Evening journal., 1900-12-24
Special British Column Now
Is Being Formed
GEN. De WET IS NEAR SENEKEL
Frcnch'S Force, Under General Cor
don, Is Following the Beers
Towards POtcheiStrOOm

London, Dec 24.-The war Office has
received the following dispatch from
Lord Kitchener, dated Pretoria, Dec.
%:
AS far as it is possible for me to
form an opinion from the reports of
officers on the spot, l think the Boer
movement into Cape Colony has been
checked. OF the two forces that en-
tered the colony the eastern is still
north of the ZOutpansberg range, while
the one that entered west appears to
have been turned in the direction of
Britstown and Prieska Our troops are
getting around both bodies, and a spe-
cial column is also being organized
which will be dispatched Immediately
when / know where its services are
most wanted
'The Beers have not received much
assistance in Cape Colony, as far as my
information goes. We have armed
some Of the colonists. who are assist
ing our forces. Railway and telegraph
communication has been much inter-
rupted by the very bad weather.
DE Wet is in the neighborhood of
Senekel. Gen. French, in conjunction
with Gen. Clements, attacked a force
under Beyers. south of the Magalies-
berg. The Beers broke away in
southwesterly direction toward Potch-
efstroom and were followed by Gen.
Gordon with a column of French's
force.
Yesterday evening about 5 o'clock
Clements force was engaged south of
Oliphants Mex, but 1 do not know
yet the result.
THE western column Of Beers oc-
cupied Britstown and cut the railway
south Of De Aar Junction. The enemy
is being followed up.
"Gen. French has been in contact for
two days with the commanders Of
Beyers and Delarey, south of the
Magaliesberg. He is pursuing them.
The enemy have lost considerably and
Commandant Kreuse and others have
been captured.
Gen. Colville engaged two separate
commanders Dec. p near Vlakfontein,
with slight losses, the enemy retiring"
Lord Kitchener's dispatches, breath
ing a confidence hardly justified by
their contents, are almost the only
available news from the seat of hostil-
tiles in South Africa. but kilograms
from Cape Town depict the situation in
anything but roseate hues.
Without believing the assertion Of
the Transvaal agency in Brussels that
5000 Beers have invaded Cape Colony,
II is quite evident that the invasion was
a serious and well planned affair In
connection with this a correspondent
sends an extremely interesting letter.
dated Bethulie, Dec. /, describing Gen.
De Wet and his doings.
"De Wet has never been taken Sc
riously enough" says the correspond
ent. 1T is of little use to pursue him,
as he fights a rear guard action and
gains 20 miles while he is being fought
He is a born military genius, whose
wonderful powers have kept up this
phenomenal resistance.
once he fails, the whole thing could
be crushed in a fortnight. He has
every single commando under his SUI
pervision. All his patrols and columns
march and countermarch on his order.
The forces under his command have
been reduced by his strength of will
TO properly organized army. moving
at his word. The sooner the British
rid themselves of the idea that De
Vets forces are a mere rabble. wan
dering aimlessly, the sooner they will
grasp the need of the determined eff
fort which is necessary to capture him"
Further anxiety has been caused in
Cape Town by the discovery that dur
ing the last two months public bodies
IN out of the way places have requisi-
toned supplies of dynamite. The col
onial government is now endeavoring
to recover possession of these explo-
sives and is removing all stores OF
arms and ammunition from suspected
depots.
Other advices from Cape Town rep
resent the Dutch element in Cape Col
ony as greatly elated over the south
ward progress Of the Beers, and as
boasting that the whole district Of Vic
toria West will join the raiders. tt is
suspected in Cape Town that the force
travelling in Zoutpan's drift is not
body Of Beers, but one of colonialn.
fastening to join the invaders.