Ladysmith. But the defenders hitherto have had the counterbalancing
advantage of a superior artillery. I think it reasonable to expect that
with the better discipline of his force, its greater cohesion and
mobility and the high spirit which animates it, Sir George White will be
able to defy the Boers for many weeks. But suppose the unexpected to
happen, as it sometimes does in war, and Sir George White's resistance
to be overcome? Such a victory would have a tremendous effect upon the
hopes and spirits of the Boers. It would almost double the fighting
value of their army, and would probably bring to their side many of
their colonial kinsmen. Joubert would become more daring, and, if Sir
Redvers Buller had divided his force, would attack its nearest portion
with a prospect of success. The failure of Sir Redvers Buller would
then not be outside the bounds of possibility. What that would involve
there is no need to expound--the Empire would be in peril of its
existence. We may feel pretty sure that things will not come to such a
pass; that another week will show Sir George White well holding his own
and a part of the Army Corps preparing to move. Yet it would be prudent
to guard against accidents by sending further troops to the Cape. Ten
thousand men ordered now would be at Cape Town by the middle of
December; but every delay in ordering them will mean, in case they
should in December be wanted, a period of suspense like that through
which we are now passing.

The moral of the present situation seems to me to be that we should
scrutinise our political personages, noting which of them have betrayed
their inability to see what was happening and to look ahead, bringing
down their figures in our minds to their natural size, and exalting
those who have shown themselves equal to their tasks. The man in the
street might do well to consider whether the great departments of
Government, such as the War Office and the Army, should for ever be