The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-01-16
WAR NEWS FROM LONDON AND
AFRICA.

General White repulsed the Beers.
1T is reported, at Ladysmirh. and with
lgreat loss TO them. English reports.
that may not be trustworthy. are that
they lost IA officers killed, 81 wounded,
and over 500 non-commissionej Off
GERS and men wounded. They claim
that the Beers lost ove- 1000. Hear the
lother side frs. The victory may or
may not be important. The Beers are
not really ~vanquished. They are able
to renew the assault any time they
may elect to 10 so. They ara in much
greater numbers than the Drilish and
can increase their force, while the
british is weaker, and unless relieved.
must meet the next assault with
I~greatly diminished numbers. The
Beers now hold 5000 British prisoners,
and the British loss is quite that num-
her in battle.
MI. Alfred Higgins, of Buffalo, y.
Y, who has been in the Transvaal,
tells The Tribune that England seeks
to deal a vital blow 10 the Transvaal
by cutting off her food supply from the
loutside. Already the Beers hold eight
Thousand British prisoners, and the
iLadysmith garrison will increase this
number TO no less thar 5000. Let Eng
land adhere TO her determination to
cut off the food supply and il is de-
liars to cents that Kruge- will sen2
word that while the TranSvaal pur-
Isues warfare in a civilized fashion, if
food there runs short the Rr:ton must
suffer before the Boer, and that for
England to pursue that course will be
Ito afford graves for $4,000 British SOL
diers within the Boer republic. That's
one point, and another is, tina; with
ILadySmith fallen a for e of Beers
numbering from 5000 to 10000 men
will be released, which can reinforce
the Boz armies already confronting
IMethuen and Butler and make the po-
~lsitions of those sadly harassed generals
more nervous and uncertain tina they
ALREADY are. Mafeking, reading be-
tween the lines, 1 also believe to be in
Ia bad way"
Then all South Africa is a great FIELD
Iof dust, filling the heavens. The Amer
lean traveller and war correspondent,
Julian Ralph, writes from Orange
River:
Its ground is loose dust. Its air is
dust. Its vegetation, animals
and insects are nearly all different
of dust color. AS 1 write, the
men are dissolving mud in itheir pals
and dipping brushes in it to paint
|thair white GIRO nc D1Iy6 anl0r ENyrayI-
pouch and strap and cloth covered
water bottle that would show white or
dark is undergoing this treatment"
In England there rs talk Of a detou~I
by Warrcn's division, Buffers army, soa
to cross tile Tugela river seventeen
miles below Colenso. 1t may be but
other ~sprprise in the effort to do SO.
The London excellent war correspond
emit of The New York Tribune cables
that the British demand the relief of
He says:
General Butler will never be for
given nor the unionist government be-
hind him if Ladysmith, with failing
ammunition be allowed to fall after
it's heroism has been gloriously dis
played. $ : French's casualty list for
III III &C VI IlIC 1aoI
is light, including eleven killed n
wounded. This does not in
clude the miSadVanjture of the Suffolk
battalion, in which twenty-seven were
killed, tw~enty-nine wounded, and 10,
were missing"
The London Morning POST demands
S., 900 additional men to be sent for
ward as soon as possible, and. as i
other contingencies and hap
insists that all the trained
|ment the country possesses, militia and
volunteers, shall be called out, assert
ling incidentally that. although the at
jtitude of other powers is correct in the
diplomatic sense of the word, an inva-
lsion if attempted, would be sudden,
land that now is the, time to apprehend
contingencies.
The Daily Times; editorially defines
1.-THE public opinion of the continent as
in q state which should not be ignor-
ed 1t calls for greater vigilance than
lever on the part of those responsible
flor the efficiency of the navy and
urges cautious, circumspeot and bust
nesslike diplomacy"
There is talk of a new leader being
sent to South Africa, General Butler,
whose opinions heretofore have met
with marked diSfayor.