The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1899-12-09

The war office. laying allowed Cen
eral Buller frss hand. In content 70
laAye ths campaign In his harids and
L'yO,' It's energies 10 The rapid dis
patch OF the fifth and Arth divisions
and the arranging II tho ds-,ails Of the
mobilization Of the seventh.
Military man outside Of THAI Office do
no. ShagNs the uneasy feeling Of the
Times unt the garrison an In a criti.
cal condition and rhai the difficulties
II tbs situation either on the Tugela
or beyond the Modder are Increased by
the lnAc4oD Of the BrttlEh forces.
Thsy assert tins, both Generais Meth
u'u and cIery. being Ia saArchlight
communication with he beleaguered
gJlrrisons know what ls going on and
precisely how urpsnt Is sbe need Of
relief. They alsD maintain that the
Dutch forces have Iefs TO Gan by de-
lay than the Driuah. since concentra-
tlol of forces Is soing on IN both
camps and the reserves Of artillery and
cavalry are more important advan-
tag Tor the two relief columns than
the stn,nsthlng ~ the defencls Of Col
cnsl and Spytfon; Nm Is for the enemy.
The d,ud,iun. whem viewed compre-
hensiyrly AT midnight. was distinctly
favorable 20 the Brithish side and
there was no apparent reason for
hurrying. much icss rushing the cam
plig" General Me'huen. on resuming
command on wednesday. had an addi-
Cional brigade of innlEry another
rvgimant Of lancers and an increased
furoc Of artillery as well as cavalry.
H. Mas Ia much better position for
using tha lnyoa,t and hammering the
ou,mys works with an artillery fire
AMI man.uevering with cavalry.
Their were amplc cOmpenauion for
The delay In marding the bridges and II
General CrDnJe had been reanforced
the Dutch allies We're waiker la Natal
and Marcking was safer in c0nse-
quonce OF the conc ,ntraSion Of their
commands around Kimberley.
The lntails uf two sortles by keke-
wich's garrison furnlslcd by the war
otlios. Reuter- and special correspon-
dents proved how We'll 1t WAS able To
pr,iJ.ct its,n Taking advantage OF
tho weakening Of .he besieging forces
by the Withdrawals for the defence OF
MOlder river, Kekwich's men attacked
FIRST the cnemy's centr. and then. right
ufurWari. his right ihnk. captured
laager and four redoubts and destroy
ed a large qua MY uf military stores
ard foods,ufs, II was a timely and
brilliant strlke for which the garrison
deserved Kekewicn'S thanks In gen
rral order.
Their has besl vigorous eutranching
at Spytfontein, but General Cropje will
b, In danger OF having his retreat east
ward To- Jacobsddl cut on when Lord
Methucn advances 40 the attack Meth
uens force is now estimated 10 be fully
l5,OoO men
The grslvest feature OF the situation
in Natal Ia the marked improvement In
the artillery practice CT the Boer bat
teries around Ladysmith. While the
naval gun had knocked out big
Cresot and a nowitzer two more siege
guns had been brought up and, accord
ing to the Times dispatches, three
Cresots, four big howit2eEs, two bat
teuits Of long range field guns and
other heavy ordnance were weakening
steadily, The nuons, moreover. had
been reduced all around in the garri-
son. General Butler not only knows
thoSe facts but has provided So strong
a relief column that the siage will be
practically raised as soon as Clery is
ready to strike the first blow.
Tie british fnrC,s in lower Natal
are nov estimated at 2,OOO men and
General Clcry will have no less than
2OOOO men for operations on either
tank or Colenso. Butler may be- wait
ing for the first six of the Is powerful
howitzers which were sent out from
England. \ single section of this bat
terry arrived at Cape Town three days
ago ana hts lyddite shells would be
source of streng.h for the relief col
umu. Cautious veterans who discussed
the situation last night refused 10 be-
iieve that Ladysmith could be reduced
to eXtremit.es whel so large British
army was enampAd g5 miles away
There was an unconfirmed rumor
during the evening that the Ladysmith
On Monday, Another bulletin WIS that
the garrison was safe on Wednesday
and, unfortunately there was a more .
report that Mr. George
Lynch the corraSp >ndent of the ECno /
had boen captured by the Beers out
side of the British lines. He is n
bminy journalist. an excellent artist
who did good work in the Santiago
and left London at "a hours
notice to represent three journals
The advance of the Free State raid
'rs on pOrdrecht and other towns Of
APE Colony is not regarded as a seri-
MS affair by experts in touch with the
var office General Gatacre is believed
% be under orders to draw them on
md hold them back from reinforcing
he Ouch armies in Natal and on the
Western border He must have over
1000 men on the East London line and
ieneral French cannot have less than
800 available for operating against
'olesburg with 1900 troops at Port
elizabeth, But each general is play
CONTINUED on page ~