hope, therefore, for at least a month,
that his field army would be complete in organisation, equipment, and
transport, and ready to commence an advance into the Free State.
Notwithstanding these anxieties, General Buller was at first inclined
to adhere to the scheme originally designed, and to wait until he
could remove the pressure on Ladysmith and Kimberley by striking
straight at Bloemfontein. He so informed Lord Wolseley in a telegram
despatched from Cape Town on 1st November. Yet a few hours later it
became evident that the whole case was graver than Sir Redvers had at
first conceived. Both from the telegrams of Sir George White and from
those of Sir Archibald Hunter, from whom, as his own chief-of-staff,
Buller had called for a personal report on affairs in Natal, it was
manifest that Ladysmith was certain to be cut off from the outer
world. General White telegraphed: "I have the greatest confidence in
holding the Boers for as long as necessary," but he added that
"reinforcements should be sent to Natal at once. Ladysmith strongly
entrenched, but lines not continuous and perimeter so large that Boers
can exercise their usual tactics." General Hunter reported that
"Ladysmith lies in a hollow, commanded by heights too distant for us
to hold, and now possessed by the enemy"; and that "the Boers are
superior in numbers, mobility, and long-range artillery." In Cape
Colony the Intelligence officers at Naauwpoort and Stormberg
telegraphed that a commando, 800 strong, had crossed the Orange river
at Norval's Pont, and that another Boer force, stated to be 3,000
strong, with two guns and a Maxim, was crossing the Bethulie bridge.
The enemy's successes in Natal were, in fact, encouraging the Free
State commandos to establish connection with the disaffected in the
eastern and midland districts of Cape Colony. As regards the general
attitude of those in the Colonies who sympathised with the Boers,
General Buller was aware that for the most part they possessed arms
and ammunition, and that if their districts were invaded the young men
would join the enemy. The information in his possession led to a
belief that the greater number were for the moment still very
undecided, wondering which side would win, and that their whole
attention was fixed on Ladysmith and Kimberley. If the relief of those
places could be effected, the hostile elements, it was held, would not
stir; but if the two towns should fall, a dangerous rising was th