Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-11-13

| London. Nov. 13.-The simulta aneous at
tacks on Ladysmith. Mafeking and kim
/ berley. which opened on Thursday, mani
| fest full recognition by the Beers for the
fact that every day lessons their chance
of successful onslaught on any of the
! three British strongholds
! Jouherts chance of reaching Pieter-
| maritzburg can be said to have vanished
This is already reported to be admitted
by Colonel Schiel. the German officer
comma nding the Roer artillery, who is
| supposed to have been largely the author
OF the Boer plan of campaign, and who
| in an interview is alleged to have said:
''rhe Beers intention was to have cap
tured Pietermaritzburg and then to die
tate terms. But all hone Of accomplish
! ing this must now be abandoned.'
! There is no doubt that from a British
! point of view. the British situation lis
rapidly improving. Nearly 5000 troops
! reached South Africa during the last 4S
! hours, aud by the end of the week from
5000 to 1,C00 more will be addlsd tb the
British strength in Natal. These will
! probably be pushed forward to Estcourt,
| bringing the British force there up to
10000 men and making d general attack
on Ladysnith by General Joubert very
! hazardous.
AS the cavalry and artillery belonging
! To General Methuens division will not
! have arrived by then the advance from
! Lstcnurt may be delayed But if it is
deemed essential Ia open communication
! with the beeaguered town at the earliest
possible moment, General Methuen, it
! is believed, may decide to replace the
rpo1111r caVai,,V ard 1rtillprV hN the
! Natal and outlander mounted forces and
/ the naval guns in which case it is
claimed it ought to be possible to occupy
| Coenso and stretch out a hand to Cen
eral White by Monday. though it is be-
! lieved the course to be followed by
Metheum must necessarily be dictated
/ entirely by the Ocal knowledge of Cen
eral Whites position and resources. and
! experts hope Methuen will be able to
await the concentration of the whole di-
vision before advancing, and thus have
better chance of dealing a telling blow
at Joubert's main army, which, it is as
serted, will be caught between two Brit
! ,sh forces and compelled either to fight
! a general action or retire.
A Drankenspurg dispatch by way OF
Durham, which was brought in by
! kaffir. reporting the severe defeat OF the
| Beers at Ladysmith Thursday, may turn
/ out to be correct but in view of previous
| experiences it must be received with
caution. II appears however certain
/ that heavy fighting occurred and that the
/ lyddite of naval guns must have had
/ dire effect upon the bursher's forces If 1t
reached them.
| A belated dispatch from Ladysmith
dated Nov. 6. by way of Estcourt under
date of Nov g. confirms The idea that the
:! temporary cessation of the Boer bonn
bardrnent was due to Joubert's waiting
| the arrival of other position guns before
| tackling the work in earnest. 1t also says:
| every one is cheerful and confident. We
| can show rigid front for a week to come.
| Hitherto the bombardment has done little
/ damage, Yesterday the Beers sent in
eight wounded from Dundee. We have
been by train to the Beers advance post.
"The Beers consider their success was
due to the business OF their cause. They
have been guilty of abusing the Red
Cross flag News from the south is
scanty. A number of guns are in posi-
| ton all around US. It was difficult at
first to locate them, as they use smoke
! less explosives. but a balloon managed
to discover all POSITIONS
All news from Kimberley and Mafe-
king continues to point to the ability Of
| those places to hold out until plans for
relief now maturing can be eonsum-
! mated