ggle with Sir Redvers Bullet and had drawn to its
assistance some portion of the force investing Ladysmith, it might be
possible for Sir George White to make a sortie and to break through the
investing lines. To that case, however, the term "the relief of
Ladysmith" could hardly be correctly applied.

How far Sir George White can co-operate with Sir Redvers Buller depends
partly upon the mobility of his force. His horses after three months in
Ladysmith can hardly be in much condition, even supposing that they have
not already begun to be used as food for the troops. Supposing there
are horses enough for the field guns, and that the naval guns and
mountain guns were destroyed at the last moment before the sortie. The
men and the field artillery would then have to make a night attack,
followed by a march of about seven miles in trying conditions, and by a
second attack in which they would join hands with Sir Redvers Buller.
This does not imply exertions impossible to troops like Sir George
White's, and such a move perhaps offers the best way out of the
difficulties of the situation. If in that case Sir George White made for
the north side of Dorn Kop a part of the Boer army would probably be
destroyed, and the loss which the British force would have suffered
would thus to some extent be made up for. It is presumed that Sir
Redvers Buller and Sir George White, who are able to communicate with
one another, have a cipher which enables them to inform each other
without informing the enemy.

Any plan which will unite Sir George White's force, or the bulk of it,
with that of Sir Redvers Buller on the Tugela will simplify the whole
problem of the War. Lord Roberts is preparing for an advance in force
from the Orange River, which will sooner or later transfer the centre of
gravity to the western theatre of War, in which the British troops will
not be confronted by the difficulties of an unknown or very imperfectly
known mountainous region. The movements now taking place in the Cape
Colony are the preliminaries to that advance. The method, the only right
method, is to use the reinforcements that have arrived--the sixth and
seventh divisions--to secure a preponderance first at one point and then
at another, instead of distributing them evenly over the whole area and
the various points of contact. The idea would seem to be, first, to
strengthen General French until he has crushed the Boer force with which
he is dealing, then to use