The news from the front is still inconclusive, but there
are signs that the Boer forces are beginning to melt away. The Free State and the Transvaal are like fields covered with big patches of snow. It looks at first sight as if the snow would never be gone, but a closer era rnination shows that each patch is melting. Botha's patches have been losing steadily during the week in waggons, horses, cattle, prisoners, and killed and wounded, and the same process in a less degree has affected De Wet's force. Apparently De Wet has crossed the Orange River, and is moving westward, but his prospects do not seem bright, and as we write there is news of his having been engaged in an action at Philipstown. The results of that action are not yet fully known, but it is believed that they have not been favourable to the Boers.
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