On December 2nd, Sir B. Frere forwards copies of memoranda by Sir T. Shepstone and Mr. Brownlee, in which the former proposes measures which “involve the extinction of the Zulu power as it now is, and the attempt to adopt them must, if decided upon, be made with the knowledge that the Zulu chief will oppose them, whatever course the headmen and common people may adopt” (_ibid._ p. 134). Mr. Brownlee says plainly: “The time has arrived for decisive action; we will never again have so favourable an opportunity as the present; if it is lost, sooner or later we will be taken at a disadvantage” (_ibid._ p. 138). On December 10th, Sir B. Frere writes to Sir M. Hicks-Beach: “The chance of avoiding war under such circumstances by any exercise of prudence, or by meeting the Zulus in a spirit of forbearance or reasonable compromise, may depend upon ourselves or upon the Zulus, or upon the nature of the issues pending between us.... Can we then rest on an armed truce?... After the most anxious consideration, I can arrive at no other conclusion than that it is impossible to evade the necessity for now settling this Zulu question thoroughly and finally ... there is clearly no possibility of now evading bringing matters to an issue with the Zulus” (_ibid._ pp. 183-85). On the 23rd January, 1879, Sir M. Hicks-Beach acknowledges the receipt of Sir B. Frere’s despatches containing “the demands with which Cetywayo has been called upon to comply, together with your own descriptions of the situation with which you have to deal, as well as other very important memoranda by Sir H. Bulwer, Sir T. Shepstone, and Mr. Brownlee,” and says, “I may observe that the communications which had previously been received from you had not entirely prepared them” (Her Majesty’s Government) “for the course which you have deemed it necessary to take. The representations made by Lord Chelmsford and yourself last autumn as to the urgent need of strengthening Her Majesty’s forces in South Africa were based upon the imminent danger of an invasion of Natal by the Zulus, and the inadequate means at that time at your disposal for meeting it. In order to afford protection to the lives and property of the colonists, the reinforcements asked for were supplied, and, in informing you of the decision of Her Majesty’s Government, I took the opportunity of impressing upon you the importance of using every effort to avoid war. But the terms which you have dictated to the Zulu king, however necessary to relieve the colony in future from an impending and increasing danger, are evidently such as he may not improbably refuse, even at the risk of war; and I regret that the necessity for immediate action should have appeared to you so imperative as to preclude you from incurring the delay which would have been involved in consulting Her Majesty’s Government upon a subject of so much importance as the terms which Cetywayo should be required to accept before those terms were actually presented to the