ra* the -posLtionl} tkstt the enomy Avisl tsy t«v de fend they, are to • froai now occupy airdiiuce-abltt , to reach the' Hfransvaai Wo-ftiiSk ■■tliei eri'eoijst wiJl My fix* make uae of tihe Vaai river ac their to&#t> .line of d&fence, as to defona; BloemfoJ»itedß, even under ordiauwy condii tions, be madness. Ticere ara ireithei? food iwf ammunition in sufficient quantity ' to last I- Mi army* of- occupation: ten. day' Si,' and all supfes would Imve to oom« from "the imve3fcin,sr fo«», ynanm easily /cjni -them ,os. Winbiirg, whither the ( staiba* the Free State Gavermn«nt. have,. remov.ed; i* equally untenable for tiw eneraj/, neither is there any other plwsef m the / Free State that oaii made defiyeible and; b& in tiiiwj to stop the" British ad*i vaajfl©; i>ut, if the Boer fprcea from tJie Fttje-State jam witlv tihe Beer now in/ Jfttitaiij and take irp a- position on tap VaaK theyoaiiicreate that river into a sectw' Tußelai as the d&ep-cnt riverbed offers- Chances to-atfbrce of infantry to t gain a,'xawss* Ing, the badiks of ttoo stream being,mostly ; high- bluffav offermg splendid positio-usv to troops defending vho passages over .;.the drifter/ The distance from.one shore W,t)he opposite one renders bridging both dlffitiult and dantjerous- if t>he<troops struction are opposed *by an enemy. \Fbr these * reasons we consider tho Vaal river will be tste'Besneiofthei.nexfe attempt of the., Boers ♦n.-etpp-tiws. : of the British:-: v The latest particulate -from the front g|v*. a more detailed: account- of th%surrender of Cronje at Koodookrand. It it stated-that Lord 'Robert* attributes theicapftulatdon; ;fco • the demoraiisatipn ofGronje's troops h caused by the easy victory achieved over the Boer reinforcements, as the enemy allowed hini to push forward his trenchss "until the British , cordon in one night- was drawn so tight that the enemy surrendered at-d&wn. We suppose that having seen the defeat of the forces sent, to relieve them, Ci'onje'e men lostlieart, and gave up« the strugpW ' ' ' > " The capitulation of Cronje so scon after being hemniedj in,. is in marked contrast -to the gallant stend made General White at Ladysmith T ;and by Colonel Kekewiclv and; Colonel Baden-Bowell at Eimberley! -aad Mafeking. Had the troops under these:" officers been af-easily discouraged as Cronje'e men, would have fallen irttd the of the Boers before a single battalion of Bailer's Army Corps 1-eft South" wnptcra. 