NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THERE are this week two items of war news of great im- portance. The first is that on Sunday last a special train under a flag of truce passed through Pretoria conveying the Executive Government of the Transvaalers to Kroonstad, in order that they might confer with Mr. Steyn and the Executive Government acknowledged by the Free Staters. Leave was no doubt granted by our Government on their being informed that the Boers desired to meet and discuss the question of offering their submission on terms, and so putting an end to the war. We have dealt with the whole question elsewhere, and will only say here that the latest telegranis received on Friday seem to indicate that there is a very real prospect of definite results being achieved, and that the Boers are in earnest in regard to the negotiations. While these hopeful preliminaries to the discussion of terms were proceeding we are glad to be able to record that Lord Kitchener carried out a big " drive ',' directed against Delarey, which resulted in the capture of five guns and nearly two hundred prisoners. The striking feature of the movement was the fact that a mobility was achieved equal to, or indeed greater than, that of the Boers. The columns moved eighty miles in twenty-four hours. But then, as Lord Kitchener naively records, they moved without guns or impediment of any kind, and the whole force was mounted. We are delighted to think that the great discovery has been made that columns without guns, ox-waggons, and " tramp- ing" infantry can really move as fast as the Boers. That is a discovery which may end the war, even if the Boers do not voluntarily surrender.
