The age-herald., 1899-12-28
Ladysmith Garrison is in a Se- /riouS Predicament.
CAMPAIGN A COMPLETE DEADLOCK
Churchilrs Dispatch Says the Men Under General Butler Are Deter mined to Make Hard Fight
 and Vindicate Him

London, December 2.-4:30 p. m.-Win- ston Churchills new arrival at Chiveley samp is perhaps responsible for some over aoloring of the gravity of the situation, lut all of today's news conveys the inn pression that Butler may be intending an other attack upon the Boer position.
 Certainly the Boers 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 almost impregnable
 As showing the difficulty of obtaining accurate informa tion correspondent of the Daily News at Capetown, under date of December 21, announces that General Butler is coming to Capetown to meet Sir Charles Warren and then both will go to Modder river"
 As five battalions of General Warren's fifth division are said to have gone to Natal his arrival at Pietermaritzburg seemed nat ural
 Dispatches from Chieveley indicate that General Buffers forces will remobilize at Frere before attempting another advance. Doubtless he would be glad to retrieve the Colenso reverse before the arrival of Lord Roberts, yet, he is hardly likely to attempt another frontal attack It is more likely that he is preparing to strike should the Boers make any offensive movement.
 MT. Churchilrs reference to Ladysmith may imply that the situation of the garri- son is more desperate than had been sup posed.
 The Boers continue fortifying the hills commanding the town. General White, however, Photographed that all was well in Ladysmith on December 26th.
 Competent military men, critics in Lon don, regard the campaign as at complete deadlock for the present, owing to the dis persal of the British forces and the lack of adequate transports. They believe it will be many weeks before Lord Roberts is able to reorganize and make an effective move
 The Bcer Trench Work
 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 rein- force any point attacked.
 The Times, which comments editorially upon the severe strain, says:
 Tt Is difficult to avoid the conclusion that our troubles are due to the unreality of the presumably practical lessons given in the maneuvers at Aldershot"
 Dispatches from Modder River report Dutch disaffection in -Griquiland west as growing very serious.
 The Capetown correspondent of the Times under date of Friday, December 22, 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 ques- tion now is whether, if the military situa- tion is not changed, they will keep from open rebellion.
 Even in districts that have not been wis., ited by the Boers in the eastern part of the province the Dutch farmers are riding about armed. This Is the case also in dis tricts only fifty miles from Capetown. where a seditious movement Is busily pro- pagating. The British forces are inade- quate to guard one thousand miles of com- munications."
 dispatch to the Times from Mafeking dated December Il, by war of Mochudi Tuesday. December 19, says that Lady Sarah Wilson, aunt of the Duke of Marl- borough, who was captured by the Boers while acting as correspondent for a London paper, has arrived there, having been ex- changed for Viljoen, notorious horse thief and convict.