ere are now fifteen
battalions, five batteries, and two cavalry regiments north of De Aar.
To protect the great depot of military stores at De Aar and the railway
from that point to the Cape a considerable force is needed, and to stem
the tide of Boer invasion and Dutch disaffection, which has spread from
the Orange River to Tarkastad and Dordrecht, from Colesberg to Barkly
East, a further large force is badly wanted. But in the whole of Cape
Colony south of the Orange River there appear to be only nine
battalions, perhaps a couple of regiments of cavalry, and on the most
favourable assumption five batteries. Of these battalions Sir William
Gatacre has half-a-dozen on the lines running north from Algoa Bay and
East London, the greater part at Putters Kraal, north of Queenstown.
This is a tiny force with which to clear an invaded and disaffected area
of twelve thousand square miles. We may be perfectly certain that Sir
William Gatacre will do the best that can be done with his force, and
if that should be more than his numbers alone would lead us to expect
the reason will be that Lord Methuen's victories will have made the Free
State Boers uneasy about their road home. A fresh victory near Kimberley
and the effectual relief of that place will lighten Sir William
Gatacre's load.

The centre of gravity is in Natal, where the greater part of the Boer
army and the greater part of the British force in South Africa are
confronting one another. There are three British divisions, strong in
infantry but weak in artillery, and there is cavalry enough for a strong
division. But one of the divisions has been invested and bombarded with
more or less persistence since the beginning of November, and the other
two are not yet known to be quite ready to move. Sir George White's
force is reported to be on short rations, and some of the messages from
correspondents in Ladysmith declared a week ago that it was high time
for relief to come. The force can hardly be as yet near the limit of its
resisting powers, but it is evidently nearing the stage when after
relief it will need rest and recuperation instead of being ready for a
vigorous and prolonged advance. General Buller with two divisions will
shortly set out to force the passage of the Tugela and to fight his way
round Ladysmith, either on the east or on the west, so as to cut off
either the retreat to the Free State or that to the Transvaal of the
Boer army. If Sir Redvers Buller can i