It is not quite easy to understand what is passing
in the Transvaal, the bulletin-makers obviously being dependent on rumour, and excited by stories of treachery and murder: '17here ie no proof of either yet, though there is ample evidence that the Boers are in armed insurrection, that they have attacked her Majesty's troops, and that they intend a sanguinary war. A large body of Boers on December 20th attacked 250 men of her Majesty's 94th Regi- inent, then guarding a convoy of thirty-four waggons into Pretoria. The men were taken by surprise, thirty were killed, and the rest disarmed and sent into Pretoria. Pretoria is cut off. from Natal, and by latest accounts, the garrison have retired into a fort outside, and Utrecht and Potchefstroom have been occupied, with, it is believed, some bloodshed, The camp or laager outside Potchefstroom, however, though attacked, has not been carried, the officer in command driving back the Boers by an artillery fire. Sir Pomeroy Colley will advance on the Boers' camp as soon as he has got his troops together, and has about 3,500 effectives under his command. Unfortunately, they are mostly infantry, who over those great distances scarcely seem to move. He has asked for cavalry, and a regiment has been ordered from this country and another from India, with about 2,500 infantry. The tone of the Boers does not strike us as confident, but they deinaiel independence, and after the attack on the 94th any arrangement whatever must be preceded. by submission.
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