Recent papers from Home are full of predictions about the Russian campaign. The accuracy of these has since been tested by the fait accompli and there is no need to go back over them, although it may be said that the German apprehensions reproduced elsewhere have been fully justified. But hero is" sympathetic little picture of the Grand Duke Nicholas, the Russian Generalissimo, by "The Times'" soereepondent ut headquarters grad are received by the Chief of Saf, lento arriving from Po
quiet, intellectual. man, and then sented to the Grand Duke in the of Ris sateats can man, a thorough soldier, simple and affected, in a plain uniform. He sid, "Tam very glad to receive you here. 1 appreciate thoroughly the ioipertanes of Major-Gen. Kekewich recalls the the Press. Of course, I cannot siege of Kimberley, which lasted will be Kept. within the limite T presstbe see all you now wish to. see, aod Jeu 196 days, and its gallant defence by require." ian journaliste were ud which the conditions of modern wt mixed force. On the declar of war against the South then urged by him to use thei effort African Republic, the Boers made console the bereaved, to alleviate the anxiety and sadness the war has en: eo two important movements upon the dered. west: Cronje advanced on Mafepression of the whole staff is that king and Wessels and Botha invested of able men straining every effort to Kimberley. Col. Kekewich was in secure the greatest results in extreme command at Kimberley and he had crisis in the world's history. Everytbiog in soberly serious and qi Every oot at his disposal four companies of is og. intensely There the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, some Royal Engineers, a mountain battery, two machine guns, 120 men of the Cape Police, 2,000 volunteer! a body of Kimberley Light Horse, a battery of light seven-pounder guns and eight) Maxims, which were mounted upon the huge mounds of debris which surrounded the mines. The Boers did not begin the bombardment until November 7, 1899, when they opened fire with nine nine-pounder guns, and in the course of the next) fortnight they threw 700 shells into the town. On November 25 the garrison made sortie under the impression that Lord Methuen was not far off, but they were driven back, disappointed. Hope was renewed on December 10, when Methuen's balloon was seen, but help was indefinitely postponed by the repulse at—Magersfontein. With rations severely reduced the garrison held out, being keenly interested in the construction of a gun of sufficient power to reach the enemy's positions. The gun was great success, but on February 7 the Boers brought up an enormous weapon throwing a 96 Ib. shell and and this wrought great havoc at a range of four miles. Kimberley remained a bait for the enemy until the preparations for his destruction had been completed, and on February 15 a party of Light Horse, while engaging in a skirmish with the Boers, met a troop of New Zealanders. Sir John French rode into the town the next day, the Boers having retreated before his army. The late Mr. Cecil Rhodes was in the town during the siege. hysteria nor shor the in: signia differentiating a general from a subaltern. All, including the privsle, team imbued with an ptea_ intro what all now regard as the common cause.
The correspondent adds that the recent visit of the Tsar has proved a great inspiration and concouragement to the whole army. It is interesting, by the way, to recall the Grand Duke's reference in his tele gram to Lord Kitchener (reported yesterday) to "our common task." The suggestion of concerted action between the eastern and western theatres is too strong to be resisted.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.