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Show Boers Will Tight Uo Longer. Poplar Grove, Thursday, March 8. President Kruger, who at present is far in the rear, yesterday tried to stop the retreating Boers, who refused to stay. The Bloemfontein police tried to "stop the retreat of the Free Staters, but J.hey declared that they were not willing will-ing to fight any longer, and they blamed President Steyn. ' Pretoria, Tuesday, March 6 (via Lourenzo Marquez, March 8). It is officially stated here that on Sunday-last Sunday-last there was heavy fighting at Dordrecht; Dor-drecht; that the British were repulsed with great loss and that the federals captured three cannon. Osfontein. March 7. Lord Roberts' movement today again thoroughly surprised, sur-prised, outwitted and outmaneuvered the Boers, who lied almost without firing fir-ing a shot. The plan of battle was as follows: General Colville's division extended along the north bank; General Tucker held the center reserve and the guards' brigade had the center advanced. General Gen-eral Kelly-Kenny's division was ordered order-ed to make a huge flanking movement on the Boers' left, following General French, who was instructed to move southeast until nnnosite the Boer flank and then to swing around the rear. I Every movement was admirably ex- I i ecuted and entirely successful. The , ! Boers were surprised, as was evident j ! from the state of the deserted camps, j Twice the British cavalry was almost j in a position to charge, but they admit i that they were foiled by the maneuver- ing of the Boers. When last seen General French was pursuing the enemy vigorously. He was between them and Bloemfontein, about eleven mile from the right wing. Boers Forced to Flee. General Colvill" merely demonstrated against a high mountain occupied by the Transvaal troops, who were now fleeing, in consequence of the flight of the Free Staters south of the river. It is impossible at present to give the Boer numbers, but it is estimated that they reach 14,000, all of whom are now in flight. In the course of the operations the Ninth lancers attempted to get close to the Boers' right with the object of charging, but the Boers came out in great force and the lancers were corn-Celled corn-Celled to retire. A battery was then sent forward to hold the enemy in check while the Grahamstown volunteers volun-teers and a company of mounted infantry, in-fantry, supported by another battery, engaged the Boers on their right flank. The Boers fired shells, falling short, however, and they made a stubborn defense on the kopje on our right, enfilading en-filading the battery and killing eighteen of the battery horses. The mounted infantry in-fantry gradually repelled the Boers and the battery then took a position and expelled them from their laager 4 in confusion. The Boers held a strong position on the north bank of the river, but the flight from the southern bank compelled them to retreat. They showed great adroitness in getting away the wagons, and displayed a bold front while the rest of the force was busy in-spanning. General French's division consisted of three brigades of cavalry, two of mounted infantry and seven horse batteries. London, March 9, 4:15 a. m. The Boers appear to have made no stand whatever, except that while in retreat they twice repulsed General French's cavalry with rifle fire. As no report has been made of the capture of prisoners, prison-ers, the enemy probably got away with their entire force. General French is still following them and keeping between be-tween them and Bloemfontein. The evacuation of the northern districts dis-tricts of Cape Colony is now nearly completr. The British are in possession posses-sion of the railroad crossings. The military critics comment on the discouraging news from Mafeking.' Colonel Col-onel Baden-Powell seems to be in grave need of outside help. . Otherwise he would not allow the correspondents to send out information respecting the distress of the garrison. A readjustment of some of the higher commands is taking place. General White is to go to Stormberg to take supreme su-preme command of General Gatacre's division and the Tenth division, now in process of formation, which will be under un-der the immediate command of General Hunter, Sir George YVhite's chief of staff. The Daily News makes the following editorial announcement: 'It was rumored ru-mored in London yesterday, and we have some reason for believing the rumor ru-mor to be correct, that the two republics repub-lics made informal and unofficial overtures over-tures of peace on the preceding day. "Unfortunately, the conditions suggested sug-gested were of such a character as to preclude the possibility of leading to any result. Terms which might have been gladly accepted before the war. in order to avert it. are impossible after the war. with all the sacrifices it has entailed." The Standard publishes the fallowing dispatch from Poplar Grove, dated March S: "The movements of the mounted men were somewhat too rapid for the supporting infantry, and as a result, the Boer position was turned before the main body could strike effectively. ef-fectively. The Boers fell back precipitately precipi-tately and, extending to the southeast, they checked the advance of the British Brit-ish "cavalry with a heavy rifle fire at S00 yards' range. Accordingly, General French moved southward and outflanked outflank-ed them again, but, the Boers repeated their tactics." Mr. Hallowell. the Daily News correspondent cor-respondent at Mafeking. who passed two months in prison in Pretoria, escaped es-caped last week and was recaptured sixty miles from Pretoria, sends a dis- j patch to his paper, datea Pretoria Jan. March 2. via Lourenzo Marquez. describing de-scribing the misleading news given the Boers by their officers regatdlng the course of the war. He adds: "Great dissatisfaction exists. among the Boers, as their supplies of food, especially es-pecially meat, -coffee and sugar, are very irregular, and many threaten to return to their farms." The Daily Mail has the following from Kimberley. dated Wednesday. March 7: "Benjamin Silpent, born in Russia, and alleged to be an American citizen, has been sentenced to three years' imprisonment at hard labor for signalling to the enemy during the siege." Mafeking, Feb. 19. What may be typhoid malaria has broken out in the women's laager and dysentery, due to the absence of vegetables, is rife among the garrison. YVe are thrown upon our own resources. Such luxuries as I we had are exhausted or have been I commandered for the hospitals which ar filled to overflowing. The children's grave yard, close to the women's laager, grows weekly as the young lives are cut short prematurely by shell and fever. YVe. look with hope deferred for relief. The cheerfulness which was characteristic char-acteristic of the early days of the siege has almost deserted us, the men preferring pre-ferring to remain at their posts rather than move abouo. and work up an appetite ap-petite which cannot be satisfied. The natives are in the worst plight. Those who are unable to obtain work are allowed a small handful of meal daily. Many braving the danger, wander about the town with gaunt and hungry faces in search of work. which entitles them to an extra ration of meal. If they find work they are generally gen-erally too weak to perform it. From their advanced posts the Boers rake the streets and the market square. It is impossible to dodge their bullets. YVe have taken remarkable precaution however, and the casualties though heavy are not what they might have been had less able, men been at the head of affairs. Even the headrpjarters mess fares scantily. Like saints under the altar we cry, "How long, oh Lord, how long". Two hundred and ninety-two persons , have been killed, wounded or have died i of disease. The garrison is so small j that it would be criminal to make its I weakness public, but there is never so much as a whisper. If any one sug- gested" the possibility of surrender, it , is because we do not mean to get beaten I and we are cheerfully enduring the hardships of today rather than to make a surrender in any degree possible possi-ble tomorrow. Pretoria. March 6. A special dispatch from Bloemfontein says that President Kruger addressing a crowd of people said: "Although God is testing our people, my personal opinion is that the limit of the test is nearly reached. If the people are sustained by faith in the time of adversity, God will soon again turn the tide in our favor. If we have strong faith in God he will surely deliver us. The God of deliverance deliver-ance of the olden time is the same God now." The speech of the venerable president brought tears to the eyes of men and women alike. The Free State's Y'olk-lied Y'olk-lied (national anthem) was then sung. I The visit of President Kruger has j done much good and has cheered the despondents. President Kruger more recently has been visiting the commandos south of Ploembontein. Fighting is proceeding at Mafeking. All the outside forts except ex-cept one have been taken by the Boers. Much satisfaction is expressed at the courtesies extended to General Cronje by the British. Secretary of State Reitz has Issued war bulletins in which after saying the government has no official tidings of the surrender of General Cronje, but must accept it as a fact, however painful he adds: "The government remains assured that the surrender will not discourage the burghers in their defense of their independence and standing as a nation. na-tion. The struggle thus far has shown that the republics have vindicated themselves them-selves as an independent people. This reverse will not stagger us. In the struggle for our cherished rights, our belief remains that whatever happens, the Lord still reigns. "Owing to the invasion of the Free State by a large force of the enemy and other circumstances it became necessary to take up other positions hence th ? burghers in Natal have retired re-tired to Blggersberg. All the commandoes com-mandoes have reached there safely, except ex-cept a few who retired in the direction of Van Reenati's pass. Thus Lady-smith Lady-smith and Kimberley are no more besieged. be-sieged. In retiring the enemy was time after time driven back so that our laagers were not cut off. In these fights a few men. were killed or wounded wound-ed and the enemy lost heavily. "In spite of all reports, the spirit of the fighting men as to the outcome remains re-mains unchanged. Among the commandos com-mandos in Natal the burghers are full of courage. General DeWet now commands com-mands all the commandos at the Mod-der Mod-der River. "President Kruger started yesterday evening for Bloemfontein, to visit the laager of the Free State. It is understood under-stood President Kruger's visit to Bloemfontein was to try to arrange a -compromise of the differences between the Trarsvaal and Free Staters." |