ca.

9. That the patriotic offers of further contingents from the colonies be
gratefully accepted.

By these measures it was calculated that from seventy to a hundred
thousand men would be added to our South African armies, the numbers of
which were already not short of a hundred thousand.

It is one thing, however, to draw up paper reinforcements, and it is
another, in a free country where no compulsion would be tolerated, to
turn these plans into actual regiments and squadrons. But if there were
any who doubted that this ancient nation still glowed with the spirit
of its youth his fears must soon have passed away. For this far-distant
war, a war of the unseen foe and of the murderous ambuscade, there
were so many volunteers that the authorities were embarrassed by their
numbers and their pertinacity. It was a stimulating sight to see those
long queues of top-hatted, frock-coated young men who waited their turn
for the orderly room with as much desperate anxiety as if hard fare,
a veld bed, and Boer bullets were all that life had that was worth the
holding. Especially the Imperial Yeomanry, a corps of riders and shots,
appealed to the sporting instincts of our race. Many could ride and not
shoot, many could shoot and not ride, more candidates were rejected
than were accepted, and yet in a very short time eight thousand men from
every class were wearing the grey coats and bandoliers. This singular
and formidable force was drawn from every part of England and Scotland,
with a contingent of hard-riding Irish fox-hunters. Noblemen and
grooms rode knee to knee in the ranks, and the officers included many
well-known country gentlemen and masters of hounds. Well horsed and well
armed, a better force for the work in hand could not be imagined. So
high did the patriotism run that corps were formed in which the men
not only found their own equipment but contributed their pay to the war
fund. Many young men about town justified their existence for the first
time. In a single club, which is peculiarly consecrated to the jeunesse
doree, three hundred members rode to the wars.

Without waiting for these distant but necessary reinforcements, the
Generals in Africa had two divisions to look to, one of which was
actually arriving while the other was on the sea. These formed the 5th
Division under Sir Charles Warren, and the 6th Division under General
Kelly-Kenny. Until these forces should arrive it was obviously best that
the three