The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1900-12-27
SITUATION CRITICAL.
Position Of Cape Colony Hangs
In the Balance.
DUTCH ON THE VERGE OF REBELLION
General Kitchener Has Arrived nj
De Aar and Is Taking Prompt
Measures to Stem the Tide
of the Boer Invasion.

LONDON, Dec. GA Cape Town
dispatch says that the regular railway
service between Cape Town and De Aai
has been restored. The report of the de-
struction of bridge south of De Aar
turns out TO be incorrect. Only culvert
was damaged. Trains are running from
DE Aar to Kimberley irregularly. There
are considerable delays elsewhere as the
result of heavy rains.
The position of Cape Colony is hanging
in the balance. According to The Morn
ing Posts Cape Town correspondent cv.
crything depends upon the quantity of
ammunition in possession of the disloyal
Dutch residents. 1,500 of whom have
Joined the Beers in the Philipstown dis
trict alone. Energetic measures have
been taken to stem the invasion, but
there is unquestionably danger that par
ties of Beers will get through into parts
of the colony and gradually raise the
whole Cape into rebellion. Re-enforce-
mcnts can arrive none too soon.
Most of the dispatches from Cape
Town, however, describe the raiders as
doing little harm and as being rapidly in
closed by Lord KitChencr's combination.
Lord Kitchener is in the heart of the dis
affected districts. He has the advantage
of being personally acquainted with local
conditions Last March he supervised the
suppression of the rising which occurred
then. He Is bringing down thousands OF
troops from the north.
The Standards Cape Town correspond
cnt says the loyalists demand that mar
tial law shall be proclaimed throughout
Cape Colony. hut adds, "Such n step is
now impossible owing TO the lack of suf-
ticicnt troops to enforce IT,"
The correspondent of The Daily Mai
at Cape Town says:
'The pro-Boer press are singularly
quiet. They have been made uneasy by
the promptncss and thoroughness of the
military action, but reports from various
parts of the western province foreshadow
perious possibilities.
"A responsible colonist who recently
made tour of the colony declares that
30 per cent of the Dutch are simply wait.
ing for the appearance of resourceful
leader to rebel"
Civil railway traffic has been suspended
largely in all parts of the colony, and the
movements of both the Beers and the
British are almost unknown in Cape
Town. 1t appears that one Boer column
attacked Steynsburg, but was repulsed
and fled, intrenching itself In the noun
tains Another Boer commando captured
party of police at Venterstad. Mounted
colonial troops surprised 300 Beers 10
miles from Burghersdorp Dec. % and
after a brisk interchange of volleys re-
tired with loss of two men.
Lord Kitchener. telegraphng to the
war Office under date of Naaukpoort, Dec.
"a, reports:
'Thorneycroft's mounted infantry have
occupied Britstown without opposition.
The Beers retired to the north in the d-
rection of Prieska. They will be fol-
lowed up"
A dispatch from Durham to news
agency here announces that the Cape to
Cairo telegraph line is now in operation
TO a point 30 miles north of Kasanga
and a hundred miles beyond the southern
end of Lake Tanganyika.
The important news from South Africa
is the arrival of General Kitchener at De
Aar, where, it is stated. he is taking
measures TO crush the Boer invasion of
Cape Colony.