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Show : I j ' London, Nov. .29. The expected great battle of Modder river has been fought end General Methuen has added another an-other victory to his achievements of the past week. That the Boers defended their positions with all their old time 'gallantry is amply proved by General Methuen's dispatch, and it will probably prob-ably be further testified to when the list of British casualties is made known. There appears to be no doubt that General Gen-eral Methuen has gained a real advantage, advan-tage, though the details must be awaited await-ed before the full effect of his ten hours' v desperate fighting can be guaged. Presumably the burghers army was on the south bank of the river, "but whether when the Boers retreated they crossed the river northward, cr retired in an easterly direction into the Orange Free State, is viknown. Possibly the Boers had repaired the bridge previously previous-ly reported destroyed, and managed to withstand the British attack with their rear guard while their main body escaped es-caped over the bridge, the rear guard destroying1 the bridge behind it. Tliffimlties Atp Rin-mmmtpd- The British, however, appear to have Furmounted the difficulties of crossing the river and to have seized for themselves them-selves a position on the north side of the stream. This success of the British clears another stage of the road to Kimberley, the siege . of which General Cronje must have partially raised in j order to give battle to General Me thuen. I There is little reason to doubt, how ever, that the Boers will again rally as heretofore after a seemingly crushing defeat, unless they lost .their guns, of which there is no mention in the official dispatch. Tho burghers are understood to have a strong laager at Spytfontein. fourteen four-teen miles north of the Modder river, po another engagement possibly awaits The British before they can commence the last stage of the eleven miles from Spytfontein to Kimberley, though it is pointed nut that General Cron.ie will thereby run a great risk of being caught between General ..lethuen and Colonel Kekewieh. the British commander at Kimberley. Foe Always Present. A belated dispatch from Orange river says General Methuen's troops are advancing ad-vancing under the greatest difficulties, lighting an omnipresent, but almost invisible in-visible foe. A special dispatch from Windsor says General Methuen's dispatch dis-patch to the queen, after the battle of Modder river, says: '"The battle was the bloodiest of the I century. The British shelled the en- j emy out of the trenches and then charged. The result was terrible." A revised list of the British casualties at Belmont shows: Offices killed, 4; wounded, 22; non-commissioned officers and privates killed, 46; wounded, 225, of which number the guards had 35 killed and 29 wounded. A revised list of the casualties sustained sus-tained by General Hildyard's forces at the battle of Beacon hill shows: Killed, 13; wounded,. 64; missing,!; prisoners, 8. WAS A HARD FIGHT. General Methuen's Report of the Battle Bat-tle at Modder River. London, Nov. 29. The war office has received the following dispatch -from General Buller: j "Cape Town, Tuesday, Nov. 2S. Gen-j Gen-j eral Methuen reports: Modder River, i Tuesday, Nov. 2S. lieconnoitered- at 5 a. m. enemy's position on River Mod- j tier and found them strongly en- j trenched and concealed. No means of i outflanking, the river being' full. Ac- tion commenced Avith artillery, mounted I infantry and cavalry at 5:30, guard on j right. Ninth brigade on left, attacked 1 position m widely extended formation at 6:M0 and. supported by the artillery found itself in front of the whole Boei force, S.000 strong, with two large guns, four Krupps, .etc. The naval brigade bri-gade rendered great assistance from the railway. -, "After desperate, hard fighting, which lasted ten hours, our men without water wa-ter or food, and in the burning sun, made the enemy quit his position. General Gen-eral Pole-Care w was successful in getting get-ting a small party across the river, gallantly assisted by 300' Sappers. "I speak in terms of high praise of the conduct of all who were engaged in one of the hardest and most, trying j fights in the annals of'the British army. If I can mention one arm particularly it is two batteries of artillery." ANXIETY IN LONDON. "Waiting to Hear Further News From. General Methuen. London, Nov. -30. Twelve hours' re-, re-, flection upon Lord Methuen's brief dispatch dis-patch has only served to increase public pub-lic anxiety and suspense. 1 AH kinds .of speculation . is 'indulged in. ." In the absence ab-sence of any indication as to. whether the Boers occupied the north or south bank of Modder river, the best opinion inclines to the latter theory, and it is pointed out that the British must have been utterly exhausted if they could not follow up the retiring Boers and I crush them as the enemy crowded over I the. bridge, their compulsory line of retreat. re-treat. The Morning Post's military correspondent, corres-pondent, who has usually shown great ability, suggests that the Boers are still on the south side of the river and that the bridge is in their hands. He points out "the great danger to the small British Brit-ish force which crossed on pontoons." The importance attached to this pon-tooning pon-tooning operation is proved by the fact that General Pole-Carew, one of the only two British generals, was selected to superintend it. No word has since - arrived either from Lord Methuen or from Natal. Speculation, therefore, is useless. It is believed that Lord Methuen will be instantly in-stantly reinforced from Cape Town by two battalions of. infantry, a detachment detach-ment of cavalry and a battery of artillery. artil-lery. Colonel Albrecht, who if directing the work of the Boers in opposing Lord Methuen, was originally an officer in ! the Austrian army. He entered the Free , State arjny and soon brought its artil-lery artil-lery to a high state of efficiency. He is ' known as an able artillerist and strategist. strate-gist. Some surprise is expressed at the fact j that Lord Methuen's troops should fight : without food or water. It seems, how- ever, that he is not using tinned ra- tions. He seizes and pays for fresh j J food. Usually he begins a march at I I about 3 o'clock in the morning, after a j breakfast of cocoa. Then he does hi-s j j fighting or marching and afterwards j pitches his camp near the best water, j dining when his transport arrives. His afternoons are given over to resting, j Only bare necessities are allowed. ! As a correspondent describes it, the i British are fighting an omnipresent but almost invisible foe." - Unstinted -admiration is everywhere expressed of ' the splendid work of Lord Methuen's column. With a force really inade- j quate, he has marched fifty-three miles 1 and fought three battles within seven days. While no credence is given to the rumors ru-mors that Ladysmith has fallen, the scare serves to impress the public with the danger, of what is still within the bounds' of possibility. Such a misfortune misfor-tune would probably produce a formidable formid-able revolt among the Cape Dutch. The Daily News says: "Whatever comes, we' must brace our nerves to meet it. Certainly it looks as if we : have before us a very stern and earnest struggle before we see our way clear to final victory." The Times comments on the fact that j thus far the Boers have been able to i compel attacks by inadequate forces j upon their well ehesen positions, while ! keeping the initiative in their own j hands. It says: . "Ample numbers are our greatest j need, and the decision to send out . the ' Sixth division has certainly not been taken too soon. Now that dislojalty in Cape Colony has to be face d, , even greater effort will have to be maae. The only wfse course is to turn to account ac-count the. somewhat bitter lessons of the last six weeks and to emploj- a large factor of safety." fightinTaIFkimbeiiley. British Make aSortieand Attack the Boers at Kig- Pretoria, Nov. 27 Monday General Dutort reports that'the British made a sortie from Kimberley early Saturday morning and fired on the Boers without artillery and infantry in the darkness. The British sortied where the Bloem-hof Bloem-hof Boer force' was stationed. On our (the Boer) side there were ;J00 men. General Dutort, who was nine miles off, hastened to the assistance of the Bloemhof contingent with 100 men. Nine burghers were killed, seventeen wounded and there were some missing. The British left on the field a private and a sergeant. It is reported the British attemnted to leave Kimberley on the east "side to assist the troops from Belmont. Commandant Lubbe n-oc- oi;-trViti-.r The British ao Dii0m.ij nuuimcu. have repaired the damage to the railroad. rail-road. The Free Staters engaged with the British were overwhelmed by numbers, and after a brave stand until the afternoon, after-noon, we were compelled to take up another position on the other side of the railroad. Delarey says it is impossible im-possible to give the number of killed and wounded Boers, but the loss is not great. The Boers had four guns to the British twenty-four. The general says the Free Staters are full of courage. The latter part of the foregoing dispatch dis-patch from- "The Free Staters engaged," en-gaged," evidently refers to either the batrle of Belmont or the battle of Ens-ley Ens-ley or Gras Pan. CLOSING IN0N LADYSMITH. Boers Evidently Preparing For a Determined De-termined Attack. London, Nov. 29. The Standard publishes pub-lishes the following from Ladysmith, dated Tuesday, Nov. 21: "Last Saturday Satur-day I had a whole sackful of my correspondence cor-respondence returned to me, showing the difficulty-.of communicating with the outside world. "The Boers' cannonade continues al-niost al-niost daily, but there have been few casualties. Evidently the object of the enemy is to exhaust the spirits of the British troops by incessant harassing. The prospect .of the British advance from the south has impelled them to redouble their efforts. They are mounting mount-ing more guns and drawing the lines of investment closer." |