tever foundation of truth it may have, the incident irresistibly
suggests, though it does not certainly demonstrate, the advantage of
adhering to the original plan of advance by the Free State line. It
has been stated that, "On all sides in Germany the opinion is
expressed that Kimberley, and even Ladysmith, ought to have been
erased as primary factors in the calculations of those responsible for
the plan of operations. A strong British army advancing towards
Bloemfontein, and turning neither to the left nor to the right, would
have attracted the attention of all the available {p.213} Boer
forces, and would indirectly, but none the less speedily, have
relieved the pressure on Ladysmith and Kimberley.... War is a hard
trade, and must be waged independently of minor considerations and of
many human sympathies."[25] Would it not be juster to say, war must be
waged in the spirit of fortitude, that endures the strain of even a
very great risk, incurred by persisting in a course of action
demonstrably correct?

[Footnote 25: London _Weekly Times_, December 22,
1899.]

Uttered in the week following Magersfontein and Colenso, the opinions
just quoted are certainly open to the charge of being wise after the
event; nevertheless, it is indisputable that they express a
fundamental military truth. A really strong military conception would
have been to concentrate for an advance, such as here suggested,
notifying Sir George White that he could not expect direct relief, but
must plan for a resistance protracted to the farthest, in order that
upon the enemy might be thrown the dilemma of dividing his forces,
thus facilitating the advance of the British central column, or else,
in {p.214} order to oppose this, to drop the eagerly-coveted prize at
Ladysmith. Divided as the total British force already was by the
isolation of the latter, the great resolve would have been, "Let it
fall, if it ultimately must, if only by endurance it prolongs to the
latest moment the dissemination of the enemy's armies." One is
forcibly reminded of the charge of the Archduke Charles to his
subordinate at the critical moment of 1796, which Jomini singles out
for conspicuous eulogium: "It matters not if Moreau gets to Vienna,
provided you keep him occupied till I am done with Jourdan."
Reasonings like these are strictly general in their bearing, liable to
refutation by the special circumstances controlling a particular