the present
war and the present situation show. While the fate of the Empire hangs
in the balance between Ladysmith and Pietermaritzburg, a good deal
depends on the course of events between Kimberley and Queenstown. In the
northern part of Cape Colony the Dutch inhabitants are naturally divided
in their sympathies, and the loyally disposed have been sorely tried by
the long weeks of waiting for some sign of Great Britain's power. None
has yet been forthcoming. They know that Kimberley is besieged and that
the British Government has done little for its defence. During the last
week or two they have been threatened by the Free State Boers, and have
seen Stormberg and other places evacuated by the British. At length the
Free State Boers have come among them, marched into their towns,
proclaimed the annexation of the country, and commandeered the citizens.
If this goes on the Boer armies will soon be swelled to great dimensions
by recruits from the British colony, a process which cannot go on much
longer without shaking the faith of the whole Dutch population in the
supremacy of Great Britain. Some manifestation of British strength,
energy, and will is evidently urgently needed in this region. Moreover,
Kimberley is hard beset, and its fall would seem to the whole
countryside to be the visible sign of a British collapse. No wonder,
then, that Sir Redvers Duller has sent Lord Methuen as soon as he could
be ready to the relief of Kimberley. The column consists of the Brigade
of Guards, the Ninth Brigade, made up of such battalions as were at hand
to replace Hildyard's brigade (sent to Natal), of a naval detachment, a
cavalry regiment, and two or three batteries, besides local levies.
Kimberley is five or six days' march from Orange River, and at some
point on the way the Boers will no doubt try to stop the advance. I feel
confident that Lord Methuen, whom I know as an accomplished tactician,
will so win his battle as not to need to do the same work twice over.

The advance of Lord Methuen's division renders imperative the protection
of the long railway line from Cape Town to Orange River. This seems to
be entrusted to General Forestier-Walker's forces, reduced to two
battalions, and to General Wauchope's Highland brigade. One battalion
only is with General Gatacre at Queenstown, and two battalions of
General Lyttelton's brigade which have reached Cape Town are as yet
unaccounted for in the telegrams.

How, then, if all his