course which the Cabinet could now adopt
would be to call Lord Wolseley to their board as an announcement and a
guarantee that in the prosecution of the war his judgment was given its
true place, and that nothing thought by him necessary or desirable was
being left undone. If the military judgment holds that more force is
required the extra force must be provided. There are, after the Regular
Army and the Marines, the whole of the Militia, the Volunteers, and
thousands of trained men in the British colonies. There is no
difficulty, seeing that the Nation is determined to keep on its course,
about drawing upon these forces to any extent that may be required. If
there are constitutional forms to be fulfilled they can be fulfilled; if
Parliamentary sanction is needed it can be had for the asking.

At the present rate of consumption the fifth division will hardly have
been landed before its energies will be absorbed, and unless Sir Redvers
Buller is peculiarly fortunate during the next few days, the fifth and
sixth divisions together will not be enough to change the present
adverse situation into one of decided British preponderance. There
should be at the Cape a reservoir of forces upon which the British
Commander should be able to draw until he can drive the enemy before
him. When that stage comes the flow of reinforcements might be
suspended, but to stay or delay it before that stage has been reached is
to court misfortune.

Something might probably be done to block the channel through which the
enemy derives some of his resources and some of his information. The
telegraph cable at Delagoa Bay might with advantage have its shore end
lifted into a British man-of-war. There must be ways and means of
stopping all intercourse through Portuguese territory between the
Transvaal and the sea. That this is desirable is manifest, and to such
cases may be applied the maxim, "Where there is a will there is a way."

The idea seems to be spreading that this war must lead to a thorough
overhauling and recasting of the British military organisation. But if
you are to make a bigger army, an army better suited to the times and to
the needs of the Nation, you must begin by getting a competent
army-creating instrument. You cannot expect a Cabinet of twelve or
eighteen men ignorant of war to create a good war-fighting machine. You
cannot entrust the organisation of your Army to any authority but the
Government, for the body that creates yo