NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THERE is some news this week from Mashonaland. The Chartered Company's forces having defeated the enemy in two small battles, have effected their junction, and are mov- ing on Buluwayo, and the Bechuana police have been joined by Shama with 1,700 fighting natives. The true question is whether Lobengula will give battle in the plain. If he does, he will be smashed; but if he does not, and fights in the hills between the forts and Bulawayo, he may protract the war, and even inflict some great loss upon the Whites. We have only to wait, for no exertion here will help the settlers one jot; but we note among the experts an under- tone of anxiety. Mr. Rider Haggard, in his latest talk with the interviewers, is by no means quite confident, while Mr. Swallow, said to be the greatest expert of all, clearly anticipates a White massacre. The causes of despondency seem, when examined, to be two,—a belief that our numbers are insufficient, and a fear that the Matabele may prove as madly courageous as their grandfathers, the pure Zulus. Mr. Haggard thinks that fighting the Mashonas, who are comparatively feeble folk, may have demoralised them ; but that opinion, though it sounds unanswerable, is by no means supported by history. British troops in India have not become demoralised, nor the White settlers at the Cape. It is rashness, not cowardice, which is generated by habitual and easy victory.
