Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa from 1873 to 1884, Volume 1 (1919).djvu/118

 98 History of the Cape Colony. [1878 Sir Bartle Frere regarded the disturbance with the Xosas and some of the Tembus as only part of a very large whole. In Griqualand East there was a petty rebellion, on the border of Griqualand West the Batlapin chief Botlasitsi was giving trouble, in Southern Basutoland the Baputi chief Morosi was disaffected, in the Transvaal the Bapedi chief Sekukuni was setting the British adminis- tration at defiance, and in Zululand Ketshwayo, the most powerful chief in South Africa, was acting in such a manner that Sir Theophilus Shepstone was applying for more troops, as war might break out at any moment. Probably the machinations of Ketshwayo did not extend to the Cape frontier, as Sir Bartle Frere and many others believed they did, but certainly there could be neither tranquillity nor progress in Natal or the Trans- vaal while the menace of a Zulu army forty or fifty thousand strong remained on their border. In this condition of things Sir Bartle Frere asked for two more battalions, and Lord Carnarvon in his friendly desire to assist South Africa, supported the application. They could ill be spared at the time, for there was trouble in Europe, but the cabinet would not neglect this country in a time of need, and the ninetieth and the second battalion of the twenty-fourth were at once sent out. On the 3rd of February a battery of artillery arrived at Capetown, and was at once sent to East London. The next day the ninetieth regiment arrived in Capetown, and three hundred men were forwarded to Natal and six hundred to East London, whence they proceeded to Fort Beaufort. On the 28th of February the second battalion of the twenty-fourth arrived at East London, where it disembarked, and was distributed among various stations. In connection with the question of soldiers versus volunteers, was the one of who should have the direction of operations in the field. Sir Bartle Frere was of opinion that the general commanding her Majesty's