erritory, before the British
forces could be assembled. But shortly after the arrival of Sir Redvers
Buller's Army Corps it began to be evident that the Boer forces were
balanced by the British. There was a pause in the movements. The British
made little headway and the Boers none. Yet, as both sides were doing
their best, it was clear that the Boers required the utmost exertion of
all their energies to maintain the equilibrium. This condition may be
said to have lasted from about the middle of December to the middle of
February. During those two months, however, while the Boers were at
full tension, the British were gathering new forces behind their front
line, which itself was all the time receiving gradual accessions of
strength.

When Lord Roberts with fifty thousand men burst through the Boer cordon
and destroyed the force with which Cronje had been covering the siege of
Kimberley, the Boers had no reserve of force with which to fill up the
gap. Every man sent to Cronje's assistance had to be taken from some
other post where he was sorely needed. The detachments sent from Natal
into the Free State left the Natal Army, already wearied by its long
unsuccessful siege of Ladysmith, and by Buller's persistent attacks, too
weak to continue at once the siege and the resistance to Buller. But the
two tasks were inseparable, and when Buller renewed his attack and drove
the Boers from their posts south of the Tugela, the Boer army of Natal
found itself able to cover its retreat only by a last desperate
rearguard action at Pieters.

Defeat in the Free State and collapse in Natal were accompanied by the
abandonment of the effort to support the rebellion in Cape Colony.

This general breakdown following upon prolonged over-exertion, and
accompanied in the two principal regions by complete defeat, must have
had its effects on the spirits of the troops. Hope must be gone and
despair at hand, and the consequent diminution of power is sure to be
considerable. There is no sign as yet of any strong leadership such as
could to some extent restore the fortunes of the Boer army. The retreat
beyond the Orange River has been gradual; the siege of Mafeking has not
been abandoned, and there is no sign of a determined concentration of
forces to oppose Lord Roberts.

Since the surrender of Cronje on February 27th, Lord Roberts has been
completing his supplies, and probably making good the damage to his
transport caused by the loss of a co