The Blandford and Wimbourne Telegram. — 1881-01-07 (Blandford, Dorset, England)

THE TRANSVAAL.  News from Blonifontein contradicts the report that Commandant Raaf has been murdered by the Boers. There are at present two great camps of the insurgents. 2,000 are gathered at Potchefstroom and 2,500 at Pretoria. The Boers are now in possession of the town of Pretoria, which was evacuated by the British troops. These are gathered in the' foi t which the Boers are not likely to be able to take by force. It is now said that there are 300 soldiers in camp at Potchefstroom under Bel Lairs. They were attacked on the 19th, 20th, and 21st, but no impression was made. A thousand Boers took part in the assault. Two hundred were mounted, and the rest on foot. They got within two hundred yards of the camp, and then fell back with seven killed, five badly wounded, and many less severely. On the 22nd, Kruger held a great meeting at Krigpraad, at which it was resolved to sheet-Commandant Raaf and Mr. Collins, .and to starve (nit the garrison of the camp, as it could not be carried by force. The following address is stated to have been signed by a great number of influential persons in Holland.: —"Ti the people of England--It is with deep interest that we, the undersigned, all Dutch citizens, have followed recent events concerning the people of the Transvaal, by descent our own flesh and blood. And we may no longer suppress the feelings of amazement and regret which came upon us when the late Government of England determined to deprive the people of the Transvaal of their national independence, and to incorporate their little territory with the administration of the British Crown. It would be futile here to dwell upon the grounds for .our ' amazement and regret. Already many of yourselves-notably your present Prime Minister--have issued their energetic protest against the annexation ,of the Transvaal as an act both impolitic and unjust. Yet did the .people of the Transvaal cherish the hope—and surely not unreasonably—that the wrong inflicted upon them should find redress. But, now that all their expectations have been disappointed, their patience has become exhausted, and they have taken arms in despair. This fact we may deplore, whilst yet we may be able to account for it. For are not their forefathers ours—themen who struggled eighty weary years-for the maintenance of their national independence.? And should the spirit of their sires have become extinguished in them ? No, Britons; ye, a free people yourselves, cannot but synipathise with a nationality,however comparatively insignificant, which your own powerful Government may indeed exterminate or scatter over other settlements, but which will never allow ,itself to be subdued. It is with these feelings that we venture to isime this appeal direct to the sense of justice of the British ration. The people of England cannot submit to the dishononr which must inevitably result from a strife, both unequal and unjust, with a powerless nationality— with a people who wi,h for nothing more than to live in peace.and quietude, under laws of their own making, whilst tilling the soil which is theirs, acduired under peril and care. We yet entertain the hope that this oar appeal Shall not be entirely disregarded. We are still inclined to believe that the voice of public opinion will lend such powerful support to the present Goverment of England as to enable her Majesty's Ministersto undo an act of injustice which, judging from the-Cabinet's liberal sentiments, ought never in its own deeming to have been contemplated or carried out."