egular troops are
concerned. Early in the new year the Government was compelled to send
out strong reinforcements to take their place.

Early in December Lord Roberts also left the country, to take over the
duties of Commander-in-Chief. High as his reputation stood when, in
January, he landed at Cape Town, it is safe to say that it had been
immensely enhanced when, ten months later, he saw from the quarter-deck
of the 'Canada' the Table Mountain growing dimmer in the distance. He
found a series of disconnected operations, in which we were uniformly
worsted. He speedily converted them into a series of connected
operations in which we were almost uniformly successful. Proceeding
to the front at the beginning of February, within a fortnight he had
relieved Kimberley, within a month he had destroyed Cronje's force, and
within six weeks he was in Bloemfontein. Then, after a six weeks' halt
which could not possibly have been shortened, he made another of his
tiger leaps, and within a month had occupied Johannesburg and Pretoria.
From that moment the issue of the campaign was finally settled, and
though a third leap was needed, which carried him to Komatipoort,
and though brave and obstinate men might still struggle against
their destiny, he had done what was essential, and the rest, however
difficult, was only the detail of the campaign. A kindly gentleman, as
well as a great soldier, his nature revolted from all harshness, and a
worse man might have been a better leader in the last hopeless phases of
the war. He remembered, no doubt, how Grant had given Lee's army their
horses, but Lee at the time had been thoroughly beaten, and his men had
laid down their arms. A similar boon to the partially conquered Boers
led to very different results, and the prolongation of the war is
largely due to this act of clemency. At the same time political and
military considerations were opposed to each other upon the point, and
his moral position in the use of harsher measures is the stronger
since a policy of conciliation had been tried and failed. Lord Roberts
returned to London with the respect and love of his soldiers and of his
fellow-countrymen. A passage from his farewell address to his troops may
show the qualities which endeared him to them.

'The service which the South African Force has performed is, I
venture to think, unique in the annals of war, inasmuch as it has been
absolutely almost incessant for a whole year, in some cases