the state of
affairs in South Africa at that time. Although British preparations
for war had been retarded by the hope of the Queen's Government that
the grave issues with the Dutch Republics might be determined by
diplomatic action, yet the weakness of our military position in South
Africa had long been felt as keenly by the local military authorities
as it had been by the Headquarter staff at the War Office. In schemes
for the defence of the British colonies, submitted in 1896 and 1897 by
Lieut.-General Sir W. H. Goodenough, who was then commanding in South
Africa, the extraordinary extent of the frontiers to be defended, the
disadvantages entailed by their shape, and the overwhelming numerical
superiority of the Boers over the handful of British troops then in
South Africa, made it necessary to base the protection even of the
most important strategical points on sheer audacity.

[Sidenote: War Office to Gen. Butler Dec. /98.]

[Sidenote: Dec. /98, from W.O.]

A letter addressed by the War Office to General Goodenough's
successor, Lieut.-General Sir W. Butler, on 21st December, 1898, had
requested him to reconsider his predecessor's proposals, and to report
at an early date the distribution of troops he would make in the event
of war with the two Dutch Republics. In a review of the strategical
situation, that despatch drew attention to the fact that the troops
then stationed in the command "would be inadequate for any other than
a defensive attitude, pending the arrival of reinforcements from
England." In the same paper the effect of the frontiers on the
questions, both of defence in the earlier stages of the war, and of
the ultimate form of offence, is so fully treated that it will be
convenient to quote here the official statement of the case. It must
be premised that it is assumed in it, as in fact proved to be the
case, that both sides would tacitly agree, for the sake of not raising
the native difficulty, to treat Basuto territory as neutral. That
mountain region was therefore throughout considered as an impassable
obstacle:--

"The frontiers of the Transvaal and the Free State are conterminous
with English territory for over 1,000 miles, but the defence of this
enormous frontier by Her Majesty's troops is impossible to
contemplate. Southern Rhodesia, although a possible objective for a
Boer raid, must rely entirely for its defence upon its own local
forces, and, although the line from Kimberley to Buluwayo