The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-04-19

that the town is in a most critical sit
uation. 1t is surrounded in part by a
large force of hostile Matabeles, esti-
mated to numhe- from $4,000 to lS,0O0;
the garrison is not believed to number
1000 men, all told and over one-thlrd
of them are either foraging, holding
strategic positions, scouting, or trying
to keep the roads clear for the pro
vision and ammunition trains which
are on the way to relieve Buluwayo.
Besides, it is reported that large
number of TIE remainder of the gar
rison left Buluwayo yesterday to at
tack the Imbesu regiment OF Mdta-
beles.
The announcement made in the
house of commons yesterday by Mr..
Chamberlain. that the government in
tended to Immediately
INCREASE THE STRENGTH
of the garrison in South Africa, has
caused great satisfaction here. The
Middlesex regiment, the first one or
dered to sail, has been especially cho-
sen, as it fought at the Cape in 1879.
There was great elation at Aldersnot
camp when the orders to prepare to
embark for South Africa reached the
Middlesex regiment The soldiers gath
cred together and cheered repeatedly
for the queen and the country.
1t is more than limited that the pres
emf increase is only a first inStallment
of a large reinforcement of troops
which are to be sent to the Cape. The
conservative newspapers are suddenly
alive to the fact that the Cape of Good
Hope is of vital Importance to Great
Britain as being a sort of halfway
house to India, most healthy station,
ETC., and they loudly demand that it
be converted into a military base on a
large scale. But what is really meant
is that Great Britain should prepare
for war with the Transvaal without
loss of time
1t is expected that the news of the
defeats of the Dervishes will soon
reach the Nile and have salutary eff
feet in the Dongola district. There is
MUCH GRATIFICATIoN
in England at the splendid showing
made by the Egyptian troops under
British officers and they are said to
be becoming reliable enough to be pit
ted against the Dervishes with every
chance of victory. Indeed, according
to many of the war correspondents,
the Fellaheen now appears to be equal
to the Soudanese as a soldier.
The recent defeat of the Dervishes
has also had the important result OF
compelling Osman Digna to evacuate
positions around Tokar, from whence
he has made forays upon the friendly
tribes and it has apparently caused a
diversion in the Dongola district.
where the Dervishes have already
missed the first opportunity of harrass-
ing the Anglo-Egyptian advance
guard.
The line of communication between
Askasheh and Wady-Halfa is now Sc
cure, and is patrolled on all sides by
friendly chiefs. A small party of Der
wishes fired into the camp at Ankasheh
yesterday evening and vanished in
the night Immediately afterward.
Some of Great Britain's latest guns
will be employed for the first time
during the autumn campaign in the
Soudan. They carry a highly explo-
sive shell ten miles, and each shell is
capable of disabling 200 of the enemy.
These guns have such rapid-fire ca
pacity that before the first shell bursts
three others are on their way in the
same direction. The government shell
foundry has been overwhelmed with
orders for the manufacture of projec-
tiles, and private contracts for one
million shells have been given out.