The Commander-in-Chief remained but two days in Pietermaritzburg, returning to Durban on the 1st of July. The same evening he embarked on board H.M.S. _Shah_, intending to land at Port Durnford, and thus reach the scene of action. For once in his life Sir Garnet’s good fortune deserted him; the heavy surf on the beach prevented his landing, and the _Shah_ brought him back to Durban. Here he received the news of the battle of Ulundi, telegraphed to him by Mr. Archibald Forbes. No one quite knew what Lord Chelmsford was about, but everyone understood that he would try and end the war before he was superseded; and the general feeling in the colony was certainly one of hope that “poor Lord Chelmsford” might get a chance, win a battle, and have his bonfire in the enemy’s city of straw. Some few, indeed, argued that as Lord Chelmsford could not possibly, in the time left him, settle the Zulu question by the sword, it might occur to him at last to pay some attention to the hard-pressed Zulu monarch’s repeated messages imploring peace, and propose some conditions possible for Cetshwayo to accept and fulfil. Without further bloodshed an honourable peace might thus have been concluded before Sir Garnet Wolseley could step upon the scene. We left the 1st Division at the Umlalazi River, close to the landing-place, Port Durnford. There the force remained, General Crealock occupied in receiving the submission of the neighbouring Zulus, who were flocking in from every direction. But whilst Lord Chelmsford, on his approach to Ulundi, was inquiring, “Where is Crealock?” Crealock was quietly established near the coast, his military activity being displayed in the burning of Empangeni and other kraals north of the Umlatuzi River. As the Zulus all round were coming in, and no “impi” was even heard of, the object of this exhibition of force seems a little doubtful. As was remarked by _The Cape Times_: “Why the British soldier was ordered to destroy the shelter, and, with the shelter, the store of grain food of some thousands of poor women and children whose husbands and fathers were making their submission, we can no more understand than we can comprehend the strategy by which a large British force was held back for months at the edge of the enemy’s country, while commissariat supplies were accumulating sufficient to support a long campaign, the whole work before them being to march a hundred miles, and with one fight close up the war. If they were beaten they could fall back on the base; but with caution and generalship defeat was out of the question.” However, Major-General Crealock must have the credit of quieting the eastern portion of Zululand before the termination of the war. From his despatches of the 5th July we gather that the “district people are all wanting to come in,” that he was “sending back the people to their districts; difficulty of feeding them would be great.” His division paraded under arms to receive the “official