Lord Chelmsford was woefully deficient in knowledge of the enemy's movements. An immense army lay in wait to destroy his camp while he, with scattered forces, pursued a Will-o'-the-wisp foe which found no difficulty in luring him on to destruction. He had mounted men, but does not seem to have used them efficiently as scouts. Colonel Buller, the able head of his intelligence branch, was in quite another part of the country. Lord Chelmsford either completely despised the enemy, which was a blunder in itself, or he was incapable of appreciating his real position, and of taking the evident means of preserving the column under his charge. He evidently wanted that genius or instinct so absolutely necessary to constitute a great military leader. A really great general, like a poet, is born, not made; and it was the misfortune of the British army not to have secured one on this important occasion.

No entrenchment or laager was either made or ordered to be made at Isandhlwana, although it must be admitted that if the general had been as lucky in subordinates there as at Rorke's Drift, a very different issue of the day would have been the result. Nothing could surpass the madness of Colonel Durnford in scattering his troops at the very moment when, by means of laagering, or at least forming a hollow square, it would have been possible to resist the attack of the enemy. It is a libel on our soldiers to hint that they did not behave well. The short service system is in no way responsible for the disaster. The gallant 24th, as well as the other troops, fought with the utmost bravery, and, if they had been commanded by such a man as Wood or Pearson, undoubtedly would have gained a brilliant victory. A few hundred Dutchmen, without breech-loading guns, had behind a rough fortification of waggons defied an entire Zulu army. Chard and Bromhead, with 100 infantry soldiers, at the back of mealie-bags and biscuit-boxes, were able to drive back immensely superior forces. It is therefore preposterous to imagine that our troops at Isandhlwana, assisted by well-served large guns, could not easily, if properly commanded, have been able to hold their own, at least until the rest of the column arrived.

Lord Chelmsford criticised.

In ten days' time Lord Chelmsford was so unfortunate as to sustain a most signal defeat, in which half his force was literally butchered, and his large quantity of ammunition and stores captured by the enemy. His flank was turned and his column surprised by an army of naked savages, without artillery, about whose movements his ignorance was as profound as it was surprising. A similar success to that gained by Colonel Pearson would have virtually concluded the war. A march to Ulundi by a strong flying column would have been possible, and Great Britain might then have saved the blood of many of her best soldiers, and fully three million pounds sterling of her treasure.

The opinions now expressed are those of the majority of military correspondents and military men, but the thorough novelty and difficulty of operations do not seem sufficiently taken into account. Besides, in judging Lord Chelmsford, it must be specially remembered that his instructions about concentrating at Isandhlwana camp were not attended to, and to this fact many attributed the disaster that ensued. Certainly no one deserved sympathy more than this general, whose misfortunes were quite as great as his faults. Subsequently, he did everything in his power to make the campaign successful. Reinforcements poured in, and were pushed forward to the front. It is true that delays occurred, but these, it is argued, were thoroughly unsurmountable. We shall find at last that Lord Chelmsford finished the campaign with glory and success at the great battle of Ulundi. The people of Natal and the Cape Colony, who had sympathized with his reverses, thoroughly recognized the greatness of this victory and rejoiced in his triumph. It is only fair, when furnishing opinions full of condemnation, to refer at the same time to the fact that contrary views are held by numerous men of intelligence, who have had every opportunity of studying the subject.

The disaster of Isandhlwana was pregnant with results almost too awful to contemplate. Natal was panic-stricken. Twenty thousand white people were threatened, not only with the victorious army, but with hundreds of thousands of natives, kept heathen and alien from motives of policy, who would have, out of fear of Cetywayo, quickly joined any army of massacre which that tyrant could have sent to devastate Natal. Fortunately, in spite of their much-vaunted strategy, the Zulus proved unequal to the task of taking advantage of their victory. Had they, in the first instance, only allowed the general to move forward into his new camp, the destruction of the column could have been made complete. It was by a miracle that Lord Chelmsford and the men with him escaped. If they had been attacked when, exhausted and dispirited, they flung themselves down on the reeking plain of Isandhlwana, it is extremely likely that the general and every man with him would have been killed. The gross absurdity of blaming Lord Chelmsford for not burying the dead on the field is only equalled by its injustice. The general and the remnant of his column were really fugitives, and it was not until they found that, by the heroic defence of Rorke's Drift, the base of operations was still held, that they were able to breathe with any degree of safety. It was hoping against hope to imagine that a place really left unfortified could have been held against a victorious army; and it is well to recognize the fact that not only Natal and its people, but Lord Chelmsford and the remnant of his column, were saved by the heroes of this colonial Thermopylæ.

Panic in Natal.

The awful pause of suspense, which lasted many weeks, passed by. The Tugela river and the indecision of the Zulu king saved the colony. Reinforcements which had been telegraphed for poured in with amazing celerity, and both Natal and British honour were saved. For nine weeks the beleaguered column under General Pearson had to suffer privations, and the Zulus, who had experienced what British soldiers could do behind biscuit-boxes at Rorke's Drift, hesitated to attack them when behind regular entrenchments at Ekowe. At last, as we had seen, relief was sent. Then another period of delay set in. Masses of troops continued to arrive, and early in May our strength in Natal comprised more than 22,000 men, divided as follows:—

First division (General Crealock's)9,215
Second division (General Newdigate's)10,238
General Wood's[32] flying column3,092
Effective and non-effective22,545