -committee is in n. way allied with the American Re Cross society. . . " The organization was brought abou on the suggestion of an Engrlishmar who made known the poor facilities o the'Boers for caring for their sick am wounded and dead. If sufficient fund, are ent to the committee; the familie of the Boer dead and wounded will b assisted. It is the intention of the com mittee to send all' the money to Thf Netherlands Red Cross, which is in thf field, and needs all the assistance L, can eet. CONSUL MACRUM MUST STAY. State Department Refuses Him Permission Per-mission to Return Home. m Washington, Nov. 22. United States Consul Macrum at Pretoria has asked the state department for leave of absence ab-sence with permission to take advantage advant-age of it at once. He pleads domestic reasons for leaving his post, and offers to place In the consulate as the representative repre-sentative of the United States Vice Consul Attlebury, who is now on the ground. The department, however, refused re-fused to accede to the request, and Mr. Macrum will stay where he is unless he sees, fit to quit his post without permission. per-mission. . - ' It is learned that So far Mr. Macrum has not been prohibited by the 'Boer government from carirz for the welfare wel-fare of the British subjects now in the Transvaal and the Free State, or at least he has not so ratified the state department. There has been some friction encountered in the effort of the British government to secure permission permis-sion for the United'States consul to disburse funds for the benefit of the British soldiers held as prisoners of war. ON STARVATION RATIONS. American Woman Guest of Cecil Rhodes at Kimberley. Henderson, Ky., Nov. 22. Mrs. Nancy Huston Banks,, formerly of this city, the essayist and novelist, is at present the guest , of Cecil Rhodes in the be- leagured city of Kimberley, South Africa. She is there -as correspondent of a London paper, and is in company with Miss -Amalie Kussner. of New-York. New-York. All of these. persons are on starvation star-vation rations. ' ' Mrs. Banks', father. Judge George Huston of Morganiield, is en route to Washington, D. C, to have the state department take steps' for his daughter's daugh-ter's safetv. Mrs. Banks, in 1S93, was one of the prominent members of the World's fair board of lady commissioners. She is quite a talented woman, and is the author of a -number-of -books. - .". Depredations of Boers. Durban, Natal, Nov. 22. A dispatch from the Mooi river says the telegraph line was cut Tuesday evening near Highlands station. The dispatch adds that the railroad station Is in the possession pos-session of a large force of Boers en- camped pear Mitcheson's-' Cutting;. ,-A train bound to Estcourt returned. It only, got a mile and a half northward of the Highlands station.. 'r.ie Natel Stud company's farm has been raided and 300 blooded horses, .valued at ?15,-000, ?15,-000, -have been captured. . " , . Fighting at Maf eking. Pretoria, Tuesday, Nov. 21. General Snyman, who is outside Mafeking, reports re-ports heavy fighting Monday afternoon. The British briskly fired on the French cannon and Boer targets. The Boers replied, re-plied, bombarding the British forts with good effect. The loss of the British is unknown. One Boer was wounded. |