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Appendix No. 4.
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
Sir,
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Inclosure 2 in No. 22.
Sir G. Wolseley to Governor Sir Bartle Frere.
Head-quarters, Utrecht, Transvaal, September 11, 1879. I HAVE the honour to inform you that I have reported to the Secretary of State for War that I propose to retain the following troops for service in South Africa :-
For the Cape Colony.-One battery of garrison artillery, one company of Royal Engineers, and one battalion of infantry. The infantry and engineers will furnish detachments for Mauritius and St. Helena.
For Natal.-One battalion of infantry, furnishing a detachment for St. John's River.
For the Transvaal.—Three battalions of infantry, one field battery of artillery, and one company of Royal Engineers. The artillery and engineers will furnish detachments for Natal. In addition to the above I am temporarily detaining two battalions of infantry, a regiment of cavalry, and a field battery on the borders of the Transvaal.
I hope, however, that they can be dispensed with by the end of the present year.
All other troops than those named above will be ready for embarkation in October.
I regard the retention of three battalions of infantry in the Transvaal as only a temporary measure, and hope that the garrison of that Colony may before long be reduced considerably below that strength.
I have, &c.
(Signed)
G. WOLSELEY, General.
1
Sir,
Inclosure 3 in No. 22.
Governor Sir Bartle Frere to Sir G. Wolseley.
Government House, Cape Town, October 31, 1879.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge your Excellency's despatch* regarding the number of troops you propose to retain for service in South Africa.
2. I am not sure whether your Excellency wishes for any expression of my opinions regarding your propositions, as reported to the Secretary of State, but I may take the liberty of expressing my conviction that, as regards this Colony, the garrison your Excellency proposes to retain is very much lower than I should have recommended. It amounts, in fact, to no more than four or five companies of infantry and very small details of artillery and engineers, after deducting the detachments which will be sent away to Mauritius and St. Helena. This force is barely sufficient as a skeleton garrison for Cape Town and Simon's Bay, and will be quite insufficient even as a skeleton garrison in time of war without calling out the whole of the local volunteers.
3. Whether this is a position in which Cape Town and Simon's Bay ought to be left is a point for Her Majesty's Government to decide, but to my mind it is extremely impolitic to devolve the defence of these two stations so entirely upon colonial resources, and may lead to grave disaster.
4. For the eastern provinces and for Griqualand West, your Excellency's proposed plan makes no provision whatever. I assented to the withdrawal of the regiment which for many years past has been stationed at King William's Town, in the belief that it was not absolutely required for the provinces on either bank of the Kei, and that its services, as far as this Colony was concerned, would be more valuable if the regiment were moved northwards, even as far as the Colony of Natal.
5. My Ministers assented to this view, but neither they nor I contemplated that the troops in Natal would be prohibited from giving any assistance to maintain order in Kaffraria. Their knowledge your intentions in this respect might have materially altered their views regarding the withdrawal of the regiment from King William's Town.
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6. The Government of this Colony has, I think, clearly shown its sincere desire to do its best in creating a force necessary for the defence of the Colony, including the line of the Kei, and for the maintenance of order in Kaffraria, but to do this effectually requires time, and the aid of trained soldiers, and, till it is done, I cannot consider the withdrawal of the regiment from King William's Town prudent, unless the regiment, or a considerable part of it, continues to be available for service wherever it may be required when moved northwards to Natal.
7. As regards Natal itself, your Excellency may consider any opinion that I can express hardly called for, but it seems to me that before a single battalion can be pronounced sufficient for the main- tenance of order in Natal, we ought to be assured of the sufficiency of the colonial police or other force to watch the large native population in Natal and its neighbourhood.
With a good police of ample strength I quite agree with you that one battalion ought to be sufficient.
8. As regards the Transvaal, I have fewer means of judging what may be necessary, but whether the garrison to remain be large or small, I think it should not be reduced to its minimum normal amount until the country is secure, either from Boer agitation or from inroads of natives on the frontier. Boer agitation may be obviated by liberal concessions in the way of constitution, and without such concessions I do not think that our position can be a secure one. Security against native aggression, however, requires a thoroughly good organization of frontier police, for which at present, as far as I am aware, the plans are only in embryo.
9. I observe that your Excellency does not mention any provision for the security of order in Zululand, but as I am unacquainted with the details of your settlement of that country, more may have been done for the preservation of peace than I am aware of.
* Inclosure 2.
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