Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-19
Butler Has Crossed the
Tugela River.
VOLUNTEERS RESPOND
And the British Army Will Soon Be
Largely Reinl0rced--Fifth division
Will Aid Methuen-Duke of Con-
naught Anxious to Fight.

London, Dec. 19.-The Daily Mail hears
from q hitherto reliable correspondent
that General Butler, after q stiff fight,
crossed the Tugela river. The CORE
%spondent also states that General Me-
thuen's communications are cut.
London, Dec. 19.-4:30 a. m.-The var
office has been in communication with
General Sir William Lockhard. COM
mander-in-chief in India. with a view of
ascertaining what troops can be spared
from his forces, and it is understood that
as a result of these Inquiries a force
will almost Immediately leave Bombay
of seasoned troops, with an ammunition
column and a brigade of artillery, in
Guiding horse and field batteries. 1t is
hoped this force will reinforce General
Butler within a month.
The Duke of Connaught visited the war
office yesterday. Since the appointment
of Lord Roberts as cOmmander-in-chief
in South Africa, the question of rank no
longer bars the duke from going to the
front. and as he has a strong desire to
go it is believed that only the queens
ALa IA IAC oy ~ - AAoN
unlikely that this will be overcome.
Lord Chesham. commanding officer of
the Royal Buckinghamshire yeOmanry.
has been authorized to organize a force
of 5000 yeOmanTy. who will proceed to
the Cape. The yeomanry forces sent out
will be drafted so as to work together
with the mounted infantry and mounted
militia from Canada and Australia.
1t is understood that the volunteers
selected will not form a separate corps,
but will join the battalions of the regular
forces in South Africa. Throughout the
country volunteers are responding with
the utmost alacrity to the official no.
tees. Lord Lonsdale says he believes
the government will only accept from 20
to so men from each yeomanry regiment.
1t is asserted that many officers of the
volunteer regiments are offering to go as
troopers. if not accepted as officers.
The Times says editorially:
free hand, and may be expected to re-
sumo the original plan of campaign
abandoned by General Butler under the
necessity of relieving Ladysmith."
According to a dispatch from Cape
town, General Sir Charles Warren and
his staff have started for De Aar. This
seems to Indicate lat the Fifth division
will be sent to reinforce Lord Methuen,
deciding such a crucial matter and says:
approval, as it is almost everywhere held
tina it would be useless to waste any
more time by frittering away men be-
tween the various columns.
The morning Post, in a rather alarmist
article, remarks upon the difficulty OF
deciding such a cruciol matter and a
Besides three generals in the field, all
of whom need to be reinforced, there is
the rebellion in Cape Colony to be con-
sidered. This makes four pressing calls
on the Fifth division. The trouble is who
=. - -: --a -o ,,I1 ~s,~:
The Morning Post, reviewing the va
rious positions of the b~eleaguered com
manders and garrisons. asserts that the
| relief of Ladysmith is the most important
emergency n that a victory in Nata1
would change the whole face of affairs
1t also points out the urgent need of hav
ing the navy in readiness to move at any
moment to protect the line of commune
cations with South Africa. suggesting that
"a quarrel with some foreign power might
| come any day without any British inten-
ton to have one"
The Daily News, commenting upon the
spontaneous response to the governments
appeal for volunteers from all parts OF
the empire, says the most remarkable
scene of all recorded from the United
States was the demonstration in favol
of the British in the Church of the Mes
siah in New York City. during the dis.
course Of Rev. Minot J. Savage on Sun
day.
The inquiries among Liverpool ship.
owners show that transportation for so,
900 men with horses and equipment car
be ready before the men are prepared tC
start. The government has chartered tht
Peninsular and Oriental Steam Naviga-
ton company's steamers Assaye anC
Ghorka of the Union line.
G. 3. Robinson. the South African mil.
%lionaire. writes to the Daily Chronicle
reasserting that the Beers have unlimited
| supplies of ammunition and ample stores
of food and declaring that all statements
to the contrary should be ignored.
No further news has been received from
Capetown, but the Cape Argus has a dis
patch from a correspondent describing
the battle at Tugela river who says Gen
eral Barton carried the village of Colenst
at the point of the bayonet and under &
raking fire."
The few accounts Of the battle that ar;
! yet to hand fail to give an ccura idea
but the statement that General Cler,
commanded destroys the current de-
that he was engaged In some turnins
movement and that the Tugela river bat,
tie was only part of a large scheme O
operation.