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Show Zbe Zransvaal War London. March 1, 4:50 a. m. General Puller's distinct success in storming Pieters hill brings the res-cue of Lady-smith Lady-smith near, but the war office intimated inti-mated lafit last evening that an immediate im-mediate announcement of relief need not be expected. The goings to and fro at midnight of officials and messengers mes-sengers suggested. that important news had been received. If this were the case. Lord Lansdowne obviously desired de-sired to sleep on it before taking the public into his confidence. As his message reveal a. General Buller's Bul-ler's successful attack came after the hard fighting of Friday, and it was improvised im-provised and its execution begun during dur-ing the armistice of Sunday. In proposing pro-posing the armistice, the British com-mander com-mander stipulated that both sides should be free to move, but that neither nei-ther should do any shooting. He was, therefore, ithin his privileges in immediately im-mediately beginning to transfer hi3 troops. tienerai isuiier s tidings come weighted weight-ed with his long list of casualties. His losses in the four attempts to get General Gen-eral White out aggregate 4,000. Ladyamith is in desperate fttraits. Charles Williams, the military expert, says he learns on very high authority presumably that of Lord Wolseley that "Genera? White's force is almost at its last gasp." "This is not so much," says Mr. Williams, "on account of any lack of provisions or of ammunition, neither of which is yet exhausted, as because of the poisonoua waters of the Klip river and the evil effects of the heat on the Terrain in which the garrison must reside. re-side. Even those who have escaped fever, dysentery and diarrhoea are fn a state of low vitality. They can still man trenches and would probably hold their own against a last desperate desper-ate assault, but they can initiate nothing. noth-ing. General Buller now knows that as units, the regiments will be of no use to him for months. "The water of Klip river is not avail able for drinking, and Co boil it is impossible, im-possible, because' of the scarcity of fuel. It is thick with1 putrid animal matter. Tea made of "it has a suspended sus-pended fibre, something like beef tea. It is caused by the sewage from the Boer camps." Mr. William; acids that when news like this passes under the thumb of the censnr, it more than offsets what- ; ever jolly news may be heliographed : from Ladysmith. j There -is no authoritative indication 1 yet of what Lord Roberts will do next. . It seems likely that a branch railway ; will be built across the veldt to lessen ! the difficulties of transportation. Colo-! Colo-! nel Girouard, who built the Soudan ; railway, is with Lord Roberts. The strain on the western railway is seen ! from the fact that the population of j Kimberley, two weeks after the relief, i continue on reduced rations. Lord ! Roberts' troops thus far have been only ; partially fed. It is quite clear to technical heads) ! that those who talk of an immediate and rapid advance far into the Free State, do not realize the transport conditions. con-ditions. The Boers, as it now appears, have built a railway from Harrismith to Kroomstadt to facilitate the movement move-ment of their troops between Natal and the Free State. Mafeking was holding out on Feb. 16. At that time the Boers were showing unusual activity and firing inflammable ahella. The Boers who hold positions youth of the Orange river have been weakened. Lieutenant Barentzen. writing on behalf be-half of himself and of other Scandinavian Scandi-navian prisoners, affirms that there are no mercenaries in the Boer army, and no volunteers who receive a penny for their services. . A dispatch to the Daily Telegraph, from Colenso, dated Monday, describing describ-ing the famous advance of the Innis-killings Innis-killings on Friday, says: "I saw the first company waver and then break before a sheet of well directed di-rected leaden hail, and within a minute min-ute not a man was left standing. It seemed to me that the brave company Of fusiliers was annihilated. "Shortly afterwards, however, I could see some of them move, then rise, and finally walk quietly to the rear, taking cover. The supporting company com-pany was also cut up, but not so severely. The Boers are placed on high, un-j un-j assailable kopjes, and it would take ten I times their numbers to carry these positions po-sitions successfully. The kopjes com-I com-I mand the railway from Colenso to Ladysmith; and a real right flank at-j at-j tack is rendered impossible, owing to a j high and precipitous ravine, which j opens upon the Tugela, while the left I is too open and void of cover and can-1 can-1 not be seriously considered as a means of assault. "The Boers and British fraternized during yesterday's armistice. It is reported re-ported that 4,000 Boers have left the vicinity of Ladysmith for Dundee." Winston Churchill, in a dispatch from Colenso, dated Tuesday, says: "The condition of. the wounded who were unattended on the hillside Sunday Sun-day was so painful that General Buller Bul-ler sent a flag of truce to the enemy, and it was arranged that throughout Sunday military movements should continue on both sides, but there should be no shooting. This truce terminated at dusk. i "The Boers then resumed a furious musketry attack on the British left. The attack was repulsed. Fighting continues con-tinues vigorously. We shall see who can stand 'bucketing' best, the Briton or. ine.Koer. . ...v Mr. Churchill goes on to say that there is abundant proof of the Boers using a large proportion of illegal bullets, bul-lets, no fewer than 'five' different kinds of exploding or expanding bullets having hav-ing been, found. .. He also asserts that the Boers are employing armed Kaffirs, and he-'adds: .;"'.'. . , .... '! "I have alwaj'3 tried to be fairv toward to-ward the Boers; Jjiit 'after making every allowance it nmsfchdi said that they show, when in 'distress; ; a . very dark, cruel and vengeful .underside of character." char-acter." : S : . -' A dispatch to; the Times from Colenso says: "Before Sunday's armistice many of the British r, wounded had been left out for thirty-six" hours. The Boers gave .them nvater.'' :. .' r . 10 ' The military critic of the .Times, dwelling- -upon' the difficulties facing General-- RuJIer, s-aevs: '"Although his progress hasi not been so great as ceiinci iriKULs uau icu us to expect, ine sacrifices his force has made already have been great. The country is exactly ex-actly adapted to Vhe tactics of a tenacious te-nacious rear guard, and if the Boers continue their resistance with the skill and stubbornnesa hitherto shown, many difficulties remain to be surmounted." sur-mounted." According to a special dispatch from Cape Town, dated Feb. 27. Lord Kitchener Kitch-ener is at Arundel, the Boers are retiring re-tiring to Norvalspont, and all is quiet at Stormberg. In a dispatch from Paardeberg, dated Tuesday, Feb. 27, a staff correspondent saya: "On my first visit to General Cronje's- camp, I was admitted inside, even before the British guard. At every ten paces I came upon the swollen swol-len carcasses of horses or mules tainting taint-ing the air. It seems impossible that ! thousands could have endured such a frightful stench. The river banks were honeycombed with trenches such as had never been seen before in warfare. These were really underground dwellings. dwell-ings. Unless a shell were to drop straight down into the opening, it would be bound to fail to reach them. "The Boers were lying or sitting on the ground. Their faces were haggard and wan. They said there was not a drop of ypirits in the laager. Every countenance showed joy at the end of the dreadful siege. Some of them laughed and said they hoped they would soon get whisky. "Nearly all the Free Staters spoke English, but there was not a word about fighting for liberty, the only expressions ex-pressions being those of joy over their present deliverances. One man, shaking shak-ing his fist in the direction of General Cronje, exclaimed: "That man deserves to be shot.' "Not a Woman or child in the camp had been hurt, except one girl, who showed an injured finger tip. There were heartrending partings between several men and their wives, and many of the women cried bitterly. Several youths of from 16 to 18 years of age -were in the camp. The Transvaalers appeared to have lost their former trucn'.encv." A dispatch to The Timesfr6m Paardeberg, Paar-deberg, dated Tuesday, says: "The ! performance of the Canadians under "an absolutely withering fire which caused them to retire fifty yards until i the. engineers had dug trenches, was splendid. The dim moonlight, and the cloudy sky alone tendered the enemy's point blank fusillade ineffective. The Canadians held the position until dawn. The greatest admiration is expressed for their valor, and it is felt that a new era. has been opened to the empire, now that the Canadians have avenged Ma-juba." Ma-juba." The rapidly growing casualty lists are being classified as quickly as possible. pos-sible. They show that up to this morning morn-ing the total number of casualties was 12,834, of which 2,319 were added during the last fortnight. Ten of the eleven Scotch regiments reach above 2.030 men, and eight of the Irish regiments. 2,000. Then come the Gloucesters and Northumberlands while of nearly 200 colonials the 'Royal Canadians lost 121 and the Victoria mounted contingent twenty-aix. The casualties are classified classi-fied thus: Killed, 1,993- wounded, 6,833; missing, 3,173; disease, 830. ". There has been extravagant rejoicing In Cape Colony and Natal at the surrender surren-der of General Cronje, Crowds of people peo-ple have been parading the streets of the different towns, singing and cheering. cheer-ing. , Flags have been everywhere displayed, dis-played, the warships and merchantmen merchant-men have been dressed with bunting and aalutes have been fired. At Gur- ban. Natal, the stars and stripes have . boen flying alongside the union jack over the town hall. In her dispatch to Lord Roberts, following fol-lowing the announcement of- the surrender sur-render of General Cronje. her majesty said: "Accept for yourself and all under un-der your command my warmest congratulations con-gratulations on this splendid news." Lord Roberts replied as follows: "All under my command are deeply grateful grate-ful for your majesty's most gracious message. Congratulations from their queen are an honor the soldiers dearly-prize. dearly-prize. " General Buller has wired his thanks to the queen for her telegram of gracious gra-cious sympathy and encouragement. The Pietermaritzburg correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, under date of Tuesday, says: "Mr. Gutridge, a con-I con-I tractor who resides at Dundee, after ! being kept in imprisonment at Pretoria Preto-ria for five weeks, was put beyond the ! Portuguese border. He describes the treatment of the British prisoners as . disgraceful. Fever had broken out before be-fore he left, and a Boer doctor told him that the government could not al-. al-. low adequate medical supplies." j s pen "-or H ilkin-ion. commenting on 1 General Buller's operations, says: "It hardly seems as though Tuesday's attack at-tack had covered more than an ad-, ad-, vanced position, covering the Boer i main lines of investment, or that the Boers have abandoned any part of those lines. Otherwise, General Buller and Sir George White would have met the same night. "The next attack ought, one way or the other, to be decisive. Apparently Lord Roberts cannot for some time influence in-fluence the course of events in Natal, and General Buller's force has now-been now-been subjected to a very considerable and prolonged strain. The moment seems opportune to point the necessity of sending General Buller reinforcements." reinforce-ments." Gibson Bowles, conservative member of parliament for Kings Lynn, who was much struck by the statement of Cecil Rhodes the other day that the profits of the De Beers company last year were $2,000,000, and tfrfit there are diamonds in Kimberley now valued at 167,000. intends to suggest to Mr. Balfour, first lord of the treasury, that the rescued property be distributed among the troops as salvage, or at least be applied to the relief of the widows and orphans of the fallen. I Algernon Charles Swinburne has a poem in the Times this morning, under the caption. "The Turning of the Tide," of which the last six lines are: "The winter day that withered hope and pride "Shines now triumphant on the turning tide "That sots once more our trust in freedom free-dom free; "That leaves a ruthless and a truthless foe "And all base hopes that hailed his cause laid low, "And England's name a light on land and sea." |