The evening times., 1899-12-18
MONDAY, DECEMBER Is, 1899.
The Lion Aroused.

preme effort to retrieve her military pres
tige and has gone about ii in the right
way Field Marshal Lord Roberts, whom
the Kaiser and the German stan regard as
the ablest general in the British service.
and who. moreover, is the idol of the rank
and file of the army, is 10 replace Butler
in chief command. with Lord Kitchener
as chief of staff. If that does not mean a
scientific campaign it is not within the
imperial resources to conceive and execute
one. The seventh division, now mobiliz-
ing, the rest of the reserves. part of the
militia and volunteers, will be rushed to
South Africa as quickly as possible. and
in eight or ten weeks "Bcbs Bahadur -
Roberts is called in India. will have at
his command something like hundred
and sixty thousand men.
In the meantime as little as possible will
be done in the aggressive line. Butler is
TO remain in command in Natal. where ne
is expected to hold his own, hut apparently
is not expected to relieve Ladysmith under
existing conditions. There is Il strong
hope in England that Sir George White
may be able to maintain his position for
upon the extent of his ammunition and
supplies, which must be sadly depleted by
this time, perhaps he can do so.
Sir Charles Warren, with some battal-
ions of the division he is to command has
arrived at Cape Town, whence he start
ed Immediately for Port Elizabeth. This
would indicate that he intended TO move a.
once TO the support of French and Methue.;
Ii is believed in London thar if the latter
can hold out for week, il Will be possible
10 re-enforce him with six or seven thou
sand men. The expectation still is that he
sill fall back to the Orange River. and
General Frenchs operations against the Bo-
ers at Colesberg are nc doubt designed TO
increase the chances of such a movement
But it is significant that considerable
Boer force has moved south from Jacobs
Gal, obviously for the purpose OF getting
between Methuen and French. II is a rep
etition of the tactics which have given Jou-
bert and Cronje all their successes. The
Beers have Kekewich under their guns at
Kimberley in such a way that compare
lively small force will contain him They
have the Megarsfontein heights thoroughly
entrenched and mounted with guns in front
OF Methuen, and his fianks covered with
enfilading trenches and artillery: and il is
10 be feared that, should he attempt to re-
Gloss the Modder, he would find strong
commando ready to fight him from the
south bank. II he had enough TO eat, il is
probable that he could hold his present
position for weeks; but it does not appear
hat ha
with any probability of success and his
situation seems to be such that he can he
held in check between Megarsfontein and
The river by a much inferior fierce Cronje
il may be surmised, can spare a substantial
body of troops for the purpose Of swinging
around Methuen's rear cutting his COM
munications and meeting French Warren
or both. anywhere from the Modder down
TO the Orange. Thus ,he Methuen reIiey- |
ing column is In danger of being trapped |
and stalled, exactly as the Kimberley re- |
lleving column has been at Megarsfon,ein. |
Ihe new campaign is morally certain TO !
produce radical change Of conditions. |
That does not alter the fact that. at the |
end of the old one, the British outlook is /
bad News of the decision Of the Sails |
bury government to dump the whole i'm |
perial military resource into South Africa |
will certainly cause the adoption of des- |
peraIe measures by the Transyaai Council
of War. We are sure to see strenuous ef- |
forts on the part Of Joubert and Cronje to /
realize on the advantages they have gain
ed, by renewed and fiercer attempts to |
capture Ladysmith, Mafeking and Kimber-
ley. and to force Lord Methuen to surren-
der before adequate help can be given him. |
Thus the stalemate of Butler at the Tuge-
la should release a strong force of Beers
for an assault on Ladysmith. If this
should precipftate another British attack
on the river line, IT would only require
Two or three hours to withdraw the nee
essary troops from the assault, and have
them at Colenso again 1t must be said
though, that conjectures regarding the
Tugela and Ladysmith situation are liable
10 be oyerset by events. Circumstances
favoring, it might yet be possible to change
II by flank movement toward Dewdrop |
But Lord Methuen seems to be in a tighter |
boX than anybody else. 1t will be interest.
ing TO see what he will do in the effort TO
extricate himself. II he cannot get assist
ance within week from now, he will be
starved out and have to retreat or sur
render and under quite conceivable con-
ditions. retreat might mean surrender.
Gatacre has retired to Sterkstrom, and Of
course. is acting on the defensive. The
rebellion is spreading and the Beers hold
all the country between his present posi-
ton and the Orange River. How strong
their organized force may be in the dis
tricf, We do not know; but it is doubtless
sufficient to keep him where he is for some
time French would hardly venture from
the strategic triangle until the arrival of
Warren; because that would expose the
Port Elizabeth communications to dcstruc-
tion A great many things. and some of
them additionally depressing TO the Brit