"After full consideration of the condition of affairs in South Africa, her Majesty's Government have decided that the arrangements under which the chief civil and military authority in the neighbourhood of the seat of war is distributed among four different persons can no longer be deemed adequate to the requirements of the present juncture.
"2. In the number of imperial troops engaged, and the expenditure incurred, the Zulu war has assumed dimensions far exceeding those of any that has been carried on for many years in South Africa; and it appears but too evident that military operations have been seriously impeded by a want of harmony between the civil and military authorities, of which the difference that has arisen between the Lieutenant-General commanding the forces and the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, with regard to the disposal of a portion of the native levies called out for service, has furnished a striking example.
"3. In such a matter the High Commissioner has no power to interfere, but were it otherwise you would be unable, in present circumstances, to interfere with any practical effect. For the prompt action requisite in time of war would entirely preclude the satisfactory reference to Cape Town of this or any other of the numerous questions requiring the decision of the High Commissioner; while, on the other hand, your own presence at the seat of war has become impossible. After an unavoidable protracted absence from Cape Town (during which you have laboured with singular zeal and energy to discharge all the duties which have devolved upon you) you will be entirely occupied with many important matters necessarily postponed until your return.
New arrangements.
"4. The union of Griqualand West with the Cape, to the settlement of which your recent visit to the province will have largely contributed, has to be completed; the financial questions jointly concerning the colony and this country demand immediate attention; and important work remains to be done in carrying out the recent legislation of the Cape Parliament for the defence of the colony. But above all her Majesty's Government are anxious that the larger and more complicated questions connected with confederation, on which I shall shortly address you, should be considered, under your guidance, during the approaching session of the Cape Parliament, and they attach special importance to the advantages which may be derived from your exertions in promoting this great work.
"5. Under these circumstances, Her Majesty's Government have determined to place the chief military and civil command in the eastern portion of South Africa in the hands of one officer, and they have selected Lieutenant-General Sir Garnet Wolseley, G.C.M.G., for this duty. His high professional standing and his varied and distinguished services preclude any question as to the fitness of placing him for the time in supreme authority over the able men now commanding her Majesty's troops in South Africa and administering the Governments of Natal and the Transvaal, and it is equally beyond question that he will receive their most loyal and cordial support. Sir Garnet Wolseley will, in addition to his military command, be commissioned as Governor of Natal and of the Transvaal, and High Commissioner for Native and Foreign Affairs to the northward and eastward of those colonies. In the latter capacity he will assume for the time that portion of your functions which, at a crisis of such gravity as the present, could not be performed by any High Commissioner acting at a distance of more than 1000 miles from the scene of operations. You will, I am confident, be the first to recognize the necessity of the arrangement, and will readily assist Sir Garnet Wolseley, should you have returned to Cape Town by the time of his arrival there on his way to enter upon the duties of his office, with all the valuable information which your knowledge and experience enable you to afford."
The Under-Secretary for War, writing to Lord Chelmsford (29th May), says:—
"I have now to convey to you the intimation that her Majesty's Government, having carefully considered the information at their command, have come to the conclusion that the satisfactory administration of affairs in that part of South-Eastern Africa in the immediate neighbourhood of the seat of war can at the present moment only be carried out by placing that administration in the hands of one person holding plenary powers, both civil and military, and that they have selected Sir Garnet Wolseley to discharge these duties.
"The Colonial Office will by this mail have informed Sir Bartle Frere of this decision, and of its effects so far as he himself is concerned.