valuable, a
British defeat there more disastrous than ever. The effort ought to be
made if there is a reasonable probability of success, for though failure
would have disastrous consequences, material and moral, the admission of
helplessness involved in making no attempt would depress the hearts of
the British troops perhaps as fatally as a lost battle.

The first decision required is whether Sir Redvers Buller's force is to
try its fate once more. In all probability that decision has been made
while Lord Roberts was at sea, and according to the event will be the
situation with which the new Commander-in-Chief will have to deal. A
victory in Natal will make his task easy; a failure will put before him
a problem the fortunate solution of which would be a triumph for any
commander.

THE DECISIVE BATTLE

_January 18th_, 1900

Yesterday began the action upon which in all probability depends the
future course of the war. By the time these lines are in the reader's
hands more will be known of the battle that can be guessed to-day by the
wisest, though several days may pass before the result is fully known.

Sir Redvers Buller on Wednesday, the 10th, had under his command three
infantry divisions, a cavalry brigade, some two thousand mounted
infantry, and probably altogether about eighty guns. Clery's division
consists of Hildyard's and Lyttelton's brigades; the third division,
comprising Hart's and Barton's brigades, is not known to have had a
commander appointed; Warren's division is composed of Woodgate's brigade
and of half of Coke's brigade, to which another half may have been added
by taking two battalions which have been some time in Natal, and belong
neither to Clery's nor to the third division. The whole force ought to
be thirty thousand strong for a fight, taking the division at nine
thousand instead of ten thousand, for though there have been losses
there have also been drafts to fill up gaps. A party of mounted troops
probably one thousand strong is reported to have been detached a few
days ago by rail to Stanger on the coast near the mouth of the Tugela,
and thence to have disappeared on a mission of which the purpose is as
yet unknown, though it looks like a raid upon the railway between Dundee
and Newcastle. The strength of the Boers in Natal has never been
accurately known, and the estimates differ widely, ranging from
thirty-five thousand to more than double that number. Sir George White
may hav