Lord Chelmsford on the Zulu War.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3446, 10 January 1880, Page 1

Lord Chelmsford on the Zulu War.

Lord Chelmsford, who ii at present residing with his family in Bath, wta entertained at the Assembly Booms by the members of the Bath and County Club. The gathering was of a strictly private nature, no members of the Press being invited. Dr Falconer presided, and proposed the health of the guest of the evening in highly complimentary terms. . Lord Chelmsford, who was reeeired with a storm of applause, then returned thanks. Alluding to the political aspect of the Zulu war, which had been referred to by Dr Falconer, be said that when the true state of affair; in Natal and the surrounding countriip came to be known the judgment passecrbo Sir Bartle Frere would most likely be reversed. It was impossible, without having studied the history of the Zulus and the private history of Cetywayo, retlli to understand the dangers that existed iirthe Transvaal and Natal. Many of those present had the pleasure of being privately acquainted with Sir Bartle Frere, and all knew him in his public capacity, and all agreed that never was a man less likely to. io anything unjust or bring on the horrors of war unless such an act was absolutely necessary. During the life of his father, Panda, Cetywayo was really the ruler of Zululand, and when Fanda was asked who should be his successor, he said, "Letthe fittest man reign," thus adopting, the Darwinian theory of natural selection, flis lordship mentioned that out of the 35 regiments pitted against the English in the recent war, 22 had been raised by Cetywayo, thus clearly showing that he was determined to raise again the Zulu power which had been broken down by the Boers when they placed Panda on the throne. In fact the Zulu army had increased from 12 regiments to 35. That was not a time or a place to go fully into the question, but he would just give them an idea of the two principal difficulties. The only map he found in existence when he arrived in Natal was one published by Mr Jeppy, a local postmaster, and which was -printed in Pretoria in 1877. That was the most recent topographical information. It was on a scale of 30 miles to the inch. That map was enlarged under his lordship's directions by 1 his Staff, and details were filled in from verbal, reports of traders and travellers; but it was even then necessarily moat imperfect, especially as all distances in South Africa were measured by the paces of horses or ox wagons, and they might imagine that was not a very satisfactory mode of computation. On tbat map he was afraid those who criticized rather-severely his stategy had based their objections to what he was doing. Such criticism had been hasty' and would not be found just when the full history became known. The second difficulty was that along the whole of the Natal and Zulu border, which was, roughly speaking,' about 100 miles, only two practical points of entry for even traders' Wagons existed—namely the Lower Tugela Drift and Eorke's Drift. The country was about the most difficult to be found in Natal or Zululand, and they had literally to feel their way. Owing to the peculiarity of the country, any direct defence of Natal became almost an impossibility. There were no roads, and the only possible mode of defending Natal lay in invading Zulnland, and felt that so, long as troops were in Zululand the natural horrors of savage tribes, having troops in the rear would tell ou the enemy. Having alluded to the difficulty of transporting the necessaries of a campaign by heavy ox-wagons, his lordship spoke of the great satisfaction it had given him to read of the reception given to Sir Evelyn Wood, Colonel Bulier,

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