lay Sir Redvers Buller, so as to gain the time
needed to bring about the fall of Ladysmith. If that can be secured the
next question will be how to damage Sir Redvers Buller. Of the prospects
of Sir Redvers Buller's attack no estimate can be made. He is stronger
than he was by the greater part of Sir Charles Warren's division, and it
is to be hoped, by plenty of heavy artillery and by an organised
transport; but the Boers are stronger than they were by a new position,
by three weeks of fortification, and by the consciousness of their last
victory. Upon Sir Redvers Buller's fate depends more than anyone cares
to say. If he wins and relieves Ladysmith the success of Great Britain
in the war will be assured, though the operations may be prolonged for
months; but if he should again fail there is no prospect of success
except by exertions of which the Government as yet has not shown the
faintest conception. His action can hardly be completed in a single
battle or in a day; the first telegrams, therefore, need not necessarily
be taken as giving the result; more probably his operations, except in
the most unfavourable case, will be continuous for something like a
week.

For the Nation there is a question even more vital than the fate of Sir
Redvers Buller, and more practical. Nothing that was at home can do can
affect the impending battle by the Tugela. The issue of that battle, as
of the war, though it is not yet known and can be revealed only by the
event, is in reality already settled, for it depends on the proportion
of the forces of the two sides, which has been determined by British
strategy and cannot now be modified, upon the qualities, armament, and
training of the troops, which are the results of the conditions of their
enlistment, organisation, and education, and upon the judgment and will
of Sir Redvers Buller, also the outcome of his training and of the Army
system. But whatever happens on the Tugela the British Nation has its
to-morrow, a very black one in case of a defeat, and a very difficult
one even in case of victory, for all the great Powers are for ever
competitors for the possession and government of the world, and Great
Britain having shown a weakness, expected by others though unsuspected
by her own people, will in future be hard beset. The Russians have just
moved a division from the Caucasus towards the Afghan frontier, which
portends trouble for India. The Austrians, as well as the Germans are
settin