Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-12-28
DOERS SHOW GREAT ACTIVITY
IN STRENGTHENING THEIR DE-
FENSES AT ALL POINTS OPEN
TO ENGLISH ATTACK.
THE ENGLISH ARE QUIESCENT,
AND APPEAR IN A GENERALLY
DAZED CONDITION.

The Situation at Ladysmith May
Be Desperate, Although All Was
Reported Well on the 26th-It
May BE Weeks Before Roberts
ChurchiIrs Great Pluck shown.
French Excited Over PossibiIi-
ties of Trouble Between England
and America.
LONDON, December $3.50 a. m.
Winston Churchill's new arrival at
Chieveley Camp is perhaps responsible
for some over-coloring of the gravity
of the situation, but all to-day's news
conveys the impression that Butler may
be intending another attack upon the
Boer position.
Certainly the Beers are not inactive.
At both Modder river and the Tugela
they are said to be Strengthening their
forces and extending defense works,
which, in both cases, are seemingly al
most impregnable.
AS showing the difficulty Of obtain
ing accurate information correspond
ent of the Daily News at Cape Town
under date of December 81, announces
that Gen. Butler is coming to Cape
Town to meet Sir Charles Warren and
then both will go to Modder river"
AS five battalions of Gen. Warren's
Fifth division are said to have gone to
Natal, his arrival at Pietermaritzburg
seemed natural.
Dispatches from Chieveley indicate
iZe at Frere before attempting another
attack. Doubtless he will be glad to
retrieve the Colenso reverse before the
arrival of Lord Roberts, yet he is
hardly likely to attempt another 'front.'
al attack. 1t is more likely that he is
preparing to strike should the Beers
make an offensive movement.
Mr.. Churchill's reference to Lady
smith may imply that the situation of
the garrison is more desperate than
had been supposed.
The Beers continue fortifying the
hills commanding the town. Gen.
White, however, photographs thai all
is we'll in Ladysmith on December 26.
Competent military critics in London
regard the campaign as at a complete
deadlock for the present, owing to the
dispersal of the British forces and the
lack of adequate transport. They be-
lieve it will be many weeks before Lord
Roberts is able to organize and to make
an effective move.
The Boer trench work is so good
that it enables the enemy to hold long
line with very few men and to travel
great distances under perfect cover, so
as rapidly to reinforce any point at
tackled.
The Times, which comments editor
tally upon the severe strain, says:
'It is difficult to avoid the conclu-
sion that our troubles are due to the
unreality of the presumably practical
lessons given in the manoeuvreS at AL
der shot
Dispatches from Moder river report
Dutch disaffection in Griqualand West
as growing very serious. In some
towns the entire Dutch population has
JOlu6U the bOtIS.
The rebels have formed a lager at
point about thirty miles west of Mod
der river camp.
1t is also announced that the Beers
have raised the siege of Thurman and
have all withdrawn to Magersfontein.
The Cape Town correspondent of tho
Times under date of Friday, December
22d, says:
Anxiety regarding the attitude OF
the colonial Dutch is steadily growing.
They make no effort to conceal their
sympathy with the two republics and
the only question now is whether If the
military situation is not changed they
will keep from open rebellion.
Even in districts that have not been
visited by the Beers in the eastern part
of the province the Dutch farmers are
riding about armed. This is the case
also in districts only fifty miles from
Cape Town, where seditious move
ment is busily propagated. The British
forces are Inadequate to guard 1000
miles OF communication"
A dispatch to the Times from Mafe-
king, dated Monday, December 18th,
by way of Mochudi, Tuesday, December
18th, says that Lady Sarah Wilson,
aunt of the Duke of Marlborough, who
was captured by the Beers, while act
ing as correspondent for a London pa
per, has arrived there, having been ex-
changed for Viljoen, notorious horse
thief and convict.