This Government is most unlucky. On October 6th, when the
latest letters left Pietermaritzburg, in Natal, war with the Zulus was evidently expected ; and according to a telegram from Cape Town, dated October 22nd, a British detachment in the Trans- vaal, numbering 500 men, under Colonel Gilbert, had " been compelled to fall back before an overwhelming force of natives." These must be Zulus belonging to Cetewayo's tribe, though not necessarily authorised by him. We have troops enough for an ordinary war, Lord Chelmsford commanding five columns, with 1,000 British Regulars, 500 European Volunteers, and 3,000 natives in each ; but he has to reduce Secocceni, whose position, as described in the Times, seems nearly impregnable ; and the cost of movement is, even to English ideas, tremendous. The drought has killed down the cattle till a waggon and team cost £360. Five thousand Goorkhas and Sikhs at the Cape would be invaluable, but they are all wanted for an entirely needless war, to "rectify a frontier," which is, nevertheless, pronounced impassable.
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