Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-01-17

the following from Pietermaritzburg,
dated Tuesday: Very heavy artillery fir
ing was heard yesterday in the direction
of Springfield.
London, Jan. 1.-THE Exchange Tele-
graph has received the follow
ing dispatch, dated ian 16, from PETER
maritzburg: There is no news from the
front, but heavy firing was heard to-day
in the direction of Frere. 1t is probable
that General Butler is engaging the enc
my.
A rumor is current here that a portion
of the British force is neary Ladysmith.
London, Jan. ia dispatch to the
Daily Mail from Pitermaritzburg, dated
Tuesday, says: There was heavy firing
to the north yesterday. I believe the
Beers are contesting General Buffers
passage on the Tugela. Howitzers are
evidently busy, as the firing is described
as the heaviest yet heard in Natal.
London, Jan. 17.-Even rumors are no
longer telegraphed from Natal. The con-
clusion deducted from this silence by the
military experts generally is that no de-
cisive blow has been struck either way,
as in such an event there would be no me-
cessity for silence.
The South Africa committee to repre-
sent the peace minority announces itself
to the country to-day and asks for sup
port. Among the members are Lord and
Lady Coleride, Herbert Spencer, Sir
Robert Threshie-Reid. George JOIN Shaw
Lefevre, Frederic Harrison, Stephen
Gladstone. the Countess Of Carlisle and
other notable persons.
Leonard Courtney, unionist membe of
parliament, for the Bodmin division of
Cornwall, IS president of the committee.
This movement should be distinguished
from the. stop the w~ar"'group of extrem-
lists of which VIM. T. Stead is the most
active member. Its programme, sum-
married., is to wait until a proper oppor-
tunity arises for some ~peaceable settle
ment, Meanwhile, it will gather and dis
tribute correct information and sound
views. This manifesto affirms that "as
the was was begun amid misunderstand-
ings on both sides a pacific settlement is
possible" There is no indication that
such an arrangement would be tolerated
by any considerable portion of the pub
lie. National emotion is now in a state
of disquietude over the reverses to Brit
ish arms. dissatisfaction with the con-
duct Of military business is intense and
there is an almost universal determina-
ton to see the thing through.
The wal Office has issued riders for the
formation of five new batteries. Some
IoSEt Va NAN SANSAS VI AS Z
sources to b. drawn upon may be gained
from the fact, according to the state
ment of a military expert This morning,
that ar old practice howitzer al Lydd. in
Kent, with which it is impossible to do ac-
curate shooting. but which for some time
has been solely used to test shells. has
been laid under requisition for the front.
Orders have been received at Lydd to
pack this venerable relic with as much
dispatch as possible for embarkation.
- ::A: l~-- .-:1v -
embodied in the course of a fortnight. All
the regulars are now out of the country. I
except fourteen infantry battalions and
eleven cavalry battalions. The war Of
flee has placed ar order for 81, 000, 900 al
tridges in cases.
that it has accepted 5000 out of the 10. 900
which it wishes to raise and still
has $1,000 applicants to be examined. The
Daily Chronicle asserts that the commit
tee was goaded into this statement by the
report that there was no hope of getting
the full number. .
The war office has wired to counter
mand the departure from Egypt Of a
umbe Of officers who were previously
ordered to South Africa.~ The Daily
Chronicle, commenting uponfhis, and p
on other news related to it: says: "There
are some curious reports in circulation
apparently with some authority behind
them-which point to the stoppage of the
dispatch of further reinforcemants when
the troops now mobilized shall have em-
barked. The new cavalry brigade is not
to leave England at present"
The military and civil authorities at the
Cape are in conflict over the treason
cases. A dispatch to the Daily Mail
from SterkstrOm says on this point: "Keo-
and Mel. two Dutchmen who We're
tried by court-martial during Christmas
week, with General Buffers sanction.
were committed on Jan. IL for civil trial,
the court-martial proceedings having ,
been stopped by the intervention of~the
aft0rnnX 0aneral of Cana GnlnnuN