g taken as the line of demarcation. The 1st brigade was
assigned to the western zone, the 2nd to the eastern; the Brigadiers
were instructed to occupy certain tactical points towards the front
and flanks, and were made responsible that the enemy was not allowed
to establish himself unmolested on any kopje south of the Arundel
ridge. The Horse artillery and New Zealand Rifles were kept in reserve
under the personal orders of the General Officer Commanding. With
these arrangements the Lieut.-General felt assured that his position
was secure, and hoped to be able to continue to pursue a bold and
aggressive policy, a duty to which he was now able to devote his whole
attention, as other arrangements had been made for the command of the
lines of communication to Port Elizabeth.

CHAPTER XVIII.

STORMBERG.[189]

[Footnote 189: See maps Nos. 9 and 14.]

[Sidenote: The Boers occupy Stormberg, Nov. 25/99.]

President Steyn early in November ordered an invasion of the
north-eastern portion of Cape Colony. In doing so he acted against the
advice of a Krijgsraad held at Bethulie to discuss the project. A
considerable party of the Free State burghers was, in fact, opposed to
an offensive plan of campaign, but the President held that success in
the struggle against Great Britain could not be attained without
enlisting in his favour all the external support he could obtain. The
mission of the invaders was therefore to incite the discontented in
the colony to open rebellion. Under these circumstances, although many
communications passed between the disaffected amongst the local
farmers and Olivier, the commandant of the Boer contingent which had
crossed Bethulie bridge early in November, the movements of the
burghers were at first slow and hesitating. Aliwal North was occupied
on the 13th, and Burghersdorp--a town without any great reputation for
loyalty--two days later. The districts of Aliwal North, Albert and
Barkly East were at once proclaimed to be Free State territory. It was
not until the 25th that the Boer commando seized the important railway
junction of Stormberg, from which the British garrison had three weeks
earlier been withdrawn by Sir R. Buller to Queenstown.[190]

[Footnote 190: Chapter XI.]

[Sidenote: Sir W. Gatacre reaches East London, Nov. 16th.]

Lieut.-General Sir W. Gatacre, with the staff of the 3rd division, the
two brigades of which had been sent on to Natal, disembarked at E