The war news is all depressing this week. Neither Lord
Roberts nor Sir R. Buller can move without remounts and supplies, and both are slow in arriving, or rather are required on a scale which involves delay. The Boers, therefore, re- covering courage, have come down in unknown force, and have driven back a British column which, under Colonel Broadwood, was at Thaban'chu. He retreated to the water- works which supply Bloemfontein, and being shelled out from th ence, fell back on the capital itself. Unfortunately, in this last movement a heavy convoy which had been sent forward, with cavalry and artillery to protect it, fell into an ambush. A large body of Boers concealed in a ravine suddenly opened fire, and in spite of most desperate fighting more than three hundred troopers and artillerymen and two batteries with seven guns were killed or captured by the enemy, who also obtained possession of the waterworks. The military importance of the disaster, which, like the repulse, resulted from contempt for the enemy, is denied, but it has revived the spirits of the Boers, and enabled them to terrorise the farmers who were inclined to submit. Moreover, it seriously reduces, though it does not extinguish, Lord Roberts's supply of water. The Field-Marshal waits, and will wait, till he can move with effect, but the waiting strains the nerves of those on the spot, and, in a less degree, of those who only watch at home.
