- (1) There should be a battalion at Port Elizabeth.
- (2) General Gatacre wants another battalion and a battery of field artillery.
- (3) General French should have the second battery Royal Horse artillery, and eventually three cavalry regiments, and, if possible, one more battalion.
10. With regard to Natal, I propose to send the 6th Dragoon Guards and 10th Hussars, the 63rd, 64th, and 73rd batteries Royal Field artillery, the remainder of General Hart's Brigade, i.e., three battalions, as soon as they come in. We must do with them the best we can.
11. I think the Colonial contingents had better go to Natal.
12. In my opinion, so long as General White holds Ladysmith the force able to attack you from the Orange Free State is not likely to be serious, but if Natal goes you will have to concentrate for defence, and you should make up your mind what positions to hold. Probably the best military positions about Queenstown, Middleburg, and Beaufort West will be found most convenient.
Redvers Buller,
General.
CHAPTER XII.
ADVANCE FROM THE ORANGE RIVER. Lord Methuen's instructions. Nov. 10/99.
On the 10th of November Lord Methuen, with his staff, left Cape Town for Orange River station, where he arrived two days later. The orders which he had received from Sir Redvers Buller ran as follows:—
November 10th, 1899.