Show GEN BULLER DEFEATED boers beers drive back three divisions of his army alen along g the tugela river and capture eleven guns blow has had a most depressing Deo effect on the english but there is no lack of Reso resolution lutien to battle on news caused a panicky feeling in london gen Met huens loss at Magers fontein was black watch regiment lost 42 killed wounded and I 1 I 1 I 1 captured ladysmith Lady smith force in a perilous position new york dec 16 A dispatch to the new york herald from london bays england went to sleep last night without knowing tho the worst news that ras las come from tho the seat ot of war since hostilities began what time the war office received the news ot of gen bullers reverse which was practically a defeat Is not known but it was atter after midnight when it mad made public bullers a leport while tho the report la Is fairly clear it needs elucidation in certain parts but there can be no mistaking the result ut the battle eleven british guns lost attempts tempts it by two columns to cross the river repulsed with heavy losses and a retreat to camp that Is the out outcome come of bullers first attempt to relieve lady smith two points point in bis his report stand out with tremendous significance when the circumstances ot of the reverses experienced perien perlen ced by methuen and gatacre are recalled when he be moved out in full force from Chie chieveley veley early yesterday in morning orning it was his intention to force a passage at one of the two fordable laces on the tugela river but he discovered that this was not feasible ow in ang 0 to the fact that the numbers of t the he boers had been underestimated at Storm bere andyk and agers fontein the came fact was discovered but not until t the be british advance had been surrounded by tho the mobile foe toe again as in these other two engagements the british on the tugela were caught in an ambush the river bed rt t the point selected for gen hilliards column to cross turned out to be lull full of boers who overwhelmed tb the e british artillery it seems almost incredible that the or tillery should have havo approached so near the river without cavalry or even infantry skirmishers having first developed the position colonel I 1 ong cong who was in command of the pat batteries teries seems to have only discovered that the river was full of boers kihen be he got quite close to it with his ahli guns he ile was ives subjected to a galling fire at close range which killed his men inen and horses before he could extricate himself vo mention Is made of any support the infantry try though jt is hardly possible that aho oio batteries would be sent so far forward without comesup port being provided the scouting appears onee moro more to have been very inadequate both tbt number and ex arvet positions of fhe the boers doers seem ta have been unknown to the british it Is 6 difficult to measure the probable bon consequences 09 othe the reverses Sot southern thern natal is secure but it docs does not appear that general buller Duller an can advance again until reinforced meanwhile the situation of Lady ladysmith smith is josf perilous it la is not possible that the news of the reverse will shade in any way the grim determination which now animates the british nation to fight the contest to a finish already the war office is taking energetic steps in the course of the next few days a large largo body of troops is due to ar rive at capetown cape town the seventh division Is to be mobilized and an eighth may also soon reco receive olve orders this is ho so far aa as the united kingdom is concerned the uttermost that can be done with the exception of calling out the last ast re reserves reB erves that can be drawn from the garrison and regular troops the moral fibre fabre of the british empire is ois now being tested as it has bu not been since the indian mutiny and the cri mca mm modder holder river friday dec 15 during the demonstration in force this morning the british guns shell 4 A d the boera doers for a couple of hours the boera boers did not reply until the british were retiring the boera doers aro are further entrenching and strengthening their old defenses with the evident intention of fiercely disputing control of 0 the railroad pretoria dec 16 an official dispatch from the modder river says the boers captured a great quantity of loot including TA ace a cases of cartridges and hundreds of bayonets croat great numbers of the british have retired from in the direction of belmont the loss of the brit mi uh was very great there were heaps of dead on the field the wounded are being attended to too temporarily at bis big farm the sappers and miners must have buffered suffered sever Bev wely elyo the suffered d heavy losses in ta horses I 1 cannot otherwise describe the battle field than as a ead and terrible laughter slaughter monday was for ua us a brilliant victory vIct oryo it haa has new r spirits in our men and will enable them to achieve c gre greater ater deeds cape town advises advices ad vices dec lc 16 adviser from Bulu bay say that a dispatch from dec 6 says that the th echeme of advancing the tho military works was acted well and bad had forced the boers to evacuate the strong commanding fortification northeast of 0 town it was added that the british continued pushing back the boers and were wem then working toward their main siege batteries the british casualties were trifling the boer doer force was ithen hen reduced to about two thousand men with tour four field guns and some siege guns london dec 16 As might have been expected the desperate state of the british arms la in south africa as revealed by the defeat of gen duller buller at tugela river where at one stroke he lost treble the number of guns wellington left in the hands of napoleon during the six years fighting in the peninsula while adding to the determination mi nation ol 01 ot the authorities to send every available man to the front caused something in the nature ot of a momentary panic among the public which was reflected on the stock exchange it is long since the tone of the newspapers and the comment in the clubs and other resorts has been so chastened chasteney chast ened and pessimistic some of the comments go so tar far as to say the crisis la Is so tar far reaching that great britain stands where she stood over a century back when the american colonists men of british and dutch blood were tn in arms the star orders the commandeering of all the great english atlantic liners tor for transportation of reinforcements and says the country must set herself the task of plucking victory out of defeat adding the guilt of the government Is superseded by the danger of the empire we are thinking of a hostile europe we are thinking ot of india and whatever happens we implore tha the government not to move another man from calcutta or bombay bomb a y we remember the mutiny the st james gazette Is also apprehensive of foreign complications and thinks france Is preparing for some venture which will be in the nature ot of a defiance to great britain and urges the admiralty to form a new squadron of the ships in reserve the pall mall gazettes review of the th e situation says it Is no use crying over split milk surprises ot of all sorts must be expected in war our position for defense Is intact nothing has occurred to shake our bellet belief in gen buller let us steadily trust him and furnish him as rapidly as possible with more guns and more horses and men As the day proceeded the attacks of nerves disappeared and the only permanent effect of the serious news was to cause a tighter clenching of fists and a more set determination to achieve the task the country has undertaken der taken departing troops were more vehemently cheered than usual and the troops displayed even a much greater desire to reach the front queen victoria was greatly concerned over cover the recent rC reverses Terses the com mandarin mander ln chief wolseley was at windsor castle when the news arrived and took a ope special clial train b back ack to london BLACK WATCH LOSSES 0 REGIMENT ENIT WAS CUT CIT TO PIECES BY THE BOERS DOERS v london ondon Lo dec dm 16 the reviled list of t the casualties at the batje ue of 3 shows the total to 0 be of which number TO 70 were officers london dec 16 in the casualties it at Magera fontein where oan ck n methuen net met defeat he the black watch were the heaviest sufferers of the rank a and arid rid lie file 42 were killed 18 were wounded ind and III are missing a total of ENGLISH CABINET 6 HASTILY SUMMONED TO MEET AND DISCUSS THE TIIE WAR london dec deat la A hastily summoned meeting of the cab cabinet inot wag held bold at the foreign office this afternoon for the purpose of dealing with the war way crisis i X joseph Mamber cn lain secretary of state tor for the colonies was not pres present elit it at the meeting BULLERS STOBY london dec IG 16 at 1217 1247 this satu saturday aday rooming morning the war office roc elved xi ais ills patch announcing that gen duller had met with a serious reverse losing loosing eleven guns gen buller was attempting to cross the tugela river finding it impossible to effect his object he be ordered a retirement in order to avoid greater losses the following is the text of 0 gen bullers dispatch announcing his re reverse camp dec 15 60 p in I 1 regret to report a serious reverse I 1 moved in full strength from our camp near at 4 this morning there are two fordable ford ablo places in the tugela river and it was my intention to force a passage through at one ot of them they are about two miles apart my intention was tais to force one or the other Wi with thione one brigade supported by a central brigade gen hart was to attack the left drift gen 1111 halyard yard the right road and gen LUt Ll tUelon leton was to take the center and to support either early in the day I 1 saw tsat acin 5 hart would not be able to force a passage and 1 directed him to withdraw rith draw lie ile had however attacked with great gallantry and his bis leading battalion the connaught hangers rangers I 1 fear suffered a great deal col 1 I G brooke was seriously wounded ordered gen hilyard lillyard to advance which he be did and his leading regiment the east surrey occupied colenso station etal lion and the houses near the bridge at that moment I 1 hoard that the whole artillery I 1 had sent to support the attack the fourteenth and sixty sixth field batteries and six navai naval twelve quick under col long had advanced close to the river in longs liongs de alre to be within effective range i it proved to be full of the enemy who suddenly a galling fire at close range killing all their horses and the gunners were compelled to stand to their guns some of 0 the wagon teams got shelter for troops in a donga and desperate efforts were being made to brin bring out the held field guns the fire however nas too severe and only two were saved by capt scholfield Schol neld and some drivers whose names I 1 will furnish another most gallant attempt with three teams was made by ai an officer whose name I 1 will obtain UL 0 the lilt eighteen horses thirteen n were killed and as several drivers were wounded I 1 bould would not allow another attempt as it seemed thai they would be a hel mark life topgallant to ia gallant attempt to force the pa passage asage unsupported by artillery I 1 directed the troops to withdraw which they did in good order throughout the day a consider considerable abla force of the enemy was pressing on my right flank but was kept back by mounted men under lord dundonald and part of gen bartons brigade the day was intensely hot and most trying I 1 on the troops whose conduct was excellent excellent we have abandoned am ten guns and lost by shell fire one the losses ingen in gen harts brigade are I 1 fear very heavy although the p proportion ro portion ot 0 severely wounded I 1 hope Is not large laric the fourteenth and sixty sixth field batteries also suffered severe losses loises we have retired to our camp at the news of gen bullers Bu llera reverse was received rec rece elvea ivea so late that newspaper comment this morning Is confined to perfunctory expressions of extreme regret and disappointment and of the necessity of calmness and redoubled efforts to retrieve the position this latest check Is regarded as the most serious event in great britaina Brit ains military history since the indian mutiny tha the standard says gen bullers dispatch Is deplorable reading it Is the now familiar story of 0 concealed boers and of british troops marching up blindly almost to the very muzzles of the rifles it cannot be doubted that the moral effect will be to aggravate our difficulties over the whole field of operations opera tlona the country has discovered with annoyance and surprise that subduing boer farmers Is about the hardest work wo have entered upon alace the indian mutiny their commandants have shown them selvo selves able ablo to give our generals gene rala useful but expensive lessons in modern tactics the times sara says since the day of the indian mutiny the nation has not been bem confronted with BO so painful and anxious a equation plainly geef ue K bul lera lees advance Is paralyzed for the moment as Oy as lord Met huens and gen Gat acres the depression over the defeat cf great britaina Brit ains trusted and idolized commander Is all the greater as dur ing the last forty eight boure hours there had been reports of the relief of 61 lady smith yesterday the ho war allowed it to ee lie understood that the position of affairs in natal was entirely satisfactory tho ile reaction is all tha the more pronounced on this account the gloomy information came too late to reach tho the service clubs and only a few journalists and stragglers were waiting walting at the war office it bad had hardly been realized aunill now even after the experience of 0 the week that gen buller duller could fall virtually noth ing had been allowed to leak through regarding his preparations but ho fhe public waited patiently in the confident belief that he was such time and precautions sis as would insure success no independent reports of the engagement ga have yet been allowed to come through but gen bullers Bai lors own dispatch tells the bad sad tale in sufficient outline to show teat that the british have been entrapped again by the astute boers it was not anticipated that gen buller duller would make a it frontal attack no critic criticisms lems of Ms movements are made however since apparently he suffered a repulse rather than a defeat and did not push the attack home but broko broke tt it off in the middle so as to gave fave a useless sacrifice of life it Is 13 expected that he will renew the attack shortly immediately on receiving the news the war office decided to mobilize still another division and to replace the losses of artillery the necessary nc reinforcements will be hurried off as speedily edily as possible fifteen transports are due to arrive at cape town between december and january esth with about troops of all orma arma but unless gen buller duller la Is able to renew the attack which Is exceedingly doubtful the british generals will wh be compelled for another fortnight or more to remain on the defensive the latest dispatches indicate the continued bombard bombardment men of Lady ladysmith smith whose po positron sitton ls Is now perilous continued on fourth page GEH GEN BULLER DEFEATED a continued from page rage one london dec 16 the social festivities which usually mark this season of the year in london have never bec so few and far between and they b ev n are r e quite unable to dispel the at banging all classes the br brave e oli chow 0 w kept up by tho the majority of the organs voicing public sentiment Is merely an instance of the griton grit of the british race cut but it la Is powerless to allay the feeling of bitter grief and |