n this way win a victory in which
the enemy is not merely pushed back, but controlled in his choice of the
direction of his retirement, the issue of the campaign in Natal will be
settled, and the British Commander will be able to consider his great
purpose--the crushing of the Boer armies. The long wrestle between Sir
George White and the Boers has no doubt produced a state of exhaustion
on both sides, and by the time the decision comes exhaustion will be
turned into collapse. If, as we trust, it should be a Boer collapse, Sir
Redvers Buller's best policy, if practicable, will be to follow up a
success with the utmost promptitude and vigour, to push on through the
mountains, and open a doorway into the country beyond them. A check to
Sir Redvers Buller's advance would be disastrous. He can take no more
troops from the Cape. The fifth division can hardly be at his disposal
before Christmas, for the first transport did not start till November
24th, and the last has not yet left. But a check means insufficient
force, and is as a rule to be made good only by reinforcement. It is
clear, then, that Sir Redvers Buller must not be checked; he must cross
the Tugela and must win his battle. I think that with his twenty
thousand men he may be trusted to do both, even if the Boer force is as
large as the highest estimates that have been given.

The four decisions pending--at Kimberley, north of Queenstown, at
Ladysmith, and on the Tugela--are here represented as all doubtful. I do
not expect any of them to go wrong, but it is wise before a fight to
reckon with possibilities, and where the enemy, stubborn, well-armed,
and skilful, has also the advantage of numbers, it would be folly not to
consider the possibility that he may hold his ground. There are elements
of success on the British side that should not be forgotten. The British
soldier to-day, as in the past, proves to be a staunch support to any
general. To-day, however, he has leaders who, taking them all round, are
probably better qualified than any of their predecessors. The divisional
generals are all picked for their known grip of the business of war;
among the brigadiers there are such devoted students of their profession
as Lyttelton and Hildyard, and the younger officers of to-day are more
zealous in their business and better instructed than at any previous
period. There should be less in this war than in any that the British
Army has waged of that incompetence of the s