had been held, the Home
Government, in response to Lord Milner's repeated appeals, proposed to
send out the very inadequate reinforcements which formed its first
effort to strengthen the British military position in South Africa,
General Butler immediately represented to the War Office that these
additional troops were unnecessary, and protested against their being
despatched.

[Footnote 78: This was precisely the _role_ played by
Mafeking, only defensively, not offensively.]

General Butler's action at this crisis is so remarkable, and so
unprecedented, that the circumstances must be related with some
precision. In 1896, and again in 1897, General Goodenough had
submitted to the War Office schemes for the defence of the British
colonies, in which both the enormous extent of the frontiers to be
protected and the great numerical superiority of the burgher forces to
the then existing British garrison were fully exhibited. A memorandum
of the Department of Military Intelligence, dated September 21st,
1898, urged "that defence schemes should be drawn up locally for the
Cape and Natal"; that "the arrangements which would be made for the
despatch of reinforcements from England, and for the provision of
supplies and transport, be worked out fully in the War Office; and
that the General Officer Commanding, South Africa, be informed what
action under these arrangements would be required of him on the
outbreak of war."[79] On December 21st, 1898, General Butler, upon
succeeding to the South African command, was requested to furnish, at
an early date, a fresh scheme of defence embodying his own proposals
for the distribution of the 9,500 British troops then in South Africa
in the event of war. At the same time the latest information as to
the military strength of the two Republics--showing, among other
things, a total of 40,000 burghers[80]--was forwarded to him, and his
attention was directed to the fact that the troops under his command
must be considered as a purely defensive force, whose _role_ would be
to repel invasion pending the arrival of reinforcements from England.
In the absence of any reply to this communication General Butler was
again requested, on June 6th, 1899 (_i.e._ after the failure of the
Bloemfontein Conference), to report on the defence of the British
colonies. He then sent his scheme of defence, cabling the substance in
cipher, on June 9th, and sending the text by despatch on June 14th.