The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-05
IooKS SERIOUS FOR BRITISH.
.orp INVESTMENT OF LADYSMITR
Is ABOUT COMPLETE.

rrocuafion of CoIensO Is Bad
s,.n--PrcdictiOn That JOubert Will
,,-i.hdroy From Natal When Bull
perJos His March Toward Pre-
4o.io-Stiu Things Seem Gloomy
Cor GEN. White in Natal-ArtiIlery
D,o1 ot Lndysmith.
1ordon Nov. 5-The evacuation of Col
.uso is undoubtedly a most serious mat
y. s,r the Prfish in Natal, as it not only
,ss.ioss to the complete investment of
Tad,,smith by the Boers, but makes the
-atf of Gen. Sir George Stewart White an
.,,ren,elv difficult operation.
colarso is the point where the railway
..on, radvsmi4h crosses the Tugela river,
rb,c5 is row in flood. The town itself is
- small Importance. 1t is dominated by
49,, hills on The north side of the river,
on4 CO was untenable if the Beers have
advanced as they seemed to have done;
r,oreover only a small naval and colo
NAL force was stato-ed at Colenso.
The seriousness of the evacuation, how
aver lies in the fact that Commandant
General Joubert, while completely invest
inc Sir George White at Ladysmith, can
,siza This Tugela bridge, and II he has
gfBcant troops. can detach a force and
snd If southwark on Pietermaritzburg,
and in any case, by destroying the bridge
and railway, can prevent any relief expe-
Htion ft6m reaching Sir George White
for some time.
Military men optlmistically predict that
Gen. Joubert will withdraw from Natal
Immediately Sir Redvers Buffers force en-
ters the Orange Free State but the latter
cannot be far on his way, for at least
three or four weeks, and even then Gen.
Joubert may not decide to Intercept the
British on the Free States open veldt,
which would suit the British admirably,
but he may wait until the last moment and
then proceed by train back to Pretoria,
and take up strong defensive positions on
the range of hills lying in front of johann
nesburg and Pretoria.
Thus Gen, Joubert might remain in Ma
hl several weeks longer, endeavoring to
force Sir George White into capitulation
the destruction of the Tugela river bridge
Helping him, by cutting off British relief.
British Position Critical.
Moreover, another Boer force is reported
have marched through Zululand in the
direction of Durham, and already to have
reached the Natal frontier Thus 1t will
be seen the position in Natal, taking into
consideration a possible uprising of the
dsa1ected Dutch is most disquieting, and
in fact, may be described as critical.
British reinforcements in any number can
not reach Durham before the end of next
week
A special from Ladysmith, dated Nov.
2 morning, says:
During the night the Beers moved
closer to the British positions, and mount
ed guns in fresh places Meanwhile the
naval guns have been moved to more IA
yorable position, near the town. and COM
mandns some of the Boer batteries.
At o'clock this morning Gen. White
ordered the bOmbardm mt of the enemy,
and the blue jackets opened the bah. The
Beers replied vigorously. They fired
Straight and some of the British were hit.
ceeding for over three hours. So far the
naval guns are the only ones that have
engaged the enemy"
British Guns Good Work.
London, Nov. 5.-Another special dis
patch from Ladysmith, bearing date Of
Nov. ?, says:
The. artillery duel is proceeding splen-
dldly. The British guns are firing three
Shots to the Beers one"
A special dispatch from Cape Town,
GATED Nov. 2, says the Beers occupied
Colesourg, Cape Colony, on Wednesday,
meeting with no resistance from the local
p9Iee who yielded to superior force.
me SAILING of transports for South Afri-
ca loaded with troops, Is now an event of
N"ly occurrence, but the departure of the
steamer kiidonan Castle from Southamp-
Ion Iast evening merits notice, as she is the
largest troopship in the world. and has
i.oe ,iole than 1000 souls on board with their
nus ana weapons, balloons, bridge pom
ooolS machine guns, ammunition, wagons
anu , hundreds Of thousands of other artil-