Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-24
British Position In the
TrdnSvaal Uncertain.
MAY ABANDON DUNDEE
General Yule May be Forced to Retire
From the Town Which He Cap
tured--L0rd Wellesley Makes an
Important Statement.

ed tends to dispel apprehension caused
by Lord Wolseley's brief summary of
he situation. A Pietermaritzburg dis
patch says that the censor now permits
no message to be sent from the front.
Other dispatches represent the Beers
as Boosting that Dundee is absolutely
cut off and assert that despite the Brit
ish victories the situation is still uncer-
tain.
The Pretoria dispatch giving the report
of General Joubert to the government
evidently refers to the first battle at
Glencoe and the reasons why Command
ant Erasmus failed to come to the as
sistance of Commandant Meyer cannot
be fathomed. Had he done so the British
victory might have been still more dear
ly bought. Probably Commandant
Meyer, having arrived at the rendezvous
first, thought to get all the glory of wip-
ing out the Britishers himself. and OPEN
ed attack without waiting for the 9TH
ers. If so. the Beers suffered badly be-
cause of his hastiness.
1t appears certain, however. that the
brilliant victory at ElandslaaSte was
productive Of no effect for the relief OF
Glencoe and the very reticence and brey-
ity of Lord Wolseley's communication
are only to ominoUs. 1t seems to be
worded to prepare the public for bad
news, and it y only too likely that Gen.
| eral Yulc has been compelled to abandon
the wounded and prisoners at Dundee be-
cause his force is too weak to patrol the
four and a half miles separating Dundee
from Glencoe.
Probably General Yule believes he can
better protect Dundee from an enemy
:- e,>-. IT, ,,-.e1.--,I 49,. nos,
centrating all his available strength at
Glencoe where there are now $500 men
and three batteries. In the meantime eff
forts will be made to reopen the railWay
and to get achievements from Lady
smith.
1t is expected that C~ommandant Eras-
mus has by this time joined Command
ant General Joubert and that their COM
bined columns mounts to some 70, 00)
or l 1000 men, while the Free State Beers,
now threatening Ladysmith from the
east and a column reported to be coming
through Zululand, must be reckoned
with.
In short, General Sir George Stewart
White has been unable TO follow UP his
successes and is obliged to remain at
Ladysmith without being able to restore
railway communication, which is pro-
badly broken at other points beside
Elandslaagte
Thus the enemy are fairly credited
with having isolated Genera Yule'S
brigade and divided the British forces in
Natal. General Yule may find himself
in a tight place, needing all his experi-
ence in Indian and Burmese fights to
eXtricate himself.
1t is quite evident that the war office
has news which has been withheld from
the public and, if the situation as here
sketched is confirmed, Boer victories
may be expected at other frontier
points.
Up to midnight the war office was be-
! sieged with inquiries, the heavy list of
British losses causing much heartburn
ing.
1t is regarded as not impossible that
General White may yet be compelled To
concentrate all the Natal forces at
Ladysmith and await the arrival of the
army corps.
A dispatch to the Times from Coles
burg, Cape Colony, says: The situation
today (Monday) is grave. The Beers
are $50 strong and will be reinforced
from Driekop. No defense is possible.
The town guard will retire on Naauw-
poort ON the appearance of the enemy.
The Driekop force IS estimated at l.oOO
men. The report of the fighting at
Glencoe has been placaded at Bethulie,
frontier town on the East London line.
as a brilliant Boer victory.