The evening times., 1900-03-03
THE RELIEF OF MAFEKING

Our dispatches today convey the intel
| ligence that the Beers have abandoned the
siege of Mafeking. and that hence. one ol
the most splendid garrison resistances II
military history has ended fayorably to the
| defending force With force of probably
not more than two thousand men. most oil
them irregulars, Colonel Baden Powell has
been able to stand off a body of besiegers
! which at one time numbered not less than
! five or six thousand 1t may be said that,
counting numbers, resources, and facili-
ties. Baden Powells fight has been the
prize specimen OF the war on the British
| side. He is one of the few officers in the
service of his country who has Thoroughly
learned the value and usefulness OF Ameri-
can scouting tactics in field operations. Ills
| little garrison is free at last and it is to
| be hoped that generous recognition OF its
| commanders skill and courage will not be
| lacking
| Abandonment of the siege of Mafeking
clears the western frontier of Beers in any
force and, at first sight. seems to suggest
a British movement by that place to strike
Pretoria in flank. Whether such thing
| is in the mind of Lord Roberts. or not, the
developments of the next week or two
should demonstrate There is a suggestion
of an affirmative character in the
disposition of the British troops at the
present time; but we treat it only as a
suggestion, because. as we have repeatedly
explained, actual conditions are almost en-
tirely withheld from us by the censorship.
1t is possible that, Cape Colony being free
from Boer commandos. Lord Kitchener
may bring the columns of Clements and
Gatacre to a junction with the army OF
Sir Redvers Butler at a point not far from
Bloemfontein and engage the army OF Gen
eral Joubert, leaving the army under Rob-
erts to make the long turn against Preto-
ria by Mafeking This, we think. would be
the strategy employed by American gen.
erals like Miles or Lawton in the circum-
stances. Butler probably has about thirty
thousand men. to which number it is pos
sible that there may be added three or four
thousand from Sir George Whites Lady
up and generally effective only for garrison
duty; but cut OF il. there may be the
number we name fit for active work. Glenn
ents and Gatacre could doubtless supply
ten thousand troops of all arms; so there
should be force for a movement against
the Boer line at Bloemfontein or Wynberg
of approximately thirtyfiye or forty thou-
sand men with something like four hundred
and fifty guns.
In the meantime ii is possible that a
battle will have to be fought with the
forces of Delarey and De Wet between the
Orange River and Paardeberg; but it is
hardly suppusable that these columns are
anything more than distractions to Lord
Roberts operations. They cannot aggre
gate more than ten thousand men, and
when the commands of Clements and Cat
acre move across the Orange River If they
have not done so already. they will no
doubt squeeze the Boer flying columns re-
ferred to- between the British advance
from the Colony and Lord Roberts main
body. Hence they may be perhaps consid-
cred as negligible for the general pur-
poses of the present consideration. When
pressed. il would seem that they would
move east to join their army before or be-
hind Bloemfontein. OF course il would be
an excellent thing for the British general
to head them off, but it would be also sur
prising il he did So as their great mo-
bility would probably enable them to dodge
and avoid an encounter Of serious charac-
ter.
II our theory of numbers and guns be
correct the reasonable strategy of Lord
Roberts would appear to be to cut into the
heart of the enemy's country by way of
Mafeking For such a purpose he would
have an effective of forty thousand or
more troops, including division of cayai-
ry and an adequate equipment of artillery.
What particularly favors this idea is that
the Beers conditions would render 1t diff
cult if not impossible for them to operate
against the British communication in the
west. They have enough TO do to meet
the armies of invasion upon more or less
contracted lines of defence. On the whole,
we are inclined to suspect that the
apparent lull in the proceedings in South
Africa, is preliminary to movement of
concentration by Butler, Clements. and
Gutaere with Bloemfontein or Wynberg
as an objective. and a march of Lord
Roberts toward Pretoria, fanking by