In short, the opportunity for a decisive blow possibly now existed, but, if not quickly improved, would certainly pass away for ever.

The motive for the assault that soon followed is not positively known; but, if the Boer information of the damage done by their shells, and of the food and ammunition supply in the town, was as accurate as it is believed to have been, they knew that neither bombardment nor hunger could reduce the place before the dreaded power of the outside enemy received full development.
Ladysmith was to them like a dead weight round the neck of a swimmer struggling for life under other disadvantages.

It is unnecessary to seek any further reason for the assault of January 6, by whomsoever first commanded.

The words attributed to Joubert's order, "Ladysmith must be taken before Wednesday"-- the faint echo, perhaps, of Wellington's "Ciudad Rodrigo _must_ be stormed this evening"-- needed only to be supplemented by the words, "or never," to express a military argument to which no valid reply could {p.237} be made.

As the commander of the New Orleans forts said, "There will be no to-morrow unless so and so is done _at once_." Reluctant, therefore, though the Boers as a race have shown themselves to offensive tactics and to assault, the necessities of the case compelled them.