Show i tThs BRITISH IN I r I 1 BULUWAYC 1 u 1i ItI i r I Everyone of Them Are in Immediate Imme-diate Danger f I ROBINSONS LATEST LIES fe MATABELES READY TO KILL EVERY tVHITE PERSON They Will lUse and Strike Just as Soon us Their Warriors are Heard Outside of the Line of Defense Majority of the Leaders Arc DareDevils Dare-Devils AVho Will Stop at Nothing to Accomplish Their Ends APETOWN April IS Copyrighted t Copyright-ed 1896 by the Associated Press ji Military men scouts Dutchmen and Englishmen civilians of all classes veteran troops and government officials r offi-cials concur in the statement that the f governor of Cape Colony Sir Hercules Hercu-les Robinson has not told the truth if lie has notified the home government that Bulavvayo is in no danger It is r evident to everybody here that the British in Buluwayo are in a most critical crit-ical position The chief point of their weakness i3 the smallness of their r numbers and the immensity of the hordes of iatabeles gathering for attack at-tack Then again large numbers of Matabeles presumed to be friendly J have by some excuse or other succeed ed in entering the town and it is well known that they have planned to rise and strike at the British as soon as the warriors of Matabele are heard outside the line of defense Most of the Mata beles in Buluwayo got there by pretending pre-tending to be seeking the protection of the whites and the latter fell into the trap These Matabeles are armed and an outbreak must soon occur It has been stated that Buluwayo is held by 1000 men that is not correct The number of fighting men at Bulu o Tvayo is under 900 and of this small number compared with the 15000 Ma tabeles in the vicinity 300 are reported to have been despatched to hold the Mangwa pass a steep defile with angular an-gular turnings which can be rendered impregnable Other dispatches announce an-nounce that a strong force of the remaining re-maining 600 whites intended to leave I Buluwayo yesterday to attack the Ma tabele impi composed of Lobengulas crack Imbezu regiment from which the native police force who have been shown to have started the rebellion were ecruited This impi is looked upon as the most formidable in or t about Matabeleland in numbers and efficiency i Nobody here can understand why such sortie is permitted It Is feared the awful mistake of Isandulau may be I L repeated The British may be enticed into ambush and while there engaged with overwhelming numbers the main body of the Matabele army may be hurled against Buluwayo and sweep over it in spite of defense and rapid firing guns The great trouble at Bu luwayo seems to be that a majority of the leaders are daredeviled men prone to engage the enemy first and estimate esti-mate the number generally too late In addition to the Imbezu impi it is known that two other formidable Ma tabele regiments are in close proximity I to Buluwayo and it would seem that a rew carefully prepared PLAN OF ATTACK has been drawn up and Is being carried out with skill day by day which gives I additional color to the report that the Boers are behind the whole uprising The battery of Buluwayo according to advices received yesterday is five 7pounders one 12pounder three Maxim Max-im guns one Gardner and one Norden felt rapidfire gun the two latter hayIng hay-ing been sent to tne front by the British Brit-ish flagship St George In addition to these there are several sev-eral old field guns of little use except to consume quantities of powder and C there are about 350 LeeMelford rifles available besides the rifles of the scouts volunteers etc which are of all makes though the majority are Winchesters and MartiniHenrys For the latter the supply of ammunition is fair but there are only about ONE MILLION ROUNDS of cartridges at Buluwayo and those who have seen the Maxims and other rapidfiring guns vomiting fire at the rate of hundreds of shots to a minute know that a million cartridges will not suffice to enable Buluwayo to beheld be-held for any length of time against the repeated attacks of a fierce persistent per-sistent enemy Then to make matters worse it is whispered that the million rounds of cartridges have already been drawn upon and it is hinted that supplies sup-plies must reach Buluwayo shortly or r the worst may be apprehended if there is much further expenditure of ammunition ammu-nition It is known however that 5000 pounds of rifles and ammunition left Mafeking on March 2S under a strong escort and this supply ought to reach Buluwayo shortly Then ANOTHER DIFFICULTY arises It is known that the food supply sup-ply of Buluwayo is slowly giving out mainly owing to the numbers of natives na-tives the town has to feed in addition addi-tion to its white Inhabitants the refugees A refu-gees the garrison and the forces occupying occu-pying the outlying posts It is true eighteen wagons loaded wih provisions 1 are reported to have reached a spot I about sixty miles from Bulwayo where they are laagered awaiting a favorable favor-able opportunity to get in town The garrison has been communicated with and the escort of the provision train is to be strengthened then the wagons trill be ashed on to Buluwayo Thus twIll be seen that steps haveS have-S len taken to relieve Buluwayo with provisions and 500 volunteers are being be-ing hastily equipped and sent to the front Delay IN SPITE OF EVERYTHING must occur and it is possible that the Matabeles may capture the provisions and ammunition trains in which case the situation in Buluwayo would be br desperate indeed It is stated on the other hand that the chiefs of the native tribes of Bech uanaland which the relief forces must traverse have been peaceable in their demeanor up to the present and are helping the government In consequence conse-quence it is expected that numbers of wavering chiefs who remember Ulundi vlll Join the British when they hear that troops are going to the front There Is no change in the situation so far as the Boers are concerned They are continuing their preparations apparently for a great struggle and It is feared here that the fact that the J secretary of state for the colonies Mr Chamberlain thought it necessary to notify President Kreuger that the dispatch c dis-patch of reinforcements to the cape did not Imply a change in the friendly t policy of Great Britain towards the Transvaal will encourage the Boers in their idea that Geat Britain is afraid of them and that It will only require a combined effort on the part of the Transvaal Orange Free State and Cape Colony to dniye the British out of this d part of the world The Boers boast of being able to muster about 60000 fighting fight-ing men and they claim this force can defy the whole British army A d d c d AI ar m H LONDON April IS Copyrighted 1S96 by the Associated PressThe j latest advices received from Buluwayo Matabeleland prove beyond any doubt 1 3 oJ 0 J 2A 0 v 4 I that the town Is in a most critical situation sit-uation It is surrounded in part by a large force of hostile Matabeles estimated esti-mated to numtf from 15000 to 18000 the garrison Is not believed to number 1000 men all told and over onethird of them are either foraging holding strategic positions scouting or trying to keep the roads clear for the provision pro-vision and ammunition trains which are on the way to relieve Buluwayo Besides it is reported that a large number of the remainder of the garrison gar-rison left Buluwayo yesterday to attack at-tack the Imbesu regiment of Mata I beles The announcement made In the house of commons yesterday by Mr Chamberlain that the government intended in-tended to immediately INCREASE THE STRENGTH I of the garrison In South Africa has caused great satisfaction here The Middlesex regiment the first one ordered or-dered to sail has been especially chosen I cho-sen as it fought at the Cape In 1S79 There was great elation at Aldershot I camp when the orders to prepare to embark for South Africa reached the Middlesex regiment The soldiers gathered gath-ered together and cheered repeatedly for the queen and the country It is more than hinted that the present pres-ent increase is only a first installment of a large reinforcement of troops which are to be sent to the Cape The conservative newspapers are suddenly alive to the fact that the Cape of Good Hope is of vital importance to Great Britain as being a sort of halfway house to India a most healthy station I etc and they loudly demand that it I be converted Into a military base on a large scale But what is really meant is that Great Britain should prepare for war with the Transvaal without loss of time It is expected that the news of the defeats of the Dervishes will soon reach the Nile and have a salutary effect ef-fect in the Dongola district There is MUCH GRATIFICATION in England at the splendid showing made by the Egyptian troops under British officers and they are said to be becoming reliable enough to be pitted pit-ted against the Dervishes with ever chance of victory Indeed according I to many of the war correspondents the Fellaheen now appears to be equal I to the Soudanese as a soldier The recent defeat of the Dervishes has also had the important result of compelling Osman Digna to evacuate positions around Tokar from whence he has made forays upon the friendly tribes and it has apparently caused a diversion in the Dongola district where the Dervishes have already missed the first opportunity of harrass ing the AngloEgyptian advance guard The line of communication between Askasheh and Wad Ha1fa is now secure se-cure and is patrolled on all sides by friendly chiefs A small party of Dervishes Der-vishes fired into the camp at Ankasheh yesterday evening and vanished in the night immediately afterward Some of Great Britains latest guns will be employed for the first time during the autumn campaign in the Soudan They carry a highly explosive explo-sive shell ten miles and each shell is capable of disabling 200 of the enemy These guns have such a rapidfire capacity ca-pacity that before the first shell bursts three others are on their way in the same direction The government shell foundry has been overwhelmed with orders for the manufacture of projectiles projec-tiles and private contracts for one million shells havebeen given out Is Welcomed ST PETERSBURG April 18 Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria has arrived here and was welcomed at the railroad station sta-tion by the grand duke Vladimir and staff and a number of distinguished Russians The Turkish ambassador and his staff were also present to welcome the prince The latter proceeded to Tsarkoeselo in order to visit the czar To the Cape LONDON April IS General Car rington the British commander at Gibraltar has been ordered to the Cape of Good Hope in order to take I command of the British forces at Mat abeleland He is a veteran in South lplln warfare I |