Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/498

 74 CHBONICLE. [dec.

13. The Canadian and New South Wales Governments telegraphed to the Colonial Secretary offering a further contingent of volunteers for service in South Africa. The other Australian colonies expressed their wish to co-operate.

— The German flag hoisted at Apia, and the Samoans having been told that they might elect their own king, declared for Mataafa.

14. A London and North-Western train from Hereford on entering Crewe station ran into the stop-blocks with great force, and nineteen passengers were severely injured. The brakes in consequence of the frost would not act.

— Freemasons of high degree of the United States and Canada held services at Mount Vernon over George Washington's tomb on the centenary of his death.

— Mahmoud Pasha, the Sultan's brother-in-law, supposed to have been connected with the Young Turkish party, left Constantinople hurriedly, with difficulty evading arrest by taking refuge on a French steamer.

15. General Sir Red vers Buller, attempting to force the passage of the Tugela, was forced to retire without achieving his purpose, and of his artillery two field batteries had to be abandoned, ail their horses having been killed by the Boers' fire. The guns were not carried off by the Boers until the next day,

— A special army order issued for the mobilisation of the seventh division, and of the Reservists belonging to its battalions.

16. Field Marshal Lord Roberts appointed Commander-in-Chief in South Africa, with General Lord Kitchener as Chief of the Staff.

— All the remaining Reserves, including Section D, called up, and the Militia, Yeomanry, and Volunteers invited to contribute con- tingents to the forces abroad.

18. Mr. Chamberlain visited Dublin to receive the degree of honorary D.C.L. from Trinity College, and received a great ovation from the students, but an attempt was made in the streets to organise a display of feeling in favour of the Boers.

— The Bordeaux express train ran into a fast train in advance of it at Montmoreau on the Orleans line. Two passengers were killed, and twenty-two injured, some seriously.

— The Due d'Orle*an8 addressed to his agent in Paris, the Due de Luynes, an insulting telegram, repudiating the support of M. Arthur Meyer, editor of the Gaulois, on the ground of his religion.

19. A train standing in the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway station at Bermondsey was run into by another arriving from Oxted. Two passengers were killed on the spot, seven other passengers and three servants were injured.

— General Henry Lawton, second in command of the United States forces in the Philippines, killed by a sharpshooter while leading the assault on San Mateo.

— Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman, speaking at Aberdeen, declared