THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

Evening Post, Volume LIX, Issue 46, 23 February 1900, Page 4

THE PROGRESS OF THE WAR.

» Good news and bad. Lord Kitchener has, we hope and believe, broken the back of Cronje's army, but if it be victory, it has been bought at the cost of heavy slaughter. There will be mourning in thousands of homes throughout the Empire, but the nation will, we trust, when all the facts are known, have cause for pride and satisfaction. Our message runs: — " Cronje surrounded for three days at Kootloosrnnd. Very heavy fighting took place on Sunday and Monday, British using fifty guns. On Tuesday, Cronje asked for armistice. Boer losses tremendous. British also lost heavily." Now, with Continental armies to have heavy losses in an engagement nvnns something considerably in excess of 10 per cent, of the force tn^uged. Assuming then that the Brit Hi force on the fighting line was 20,000, and it would probably be more, even 10 per cent, of oasualti'S would mean 2000 men ; what then must be the loss of the enemy if ' as stated it has been " tremendous?" To

us it looks as though tho armistice is but preliminary to capitulation, or so soon as the dead have been buried and the wounded convoyed to a place of safety, tho renewal of a battle that can have but one ending, the one we most desire. In any cuse, Kitchener is the last man. in tho British Army to cut time to waste, and the first man to recognise and accept the hour when ho must fling human lives away to secure a viptory. /Twenty thousand m'on are moving from Natal to the aid of Cronje. Where they are* it is impossible to say, because it cannot bo guessed even how long they have been on tho way; but Kitchener knows they aro on the move, and French will bo watching for their approach, and each hour of the armistice bring* them nearer. Therefore, the armistice will be brief and it will end in surrender of the Boer or resumption of the battle. The illusion current at tho beginning of the war that the Boer would not prove equal to a stand-up fight in the open may now be said to be finally dispelled. Since Sunday last the men of tho Republics have, apparently against superior numbers, contested the advance of the flower of the British Army, led by our foremost generals. Cronje appears to have chosen his position with great judgment. Koodoosrund is situated at the most northerly bend of the Modder River on its upper trend towards Bloemfontein,and is distant about thirtyfive miles from Magersfontein. It is apparently the 'last' of the kopje country along the upward course of the river— which he must follow for water supply — before emerging on "to a wide level plain. He would naturally manoeuvre for delay until he could reach this last coign of vantage in order to give the maximum of time in which reinforcements could >each him. That his force has been augmented largely seems certain, or else we have so far been greatly misinformed as to its strength. At first he was said to have moved from Magersfontein with only 5000 men, a statement that we questioned at the time. Then Delarey, irom Colesberg, moved up from the south-east with 10,000. but these united would give less than fialf the number apparently lunder Lord Kitchener's command, irrespective- of the army (10,000) led by General French. Still, it must bo borne in mind that only a part of the British force would be in the fighting line, as being in the enemy's country many regiments would be stationed at various points in the rear. Again, it is stated to-day that General Cronje, in his retreat from Magersfontein, subdivided his forces, so that the force of 5000 previously alluded to was only that which at the time was under his immediate command, and that before the Baule of Koodoosrand the scattered divisions had rejoined the Boer commander. That any part of Joubert's force had joined Cronje is extremely improbable. A mobile Jorce of Free Staters is probably well on its way by Van Reenen's Pass, but French would be able to account for this force before it could come up to join Cronje. It seems that what we have anticipated in our ai acles of the past few days has come to pass, and that Cronje has been muzzled before substantial aid could reach him. His only chance was to sacrifice all the impedimenta of his army, and move east with the utmost possr&le rapidity, but he elected to take the chance of battle, and strenuous as has been the fight, and tremendous the sacrifice, it has been apparently in vain. In .Natal everything points to the retreat of the investing forces. When they began to move it is impossible to tell, and, therefore, their present whereabouts cannot be even indicated. In our previous articles of the past few days we have fully described the lines of retreat, the distances and character of the country, and the probable time it would take to move the forces. We need not recapitulate. The Free Staters are no doubt moving through Van Reenen's Pass to try and repel the invasion of their country, and the Transvaalers will probably go north by Laing's Nek round to Pretoria, which they can hold or from which they can move south by rail towards Bloemfontein as the fortune of war may determine. And it may here be noted that if all goes well Methuen should soon relieve M&feking, and move east to threaten Pretoria, while Lord Roberts closes in upon it from the south ; but first Cronje must be disposed of, and the Free Staters from Natal defeated and dispersed, ere the British can advance with certainty upon the Transvaal capital. There should be news in a few hours that General Buller has entered Ladysmith. That the siege is practically at an end is apparent by the announcement that the heavy guns of Isumbulwana have been removed. The show «of. opposition to Buller during his recent operations has evidently been but a mask for deliberate retreat. On the western Bide of the town, which is approached from the Colenso crossing, whence Buller is moving, is the strongly fortified position known as Surprise Hill, and if that be not held then the last of the Boer army has vanished into the Drakensbergs, and the way the Boer goes we fear the British army in Natal may not follow. Still, there must be a fleet of transports in the waters of South Africa to-day, and the garrison of Ladysmith and the pick of Butler's army will quickly find themselves at the front in the country of the enemy, .even though the passes of the Drakensbergs are found to be impregnable. The end of the war is not yet, but is coming within measurable distance.