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CHAPTER II.

THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR. *

It has been convenient to carry the statement of the measures adopted for preparation at home in certain matters beyond the actual date of the declaration of war. It is now necessary to view 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.

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,

* See general map of South Africa, Relief map No. 2, and map No. 3.

VOL. I. 3*

Defence plans of

local

authorities.

Genl.

Goodenough.

War Office to

Gen. Butler Dec. /98.