dents, was as a second nature, panted to exchange the labours of the administrator for the risks and responsibilities of the General. He wrote to us on the 6th November with characteristic enthusiasm: 'All our thoughts here are now turned to the Afghan frontier, and I long to be in the saddle leading our men through these passes which former wars have made so familiar to us in history. I like being the Governor of a new place like Cyprus during peace, but when "the blast of war blows in our ears,” I long to run to the sound, and take my fair share of its dangers and excitements.' But he was denied the opportunity, and for nearly two years the war continued in Afghanistan without his participating in its chequered history of victory and defeat, though another sphere of activity opened to him before Sir Frederick Roberts's crowning achievement-the march from Cabul to Candahar and the victory of the 1st September, 1880-ended the war. Then once again Sir Garnet Wolseley was in the saddle, cheering on British troops to victory.

The Eastern proverb has it, 'Everything will come to him who waits; and though Sir Garnet Wolseley fretted at his enforced inaction while the Afghan War was in progress, the disaster of Isandlwhana gave him the required opportunity, and the demand made in the Press for the appointment of Sir Garnet Wolseley to the supreme military command in South Africa was at length favourably responded to by the Government. As usual, there were some unworthy comments on the appointment of our only General,' as his detractors sneeringly styled one whose uniform success in war they attributed to 'luck;' but Sir Garnet Wolseley had the wisdom to treat such remarks with contempt, agreeing with Hudibras,

who says:

that man is sure to lose
That fouls his hand with dirty foes;
For where no honour's to be gain'd,
It's thrown away in being maintain'd.'

CHAPTER X.

SERVICES IN ZULULAND AND THE TRANSVAAL.

Sir Garnet Wolseley is appointed to the Chief Political and Military Command in Natal and the Transvaal.-Arrival in Zululand.-Pursuit and Capture of Cetewayo.-The Settlement of Zululand.-Departure of Sir Garnet Wolseley for the Transvaal.-His Reception at Pretoria and the other Towns of the Transvaal. -Declaration of British Policy with respect to the Country and its Effect on the Boers.-The Campaign against Secocoeni.-Capture of the Chief's Stronghold on the 28th November, 1879.-Sir Garnet Wolseley and the Boers.-His opinion on the Basuto question.-Return to England of Sir Garnet Wolseley. ON the 21st May, 1879, Sir Garnet Wolseley landed in England, having been summoned from Cyprus by the Government to proceed to South Africa, to undertake the conduct of military operations from the hands of Lord Chelmsford. The war with the Zulu King was still dragging its slow length along, and the unsepultured bones of our brave officers and men yet whitened the plain under the fatal hill of Isandlwhana. That disastrous encounter was fought on the 22nd January. By the end of May there were at the seat of war in South Africa, as appears by a Ministerial statement in Parliament, 19,959 British troops, and 4,453 colonial troops, in addition to 850 seamen and marines-over 25,000 men in all, being a larger army than Lord Clyde undertook to capture Lucknow and reconquer Oude.

Sir Bartle Frere, in vindicating his conduct in sending an ultimatum to Cetewayo involving this country in war with the Zulu monarch, invoked the opinion of Sir Garnet Wolseley on the military danger to Natal by the Zulu despotism on its borders, while on the political question he

quoted the sanction given to his measures by Sir Henry Bulwer, Sir Theophilus Shepstone, and Mr. Brownlee, Commissioner for Native Affairs to the Cape Colony. It was quite true that Sir Garnet Wolseley declared that the Zulus were 'a great danger to our colony, and to all South Africa ;' but he was of this opinion three years before, and while warning the Government to be prepared, did not advise that we should go to war and precipitate the very danger we were anxious to guard against, being satisfied that a policy of firmness and preparedness would ward off hostilities. The Government had been in fault in neglecting to take the military measures of defence recommended by Sir Garnet Wolseley when in Natal, and then in going to war with an insufficient force; Sir Garnet having, in a memorandum on the invasion of Zululand, expressed an opinion that 20,000 men would be necessary to subjugate Cetewayo's forces, an estimate that was borne out by the result.

Sir Garnet Wolseley was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the forces in South Africa, and High Commissioner for Natal, the Transvaal, and the neighbouring countries,' Sir Henry Bulwer and Sir Owen Lanyon being placed under his orders, and Sir Bartle Frere remaining Governor of the Cape Colony. On the 21st May, Sir Garnet arrived from Cyprus, having travelled via Paris and Brindisi; and on Monday, the 26th May, statements were made in both Houses of Parliament, in his presence, announcing his appointment; that in the Upper House being made by Lord Beaconsfield. A sense of relief was felt by all classes of his countrymen when the appointment was made known, and Punch gave expression to this feeling in some verses on the similarity between his name and that of the great Duke of Wellington:

'When Wolseley's mentioned, Wellesley's brought to mind;
Two men, two names, of answerable kind :

Called to the front, like Wellesley, good at need,

Go, Wolseley, and like Wellesley, greatly speed.'

ARRIVAL IN NATAL.

363

On the 29th May Sir Garnet, accompanied by his staff, left London to assume his important functions. At Paddington numerous friends assembled to bid him farewell; and he was accompanied as far as Didcot Junction by Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the Colonial Secretary. Travelling all night, he arrived at Dartmouth at four a.m., and, on the following morning, embarked on board Donald Currie and Co.'s ship Edinburgh Castle, which arrived at Cape Town on the 23rd June, after a pleasant voyage. The first news that greeted Sir Garnet and his fellow-passengers as the ship cast anchor was the death of the Prince Imperial, which, with the attendant circumstances, created a painful impression on all on board. Sir Garnet landed at Cape Town, where he was the guest of Sir Bartle Frere; and on the following day, Tuesday, 24th June, sailed in the Dunkeld for Durban, putting in at Port Elizabeth for news.

To a man of the eager temperament of Sir Garnet the days and hours occupied on the voyage from England had appeared interminably long, and it was an inexpressible relief when he found himself nearing the goal of his anticipated triumphs; for the possibility of failure never entered into his philosophy. But he was destined to suffer the disappointments that had awaited all connected with this lamentable South African War, though in his case, at least, they were none of his making.

Amid the hearty cheers of his fellow-passengers and a display of bunting from all the ships in harbour, he landed at Durban at six a.m. on the 28th June, and after greeting many familiar faces among the crowd awaiting him, and receiving and replying to an address from the mayor and corporation, started at nine o'clock, by special train, for Maritzburg, where he was obliged to proceed in order to be sworn in according to the terms of his patent. There was a break in the line, and the remaining distance of 35 miles,

over a break-neck road, was traversed in carriages at a handgallop, so that Sir Garnet arrived an hour before he was expected. At Maritzburg he was received by the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Henry Bulwer, Major-General Clifford, commanding the line of communications, and other officers, and duly installed as Governor-the first the colony had received. Sir Garnet would have at once struck across country by Rorke's Drift and joined the army in the field near Ulundi, but his horses, purchased at the Cape, had not arrived, and he came to the resolution to return to Durban and proceed by ship to Port Durnford, on the coast of Zululand, near which were the headquarters of the First, or General Crealock's, Division.

After a visit to the hospital, where he spoke a kind word to the wounded-among whom was Major Hackett, of the 90th Regiment, who lost the sight of both eyes at Kambula -and making arrangements for raising a corps of 4000 carriers for General Crealock's column, and to assist in landing stores, forage, and ammunition at Port Durnford, he installed Sir Henry Bulwer as his locum tenens, and at six a.m., on the 1st July, left for Durban. The driver of the train, who bet he would do the distance of 37 miles in one hour and 20 minutes, won his wager by three minutes; a feat, owing to the curves and ascents, described by one who was present, and had seen war in many climes, as so perilous that he did not think anyone alive was ever in greater danger.'

Sir Garnet at once embarked on board H.M.S. Shah Captain Bradshaw, which arrived off Port Durnford on the following morning. Captain Bradshaw considered that the surf was too high to render a landing possible, and Sir Garnet was constrained to put off the attempt. On the following morning matters had scarcely improved; but the Commander-in-Chief would brook no further delay, and