Had Leader not felt obliged to resign, it is more than probable that with, for instance, so enthusiastic a lieutenant as Bru-de-Wold, the highly creditable system subsequently developed by the latter would have fully matured. But, whatever may have happened in his time, cannot be allowed to obscure well-deserved distinction and prevent the bestowal of that meed of praise the Colony owes to the man who, if he did not actually initiate, took infinite pains, in season and out of season, assisted by an efficient and willing staff, to further the scheme, until it actually assumed the solidarity it did and that capacity for simultaneous and harmonious movement which are the leading characteristics of every sound system of defence. Natal, therefore, owes her gratitude to Col. Bru-de-Wold as to one who, keenly alive to her best interests, in the face of much political and other discouragement, resolutely held to the course he had embarked on, until the long-entertained idea had been fairly realized. Without him, it is conceivable, the Colony might have become so involved during the Rebellion as to have been unable to suppress it without appealing for help to the Mother Country, when the command of the whole of the operations would have passed automatically from her own hands to those of the Imperial Government. That is to say, a Colony which, but a dozen or so years previously, had deliberately resolved to take on the burden of responsible government and all attendant risks, would have been so far incapable of exercising control and utilizing her own resources as, at the first sign of trouble in connection with purely internal affairs, to seek the aid of external authority to set them in order. Had any such assistance been invoked and rendered, Natal must inevitably have forfeited, especially in the eyes of the Natives, much of the prestige she had so long enjoyed and which she was determined, if possible, to maintain. But let no one suppose these remarks to be made in any ungenerous spirit or unmindfully of that bond of sympathy and warm attachment that will for ever endure between the Motherland and her sons in Natal. It is impossible to gauge the degree to which Natal is indebted to the "old block" of which she is but a chip; her social system, laws, education, and institutions were, for the most part, "made in England," so, too, were many of the better features of the military system of which she is so justly proud. She is not oblivious of the instruction and encouragement her officers have received from innumerable representatives of His Majesty's army, in South Africa and at home, or of the keen interest that has constantly been shown in the general development of her forces.
COLONEL H.T. BRU-DE-WOLD,
C.M.G., D.S.O.,
Commandant of Militia.
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR JOHN G. DARTNELL,
K.C.B., C.M.G.
COLONEL G. LEUCHARS, C.M.G., D.S.O.
SIR ABE BAILEY, K.C.M.G.
COMPOSITION AND STRENGTH OF THE MILITIA.
Active Militia.—The strength of the Active Militia was limited to 4,000 in time of peace. This figure, as a matter of fact, was never reached, owing to the severe financial depression the Colony passed through in the years 1902-1906, and later. Although the strength rose from 1,864 officers and men in 1902 to 3,449 in 1904—that it did not increase beyond the latter figure was due to Government fixing 3,500 as the temporary maximum strength—it decreased in 1906 to 2,854. Consequently, there was a shortfall of no less than 1,146 men on a maximum authorized peace establishment at the outbreak of the Rebellion. In his report, dated January, 1907, Bru-de-Wold says: "Assuming office in October, 1905,[56] during a period of great financial depression, I was confronted with the task of immediately reducing expenditure.... At the same time, I was convinced that, at no period since I became connected with the Defence Forces of the Colony, had there been a greater urgency for efficiency and readiness to take the field. I felt sure that the Native trouble, which I had seen for some years past drawing nearer and nearer, was now within a measurable distance, and in my own mind I fixed the latter end of May or June as the most probable time for the disturbance to break out. I was instructed to reduce the Active Militia to 2,500 of all ranks...."[57] Again: "To organize the Force with its reduced numbers, and still to retain its efficiency as an effective fighting force, I arranged a Peace and War establishment for each regiment, the ranks to be filled up when required for war purposes by supernumeraries, or special service men...."[58]
Nothing could show more clearly than the foregoing facts how severe must have been the financial depression through which the Colony passed in 1905 and 1906, and how great the risks run by being compelled to reduce to 2,500 men, the first line of defence of a Colony controlling about a million warlike savages. When, as then situated, Natal determined to deal with the trouble by means of her own resources, she took a bold and even hazardous course. But it was just such decision that appealed to the imagination of the staunchest of her colonists, and it was not long before she had the satisfaction of knowing that her courageous attitude was amply justified by the results.
Having decided, in 1904, to recruit to a figure falling short by 500 of the maximum peace strength authorized by law, and again, in 1905, directed a further reduction by 1,000 men, it would be thought the Government, on the first acts of rebellion occurring in February and April, would have been only too glad to avail themselves of the power to ballot for recruits,[59] to raise the depleted ranks to at least the maximum peace establishment. By rights, the final word as to when the ballot should be brought into force, should rest with the officer responsible for the defence of the country. Experience has shown that an elective ministry will not so act if it can possibly be avoided.[60] If not imperative, so as to restore the authorized establishment, such necessity certainly appeared to arise when the character of the terrain selected by the rebels came to be closely considered. For operations in connection with Nkandhla forest alone—an area covering 100 square miles, i.e. equivalent to that of Greater London, some 10,000 European troops were declared by competent military advisers to be required. If others advised lesser numbers, it was because they were confident (though having no military reasons for saying so) that their extremely elusive foes could be hoodwinked at their own game, and in a country, too, as well-known to them as a cornfield is to the mice that run up and down and between the growing stalks.
The Government, of which The Hon. C.J. Smythe was Prime Minister and Sir Thomas Watt Minister of Defence, declined to use the ballot. The reasons for such paradoxical attitude were briefly these: Owing to the reports of unrest and threatened attack received almost daily from widely-separated parts, in some cases panic-stricken men, women and children taking refuge in lagers and clamouring for help, it was desirable to allay the panic; this alarm must have been greatly heightened had there been sudden recourse to the ballot, which the unexpected initial success of the April rising appeared to demand. Owing to there being no general organization among the rebels, it was highly probable outbreaks would occur here and there, until, having acquired sufficient momentum, a large force had been successfully massed on ground favourable to their tactics. Thus, to denude any particular district of men, was practically to offer it to the enemy as a convenient point of attack. It should be borne in mind that the scanty European population was so distributed as to be almost in every direction in the immediate vicinity of what are known as Native locations. These, laid off for the exclusive use of the Natives as far back as 1845, were made numerous and kept separate for the very reason that, through one large group of Natives gradually losing touch with the others, their power for mischief, in the event of hostilities, would be reduced, whilst Europeans, taking up their abode, either as farmers or as townsmen, on the intervening territory, would serve to leaven the aborigines with civilized habits, and promote their spiritual and material advancement.
On the other hand, it is no less true of savage than of civilized warfare, that the best defence consists in attacking the enemy wherever he may be found, and not leaving the initiative to be taken by him. The latter method, it is true, leaves exposed numerous vulnerable points, at each of which, owing to greater numbers, he ought in theory to succeed.