4.  That considerable artillery reinforcements, including a howitzer brigade, should go out.

5.  That eleven Militia battalions be sent abroad.

6.  That a strong contingent of Volunteers be sent out.

7.  That a Yeomanry mounted force be despatched.

8.  That mounted corps be raised at the discretion of the Commander-in-Chief in South Africa.

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 armies should wait, for, unless there should be pressing need of help on the part of the besieged garrisons