The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-02-22


 Wounding of Gen. .MacdonaId-BuIIer
 Said to Have Reached Hills Comma nd .
 ing Ladysmith-Town's Relief Ap-
 parently Assured.
 Cape Town, Feb 21.-A special core spondent of the Cape Argus says: General Cronje is surrounded at Paardeberg Drift, but is offering a stub- born resistance. The British are she'll ing the Boers vigorously and expect to capture the whole force."
 London, Feb. 22.-4 a. n1.-Lord Rob- erts' list of forty nine killed and wound ed officers, including two generals, in the engagement up to Sunday evening, causes anxiety, and especially as in the officers list neither the losses of the Welch and Essex regiments nor those of the mounted infantry are included. This is about the number that fell at Colenso, where the non-commissioned officers and men brought the total loss- es to 500. It is considered strange that, when sending his casualties Lord Rob erts gives no information as to the re- suit of the fighting. If he has sent such report the war office is withholding it.
 Moreover, nothing is known as to what took place Monday, Tuesday and yesterday. This absence of details from Lord Roberts dispatch contrasted with his rather full narratives during the first part of his operations, produces uneasness among military observers. All the comment in the morning papers, both editorial and critical, is threaded with the disturbing suggestion that, despite hard fighting, General Cronje has been able to beat off his pursuers, has escaped, and is being reinforced by rail from Ladysmith and by forces on foot and horseback from northern Cape Colony, as well as the late beleaguers of Kimberley.
 As the correspondents with Lord Roberts are silent, the telegrams from .-Boer sources receive some countenance. The latter aver that General Cronje, WUllG lIc IollllSI1 were eudCeiFOll HIS lO surround him between Paardeberg and Koosdoos Rand, received endorsements under Dewet and that together the Boer commanders fought the British to a standstill.
 However all this may be, public opin- ion here will not be treasured until the war office issues explicit statements of successes, which of course would clear away the gathering doubts respecting the uninterrupted success of Lord Rob- erts' forward movement. No one doubts his ultimate success, but there Is fear of temporary disappointment and that a lot of hard fighting is yet ahead of the British.
 The latest report regarding General Butler circulated in the house of com mons last evening was that an agent of the De Beers company had received a cablegram from Cape Town, which must have passed the censor to the effect that General Barton's Fusiliers' brigade has reached the hills commanding La dysmth. Quite apart from this how ever, and from every other rumor, the early relief of the beleaguered garrison is thought inevitable.
 Many distinguished persons on the way home from the theaters and clubs called at the war office to inquire for | news. The ladies' lobby was open until midnight The arrival at the war office of several prominent officials after elev en o'clock gave substance to report | that important information from Lord Roberts had been received, but an an- nouncement was soon forthcoming that no further bulletins would be posted during the. night.
 A dispatch to the Times from Cra- dock, dated February 19, says: "It is believed here that all danger of colo nial uprising is at an end"
 Winston Churchill in a dispatch from Chieveley dated February 20, eays that he still expects fierce fighting before Ladysmth is relieved and he again urges the imperative necessity of pour ing continual stream of men, guns and supplies into the Cape. He declares that soldiers are wanted in South Af rica, and not at Aldershot. Meanwhile he sees many encouraging signs that the Boers are wearying of the strug- gle"