The Topeka state journal., 1899-12-21
METHUEN LOST.
No News of Him Has Reached
London For Some Days.

New York, Dec. PA dispatch to the
Tribune from London says:
There is practically no fresh news
from the seat of war. Further details
of the battle of Colenso continue to
dribble in, but on the whole they do
not add much information. The Posts
correspondent affirms positively that
the Beers captured ten British field
guns Colonel Bullock commanding
the Devon regiment, with three officers
and forty men, was surrounded and all
were taken prisoners by the Beers while
looking for wounded men under flag
of truce.
According to the Chronicles corre-
SpOndent the British mounted infantry
and irregular corps, with two batteries
of artillery, managed to take the Co
lenSO road bridge and eventually cross
the river but the Boer rifle fire pre-
vented them from pushing on, and the
battery was abandoned. Seemingly the
guns were lost on the north side Of the
Tugela and if so, there is little doubt
that they were captured.
The Times says that people who knew
the country consider the BOer position
the strongest in Natal.
Mr.. Burleigh in the Telegraph says
the Beers are digging more trenches
near the river and employing Creusot
gun to shell the English camp.
There is still no news of Lord Meth
Ien His communications have been cut
allow no information as to his dOings
to reach the outer world. Some sensa-
ton has been caused in diplomatic
circles in St. Peters burg by a state
ment that the British ambassador there
had a private audience with the czar
in connection with events in South At
rica-
The chief cause of the uneasiness
which brings back the shadow to Eng
lish faces is a suspicion that the Lady
smith garrison is short of ammunition
hi r1f craa f7afp
The war office does not admit that
Ladysmith is in serious danger or short
of ammunition. but the censorship
somehow has allowed these alarming
reports to reach England. The censor
it is apparent, sometimes falls asleep
or is drugged by too candid and too
inouiSitiVe friends.
DISPATCHED from Colenso are still
coming, but every one bears evidence
of rough treatment from the censor
ship. It is impracticable either to rec
oncile these disjointed. fragmentary ac-
counts, one with another, or to explain
the discrepancies between them and
Cen Buffers report One journal after
another is forced to describe its own
correspondent dispatches as unintelii-
gibIe and there are strong expressions
of disapprOval Of the ruthless manner
in which the censor mutilates the care
fully written press reports after the
battles are fought. There are at least
a dozen questions of fact which re-
main unsettled six days after this bat
tie occurred
The most important of these relate
to the comparative ranges Of the B0er
and British guns, and the circum-
stances in which Longs battery was
lost English are anxious to know
whether Buffers army, with a numer-
ical superiority in guns and with a
higher degree of skill in the service of
them, was without adequate protection
owing to the fact that it was Outclassed
by the Boer artillery. There are a hun
dred details which the public is eager to
learn about the chief battle of the war
and every correspondent is gagged an0
bound and shut off from clear, descrip-
tive work. The English press is much
more dOcile and submissive than the
American press would be in similar cir
cumstances. but it is showing signs of
irritation and is on the poin- of asking
whether the war in South Africa is a.
private enterprise conducted for the
purpose of shielding regulations of fav-
Orites in the field and red tape narti-
nets in the war Office.
Boer accounts of the Colenso battle
are modest and convey the impression
that the Dutch burghers are not unduly
eIated by their victory on the Tugela-