Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1899-11-10
THE BRITISH REVERSES.
SERIOUSNESS OF THE SITUATION rIrs
IN GEN. WHITES DANGER.
The Eocrs Have Invested Ladysmith and
May Seize 1t and Gen. White at Any Mo-
ment---Gsn. Buller's Services Greatly
Needed.

London. The evacuation Of Col.
enso is undoubtedly most serious mat
ter for the British in Natal, as it not
only testifies to the complete invest
ment of Ladysmith by the Beers, but
makes the position Of Gen. White OK.
tremely difficult.
Colenso is the point where the rail
road from Ladysmith crosses the Tug.
ella river. which Is now in flood.
'he town itself is of small import
ance. II is Dominated by the hills on
the north side of the river, and so was
unterable ii the Beers have advanced,
as they seem to have done. Moreover,
only small naval and colonial force
was stationed at Coleneso.
The seriousness Of the evacuation,
however, lies in the fact that Com
mandant Gea Joubert while complete
~ Investing Sir George White at Lady
smith, can seize this Tugela bridge and
II hs has sufficient troops, can detaeh a
force and send it sssouthward on PETER
smaritzburg, and, in any case, by de-
stroying the bridge and railway, can
prevent any relief expedition reaching
Gen. White for some time. Military
men optimistically predict that Gen.
Joubert will withdraw from Natal i'm
medlately Gen. Sir Redvers Butler 9
force enters the Orange Free State, but
tho latter cannot be far on his way fer
at least three or four weeks, and owe n
then Gen. Joubert may not decide 70
intercept the British on the Free State
open belt, which would suit the Brit
ish admiralty, 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 hill lying in front OF Johan-
nesburg and Pretoria.
Thus Gen. Joubert might remain in
Natal several weeks longer, endeavor-
ing to force Sir George White into cap
itualtion, the destruction OF the Tuge-
la river bridge helping him by cutting
off British relief. Moreover, another
Boer force is reported to have marched
ft,r f,rl, kl,a ,f
Durham, and already to have reached
the Natal frontier.
Thus, 1t will be seen, the position in
Natal, taking into consideration pos
sible uprising Of the disaffected Dutch,
Is most disquieting, and, in fact, may
be described as critical. British rein
forements in any number cannot reach
Durham before the end of next week.
A special from Ladysmith saws:
The Beers have moved closer to the
British positions and mounted guns In
fresh places. Meanwhile the naval
guns have been moved to more favora
BILE posi- tions, nearer the town, and
commanding some of the Boer batter
les.
"At O'Clock Thursday morning
Gen. White ordered the BON bardment
Of the enemy, and the blue jackets
opened the ball. The Beers replied
vigorously. They fired straight and
some Of the British were hit
"a terrible artillery duel proceeding
for the over three hours. So far the
naval guns are the only ones that have
engaged the enemy.
Another special dispatch from Lady
smith, bearing date says:
"The artillery duel is preceding
splendidly. Tne British guns are firing
three shots TO the Beers one.
Advices from Cape Town show that
the people there are beginning to real
ize the seriousness of the situation in
Natal. The merchants are apprehon-
sive Of the Beers overrunning the en-
tire country. and 1t is reported that
many Of them have instructed their
representatives to leave Pietermaritz-
burg.
The sailing OF transports for South
Africa, loaded with troops, is now an
event of daily occurrence, but the Ge-
parture OF the steamer Kidlonan Castle
from Southampton merits notice, as
she is the largest troop ship in the
world and has more than 5000 souls
on board, with their Kits and weap-
ons, balloons, bridge pontoons, machine
guns, ammunition, wagons and hun
dreds of tons of other military neces.
saries.
The vessel was launched on the
Clvda in Anpust last and WAS taken