Buller found himself confronted with an alarming and critical situation in Natal.  Practically the whole force which had been deemed sufficient to protect the Colony was locked up in Ladysmith, and only a few line of communication troops stood between the enemy and the capital or even the seaport.  Plainly, therefore, strong reinforcements—­at least a division—­must be hurried to Natal without an hour’s unnecessary delay.

When these troops were subtracted from the forces in the Cape Colony all prospect of pursuing the original plan of invading the Free State was destroyed.  It was evident that the war would assume dimensions which no one had ever contemplated.

The first thing to be done therefore was to grapple with the immediate emergencies, and await the arrival of the necessary troops to carry on the war on an altogether larger scale.  Natal was the most acute situation.  But there were others scarcely less serious and critical.  The Cape Colony was quivering with rebellion.  The Republican forces were everywhere advancing.  Kimberley and Mafeking were isolated.  A small British garrison held a dangerous position at Orange River bridge.  Nearly all the other bridges had been seized or destroyed by rebels or invaders.

From every quarter came clamourings for troops.  Soldiers were wanted with vital need at Stormberg, at Rosmead Junction, at Colesberg, at De Aar, but most of all they were wanted in Natal—­Natal, which had been promised protection ‘with the whole force of the Empire,’ and which was already half overrun and the rest almost defenceless.  So the army corps, which was to have marched irresistibly to Bloemfontein and Pretoria, had to be hurled into the country—­each unit as it arrived—­wherever the need was greatest where all were great.

Sir Redvers Buller, thus assailed by the unforeseen and pressed on every side, had to make up his mind quickly.  He looked to Natal.  It was there that the fiercest fighting was in progress and that the strength and vigour of the enemy was apparently most formidable.  He had always regarded the line of the Tugela as the only defensive line which British forces would be strong enough to hold, and had recorded his opinion against placing any troops north of that river.

In spite of this warning Ladysmith had been made a great military depot, and had consequently come to be considered a place of primary importance.  It was again a question of balancing drawbacks.  Buller therefore telegraphed to White asking him whether he could entrench and maintain himself pending the arrival of reinforcements.  White replied that he was prepared to make a prolonged defence of Ladysmith.  To this proposal the General-in-chief assented, observing only ’but the line of the Tugela is very tempting.’