The evening times., 1899-11-24
FRIDAY. NOVEMBER "a. 1899.
A Victory With Qualifications.

A Victory with Qualincnt1Ons.
Accounts of Lord Methuen's fight at Bel
moIt-we are unable to dignity it with the
n2me of battle-show the excellent stuff
The column is made of, and that its society
Pets and ''bloomin' Tommies" of the House.
hold Brigade viii stand up or rush and die
rs game as pheasants. But we are not
therefore, particularly impressed with the
victory" which appears to have much
comforted the bulletin board crowds in
London. We do not pretend TO knowledge
Of the local situation that confronts Lord
Methuen, accurate enough TO dogmatize;
idea that the relief of Kimberley and Mafe-
king is TO be accomplished as soon as the
British military authorities expected.
Methuen may have done better than his
own report suggests. True, he claims a
complete victory: but he also leaves some
ground for apprehension that the Beers
were not driven from the field. OF course
this is only conjecture. and. like his state
ment that he had destroyed large quanti-
ty CT ammunition, the facts may be in his
favor. At the same time it would have
been more satisfactory if he had told us
whose ammunition it was. In our civil
war, on one occasion. perhaps on the March
10 the Seat does not matter-Sherman's
Hank, protected by cavalry, was attacked
by the Confederates. Shortly afterward
Major General Fitzpatrick reported to his
chief, something after this fashion: "At
five O'Clock p. IN. the enemy attacked my
I
Onety-oneth New York Cavalry. and chars-
ed; and the rebels melted away before the
lurid flash OF cur sabres like mist before
the summer sun. / cannot furnish a list
of our casualties as we left the enemy in
possession of the field" Methuen's brief
report Of his engagement, as il has reach
cd the public, reminds us of this story
quoted from the personal recollections of a
veteran officer who was with Fitzpatrick
Giving Methuen the benefit of the com
Dlete victory he claims il appears to have
been costly. Two hundred and twenty-six
dead or wounded out of small brigade is
high price to pay for what results can
be considered rs likely to accrue. He may
have knocked out the force in front of
him, so that it will have TO retire: but
he will be compelled TO make a harder
light at Modder River against a large
force. because as he advances and his
enemy falls back, the latter will be retir-
ing ON its main body. while he will be
moving farther from his base. On
the whole the second engagement at Bel
mont. to the extent that its details are
known to us. does not justify the opinion
that the road to Kimberley is any more
open than it was before.
The situation elsewhere in Cape Colony
is not conducive 10 optimism as regards
the Immediate future. The Beers are eyi-
IDENTIFY pursuing the same tactics that have
been used successfully by them in Natal.
They are raiding and threatening the
northern area within which the bases for
the British advance should be established.
and they are making it difficult for Cen
eral Butler to organize his columns of in
vasion. Gatacre has been compelled to
concentrate at Queenstown, half way be-
tween East London and the Orange River.
He is moving now, in some manner al
though his division is by no means full or
ready. French is obliged to operate against
tEt at X, ana
so on, and. generally, up to date, we are
unable TO see that the British campaign
is much advanced. Butler will not eat
his Christmas goose in Pretoria this year.
News of the military movements on the
Orange River line and below is entirely
too fragmentary and sketchy to serve as
foundation for critical remarks. In gen.
eral way, il may be said that nothing of an
important character is in view, except a
very active British effort to keep the
Beers from occupying the northern Cape
territory and raising the country against
the government. Other things, of course,
ere in process of development. but they
are not likely TO appear as events for some
days, or until Sir Redvers Butler has many
more troops at his command than he can
yet boast. Our inevitable daily confuser
comes TO hand in good order and condition
this morning, in the shape Of an announce
meut that thirty thousand troops have so |
FAR arrived at the Cape, of which num- !
ber eleven Thousand six hundred have been !
landed at Durham. Butler has gone TO Ma |
tai, and not any too soon, we should |
imagine. Perhaps one of his objects is to |
lind out where Clery is. We are rather |
interested in that question ourselves.