porarily interrupt.
These considerations should be kept in view not merely in reviewing the
conduct of the campaign and the work of the British generals, but above
all in the preparations now being pushed forward throughout the Empire.
The project of a Corps of Imperial Yeomanry is a step in the right
direction. If it is to contribute to success due importance must be
given in the selection of the men to straight shooting, without which
good riding can be of little use. Equally important, too, is the
selection of leaders. The home-trained officer, however good, must not
be exclusively relied upon. Every local war we have had, beginning with
the campaigns against the French in America which led to the Seven
Years' War, has proved the necessity of giving full scope to local
experience and local instincts. Old and new instances abound of the way
in which the neglect of the feelings of colonists and of their special
qualifications for special work rankles in breasts of a colonial
population. If, then, the new Yeomanry are to be of real service in
South Africa and to deserve the name Imperial a proportion of their
officers of all grades should be men of colonial birth and colonial
experience. The South African troops now at the front have done fine
service, and some of their officers might be promoted and transferred to
the new Yeomanry, their places being filled by promotions in the corps
which they leave. The preparation of transport ought not to lag behind
the despatch of reinforcements. At the earliest possible moment the
attempt should be made to send into the enemy's territory a great raid
of horsemen, on the model of the raids of the American Civil War. A body
of several thousand mounted men should march right through a part of the
Free State, living upon the country, consuming every scrap of food, and
clearing out every farm of all its provisions. If that operation can be
repeated two or three times a belt of country will be left across which
the Boers without transport will not be able to move, while the British,
properly equipped, will not be delayed by its exhaustion.

The plan adopted by the authorities for raising a volunteer contingent
is more significant for the future of the National defences than has yet
been realised. Each volunteer battalion is to supply a company to its
line battalion in the field and to keep a second company ready at home
in reserve. Thus the volunteer force is to be used by being absorbe