The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-01-02
The Wessengrr.


Hot fire in the rear is often necessary
to make officials do the right thing.
n eur own land there is a large expe-
E3eace in this direction. 1t is strange
hsw often officials betray trusts and
are unfaithful under unusual stress
Il weather. AS difficulties increase
temptations to do wrong multiply, and
the people suffer
There are 5000 foreigners now at
Pretoria, and they are nearly VAIL for
the aid of the Beers. The news is that
volunteers of various countries are held
in reserve. The hostility to the British
Of the Cape Colony Dutch is becoming
more pronounced and formidable every
day:
General Buffers army has been
forced to fall back for three miles. The
defences of the British are wonderfully
extensive and strong. The excellent
London correspondent of the New York
Tribune cables this and 1t shows how
alive and resolute are the Beers:
The Telegraph's correspondent re-
marks on the resourcefulness OF the
Beers in defence. Besides the rows or
trenches on both sides of the Tugela
they have over a width of nearly five
hundred yards placed a most compll-
Gated barbed wire ENHANCEMENT, and
also concealed wire under the water at
the river fords.
AT Magersfontein the Beers have
now constructed nearly twenty miles
of trenches due north of the British
camp"
The report of immediate American
aid for the Beers does not appear to be
well based. If there should be really
an organized movement the Imperial
Government in Washington, Will
promptly suppress it, as it is given out
from mead quarters in Washington.
The first account yet published iii the
United States from the Boer side of
Buffers thrashing, is highly interest
ing, and of course instructive to the
British press. They poured lead into
h British with awful rapidity and eff
feet. They lost but 80 men while Bull
Ter lost 1,O97. The British fought very
bravely as is their wont, but they were
-dreadfully swept n almost annihili-
lated in places. The captured guns are
now held by the Beers. We make an
extract from the interesting report:
Friday at noon the long expected
arrived. The Pretoria detachment Of
artillery gave the alarm. General Bull
ler's Ladysmith relief column was in
battle array, advancing on the BOer pO-
sitio1s close to the Tugeia and Colen-
so. The center consisted of an i'm
mense crowd of infantry, thanked on
each side by two batteries. with strong
bodies of cavalry supporting. The
Boer artillery preserved absolute ST.
IeHce, not disclosing it's position. Two
batteries came within rifle distance of
+oAr foremost position and the Beers
taen opened fire with deadly effect.
Our artillery also commenced, and ap-
parently confused the enemy, who
were allowed to think the bridge was
open for them to cross. Their right
hank in the meantime attacked the
seuthermost position. But the Mauser
rife fire was so tremendous that they
were rolled back like a spent wave,
leaving ridges and ridges of dead and
dying humanity behind. Again the
again fell back, swelling the heaps of
dead. The cavalry charged to the
river, where Ermolo, commando, de-
livered such a murderOus fire that the
W batteries of cannon had to be
abandoned, which the Beers are going
10 bring here"
Some weeks since the Messenger told
Of a boo by an American. Howard Z.
Hf1legan, on the Boer side. He has
been in the Transvaal- He shows up
the gross lies as to the Beers, but he
says the lies have been so long told they
VIII not be forgotten in a hundred
years. He says they originated when
the British forces took possession of
the Cape of Good Hope, and it has con-
tiHued with undated vigor ever since"
His book a this title: Narrative of
the British-Boer Troubles in South
Africa, with a History of the Beers,
the Country and It's Institutions"
AS far back as 1887, the Beers pub
lished to the world their grievances, and
SEATED the auses that led them to leave
their houses occupied by their ances-
tors for $50 years in the Cape Colony
OF which they held u~ndisputed posses
SION. They complained to England blu
get no satisfaction, received no redress
of grievances. 1t suggests the dealings
of George III with the Thirteen Ameri-
can Colonies. In the document of 1887,
the Beers say:
We complain of the unjustifiable
edium which has been cast upon US by
interested and dishonest persons under
the name of religion, whose testimony
il believed in England, to the exclusion
Of all evidence in our favor, n We can
feresee as a result of this prejudice
nothing but the total ruin of the
country.
I'VE are leaving the fruitful land of
oar birth, in which we have suffered
eaormous losses and continual vexa-
tons, and are about to enter a strange
aAd dangerous territory; but we go
with a firm reliance on an al-Seeing
jsst and merciful God, whom We shall
always fear n humbly endeavor to
obey"
Bat the base Slandering, the SySte-
matte Misrepresentation, the deliberate
living continue and Beers are monsters
while their enemies and invaders are
saints.