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Show Bulkr 3i gainst a Stone Wall j j London, Jan. 25, 9:45 a, m. The I war office has received a telegram I -f stating that General "Warren has I occupied Spionkop. j I London, Jan. 25, 4:13 a, m. The assemblage as-semblage in Pall Mall outside the war office and those privileged to wait in the lobbies, reluctantly dispersed at midnight, after the final word that nothing would be announced. The morning- papers went to press with conjectures con-jectures and forecasts of all sorts, striv-; striv-; ing to guess out something- from Spionkop. Spion-kop. Topography mans s1iow that Spion-kop Spion-kop is the highest part of a rovky plateau. pla-teau. Eastward for eight miles are Boer positions along the Tugela. Northwestward North-westward from Spionkop the plateau j runs gradually up to a great spur of the I Drakenburg. (General Buller's infantry, to reach the summit of Spionkop, must cross a natural glaois three-quarters of a mile wide and climb 500 feet up a steep slope. Nobody here seems to know, not even the war office, what Lord Roberts has done with iiis large reinforcements. Six thousand troops awaited his arrival lit PuTin 'I'nii-n onrj ri n, t Jim, C. finn others have reached there. Military critics are all hoping that a good share of Hiese 12."00 have gone to help General Gen-eral Buller, and they argue that a few days' wait may make him strong enough to overcome the deadlock. There are 19,000 troops at sea. and this heavy weight on the British side is expected to destroy the equilibrium now existing on every lield of operation. opera-tion. The British losses up to date in killed, wounded and captured, according accord-ing to General Buller's last list, totals 8,216 men. The Daily Telegraph publishes the following dispatch from Spearman's farm, dated Tuesday, Jan. 23, 9:30 p. m.: "On Monday Sir Charles Wan-en's forces cannonaded and fusilladed the Boer position west of Spionkop, near the Ac ton Homes road. A lyddite battery bat-tery co-operated with the other batteries batter-ies and Maxims. Certainly the fire was heavy, causing the enemy serious i losses. "The Boers, however, clung desperately desper-ately to their works, from which they are only being very slowly driven. Today To-day the enemy fired their guns oftener, ; using also the captured fifteen-pound- i ers with shrapnel. Our casualties today were les than those of yesterday, f ' "Fighting began about 6 in the morn- ij ; ing and continued until dark, but there i has been nothing like a- general en- i ; gagement. The naval big guns assisted - from Potgieter's Drift in shelling the e Boer position." r A dispatch to the Times from Spear- f man's Camp, dated Tuesday. 9:30 p. m., ' says: "The Boers today had more guns ! and are preparing- to fight almost in- ; terminably, having entrenched their t; - ridges, which stretches in an almost f I unbroken line from the Drakensburg ; many miles eastward. "Firing continued throughout the 'i day. YVe have not advanced any fur- it ther, but we threw up entrenchments l during the night, from behind which f the musketry duel continued from ex- S. actly the same position as yesterday." i The Cape Town correspondent of the f i imoa. teiegranning Tuesday, says: r '( "The Bondites are preparing to seize - ; ,r the first decisive British victory or the i invasion of republican territory as the ; signal for a violent peace agitation. ! They will accompany their appeal to ; magnanimity by covertly hinting that j they are unable to restrain the Dutch colonist? from rising." ; A dispatch to the Daily Mail from f Lourenzo Marquez. dated Wednesday, says: This morning all passengers booked for the Transvaal were stopped ; by government order, with the excep tion of the Russian ambulance corps, who proceeded by special train. A correspondent of the Times at Mod-'. Mod-'. dcr river, telegraphing Tuesday, eays: "The reports of deserters agree that the situation of the Boers at Magers-fontein Magers-fontein is becoming unbearable, because the camp is unsanitary, enteric fever is spreading, and vegetables are wanting. On fhe other hand, the health of the British camp is satisfactory, although the ground has been exhausted by the ; long encampment, and trees have been cut down by insect pest and dust storms." The correspondent of the Times at J Lourenzo Marquez, telegraphing yeater- . clay, and -dealing with the lawlessness ; of the low clans of Boers who are get- l ting beyond the control of the govern- ment and the better class of officials ; who are 'honestly desirous of protecting i life and property, says: "My informants are convinced that the only way to eave the Rand from the fury of the rabble is to cut off the re-l re-l treat of the Boers in the direction of j Johannesburg. The hot bloods among I the Boers are convinced that the war is due to the capitalists, and that the only revenge possible is to dynamite the mines." F. W. Reitz, fhe Transvaal state secretary, sec-retary, ha written a parody on Mr. Kipling's "Recessional." It is entitled "BrogTesesional." and is dedicated to Mudyard Pipling." The first stanza follows: Gods of the jingo, brass and gold. Lords of the world, by right divine. Under who.se baneful sway they hold, r Dominion over mine and thine; Such lords as these have made them nutcii. They have forgotten. They have for-; for-; gotten. United States Ambassador Choate called twice on Lord Salisbury yester-' yester-' day, which was the regular diplomatic |