Show illlUTllSll ll COLONISTS DIENAND TS1AT Im I 1os faR COMPLETELY CRQ StfilED I Humane Treatment After the Waris Not in Accord With Loyalist Cape Sentiment IBo I-Bo r Opinion of the British A Communication that Shows How Firmly the Dutch Mind is Bent on Sweeping the Imperial Rule from South AfricaUnique I r Stories from Ladysmith Women Reported to be Hanging Out the Household Linen Clotheslines While Boer Shells Scream Overhead Capetown Dec SThe war walls and the struggle seems to be In the doldrums dol-drums The British arc not In a position posi-tion to attack apparently the Boers dare not and desultory fighting Is the result This kind of fighting I Is brimful brim-ful o exciting Incidents however most oC which fall to find their way over the cable Notes get through from Ladynmlth In spite of the alleged state of siege Here Is one that if the writers wri-ters statement be true should set at rest the anxieties of those who believe Tadysmlth is about to fall It was sent by a volunteer to his wife a few days ago Just a few lines We have not been able to get any news from the outer world We have been battered with cannon the whole time with the result that they have done us absolutely no damage beyond killing a few mostly natives some horses cattle and a dog Kvon as I write shells are bursting all around us and dont seem to do any harm We have over six months provisions pro-visions so can sit tight and say nothing noth-ing Many days we dont even take the trouble to return their shots AVe let thorn blaze away It amuses them and docs us no hurt at all In fact we should miss It Jf they were to stop Our two last runners were caught by the Boers The Boers say that they have only lost three men since the beginning of the war As a matter of fact the number we have burled of their dead runs into hundreds Other reports from Ladysmlth pic lure the women hanging out clothes to dry while the shells fly over their heads One can get used to most anything any-thing but stories like the last had better bet-ter be taken cum grano sail One story that Is vouched for by the Boer prisoners here who seem to have been deeply Impressed by the bravery 1 of the Cordon Highlanders IJ i that a Gordon on gaining the top of the hill at Elandslaagte placed his gun onL rock and to the Intense surprise of the enemy and In a perfect hailstorm of bullets danced the Highland ding for a few minutes and then continued lighting light-ing ingNinety Ninety of these Doer prisoners from Natal were landed by a tug and were matched accompanied by an armed escort es-cort to prison where all the prisoners are now confined They are allowed to iccclve vHll i from friends to smoke and to read and generally have a very easy time One of the men who arrived ar-rived today had an enormous Red Cross badge sewn on his hat and this moved the crowd of spectators I to laughter Otherwise there was no demonstration The reverses experienced by the British Brit-ish I have caused t great secret Joy among the numerous sympathize of the J oers here but the British colonists arc as conlldent as ever that the result will be the ulllmutc complete defeat of the Invading armies It js j taken ua proven by the lighting at Talano EIllnd lan tc Mafcklng and Kimberley that the Boer Is not a match man forman for-man for the British regular or his colonial co-lonial auxiliaries The Boer ocr wJjelment of Natal through the un readiness of the British is excused on the grounds that to get an army corps COOO miles across the seas into a country coun-try almost unable to provide that army corps with a single necessary of life I lend to operate it far up such a country Is an enormous undertaking Excuses are also made for the abandonment aban-donment of Important posts that to the colonial mind were positions that could and should have been held But what the eolonlstB refuse to overlook Is the placid attitude of the imperial authorities authori-ties In the face of secret t meetings and throats of sedition by the Dutch settlement set-tlement of Cape Colony It Is considered consid-ered an absolute insult to men who have rtood by their country loyally that treason should be Indulged in with Impunity The Cape Colony British are urging the proclamation of martial law Questions that arc being asked on every I hand are Will the colonial Boer rise now or will thoy threaten to rebel In the event of contemplated annexation of the two republics Is our Government going to let the Boers down gently Will they annex the two republics and make crown colonies of them with responsible government the same ns the Cape or arc we going to hand back the country and so show the Boers and the world our bonafides even at a great sacrlllcp of life and national na-tional expense If too much magnanimity is shown it seems not improbable that the imperial Government will have another quarrel 1 on their hands this time with the loyul colonists who are hot for harsh measures meas-ures to bo used when the war ig OllA Oll-A mere demonstration of Englands power will not satisfy them They want a punishing settlement and a final settlement set-tlement to Dutch power In South Africa Afri-ca rue loyal colonists ure certainly doing their share of the fighting A call has Just been made for 1000 men to form another troop of Light Horse and the recruiting olllcers quarters air being besieged by applicants The call comes from Gen Bullcr and Is especially espe-cially welcome to the colonists because of the tendency In previous fights to overlook the irregulars nnd placo too much faith in the disciplined soldiers I usually w lth disastrous results It Is this self ufiielency of the British army leader that led to the easy Boer victories of the past and which has sorely tried the loyalty l of the old colo t LL f 1 + 4 Cdr t J t yti IJ rrt rlti d j l C t 1 I f t ti 1 t fQ A av3 A Halt During the Advance of Gen Methuen on the Orango River r I y > r lamlIG r Fyr r i 15 r i i i I 0 H rt v ti I R i a i t yl h iNcr rti r t I I Ji Sr is ri fe a 1C I t sL 1 The British Sending Up a Captive Balloon to Observe the Boer Movements Move-ments I nisls who wish to see the Imperial forces forces dominate South Africa The contempt of the Boors for the British Brit-ish I regular Is the main cause of the confidence with which he entered upon the present war Says one of the Boer I I leaders In a diMiant note Just received here Your military olllceis we know to he l merely pedantic scholars or frho lous society men without any capacity for piactlcal waifaro with white menThe men-The Afrldls were more than a match for you and your victory over the Sou danese was achieved hecausc those poor people had not a rifle among thorn We know that your men beln I the dregs of your people are naturally feeble and they cannot endure the I hardships of war We know that the entire British race Is rapidly decaying your birth rate Is rapidly falling your children are born weak diseased and deformed and that the major part of your population consists of females cripples epileptics consumptives cancerous can-cerous people Invalids and lunatics of I all kinds whom you carefully nourish and preserve We know that nine tenths of your statesmen and higher I olIlcIaK military and naval are suitor I Ing from kidney diseases which weaken I their courage and will power and makes them shirk all responsibility as far as possible We know that your navy IH big but we know that It Is not powerful and that It is honeycombed with disloyalty as witness the theft of the signal books the assaults on out cots the desertions and the wilful InJury In-Jury of the boilers and machinery which all the vigilance oC the ofllcers Is powerless to prevent Wo know vthat the Conservative Government Is i a mere sham and that It largely reduced the strength of the British artlllorj In 1XSSSO And wo know that it does not dare now to call I tho mllllla for training nor to mol > ollz3 the fleet nor to jrive sufficient grant I to the line and volunteers for ammunition ammuni-tion to enable them to become good marksmen and efficient sokllens Wo know that British soldiers and sailors arc Immensely < Interior ab marksmen not only in Germans French Afildls Chileans Peruvians Belgians and Russians Rus-sians Wo know that no British Government Gov-ernment dares to propose any form of compulsory military or naval training for the British people would rather be invaded conquered and governed by Germans Russians or Frenchmen than be compelled to servo their own Government Gov-ernment We Boers know that we will net bo governed by I a set of British cur but that we will drive you out of Africa altogether and the other manly nations which have compulsory military mili-tary seilco iho armed manhood of Em ope will very quickly divide all your other possessions between them Talk no more of the Ignorance of the Boer or Cape Dutch a few more days will prove your Ignorance I of the British position and In a short space of time you and your Queen will bo imploring the I good olllces of the great German Emperor to deliver you from your disasters I dis-asters for your humiliations are not yet complete For thirty years the Capo Dutch have Been walling their I chance and now their day has come they will throw off their mask and your I yoke at tho same Instant and 00000 Dutch heroes will trample you underfoot I under-foot It will require a good many reverses to the Boers to disabuse their minds I of this opinion of the nation that seeks I to dominate South Africa The spirit of the communication shows what tho I Imperial Government has to contend with here I |