ord Roberts to Secretary of State,
27th January, 1900.]

[Footnote 289: Telegram to Secretary of State, dated 30th
January, 1900.]

[Footnote 290: Minutes of Evidence of War Commission, Vol.
I., pp. 460-1.]

"Before leaving England I had practically determined that the
advance must be through the Orange Free State, but by one, not by
three lines through Cape Colony, as was originally intended;[291]
and the western line commended itself to me for the following
reasons:

[Footnote 291: This would seem to be a misapprehension. Sir
R. Buller's intention had been to advance by Bethulie (see
page 411).]

"1. It was on that line only that we had possession of a railway
bridge over the Orange river:

"2. It was by that line only that Kimberley could be relieved in
time, and had Kimberley fallen, Mafeking must have fallen also:

"3. It was by that line only I could deal with the Boer forces in
detail, and defeat Cronje before he could be reinforced.

[Sidenote: Lord Roberts' explanation why he chose the route he took.]

"Both the Norval's Pont and Bethulie bridges were in the hands of
the enemy, and by the time I had forced them back into the Orange
Free State, and had been able to repair either of these bridges
(which I was certain would be destroyed, and which actually
happened), and I had occupied Bloemfontein, I should have between
me and Kimberley, not only Cronje, but the whole of the Boer
force which was not engaged in Natal. I should have then been
obliged either to march across the veld against this increased
force, or to have transported the greater portion of my troops by
rail to the Modder River camp (if the railway could have been
kept intact, which was hardly likely, seeing how weakly it was
necessarily guarded and the number of Boers who would have been
available to destroy it), and then to turn the Magersfontein
position. To carry out either of these operations, and for the
onward advance on an extended front to Pretoria, at least the
same amount of transport would have been required as was needed
for the march from Modder River camp to Bloemfontein. But this
would not have been forthcoming had I adopted the railway line to
Bloemfontein and not organised the system of transport direct