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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The War in South Africa, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The War in South Africa
+       Its Cause and Conduct
+
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+
+Release Date: March 29, 2008  [eBook #24951]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Stephen Blundell, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+   Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
+
+   The oe ligature is shown as [oe].
+
+   Obsolete spellings have been retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA
+
+Its Cause and Conduct
+
+by
+
+A. CONAN DOYLE
+
+Author of 'The Great Boer War'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Published by
+Smith, Elder, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, London, S.W.
+
+All Copies for the Colonies and India supplied by
+G. Bell & Sons, London and Bombay
+
+1902
+
+[All rights reserved]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+For some reason, which may be either arrogance or apathy, the British
+are very slow to state their case to the world. At present the reasons
+for our actions and the methods which we have used are set forth in many
+Blue-books, tracts, and leaflets, but have never, so far as I know, been
+collected into one small volume. In view of the persistent slanders to
+which our politicians and our soldiers have been equally exposed, it
+becomes a duty which we owe to our national honour to lay the facts
+before the world. I wish someone more competent, and with some official
+authority, had undertaken the task, which I have tried to do as best I
+might from an independent standpoint.
+
+There was never a war in history in which the right was absolutely on
+one side, or in which no incidents of the campaign were open to
+criticism. I do not pretend that it was so here. But I do not think that
+any unprejudiced man can read the facts without acknowledging that the
+British Government has done its best to avoid war, and the British Army
+to wage it with humanity.
+
+To my publisher and to myself this work has been its own reward. In this
+way we hope to put the price within the reach of all, and yet leave a
+profit for the vendor. Our further ambition is, however, to translate it
+into all European tongues, and to send a free copy to every deputy and
+every newspaper on the Continent and in America. For this work money
+will be needed--a considerable sum. We propose to make an appeal to the
+public for these funds. Any sums which are sent to me or to my publisher
+will be devoted to this work. There cannot be too much, for the more we
+get the more we shall do.
+
+I may add that I have not burdened my pages with continual references.
+My quotations are reliable and can always, if necessary, be
+substantiated.
+
+                                                       A. CONAN DOYLE.
+ UNDERSHAW, HINDHEAD:
+   _January, 1902._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ CHAP.                                            PAGE
+
+    I. THE BOER PEOPLE                               9
+
+   II. THE CAUSE OF QUARREL                         23
+
+  III. THE NEGOTIATIONS                             41
+
+   IV. SOME POINTS EXAMINED                         61
+
+    V. THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE                   73
+
+   VI. THE FARM-BURNING                             84
+
+  VII. THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS                      94
+
+ VIII. THE BRITISH SOLDIER IN SOUTH AFRICA         107
+
+   IX. FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST BRITISH TROOPS      123
+
+    X. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION              133
+
+   XI. CONCLUSIONS                                 150
+
+
+
+
+THE WAR:
+
+ITS CAUSE AND CONDUCT
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE BOER PEOPLE
+
+
+It is impossible to appreciate the South African problem and the causes
+which have led up to the present war between the British Empire and the
+Boer republics without some knowledge, however superficial, of the past
+history of South Africa. To tell the tale one must go back to the
+beginning, for there has been complete continuity of history in South
+Africa, and every stage has depended upon that which has preceded it. No
+one can know or appreciate the Boer who does not know his past, for he
+is what his past has made him.
+
+It was about the time when Oliver Cromwell was at his zenith--in 1652,
+to be pedantically accurate--that the Dutch made their first lodgment at
+the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese had been there before them, but,
+repelled by the evil weather, and lured forward by rumours of gold, they
+had passed the true seat of empire, and had voyaged farther, to settle
+along the eastern coast. But the Dutchmen at the Cape prospered and grew
+stronger in that robust climate. They did not penetrate far inland, for
+they were few in number, and all they wanted was to be found close at
+hand. But they built themselves houses, and they supplied the Dutch East
+India Company with food and water, gradually budding off little
+townlets, Wynberg, Stellenbosch, and pushing their settlements up the
+long slopes which lead to that great central plateau which extends for
+1,500 miles from the edge of the Karoo to the Valley of the Zambesi.
+
+For a hundred more years the history of the colony was a record of the
+gradual spreading of the Africanders over the huge expanse of veldt
+which lay to the north of them. Cattle-raising became an industry, but
+in a country where six acres can hardly support a sheep, large farms are
+necessary for even small herds. Six thousand acres was the usual size,
+and 5_l._ a year the rent payable to Government. The diseases which
+follow the white man had in Africa, as in America and Australia, been
+fatal to the natives, and an epidemic of smallpox cleared the country
+for the new-comers. Farther and farther north they pushed, founding
+little towns here and there, such as Graaf-Reinet and Swellendam, where
+a Dutch Reformed Church and a store for the sale of the bare necessaries
+of life formed a nucleus for a few scattered dwellings. Already the
+settlers were showing that independence of control and that detachment
+from Europe which has been their most prominent characteristic. Even the
+mild sway of the Dutch Company had caused them to revolt. The local
+rising, however, was hardly noticed in the universal cataclysm which
+followed the French Revolution. After twenty years, during which the
+world was shaken by the Titanic struggle in the final counting up of the
+game and paying of the stakes, the Cape Colony was added in 1814 to the
+British Empire.
+
+In all the vast collection of British States there is probably not one
+the title-deeds to which are more incontestable than to this. Britain
+had it by two rights, the right of conquest and the right of purchase.
+In 1806 troops landed, defeated the local forces, and took possession of
+Cape Town. In 1814 Britain paid the large sum of six million pounds to
+the Stadtholder for the transference of this and some South American
+land. It was a bargain which was probably made rapidly and carelessly in
+that general redistribution which was going on. As a house of call upon
+the way to India the place was seen to be of value, but the country
+itself was looked upon as unprofitable and desert. What would
+Castlereagh or Liverpool have thought could they have seen the items
+which they were buying for six million pounds? The inventory would have
+been a mixed one of good and of evil: nine fierce Kaffir wars, the
+greatest diamond mines in the world, the wealthiest gold mines, two
+costly and humiliating campaigns with men whom we respected even when we
+fought with them, and now at last, we hope, a South Africa of peace and
+prosperity, with equal rights and equal duties for all men.
+
+The title-deeds to the estate are, as I have said, good ones, but there
+is one singular and ominous flaw in their provisions. The ocean has
+marked three boundaries to it, but the fourth is undefined. There is no
+word of the 'hinterland,' for neither the term nor the idea had then
+been thought of. Had Great Britain bought those vast regions which
+extended beyond the settlements? Or were the discontented Dutch at
+liberty to pass onwards and found fresh nations to bar the path of the
+Anglo-Celtic colonists? In that question lay the germ of all the trouble
+to come. An American would realise the point at issue if he could
+conceive that after the founding of the United States the Dutch
+inhabitants of the State of New York had trekked to the westward and
+established fresh communities under a new flag. Then, when the American
+population overtook these western States, they would be face to face
+with the problem which this country has had to solve. If they found
+these new States fiercely anti-American and extremely unprogressive,
+they would experience that aggravation of their difficulties with which
+British statesmen have had to deal.
+
+At the time of their transference to the British flag the
+colonists--Dutch, French, and German--numbered some thirty thousand.
+They were slaveholders, and the slaves were about as numerous as
+themselves. The prospect of complete amalgamation between the British
+and the original settlers would have seemed to be a good one, since they
+were of much the same stock, and their creeds could only be
+distinguished by their varying degrees of bigotry and intolerance. Five
+thousand British emigrants were landed in 1820, settling on the Eastern
+borders of the colony, and from that time onwards there was a slow but
+steady influx of English-speaking colonists. The Government had the
+historical faults and the historical virtues of British rule. It was
+mild, clean, honest, tactless, and inconsistent. On the whole, it might
+have done very well had it been content to leave things as it found
+them. But to change the habits of the most conservative of Teutonic
+races was a dangerous venture, and one which has led to a long series of
+complications, making up the troubled history of South Africa.
+
+The Imperial Government has always taken an honourable and philanthropic
+view of the rights of the native and the claim which he has to the
+protection of the law. We hold, and rightly, that British justice, if
+not blind, should at least be colour-blind. The view is irreproachable
+in theory and incontestable in argument, but it is apt to be irritating
+when urged by a Boston moralist or a London philanthropist upon men
+whose whole society has been built upon the assumption that the black is
+the inferior race. Such a people like to find the higher morality for
+themselves, not to have it imposed upon them by those who live under
+entirely different conditions.
+
+The British Government in South Africa has always played the unpopular
+part of the friend and protector of the native servants. It was upon
+this very point that the first friction appeared between the old
+settlers and the new administration. A rising with bloodshed followed
+the arrest of a Dutch farmer who had maltreated his slave. It was
+suppressed, and five of the participants were hanged. This punishment
+was unduly severe and exceedingly injudicious. A brave race can forget
+the victims of the field of battle, but never those of the scaffold. The
+making of political martyrs is the last insanity of statesmanship.
+However, the thing was done, and it is typical of the enduring
+resentment which was left behind that when, after the Jameson Raid, it
+seemed that the leaders of that ill-fated venture might be hanged, the
+beam was actually brought from a farmhouse at Cookhouse Drift to
+Pretoria, that the Englishmen might die as the Dutchmen had died in
+1816. Slagter's Nek marked the dividing of the ways between the British
+Government and the Africanders.
+
+And the separation soon became more marked. With vicarious generosity,
+the English Government gave very lenient terms to the Kaffir tribes who
+in 1834 had raided the border farmers. And then, finally, in this same
+year there came the emancipation of the slaves throughout the British
+Empire, which fanned all smouldering discontents into an active flame.
+
+It must be confessed that on this occasion the British philanthropist
+was willing to pay for what he thought was right. It was a noble
+national action, and one the morality of which was in advance of its
+time, that the British Parliament should vote the enormous sum of twenty
+million pounds to pay compensation to the slaveholders, and so to remove
+an evil with which the mother country had no immediate connection. It
+was as well that the thing should have been done when it was, for had we
+waited till the colonies affected had governments of their own it could
+never have been done by constitutional methods. With many a grumble the
+good British householder drew his purse from his fob, and paid for what
+he thought to be right. If any special grace attends the virtuous action
+which brings nothing but tribulation in this world, then we may hope for
+it over this emancipation. We spent our money, we ruined our West Indian
+colonies, and we started a disaffection in South Africa, the end of
+which we have not seen.
+
+But the details of the measure were less honourable than the principle.
+It was carried out suddenly, so that the country had no time to adjust
+itself to the new conditions. Three million pounds were ear-marked for
+South Africa, which gives a price per slave of from 60_l._ to 70_l._, a
+sum considerably below the current local rates. Finally, the
+compensation was made payable in London, so that the farmers sold their
+claims at reduced prices to middlemen. Indignation meetings were held in
+every little townlet and cattle-camp on the Karoo. The old Dutch spirit
+was up--the spirit of the men who cut the dykes. Rebellion was useless.
+But a vast untenanted land stretched to the north of them. The nomad
+life was congenial to them, and in their huge ox-drawn wagons--like
+those bullock-carts in which some of their old kinsmen came to
+Gaul--they had vehicles and homes and forts all in one. One by one they
+were loaded up, the huge teams were inspanned, the women were seated
+inside, the men with their long-barrelled guns walked alongside, and the
+great exodus was begun. Their herds and flocks accompanied the
+migration, and the children helped to round them in and drive them. One
+tattered little boy of ten cracked his sjambok whip behind the bullocks.
+He was a small item in that singular crowd, but he was of interest to
+us, for his name was Paul Stephanus Kruger.
+
+It was a strange exodus, only comparable in modern times to the sallying
+forth of the Mormons from Nauvoo upon their search for the promised land
+of Utah. The country was known and sparsely settled as far north as the
+Orange River, but beyond there was a great region which had never been
+penetrated save by some daring hunter or adventurous pioneer. It
+chanced--if there be indeed such an element as chance in the graver
+affairs of man--that a Zulu conqueror had swept over this land and left
+it untenanted, save by the dwarf bushmen, the hideous aborigines, lowest
+of the human race. There were fine grazing and good soil for the
+emigrants. They travelled in small detached parties, but their total
+numbers were considerable, from six to ten thousand according to their
+historian, or nearly a quarter of the whole population of the colony.
+Some of the early bands perished miserably. A large number made a
+trysting-place at a high peak to the east of Bloemfontein, in what was
+lately the Orange Free State. One party of the emigrants was cut off by
+the formidable Matabeli, a branch of the great Zulu nation.
+
+The final victory of the 'voortrekkers' cleared all the country between
+the Orange River and the Limpopo, the sites of what have been known as
+the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. In the meantime another body of
+the emigrants had descended into Natal, and had defeated Dingaan, the
+great Chief of the Zulus.
+
+And now at the end of their great journey, after overcoming the
+difficulties of distance, of nature, and of savage enemies, the Boers
+saw at the end of their travels the very thing which they desired
+least--that which they had come so far to avoid--the flag of Great
+Britain. The Boers had occupied Natal from within, but England had
+previously done the same by sea, and a small colony of Englishmen had
+settled at Port Natal, now known as Durban. The home Government,
+however, had acted in a vacillating way, and it was only the conquest of
+Natal by the Boers which caused them to claim it as a British colony. At
+the same time they asserted the unwelcome doctrine that a British
+subject could not at will throw off his allegiance, and that, go where
+they might, the wandering farmers were still only the pioneers of
+British colonies. To emphasise the fact three companies of soldiers were
+sent in 1842 to what is now Durban--the usual Corporal's guard with
+which Great Britain starts a new empire. This handful of men was waylaid
+by the Boers and cut up, as their successors have been so often since.
+The survivors, however, fortified themselves, and held a defensive
+position--as also their successors have done so many times since--until
+reinforcements arrived and the farmers dispersed. Natal from this time
+onward became a British colony, and the majority of the Boers trekked
+north and east with bitter hearts to tell their wrongs to their brethren
+of the Orange Free State and of the Transvaal.
+
+Had they any wrongs to tell? It is difficult to reach that height of
+philosophic detachment which enables the historian to deal absolutely
+impartially where his own country is a party to the quarrel. But at
+least we may allow that there is a case for our adversary. Our
+annexation of Natal had been by no means definite, and it was they and
+not we who first broke that bloodthirsty Zulu power which threw its
+shadow across the country. It was hard after such trials and such
+exploits to turn their back upon the fertile land which they had
+conquered, and to return to the bare pastures of the upland veldt. They
+carried out of Natal a heavy sense of injury, which has helped to poison
+our relations with them ever since. It was, in a way, a momentous
+episode, this little skirmish of soldiers and emigrants, for it was the
+heading off of the Boer from the sea and the confinement of his ambition
+to the land. Had it gone the other way, a new and possibly formidable
+flag would have been added to the maritime nations.
+
+The emigrants who had settled in the huge tract of country between the
+Orange River in the south and the Limpopo in the north had been
+recruited by new-comers from the Cape Colony until they numbered some
+fifteen thousand souls. This population was scattered over a space as
+large as Germany, and larger than Pennsylvania, New York, and New
+England. Their form of government was individualistic and democratic to
+the last degree compatible with any sort of cohesion. Their wars with
+the Kaffirs and their fear and dislike of the British Government appear
+to have been the only ties which held them together. They divided and
+subdivided within their own borders, like a germinating egg. The
+Transvaal was full of lusty little high-mettled communities, who
+quarrelled among themselves as fiercely as they had done with the
+authorities at the Cape. Lydenburg, Zoutpansberg, and Potchefstroom were
+on the point of turning their rifles against each other. In the south,
+between the Orange River and the Vaal, there was no form of government
+at all, but a welter of Dutch farmers, Basutos, Hottentots, and
+half-breeds living in a chronic state of turbulence, recognising neither
+the British authority to the south of them nor the Transvaal republics
+to the north. The chaos became at last unendurable, and in 1848 a
+garrison was placed in Bloemfontein and the district incorporated in the
+British Empire. The emigrants made a futile resistance at Boomplaats,
+and after a single defeat allowed themselves to be drawn into the
+settled order of civilised rule.
+
+At this period the Transvaal, where most of the Boers had settled,
+desired a formal acknowledgment of their independence, which the British
+authorities determined once and for all to give them. The great barren
+country, which produced little save marksmen, had no attractions for a
+Colonial Office which was bent upon the limitation of its liabilities. A
+Convention was concluded between the two parties, known as the Sand
+River Convention, which is one of the fixed points in South African
+history. By it the British Government guaranteed to the Boer farmers the
+right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves by their own
+laws without any interference upon the part of the British. It
+stipulated that there should be no slavery, and with that single
+reservation washed its hands finally, as it imagined, of the whole
+question. So the Transvaal Republic came formally into existence.
+
+In the very year after the Sand River Convention, a second republic, the
+Orange Free State, was created by the deliberate withdrawal of Great
+Britain from the territory which she had for eight years occupied. The
+Eastern Question was already becoming acute, and the cloud of a great
+war was drifting up, visible to all men. British statesmen felt that
+their commitments were very heavy in every part of the world, and the
+South African annexations had always been a doubtful value and an
+undoubted trouble. Against the will of a large part of the inhabitants,
+whether a majority or not it is impossible to say, we withdrew our
+troops as amicably as the Romans withdrew from Britain, and the new
+republic was left with absolute and unfettered independence. On a
+petition being presented against the withdrawal, the Home Government
+actually voted 48,000_l._ to compensate those who had suffered from the
+change. Whatever historical grievance the Transvaal may have against
+Great Britain, we can at least, save perhaps in one matter, claim to
+have a very clear conscience concerning our dealings with the Orange
+Free State. Thus in 1852 and in 1854 were born those sturdy States who
+have been able for a time to hold at bay the united forces of the
+Empire.
+
+In the meantime Cape Colony, in spite of these secessions, had prospered
+exceedingly, and her population--British, German, and Dutch--had grown
+by 1870 to over two hundred thousand souls, the Dutch still slightly
+predominating. According to the liberal colonial policy of Great
+Britain, the time had come to cut the cord and let the young nation
+conduct its own affairs. In 1872 complete self-government was given to
+it, the Governor, as the representative of the Queen, retaining a
+nominal unexercised veto upon legislation. According to this system the
+Dutch majority of the colony could, and did, put their own
+representatives into power and run the government upon Dutch lines.
+Already Dutch law had been restored, and Dutch put on the same footing
+as English as the official language of the country. The extreme
+liberality of such measures, and the uncompromising way in which they
+have been carried out, however distasteful the legislation might seem to
+English ideas, are among the chief reasons which made the illiberal
+treatment of British settlers in the Transvaal so keenly resented at the
+Cape. A Dutch Government was ruling the British in a British colony, at
+a moment when the Boers would not give an Englishman a vote upon a
+municipal council in a city which he had built himself.
+
+For twenty-five years after the Sand River Convention the burghers of
+the Transvaal Republic had pursued a strenuous and violent existence,
+fighting incessantly with the natives and sometimes with each other,
+with an occasional fling at the little Dutch republic to the south.
+Disorganisation ensued. The burghers would not pay taxes and the
+treasury was empty. One fierce Kaffir tribe threatened them from the
+north, and the Zulus on the east. It is an exaggeration to pretend that
+British intervention saved the Boers, for no one can read their military
+history without seeing that they were a match for Zulus and Sekukuni
+combined. But certainly a formidable invasion was pending, and the
+scattered farmhouses were as open to the Kaffirs as our farmers'
+homesteads were in the American colonies when the Indians were on the
+war-path. Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the British Commissioner, after an
+inquiry of three months, solved all questions by the formal annexation
+of the country. The fact that he took possession of it with a force of
+some twenty-five men showed the honesty of his belief that no armed
+resistance was to be feared. This, then, in 1877, was a complete
+reversal of the Sand River Convention and the opening of a new chapter
+in the history of South Africa.
+
+There did not appear to be any strong feeling at the time against the
+annexation. The people were depressed with their troubles and weary of
+contention. Burgers, the President, put in a formal protest, and took up
+his abode in Cape Colony, where he had a pension from the British
+Government. A memorial against the measure received the signatures of a
+majority of the Boer inhabitants, but there was a fair minority who took
+the other view. Kruger himself accepted a paid office under Government.
+There was every sign that the people, if judiciously handled, would
+settle down under the British flag.
+
+But the Empire has always had poor luck in South Africa, and never worse
+than on that occasion. Through no bad faith, but simply through
+preoccupation and delay, the promises made were not instantly fulfilled.
+If the Transvaalers had waited, they would have had their Volksraad and
+all that they wanted. But the British Government had some other local
+matters to set right, the rooting out of Sekukuni and the breaking of
+the Zulus, before they would fulfil their pledges. The delay was keenly
+resented. And we were unfortunate in our choice of Governor. The
+burghers are a homely folk, and they like an occasional cup of coffee
+with the anxious man who tries to rule them. The 300_l._ a year of
+coffee-money allowed by the Transvaal to its President is by no means a
+mere form. A wise administrator would fall into the social and
+democratic habits of the people. Sir Theophilus Shepstone did so. Sir
+Owen Lanyon did not. There was no Volksraad and no coffee, and the
+popular discontent grew rapidly. In three years the British had broken
+up the two savage hordes which had been threatening the land. The
+finances, too, had been restored. The reasons which had made so many
+burghers favour the annexation were weakened by the very power which had
+every interest in preserving them.
+
+It cannot be too often pointed out that in this annexation, the
+starting-point of our troubles, Great Britain, however mistaken she may
+have been, had no possible selfish interest in view. There were no Rand
+mines in those days, nor was there anything in the country to tempt the
+most covetous. An empty treasury and two expensive native wars were the
+reversion which we took over. It was honestly considered that the
+country was in too distracted a state to govern itself, and had, by its
+weakness, become a scandal and a danger to its neighbours and to itself.
+There was nothing sordid in the British action, though it may have been
+premature and injudicious. There is some reason to think that if it had
+been delayed it would eventually have been done on the petition of the
+majority of the inhabitants.
+
+In December 1880 the Boers rose. Every farmhouse sent out its riflemen,
+and the trysting-place was the outside of the nearest British fort. All
+through the country small detachments were surrounded and besieged by
+the farmers. Standerton, Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Lydenburg,
+Wakkerstroom, Rustenburg, and Marabastad were all invested and all held
+out until the end of the war. In the open country the troops were less
+fortunate. At Bronkhorst Spruit a small British force was taken by
+surprise and shot down without harm to their antagonists. The surgeon
+who treated them has left it on record that the average number of wounds
+was five per man. At Laing's Nek an inferior force of British
+endeavoured to rush a hill which was held by Boer riflemen. Half of the
+men were killed and wounded. Ingogo may be called a drawn battle, though
+the British loss was more heavy than that of the enemy. Finally came the
+defeat of Majuba Hill, where 400 infantry upon a mountain were defeated
+and driven off by a swarm of sharpshooters who advanced under the cover
+of boulders. Of all these actions there was not one which was more than
+a skirmish, and had they been followed by a final British victory they
+would now be hardly remembered. It is the fact that they were skirmishes
+which succeeded in their object which has given them an importance which
+is exaggerated.
+
+The defeat at Majuba Hill was followed by the complete surrender of the
+Gladstonian Government, an act which was either the most pusillanimous
+or the most magnanimous in recent history. It is hard for the big man to
+draw away from the small before blows are struck, but when the big man
+has been knocked down three times it is harder still. An overwhelming
+British force was in the field, and the General declared that he held
+the enemy in the hollow of his hand. British military calculations have
+been falsified before now by these farmers, and it may be that the task
+of Wood and Roberts would have been harder than they imagined; but on
+paper, at least, it looked as if the enemy could be crushed without
+difficulty. So the public thought, and yet they consented to the
+upraised sword being stayed. With them, as apart from the politicians,
+the motive was undoubtedly a moral and Christian one. They considered
+that the annexation of the Transvaal had evidently been an injustice,
+that the farmers had a right to the freedom for which they fought, and
+that it was an unworthy thing for a great nation to continue an unjust
+war for the sake of a military revenge. Such was the motive of the
+British public when it acquiesced in the action of the Government. It
+was the height of idealism, and the result has not been such as to
+encourage its repetition.
+
+An armistice was concluded on March 5, 1881, which led up to a peace on
+the 23rd of the same month. The Government, after yielding to force
+what it had repeatedly refused to friendly representations, made a
+clumsy compromise in their settlement. A policy of idealism and
+Christian morality should have been thorough if it were to be tried at
+all. It was obvious that if the annexation were unjust, then the
+Transvaal should have reverted to the condition in which it was before
+the annexation, as defined by the Sand River Convention. But the
+Government for some reason would not go so far as this. They niggled and
+quibbled and bargained until the State was left as a curious hybrid
+thing such as the world has never seen. It was a republic which was part
+of the system of a monarchy, dealt with by the Colonial Office, and
+included under the heading of 'Colonies' in the news columns of the
+'Times.' It was autonomous, and yet subject to some vague suzerainty,
+the limits of which no one has ever been able to define. Altogether, in
+its provisions and in its omissions, the Convention of Pretoria appears
+to prove that our political affairs were as badly conducted as our
+military in this unfortunate year of 1881.
+
+It was evident from the first that so illogical and contentious an
+agreement could not possibly prove to be a final settlement, and indeed
+the ink of the signatures was hardly dry before an agitation was on foot
+for its revision. The Boers considered, and with justice, that if they
+were to be left as undisputed victors in the war then they should have
+the full fruits of victory. On the other hand, the English-speaking
+colonies had their allegiance tested to the uttermost. The proud
+Anglo-Celtic stock is not accustomed to be humbled, and yet they found
+themselves through the action of the home Government converted into
+members of a beaten race. It was very well for the citizen of London to
+console his wounded pride by the thought that he had done a magnanimous
+action, but it was different with the British colonist of Durban or Cape
+Town who, by no act of his own, and without any voice in the settlement,
+found himself humiliated before his Dutch neighbour. An ugly feeling of
+resentment was left behind, which might perhaps have passed away had the
+Transvaal accepted the settlement in the spirit in which it was meant,
+but which grew more and more dangerous, as during eighteen years our
+people saw, or thought that they saw, that one concession led always to
+a fresh demand, and that the Dutch republics aimed not merely at
+equality, but at dominance in South Africa. Professor Bryce, a friendly
+critic, after a personal examination of the country and the question,
+has left it upon record that the Boers saw neither generosity nor
+humanity in our conduct, but only fear. An outspoken race, they conveyed
+their feelings to their neighbours. Can it be wondered at that South
+Africa has been in a ferment ever since, and that the British Africander
+has yearned with an intensity of feeling unknown in England for the hour
+of revenge?
+
+The Government of the Transvaal after the war was left in the hands of a
+triumvirate, but after one year Kruger became President, an office which
+he continued to hold for eighteen years. His career as ruler vindicates
+the wisdom of that wise but unwritten provision of the American
+Constitution by which there is a limit to the tenure of this office.
+Continued rule for half a generation must turn a man into an autocrat.
+The old President has said himself, in his homely but shrewd way, that
+when one gets a good ox to lead the team it is a pity to change him. If
+a good ox, however, is left to choose his own direction without
+guidance, he may draw his wagon into trouble.
+
+During three years the little State showed signs of a tumultuous
+activity. Considering that it was larger than France and that the
+population could not have been more than fifty thousand, one would have
+thought that they might have found room without any inconvenient
+crowding. But the burghers passed beyond their borders in every
+direction. The President cried aloud that he had been shut up in a
+kraal, and he proceeded to find ways out of it. A great trek was
+projected for the north, but fortunately it miscarried. To the east they
+raided Zululand, and succeeded, in defiance of the British settlement of
+that country, in tearing away one-third of it and adding it to the
+Transvaal. To the west, with no regard to the three-year-old treaty,
+they invaded Bechuanaland, and set up the two new republics of Goshen
+and Stellaland. So outrageous were these proceedings that Great Britain
+was forced to fit out in 1884 a new expedition under Sir Charles Warren
+for the purpose of turning these freebooters out of the country. It may
+be asked, Why should these men be called freebooters if the founders of
+Rhodesia were pioneers? The answer is that the Transvaal was limited by
+treaty to certain boundaries which these men transgressed, while no
+pledges were broken when the British power expanded to the north. The
+upshot of these trespasses was the scene upon which every drama of South
+Africa rings down. Once more the purse was drawn from the pocket of the
+unhappy taxpayer, and a million or so was paid out to defray the
+expenses of the police force necessary to keep these treaty-breakers in
+order. Let this be borne in mind when we assess the moral and material
+damage done to the Transvaal by the Jameson Raid.
+
+In 1884 a deputation from the Transvaal visited England, and at their
+solicitation the clumsy Treaty of Pretoria was altered into the still
+more clumsy Convention of London. The changes in the provisions were all
+in favour of the Boers, and a second successful war could hardly have
+given them more than Lord Derby handed them in time of peace. Their
+style was altered from the Transvaal to the South African Republic, a
+change which was ominously suggestive of expansion in the future. The
+control of Great Britain over their foreign policy was also relaxed,
+though a power of veto was retained. But the most important thing of
+all, and the fruitful cause of future trouble, lay in an omission. A
+suzerainty is a vague term, but in politics, as in theology, the more
+nebulous a thing is the more does it excite the imagination and the
+passions of men. This suzerainty was declared in the preamble of the
+first treaty, and no mention of it was made in the second. Was it
+thereby abrogated or was it not? The British contention is that only the
+articles were changed, and that the preamble continued to hold good for
+both treaties. They point out that not only the suzerainty, but also the
+independence, of the Transvaal is proclaimed in that preamble, and that
+if one lapses the other must do so also. On the other hand, the Boers
+point to the fact that there is actually a preamble to the second
+convention, which would seem, therefore, to take the place of the first.
+As a matter of fact, the discussion is a barren one, since both parties
+agree that Great Britain retained certain rights over the making of
+treaties by the Republic, which rights place her in a different position
+to an entirely independent state. Whether this difference amounts to a
+suzerainty or not is a subject for the academic discussion of
+international jurists. What is of importance is the fact, not the word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE CAUSE OF QUARREL
+
+
+Gold had been known to exist in the Transvaal before, but it was only in
+1886 that it was realised that the deposits which lie some thirty miles
+south of the capital are of a very extraordinary and valuable nature.
+The proportion of gold in the quartz is not particularly high, nor are
+the veins of a remarkable thickness, but the peculiarity of the Rand
+mines lies in the fact that throughout this 'banket' formation the metal
+is so uniformly distributed that the enterprise can claim a certainty
+which is not usually associated with the industry. It is quarrying
+rather than mining. Add to this that the reefs which were originally
+worked as outcrops have now been traced to enormous depths, and present
+the same features as those at the surface. A conservative estimate of
+the value of the gold has placed it at seven hundred millions of pounds.
+
+Such a discovery produced the inevitable effect. A great number of
+adventurers flocked into the country, some desirable and some very much
+the reverse. There were circumstances, however, which kept away the
+rowdy and desperado element who usually make for a newly-opened
+goldfield. It was not a class of mining which encouraged the individual
+adventurer. It was a field for elaborate machinery, which could only be
+provided by capital. Managers, engineers, miners, technical experts, and
+the tradesmen and middlemen who live upon them, these were the
+Uitlanders, drawn from all races under the sun, but with the
+Anglo-Celtic vastly predominant. The best engineers were American, the
+best miners were Cornish, the best managers were English, the money to
+run the mines was largely subscribed in England. As time went on,
+however, the German and French interests became more extensive, until
+their joint holdings are now probably as heavy as those of the British.
+Soon the population of the mining centres became about as numerous as
+that of the whole Boer community, and consisted mainly of men in the
+prime of life--men, too, of exceptional intelligence and energy.
+
+The situation was an extraordinary one. I have already attempted to
+bring the problem home to an American by suggesting that the Dutch of
+New York had trekked west and founded an anti-American and highly
+unprogressive State. To carry out the analogy we will now suppose that
+that State was California, that the gold of that State attracted a large
+inrush of American citizens, that these citizens were heavily taxed and
+badly used, and that they deafened Washington with their outcry about
+their injuries. That would be a fair parallel to the relations between
+the Transvaal, the Uitlanders, and the British Government.
+
+That these Uitlanders had very real and pressing grievances no one could
+possibly deny. To recount them all would be a formidable task, for their
+whole lives were darkened by injustice. There was not a wrong which had
+driven the Boer from Cape Colony which he did not now practise himself
+upon others--and a wrong may be excusable in 1835 which is monstrous in
+1895. The primitive virtue which had characterised the farmers broke
+down in the face of temptation. The country Boers were little affected,
+some of them not at all, but the Pretoria Government became a most
+corrupt oligarchy, venal and incompetent to the last degree. Officials
+and imported Hollanders handled the stream of gold which came in from
+the mines, while the unfortunate Uitlander who paid nine-tenths of the
+taxation was fleeced at every turn, and met with laughter and taunts
+when he endeavoured to win the franchise by which he might peaceably set
+right the wrongs from which he suffered. He was not an unreasonable
+person. On the contrary, he was patient to the verge of meekness, as
+capital is likely to be when it is surrounded by rifles. But his
+situation was intolerable, and after successive attempts at peaceful
+agitation, and numerous humble petitions to the Volksraad, he began at
+last to realise that he would never obtain redress unless he could find
+some way of winning it for himself.
+
+Without attempting to enumerate all the wrongs which embittered the
+Uitlanders, the more serious of them may be summed up in this way:
+
+1. That they were heavily taxed and provided about seven-eighths of the
+revenue of the country. The revenue of the South African Republic--which
+had been 154,000_l._ in 1886, when the goldfields were opened--had
+grown in 1899 to four million pounds, and the country through the
+industry of the new-comers had changed from one of the poorest to the
+richest in the whole world (per head of population).
+
+2. That in spite of this prosperity which they had brought, they were
+left without a vote, and could by no means influence the disposal of the
+great sums which they were providing. Such a case of taxation without
+representation has never been known.
+
+3. That they had no voice in the choice or payment of officials. Men of
+the worst private character might be placed with complete authority over
+valuable interests. The total official salaries had risen in 1899 to a
+sum sufficient to pay 40_l._ per head to the entire male Boer
+population.
+
+4. That they had no control over education. Mr. John Robinson, the
+Director-General of the Johannesburg Educational Council, has reckoned
+the sum spent on the Uitlander schools as 650_l._ out of 63,000_l._
+allotted for education, making 1_s._ 10_d._ per head per annum on
+Uitlander children, and 8_l._ 6_s._ per head on Boer children--the
+Uitlander, as always, paying seven-eighths of the original sum.
+
+5. No power of municipal government. Watercarts instead of pipes, filthy
+buckets instead of drains, a corrupt and violent police, a high
+death-rate in what should be a health resort--all this in a city which
+they had built themselves.
+
+6. Despotic government in the matter of the Press and of the right of
+public meeting.
+
+7. Disability from service upon a jury.
+
+8. Continual harassing of the mining interest by vexatious legislation.
+Under this head come many grievances, some special to the mines and some
+affecting all Uitlanders. The dynamite monopoly, by which the miners had
+to pay 600,000_l._ extra per annum in order to get a worse quality of
+dynamite; the liquor laws, by which the Kaffirs were allowed to be
+habitually drunk; the incompetence and extortions of the State-owned
+railway; the granting of concessions for numerous articles of ordinary
+consumption to individuals, by which high prices were maintained; the
+surrounding of Johannesburg by tolls from which the town had no
+profit--these were among the economical grievances, some large, some
+petty, which ramified through every transaction of life. These are the
+wrongs which Mr. W. T. Stead has described as 'the twopenny-halfpenny
+grievances of a handful of Englishmen.'
+
+The manner in which the blood was sucked from the Uitlanders, and the
+rapid spread of wealth among the Boer officials, may be gathered from
+the list of the salaries of the State servants from the opening of the
+mines to the outbreak of the war:
+
+                       £
+    1886             51,831
+    1887             99,083
+    1888            164,466
+    1889            249,641
+    1890            324,520
+    1891            332,888
+    1892            323,608
+    1893            361,275
+    1894            419,775
+    1895            570,047
+    1896            813,029
+    1897            996,959
+    1898          1,080,382
+    1899          1,216,394
+
+which shows, as Mr. FitzPatrick has pointed out, that the salary list
+had become twenty-four times what it was when the Uitlanders arrived,
+and five times as much as the total revenue was then.
+
+But outside and beyond all the definite wrongs from which they suffered,
+there was a constant irritation to freeborn and progressive men,
+accustomed to liberal institutions, that they should be despotically
+ruled by a body of men some of whom were ignorant bigots, some of them
+buffoons, and nearly all of them openly and shamelessly corrupt. Out of
+twenty-five members of the First Volksraad twenty-one were, in the case
+of the Selati Railway Company, publicly and circumstantially accused of
+bribery, with full details of the bribes received, their date, and who
+paid them. The black-list includes the present vice-president, Schalk
+Burger; the vice-president of that date; Eloff, the son-in-law of
+Kruger; and the secretary of the Volksraad. Apparently every man of the
+executive and the legislature had his price.
+
+A corrupt assembly is an evil master, but when it is narrow-minded and
+bigoted as well, it becomes indeed intolerable. The following tit-bits
+from the debates in the two Raads show the intelligence and spirit of
+the men who were ruling over one of the most progressive communities in
+the world:
+
+'Pillar-boxes in Pretoria were opposed on the grounds that they were
+extravagant and effeminate. Deputy Taljaard said that he could not see
+why people wanted to be always writing letters; he wrote none himself.
+In the days of his youth he had written a letter and had not been afraid
+to travel fifty miles and more on horseback and by wagon to post it--and
+now people complained if they had to go one mile.'
+
+A debate on the possibility of decreasing the plague of locusts led to
+the following enlightened discussion:
+
+'_July 21._--Mr. Roos said locusts were a plague, as in the days of King
+Pharaoh, sent by God, and the country would assuredly be loaded with
+shame and obloquy if it tried to raise its hand against the mighty hand
+of the Almighty.
+
+'Messrs. Declerq and Steenkamp spoke in the same strain, quoting largely
+from the Scriptures.
+
+'The Chairman related a true story of a man whose farm was always spared
+by the locusts, until one day he caused some to be killed. His farm was
+then devastated.
+
+'Mr. Stoop conjured the members not to constitute themselves terrestrial
+gods and oppose the Almighty.
+
+'Mr. Lucas Meyer raised a storm by ridiculing the arguments of the
+former speakers, and comparing the locusts to beasts of prey which they
+destroyed.
+
+'Mr. Labuschagne was violent. He said the locusts were quite different
+from beasts of prey. They were a special plague sent by God for their
+sinfulness.'
+
+In a further debate:
+
+'Mr. Jan de Beer complained of the lack of uniformity in neckties. Some
+wore a Tom Thumb variety, and others wore scarves. This was a state of
+things to be deplored, and he considered that the Raad should put its
+foot down and define the size and shape of neckties.'
+
+The following note of a debate gives some idea of how far the
+legislators were qualified to deal with commercial questions:
+
+'_May 8._--On the application of the Sheba G. M. Co. for permission to
+erect an aërial tram from the mine to the mill,
+
+'Mr. Grobelaar asked whether an aërial tram was a balloon or whether it
+could fly through the air.
+
+'The only objection that the Chairman had to urge against granting the
+tram was that the Company had an English name, and that with so many
+Dutch ones available.
+
+'Mr. Taljaard objected to the word "participeeren" (participate) as not
+being Dutch, and to him unintelligible: "I can't believe the word is
+Dutch; why have I never come across it in the Bible if it is?"
+
+'_June 18._--On the application for a concession to treat tailings,
+
+'Mr. Taljaard wished to know if the words "pyrites" and "concentrates"
+could not be translated into the Dutch language. He could not understand
+what it meant. He had gone to night-school as long as he had been in
+Pretoria, and even now he could not explain everything to his burghers.
+He thought it a shame that big hills should be made on ground under
+which there might be rich reefs, and which in future might be required
+for a market or outspan. He would support the recommendation on
+condition that the name of the quartz should be translated into Dutch,
+as there might be more in this than some of them imagined.'
+
+Such debates as these may be amusing at a distance, but they are less
+entertaining when they come from an autocrat who has complete power over
+the conditions of your life.
+
+From the fact that they were a community extremely preoccupied by their
+own business, it followed that the Uitlanders were not ardent
+politicians, and that they desired to have a share in the government of
+the State for the purpose of making the conditions of their own industry
+and of their own daily lives more endurable. How far there was need of
+such an interference may be judged by any fair-minded man who reads the
+list of their complaints. A superficial view may recognise the Boers as
+the champions of liberty, but a deeper insight must see that they (as
+represented by their elected rulers) have in truth stood for all that
+history has shown to be odious in the form of exclusiveness and
+oppression. Their conception of liberty has been a narrow and selfish
+one, and they have consistently inflicted upon others far heavier wrongs
+than those against which they had themselves rebelled.
+
+As the mines increased in importance and the miners in numbers, it was
+found that these political disabilities affected some of that
+cosmopolitan crowd far more than others, in proportion to the amount of
+freedom to which their home institutions had made them accustomed. The
+Continental Uitlanders were more patient of that which was unendurable
+to the American and the Briton. The Americans, however, were in so great
+a minority that it was upon the British that the brunt of the struggle
+for freedom fell. Apart from the fact that the British were more
+numerous than all the other Uitlanders combined, there were special
+reasons why they should feel their humiliating position more than the
+members of any other race. In the first place, many of the British were
+British South Africans, who knew that in the neighbouring countries
+which gave them birth the most liberal possible institutions had been
+given to the kinsmen of these very Boers who were refusing them the
+management of their own drains and water-supply. And again, every Briton
+knew that Great Britain claimed to be the paramount Power in South
+Africa, and so he felt as if his own land, to which he might have looked
+for protection, was conniving at and acquiescing in his ill-treatment.
+As citizens of the paramount Power, it was peculiarly galling that they
+should be held in political subjection. The British, therefore, were the
+most persistent and energetic of the agitators.
+
+But it is a poor cause which cannot bear to fairly state and honestly
+consider the case of its opponents. The Boers had made, as has been
+briefly shown, great efforts to establish a country of their own. They
+had travelled far, worked hard, and fought bravely. After all their
+efforts they were fated to see an influx of strangers into their
+country, some of them men of questionable character, who threatened to
+outnumber the original inhabitants. If the franchise were granted to
+these, there could be no doubt that, though at first the Boers might
+control a majority of the votes, it was only a question of time before
+the new-comers would dominate the Raad and elect their own President,
+who might adopt a policy abhorrent to the original owners of the land.
+Were the Boers to lose by the ballot-box the victory which they had won
+by their rifles? Was it fair to expect it? These new-comers came for
+gold. They got their gold. Their companies paid a hundred per cent. Was
+not that enough to satisfy them? If they did not like the country, why
+did they not leave it? No one compelled them to stay there. But if they
+stayed, let them be thankful that they were tolerated at all, and not
+presume to interfere with the laws of those by whose courtesy they were
+allowed to enter the country.
+
+That is a fair statement of the Boer position, and at first sight an
+impartial man might say that there was a good deal to say for it; but a
+closer examination would show that, though it might be tenable in
+theory, it is unjust and impossible in practice.
+
+In the present crowded state of the world a policy of Thibet may be
+carried out in some obscure corner, but it cannot be done in a great
+tract of country which lies right across the main line of industrial
+progress. The position is too absolutely artificial. A handful of people
+by the right of conquest take possession of an enormous country over
+which they are dotted at such intervals that it is their boast that one
+farmhouse cannot see the smoke of another, and yet, though their numbers
+are so disproportionate to the area which they cover, they refuse to
+admit any other people upon equal terms, but claim to be a privileged
+class who shall dominate the new-comers completely. They are outnumbered
+in their own land by immigrants who are far more highly educated and
+progressive, and yet they hold them down in a way which exists nowhere
+else upon earth. What is their right? The right of conquest. Then the
+same right may be justly invoked to reverse so intolerable a situation.
+This they would themselves acknowledge. 'Come on and fight! Come on!'
+cried a member of the Volksraad when the franchise petition of the
+Uitlanders was presented. 'Protest! Protest! What is the good of
+protesting?' said Kruger to Mr. W. Y. Campbell; 'you have not got the
+guns, I have.' There was always the final court of appeal. Judge Creusot
+and Judge Mauser were always behind the President.
+
+Again, the argument of the Boers would be more valid had they received
+no benefit from these immigrants. If they had ignored them they might
+fairly have stated that they did not desire their presence. But even
+while they protested they grew rich at the Uitlanders' expense. They
+could not have it both ways. It would be consistent to discourage him
+and not profit by him, or to make him comfortable and build the State
+upon his money; but to ill-treat him and at the same time grow strong by
+his taxation must surely be an injustice.
+
+And again, the whole argument is based upon the narrow racial
+supposition that every naturalised citizen not of Boer extraction must
+necessarily be unpatriotic. This is not borne out by the examples of
+history. The new-comer soon becomes as proud of his country and as
+jealous of her liberty as the old. Had President Kruger given the
+franchise generously to the Uitlander, his pyramid would have been firm
+upon its base and not balanced upon its apex. It is true that the
+corrupt oligarchy would have vanished, and the spirit of a broader, more
+tolerant freedom influenced the counsels of the State. But the republic
+would have become stronger and more permanent with a population who, if
+they differed in details, were united in essentials. Whether such a
+solution would have been to the advantage of British interests in South
+Africa is quite another question. In more ways than one President Kruger
+has been a good friend to the Empire.
+
+At the time of the Convention of Pretoria (1881) the rights of
+burghership might be obtained by one year's residence. In 1882 it was
+raised to five years, the reasonable limit which obtains both in Great
+Britain and in the United States. Had it remained so, it is safe to say
+that there would never have been either an Uitlander question or a war.
+Grievances would have been righted from the inside without external
+interference.
+
+In 1890 the inrush of outsiders alarmed the Boers, and the franchise was
+raised so as to be only attainable by those who had lived fourteen years
+in the country. The Uitlanders, who were increasing rapidly in numbers
+and were suffering from the formidable list of grievances already
+enumerated, perceived that their wrongs were so numerous that it was
+hopeless to have them set right seriatim, and that only by obtaining the
+leverage of the franchise could they hope to move the heavy burden which
+weighed them down. In 1893 a petition of 13,000 Uitlanders, couched in
+most respectful terms, was submitted to the Raad, but met with
+contemptuous neglect. Undeterred, however, by this failure, the National
+Reform Union, an association which was not one of capitalists, came back
+to the attack in 1894. They drew up a petition which was signed by
+35,000 adult male Uitlanders, as great a number probably as the total
+Boer male population of the country. A small liberal body in the Raad
+supported this memorial and endeavoured in vain to obtain some justice
+for the new-comers. Mr. Jeppe was the mouthpiece of this select band.
+'They own half the soil, they pay at least three-quarters of the taxes,'
+said he. 'They are men who in capital, energy, and education are at
+least our equals. What will become of us or our children on that day
+when we may find ourselves in a minority of one in twenty without a
+single friend among the other nineteen, among those who will then tell
+us that they wished to be brothers, but that we by our own act have made
+them strangers to the republic?' Such reasonable and liberal sentiments
+were combated by members who asserted that the signatures could not
+belong to law-abiding citizens, since they were actually agitating
+against the law of the franchise, and others whose intolerance was
+expressed by the defiance of the member already quoted, who challenged
+the Uitlanders to come out and fight. The champions of exclusiveness and
+racial hatred won the day. The memorial was rejected by sixteen votes to
+eight, and the franchise law was, on the initiative of the President,
+actually made more stringent than ever, being framed in such a way that
+during the fourteen years of probation the applicant should give up his
+previous nationality, so that for that period he would belong to no
+country at all. No hopes were held out that any possible attitude upon
+the part of the Uitlanders would soften the determination of the
+President and his burghers. One who remonstrated was led outside the
+State buildings by the President, who pointed up at the national flag.
+'You see that flag?' said he. 'If I grant the franchise, I may as well
+pull it down.' His animosity against the immigrants was bitter.
+'Burghers, friends, thieves, murderers, new-comers, and others,' is the
+conciliatory opening of one of his public addresses. Though Johannesburg
+is only thirty-two miles from Pretoria, and though the State of which he
+was the head depended for its revenue upon the goldfields, he paid it
+only three visits in nine years.
+
+This settled animosity was deplorable, but not unnatural. A man imbued
+with the idea of a chosen people, and unread in any book save the one
+which cultivates this very idea, could not be expected to have learned
+the historical lessons of the advantages which a State reaps from a
+liberal policy. To him it was as if the Ammonites and Moabites had
+demanded admission into the twelve tribes. He mistook an agitation
+against the exclusive policy of the State for one against the existence
+of the State itself. A wide franchise would have made his republic
+firm-based and permanent. It was a minority of the Uitlanders who had
+any desire to come into the British system. They were a cosmopolitan
+crowd, only united by the bond of a common injustice. The majority of
+the British immigrants had no desire to subvert the State. But when
+every other method had failed, and their petition for the rights of
+freemen had been flung back at them, it was natural that their eyes
+should turn to that flag which waved to the north, the west, and the
+south of them--the flag which means purity of government with equal
+rights and equal duties for all men. Constitutional agitation was laid
+aside, arms were smuggled in, and everything prepared for an organised
+rising.
+
+It had been arranged that the town was to rise upon a certain night,
+that Pretoria should be attacked, the fort seized, and the rifles and
+ammunition, used to arm the Uitlanders. It was a feasible device, though
+it must seem to us, who have had such an experience of the military
+virtues of the burghers, a very desperate one. But it is conceivable
+that the rebels might have held Johannesburg until the universal
+sympathy which their cause excited throughout South Africa would have
+caused Great Britain to intervene. Unfortunately they had complicated
+matters by asking for outside help. Mr. Cecil Rhodes was Premier of the
+Cape, a man of immense energy, and one who had rendered great services
+to the empire. The motives of his action are obscure--certainly, we may
+say that they were not sordid, for he has always been a man whose
+thoughts were large and whose habits were simple. But whatever they may
+have been--whether an ill-regulated desire to consolidate South Africa
+under British rule, or a burning sympathy with the Uitlanders in their
+fight against injustice--it is certain that he allowed his lieutenant,
+Dr. Jameson, to assemble the mounted police of the Chartered Company, of
+which Rhodes was founder and director, for the purpose of co-operating
+with the rebels at Johannesburg. Moreover, when the revolt at
+Johannesburg was postponed, on account of a disagreement as to which
+flag they were to rise under, it appears that Jameson (with or without
+the orders of Rhodes) forced the hand of the conspirators by invading
+the country with a force absurdly inadequate to the work which he had
+taken in hand. Five hundred policemen and two field-guns made up the
+forlorn hope who started from near Mafeking and crossed the Transvaal
+border upon December 29, 1895. On January 2 they were surrounded by the
+Boers amid the broken country near Dornkop, and after losing many of
+their number killed and wounded, without food and with spent horses,
+they were compelled to lay down their arms. Six burghers lost their
+lives in the skirmish.
+
+Determined attempts have been made to connect the British Government
+with this fiasco, and to pretend that the Colonial Secretary and other
+statesmen were cognisant of it. Such an impression has been fostered by
+the apparent reluctance of the Commission of Inquiry to push their
+researches to the uttermost. It is much to be regretted that every
+possible telegram and letter should not have been called for upon that
+occasion; but the idea that this was not done for fear that Mr.
+Chamberlain and the British Government would be implicated, becomes
+absurd in the presence of the fact that the Commission included among
+its members Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Sir William Harcourt. Is it
+conceivable that these gentlemen held their hands for fear of damaging
+the Government, or that Mr. Chamberlain could afterwards have the
+effrontery to publicly and solemnly deny all knowledge of the business
+in the presence of gentlemen who had connived at the suppression of the
+proofs that he _did_ know? Such a supposition is ridiculous, and yet it
+is involved in the theory that the Commission refrained from pushing
+their examination because they were afraid of showing their country to
+have been in the wrong.
+
+Again, even the most embittered enemy of Mr. Chamberlain must admit that
+he is a clear-headed man, a man of resolution, and a man with some sense
+of proportion as to the means which should be used for an end. Is such a
+man, knowing the military record of the burghers, the sort of man to
+connive at the invasion of their country by 500 policemen and two guns?
+Would he be likely, even if he approved of the general aim, to sanction
+such a harebrained piece of folly? And, having sanctioned it, would he
+be so weak of purpose as to take energetic steps, the instant that he
+heard of the invasion, to undo that which he is supposed himself to have
+done, and to cause the failure of his own scheme? Why should he on such
+a supposition send energetic messages to Johannesburg forbidding the
+British to co-operate with the raiders? The whole accusation is so
+absurd that it is only the mania of party spite or of national hatred
+which could induce anyone to believe it.
+
+Again, supposing for an instant that the British Government knew
+anything about the coming raid, what is the first and most obvious thing
+which they would have done? Whether Jameson got safely to Johannesburg
+or not there was evidently a probability of a great race-struggle in
+South Africa. Would they not then, on some pretext or another, have
+increased the strength of the British force in the country, which was
+so weak that it was powerless to influence the course of events? It is
+certain that this is so. But nothing of the kind was done.
+
+Mr. Chamberlain's own denial is clear and emphatic:
+
+'I desire to say in the most explicit manner that I had not then, and
+that I never had, any knowledge, or until, I think it was the day before
+the actual raid took place, the slightest suspicion of anything in the
+nature of a hostile or armed invasion of the Transvaal.'--(British South
+Africa Committee, 1897. Q. 6223.)
+
+The Earl of Selborne, Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, was no
+less explicit:
+
+'Neither then nor at any subsequent period prior to the raid did we know
+of what is now called "Jameson's plan," nor that the revolution at
+Johannesburg was being largely controlled and financed from Cape Colony
+and Rhodesia.... Sir Hercules Robinson had no suspicion of what was
+impending, nor apparently President Kruger, nor Mr. Hofmeyr, nor any
+public man in South Africa, except those who were preparing the plan. At
+any rate the fact remains that from no quarter did the Colonial Office
+receive any warning. I submit, therefore, it would have been a most
+extraordinary thing if any suspicion had occurred to us.'
+
+The finding of the Committee--a Committee composed of men of all
+parties, some of whom, as we know, were yearning 'to give Joe a
+fall'--was unanimous in condemning the raid and equally unanimous in
+exonerating the Government from any knowledge of it. Their Report said:
+
+'Your Committee fully accept the statements of the Secretary of State
+for the Colonies, and of the Under-Secretary, and entirely exonerate the
+officials of the Colonial Office of having been in any sense cognisant
+of the plans which led up to the incursion of Dr. Jameson's force into
+the South African Republic....
+
+'Neither the Secretary of State for the Colonies, nor any of the
+officials of the Colonial Office received any information which made
+them, or should have made them, or any of them, aware of the plot during
+its development.'
+
+And yet to this day it is one of the articles of faith of a few
+crack-brained fanatics in this country, and of many ill-informed and
+prejudiced editors upon the Continent, that the British Government was
+responsible for the raid.
+
+The Uitlanders have been severely criticised for not having sent out a
+force to help Jameson in his difficulties, but it is impossible to see
+how they could have acted in any other manner. They had done all they
+could to prevent Jameson coming to their relief, and now it was rather
+unreasonable to suppose that they should relieve their reliever. Indeed,
+they had an entirely exaggerated idea of the strength of the force which
+he was bringing, and received the news of his capture with incredulity.
+When it became confirmed they rose, but in a half-hearted fashion which
+was not due to want of courage, but to the difficulties of their
+position. On the one hand the British Government disowned Jameson
+entirely, and did all it could to discourage the rising; on the other,
+the President had the raiders in his keeping at Pretoria, and let it be
+understood that their fate depended upon the behaviour of the
+Uitlanders. They were led to believe that Jameson would be shot unless
+they laid down their arms, though, as a matter of fact, Jameson and his
+people had surrendered upon a promise of quarter. So skilfully did
+Kruger use his hostages that he succeeded, with the help of the British
+Commissioner, in getting the thousands of excited Johannesburgers to lay
+down their arms without bloodshed. Completely out-man[oe]uvred by the
+astute old President, the leaders of the reform movement used all their
+influence in the direction of peace, thinking that a general amnesty
+would follow; but the moment that they and their people were helpless
+the detectives and armed burghers occupied the town, and sixty of their
+number were hurried to Pretoria Gaol.
+
+To the raiders themselves the President behaved with generosity. Perhaps
+he could not find it in his heart to be harsh to the men who had managed
+to put him in the right and won for him the sympathy of the world. His
+own illiberal and oppressive treatment of the new-comers was forgotten
+in the face of this illegal inroad of filibusters. The true issues were
+so obscured by this intrusion that it has taken years to clear them, and
+perhaps they will never be wholly cleared. It was forgotten that it was
+the bad government of the country which was the real cause of the
+unfortunate raid. From then onwards the government might grow worse and
+worse, but it was always possible to point to the raid as justifying
+everything. Were the Uitlanders to have the franchise? How could they
+expect it after the raid? Would Britain object to the enormous
+importation of arms and obvious preparations for war? They were only
+precautions against a second raid. For years the raid stood in the way,
+not only of all progress, but of all remonstrance. Through an action
+over which they had no control, and which they had done their best to
+prevent, the British Government was left with a bad case and a weakened
+moral authority.
+
+The raiders were sent home, where the rank and file were very properly
+released, and the chief officers were condemned to terms of imprisonment
+which certainly did not err upon the side of severity. In the meantime,
+both President Kruger and his burghers had shown a greater severity to
+the political prisoners from Johannesburg than to the armed followers of
+Jameson. The nationality of these prisoners is interesting and
+suggestive. There were twenty-three Englishmen, sixteen South Africans,
+nine Scotchmen, six Americans, two Welshmen, one Irishman, one
+Australian, one Hollander, one Bavarian, one Canadian, one Swiss, and
+one Turk. The list is sufficient comment upon the assertion that only
+the British Uitlanders made serious complaints of subjection and
+injustice. The prisoners were arrested in January, but the trial did not
+take place until the end of April. All were found guilty of high
+treason. Mr. Lionel Phillips, Colonel Rhodes (brother of Mr. Cecil
+Rhodes), George Farrar, and Mr. Hammond, the American engineer, were
+condemned to death, a sentence which was afterwards commuted to the
+payment of an enormous fine. The other prisoners were condemned to two
+years' imprisonment, with a fine of 2,000_l._ each. The imprisonment was
+of the most arduous and trying sort, and was embittered by the harshness
+of the gaoler, Du Plessis. One of the unfortunate men cut his throat,
+and several fell seriously ill, the diet and the sanitary conditions
+being equally unhealthy. At last, at the end of May, all the prisoners
+but six were released. Four of the six soon followed, two stalwarts,
+Sampson and Davies, refusing to sign any petition and remaining in
+prison until they were set free in 1897. Altogether the Transvaal
+Government received in fines from the reform prisoners the enormous sum
+of 212,000_l._ A certain comic relief was immediately afterwards given
+to so grave an episode by the presentation of a bill to Great Britain
+for 1,677,938_l._ 3_s._ 3_d._--the greater part of which was under the
+heading of moral and intellectual damage. It is to be feared that even
+the 3_s._ 3_d._ remains still unpaid.
+
+The raid was past and the reform movement was past, but the causes
+which produced them both remained. It is hardly conceivable that a
+statesman who loved his country would have refrained from making some
+effort to remove a state of things which had already caused such grave
+dangers, and which must obviously become more serious with every year
+that passed. But Paul Kruger had hardened his heart, and was not to be
+moved. The grievances of the Uitlanders became heavier than ever. The
+one power in the land to which they had been able to appeal for some
+sort of redress amid their troubles was the law courts. Now it was
+decreed that the courts should be dependent on the Volksraad. The Chief
+Justice protested against such a degradation of his high office, and he
+was dismissed in consequence without a pension. The judge who had
+condemned the reformers was chosen to fill the vacancy, and the
+protection of a fixed law was withdrawn from the Uitlanders.
+
+A commission appointed by the State was sent to examine into the
+condition of the mining industry and the grievances from which the
+new-comers suffered. The chairman was Mr. Schalk Burger, one of the most
+liberal of the Boers, and the proceedings were thorough and impartial.
+The result was a report which amply vindicated the reformers, and
+suggested remedies which would have gone a long way towards satisfying
+the Uitlanders. With such enlightened legislation their motives for
+seeking the franchise would have been less pressing. But the President
+and his Raad would have none of the recommendations of the commission.
+The rugged old autocrat declared that Schalk Burger was a traitor to his
+country for having signed such a document, and a new reactionary
+committee was chosen to report upon the report. Words and papers were
+the only outcome of the affair. No amelioration came to the new-comers.
+But at least they had again put their case publicly upon record, and it
+had been endorsed by the most respected of the burghers. Gradually in
+the press of the English-speaking countries the raid was ceasing to
+obscure the issue. More and more clearly it was coming out that no
+permanent settlement was possible where half the population was
+oppressed by the other half. They had tried peaceful means and failed.
+They had tried warlike means and failed. What was there left for them to
+do? Their own country, the paramount power of South Africa, had never
+helped them. Perhaps if it were directly appealed to it might do so. It
+could not, if only for the sake of its own imperial prestige, leave its
+children for ever in a state of subjection. The small spark which caused
+a final explosion came from the shooting of a British subject named
+Edgar by a Boer policeman, Jones, in Johannesburg. The action of the
+policeman was upheld by the authorities, and the British felt that their
+lives were no longer safe in the presence of an armed overbearing
+police. At another time the incident might have been of no great
+importance, but at that moment it seemed to be taken as the crowning
+example of the injustice under which the miners suffered. A meeting of
+protest called by the British residents was broken up by gangs of
+workmen under Boer officials. Driven to desperation the Uitlanders
+determined upon a petition to Queen Victoria, and in doing so they
+brought their grievances out of the limits of a local controversy into
+the broader field of international politics. Great Britain must either
+protect them or acknowledge that their protection was beyond her power.
+A direct petition to the Queen praying for protection was signed in
+April 1899 by 21,000 Uitlanders.
+
+The lines which this historical petition took may be judged from the
+following excerpt:
+
+'The condition of Your Majesty's subjects in this State has indeed
+become well-nigh intolerable.
+
+'The acknowledged and admitted grievances of which Your Majesty's
+subjects complained prior to 1895, not only are not redressed, but exist
+to-day in an aggravated form. They are still deprived of all political
+rights, they are denied any voice in the government of the country, they
+are taxed far above the requirements of the country, the revenue of
+which is misapplied and devoted to objects which keep alive a continuous
+and well-founded feeling of irritation, without in any way advancing the
+general interest of the State. Maladministration and peculation of
+public moneys go hand-in-hand, without any vigorous measures being
+adopted to put a stop to the scandal. The education of Uitlander
+children is made subject to impossible conditions. The police afford no
+adequate protection to the lives and property of the inhabitants of
+Johannesburg; they are rather a source of danger to the peace and safety
+of the Uitlander population.
+
+'A further grievance has become prominent since the beginning of the
+year. The power vested in the Government by means of the Public Meetings
+Act has been a menace to Your Majesty's subjects since the enactment of
+the Act in 1894. This power has now been applied in order to deliver a
+blow that strikes at the inherent and inalienable birthright of every
+British subject--namely, his right to petition his Sovereign. Straining
+to the utmost the language and intention of the law, the Government have
+arrested two British subjects who assisted in presenting a petition to
+Your Majesty on behalf of four thousand fellow-subjects. Not content
+with this, the Government, when Your Majesty's loyal subjects again
+attempted to lay their grievances before Your Majesty, permitted their
+meeting to be broken up, and the objects of it to be defeated, by a body
+of Boers, organised by Government officials and acting under the
+protection of the police. By reason, therefore, of the direct, as well
+as the indirect, act of the Government, Your Majesty's loyal subjects
+have been prevented from publicly ventilating their grievances, and from
+laying them before Your Majesty.
+
+'Wherefore Your Majesty's humble petitioners humbly beseech Your Most
+Gracious Majesty to extend Your Majesty's protection to Your Majesty's
+loyal subjects resident in this State, and to cause an inquiry to be
+made into grievances and complaints enumerated and set forth in this
+humble petition, and to direct Your Majesty's representative in South
+Africa to take measures which will insure the speedy reform of the
+abuses complained of, and to obtain substantial guarantees from the
+Government of this State for a recognition of their rights as British
+subjects.'
+
+From the date of this direct petition from our ill-used people to their
+Sovereign events moved inevitably towards one end. Sometimes the surface
+was troubled and sometimes smooth, but the stream always ran swiftly and
+the roar of the fall sounded ever louder in the ears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE NEGOTIATIONS
+
+
+The British Government and the British people do not desire any direct
+authority in South Africa. Their one supreme interest is that the
+various States there should live in concord and prosperity, and that
+there should be no need for the presence of a British redcoat within the
+whole great peninsula. Our foreign critics, with their misapprehension
+of the British colonial system, can never realise that whether the
+four-coloured flag of the Transvaal or the Union Jack of a
+self-governing colony waved over the gold mines would not make the
+difference of one shilling to the revenue of Great Britain. The
+Transvaal as a British province would have its own legislature, its own
+revenue, its own expenditure, and its own tariff against the mother
+country, as well as against the rest of the world, and Britain be none
+the richer for the change. This is so obvious to a Briton that he has
+ceased to insist upon it, and it is for that reason perhaps that it is
+so universally misunderstood abroad. On the other hand, while she is no
+gainer by the change, most of the expense of it in blood and in money
+falls upon the home country. On the face of it, therefore, Great Britain
+had every reason to avoid so formidable a task as the conquest of the
+South African Republic. At the best she had nothing to gain, and at the
+worst she had an immense deal to lose. There was no room for ambition or
+aggression. It was a case of shirking or fulfilling a most arduous duty.
+
+There could be no question of a plot for the annexation of the
+Transvaal. In a free country the Government cannot move in advance of
+public opinion, and public opinion is influenced by and reflected in the
+newspapers. One may examine the files of the press during all the months
+of negotiations and never find one reputable opinion in favour of such a
+course, nor did one in society ever meet an advocate of such a measure.
+But a great wrong was being done, and all that was asked was the minimum
+change which would set it right, and restore equality between the white
+races in Africa. 'Let Kruger only be liberal in the extension of the
+franchise,' said the paper which is most representative of the sanest
+British opinion, 'and he will find that the power of the republic will
+become not weaker, but infinitely more secure. Let him once give the
+majority of the resident males of full age the full vote, and he will
+have given the republic a stability and power which nothing else can. If
+he rejects all pleas of this kind, and persists in his present policy,
+he may possibly stave off the evil day, and preserve his cherished
+oligarchy for another few years; but the end will be the same.' The
+extract reflects the tone of all the British press with the exception of
+one or two papers which considered that even the persistent ill-usage of
+our people, and the fact that we were peculiarly responsible for them in
+this State, did not justify us in interfering in the internal affairs of
+the republic. It cannot be denied that the Jameson Raid had weakened the
+force of those who wished to interfere energetically on behalf of
+British subjects. There was a vague but widespread feeling that perhaps
+the capitalists were engineering the situation for their own ends. It is
+difficult to imagine how a state of unrest and insecurity, to say
+nothing of a state of war, can ever be to the advantage of capital, and
+surely it is obvious that if some arch-schemer were using the grievances
+of the Uitlanders for his own ends the best way to checkmate him would
+be to remove those grievances. The suspicion, however, did exist among
+those who like to ignore the obvious and magnify the remote, and
+throughout the negotiations the hand of Great Britain was weakened, as
+her adversary had doubtless calculated that it would be, by an earnest
+but fussy and faddy minority.
+
+It was in April 1899 that the British Uitlanders sent their petition
+praying for protection to their native country. Since the April previous
+a correspondence had been going on between Dr. Leyds, Secretary of State
+for the South African Republic, and Mr. Chamberlain, Colonial Secretary,
+upon the existence or non-existence of the suzerainty. On the one hand,
+it was contended that the substitution of a second convention had
+entirely annulled the first; on the other, that the preamble of the
+first applied also to the second. If the Transvaal contention were
+correct it is clear that Great Britain had been tricked and jockeyed
+into such a position, since she had received no _quid pro quo_ in the
+second convention, and even the most careless of Colonial Secretaries
+could hardly have been expected to give away a very substantial
+something for nothing. But the contention throws us back upon the
+academic question of what a suzerainty is. The Transvaal admitted a
+power of veto over their foreign policy, and this admission in itself,
+unless they openly tore up the convention, must deprive them of the
+position of a sovereign State.
+
+But now to this debate, which had so little of urgency in it that seven
+months intervened between statement and reply, there came the bitterly
+vital question of the wrongs and appeal of the Uitlanders. Sir Alfred
+Milner, the British Commissioner in South Africa, a man of liberal
+politics who had been appointed by a Conservative Government, commanded
+the respect and confidence of all parties. His record was that of an
+able, clear-headed man, too just to be either guilty of or tolerant of
+injustice. To him the matter was referred, and a conference was arranged
+between President Kruger and him at Bloemfontein, the capital of the
+Orange Free State. They met on May 31, 1899.
+
+There were three different classes of subject which had to be discussed
+at the Conference. One included all those alleged breaches of the
+Convention of London which had caused so much friction between the two
+Governments, and which had thrice in eighteen years brought the States
+to the verge of war. Among these subjects would be the Boer annexations
+of native territory, such interference with trade as the stopping of the
+Drifts, the question of suzerainty, and the possibility of arbitration.
+The second class of questions would deal with the grievances of the
+Uitlanders, which presented a problem which had in no way been provided
+for in the Conventions. The third class contained the question of the
+ill-treatment of British Indians, and other causes of quarrel. Sir
+Alfred Milner was faced with the alternative either to argue over each
+of these questions in turn--an endless and unprofitable business--or to
+put forward some one test-question which would strike at the root of the
+matter and prove whether a real attempt would be made by the Boer
+Government to relieve the tension. The question which he selected was
+that of the franchise for the Uitlanders, for it was evident that if
+they obtained not a fair share--such a request was never made--but any
+appreciable share in the government of the country, they would in time
+be able to relieve their own grievances and so spare the British
+Government the heavy task of acting as their champions. But the
+Conference was quickly wrecked upon this question. Milner contended for
+a five-years' retroactive franchise, with provisions to secure adequate
+representation for the mining districts. Kruger offered a seven-years'
+franchise, coupled with numerous conditions which whittled down its
+value very much; promised five members out of thirty-one to represent
+half the male adult population; and added a provision that all
+differences should be subject to arbitration by foreign powers--a
+condition which is incompatible with any claim to suzerainty. This offer
+dropped the term for the franchise from fourteen years to seven, but it
+retained a number of conditions which might make it illusory, while
+demanding in exchange a most important concession from the British
+Government. The proposals of each were impossible to the other, and
+early in June Sir Alfred Milner was back in Cape Town and President
+Kruger in Pretoria, with nothing settled except the extreme difficulty
+of a settlement.
+
+On June 12 Sir Alfred Milner received a deputation at Cape Town and
+reviewed the situation. 'The principle of equality of races was,' he
+said, 'essential for South Africa. The one State where inequality
+existed kept all the others in a fever. Our policy was one not of
+aggression, but of singular patience, which could not, however, lapse
+into indifference.' Two days later Kruger addressed the Raad. 'The other
+side had not conceded one tittle, and I could not give more. God has
+always stood by us. I do not want war, but I will not give more away.
+Although our independence has once been taken away, God had restored
+it.' He spoke with sincerity no doubt, but it is hard to hear God
+invoked with such confidence for the system which encouraged the liquor
+traffic to the natives, and bred the most corrupt set of officials that
+the modern world has seen.
+
+A despatch from Sir Alfred Milner, giving his views upon the situation,
+made the British public recognise, as nothing else had done, how serious
+the position was, and how essential it was that an earnest national
+effort should be made to set it right. In it he said:
+
+'The case for intervention is overwhelming. The only attempted answer is
+that things will right themselves if left alone. But, in fact, the
+policy of leaving things alone has been tried for years, and it has led
+to their going from bad to worse. It is not true that this is owing to
+the raid. They were going from bad to worse before the raid. We were on
+the verge of war before the raid, and the Transvaal was on the verge of
+revolution. The effect of the raid has been to give the policy of
+leaving things alone a new lease of life, and with the old consequences.
+
+'The spectacle of thousands of British subjects kept permanently in the
+position of helots, constantly chafing under undoubted grievances, and
+calling vainly to her Majesty's Government for redress, does steadily
+undermine the influence and reputation of Great Britain within the
+Queen's dominions. A section of the press, not in the Transvaal only,
+preaches openly and constantly the doctrine of a republic embracing all
+South Africa, and supports it by menacing references to the armaments of
+the Transvaal, its alliance with the Orange Free State, and the active
+sympathy which, in case of war, it would receive from a section of her
+Majesty's subjects. I regret to say that this doctrine, supported as it
+is by a ceaseless stream of malignant lies about the intentions of her
+Majesty's Government, is producing a great effect on a large number of
+our Dutch fellow-colonists. Language is frequently used which seems to
+imply that the Dutch have some superior right, even in this colony, to
+their fellow-citizens of British birth. Thousands of men peaceably
+disposed, and if left alone perfectly satisfied with their position as
+British subjects, are being drawn into disaffection, and there is a
+corresponding exasperation upon the part of the British.
+
+'I can see nothing which will put a stop to this mischievous propaganda
+but some striking proof of the intention of her Majesty's Government not
+to be ousted from its position in South Africa.'
+
+Such were the grave and measured words with which the British pro-consul
+warned his countrymen of what was to come. He saw the stormcloud piling
+in the north, but even his eyes had not yet discerned how near and how
+terrible was the tempest.
+
+Throughout the end of June and the early part of July much was hoped
+from the mediation of the heads of the Afrikander Bond, the political
+union of the Dutch Cape colonists. On the one hand, they were the
+kinsmen of the Boers; on the other, they were British subjects, and were
+enjoying the blessings of those liberal institutions which we were
+anxious to see extended to the Transvaal. 'Only treat our folk as we
+treat yours!' Our whole contention was compressed into that prayer. But
+nothing came of the mission, though a scheme endorsed by Mr. Hofmeyr and
+Mr. Herholdt, of the Bond, with Mr. Fischer of the Free State, was
+introduced into the Raad and applauded by Mr. Schreiner, the Africander
+Premier of Cape Colony. In its original form the provisions were obscure
+and complicated, the franchise varying from nine years to seven under
+different conditions. In debate, however, the terms were amended until
+the time was reduced to seven years, and the proposed representation of
+the Goldfields placed at five. The concession was not a great one, nor
+could the representation, five out of thirty-one, be considered a
+generous provision for half the adult male population; but the reduction
+of the years of residence was eagerly hailed in England as a sign that a
+compromise might be effected. A sigh of relief went up from the country.
+'If,' said the Colonial Secretary, 'this report is confirmed, this
+important change in the proposals of President Kruger, coupled with
+previous amendments, leads Government to hope that the new law may prove
+to be the basis of a settlement on the lines laid down by Sir Alfred
+Milner in the Bloemfontein Conference.' He added that there were some
+vexatious conditions attached, but concluded, 'Her Majesty's Government
+feel assured that the President, having accepted the principle for which
+they have contended, will be prepared to reconsider any detail of his
+scheme which can be shown to be a possible hindrance to the full
+accomplishment of the object in view, and that he will not allow them to
+be nullified or reduced in value by any subsequent alterations of the
+law or acts of administration.' At the same time, the 'Times' declared
+the crisis to be at an end: 'If the Dutch statesmen of the Cape have
+induced their brethren in the Transvaal to carry such a Bill, they will
+have deserved the lasting gratitude, not only of their own countrymen
+and of the English colonists in South Africa, but of the British Empire
+and of the civilised world.' The reception of the idea that the crisis
+was at an end is surely a conclusive proof how little it was desired in
+England that that crisis should lead to war.
+
+But this fair prospect was soon destined to be overcast. Questions of
+detail arose which, when closely examined, proved to be matters of very
+essential importance. The Uitlanders and British South Africans, who had
+experienced in the past how illusory the promises of the President might
+be, insisted upon guarantees. The seven years offered were two years
+more than that which Sir Alfred Milner had declared to be an irreducible
+minimum. The difference of two years would not have hindered their
+acceptance, even at the expense of some humiliation to our
+representative. But there were conditions which excited distrust when
+drawn up by so wily a diplomatist. One was that the alien who aspired to
+burghership had to produce a certificate of continuous registration for
+a certain time. But the law of registration had fallen into disuse in
+the Transvaal, and consequently this provision might render the whole
+Bill valueless. Since it was carefully retained, it was certainly meant
+for use. The door had been opened, but a stone was placed to block it.
+Again, the continued burghership of the new-comers was made to depend
+upon the resolution of the first Raad, so that should the mining members
+propose any measure of reform, not only their Bill but they also might
+be swept out of the house by a Boer majority. What could an Opposition
+do if a vote of the Government might at any moment unseat them all? It
+was clear that a measure which contained such provisions must be very
+carefully sifted before a British Government could accept it as a final
+settlement and a complete concession of justice to its subjects. On the
+other hand, it naturally felt loth to refuse those clauses which offered
+some prospect of an amelioration in their condition. It took the course,
+therefore, of suggesting that each Government should appoint delegates
+to form a joint commission which should inquire into the working of the
+proposed Bill before it was put into a final form. The proposal was
+submitted to the Raad on August 7, with the addition that when this was
+done Sir Alfred Milner was prepared to discuss anything else, including
+arbitration without the interference of foreign powers.
+
+The suggestion of this joint commission has been criticised as an
+unwarrantable intrusion into the internal affairs of another country.
+But then the whole question from the beginning was about the internal
+affairs of another country, since there could be no rest in South Africa
+so long as one race tried to dominate the other. It is futile to suggest
+analogies, and to imagine what France would do if Germany were to
+interfere in a question of French franchise. Supposing that France
+contained nearly as many Germans as Frenchmen, and that they were
+ill-treated, Germany would interfere quickly enough and continue to do
+so until some fair _modus vivendi_ was established. The fact is that the
+case of the Transvaal stands alone, that such a condition of things has
+never been known, and that no previous precedent can apply to it, save
+the general rule that white men who are heavily taxed must have some
+representation. Sentiment may incline to the smaller nation, but reason
+and justice are all on the side of Britain.
+
+A long delay followed upon the proposal of the Secretary of the
+Colonies. No reply was forthcoming from Pretoria. But on all sides there
+came evidence that those preparations for war which had been quietly
+going on even before the Jameson Raid were now being hurriedly
+perfected. For so small a State enormous sums were being spent upon
+military equipment. Cases of rifles and boxes of cartridges streamed
+into the arsenal, not only from Delagoa Bay, but even, to the
+indignation of the English colonists, through Cape Town and Port
+Elizabeth. Huge packing-cases, marked 'Agricultural Instruments' and
+'Mining Machinery,' arrived from Germany and France, to find their
+places in the forts of Johannesburg or Pretoria. As early as May the
+Orange Free State President, who was looked upon by the simple and
+trustful British as the honest broker who was about to arrange a peace,
+was writing to Grobler, the Transvaal official, claiming his share of
+the twenty-five million cartridges which had then been imported. This
+was the man who was posing as mediator between the two parties a
+fortnight later at Bloemfontein.
+
+For three years the Transvaal had been arming to the teeth. So many
+modern magazine-rifles had been imported that there were enough to
+furnish five to every male burgher in the country. The importation of
+ammunition was on the same gigantic scale. For what were these
+formidable preparations? Evidently for a war with Great Britain, and not
+for a defensive war. It is not in a defensive war that a State provides
+sufficient rifles to arm every man of Dutch blood in the whole of South
+Africa. No British reinforcements had been sent during the years that
+the Transvaal was obviously preparing for a struggle. In that one
+eloquent fact lies a complete proof as to which side forced on a war,
+and which side desired to avoid one. For three weeks and more, during
+which Mr. Kruger was silent, these preparations went on more
+energetically and more openly.
+
+But beyond them, and of infinitely more importance, there was one fact
+which dominated the situation and retarded the crisis. A burgher cannot
+go to war without his horse, his horse cannot move without grass, grass
+will not come until after rain, and it was still some weeks before the
+rain would be due. Negotiations, then, must not be unduly hurried while
+the veldt was a bare russet-coloured dust-swept plain. Mr. Chamberlain
+and the British public waited week after week for an answer. But there
+was a limit to their patience, and it was reached on August 26, when the
+Colonial Secretary showed, with a plainness of speech which is as
+unusual as it is welcome in diplomacy, that the question could not be
+hung up for ever. 'The sands are running down in the glass,' said he.
+'If they run out we shall not hold ourselves limited by that which we
+have already offered, but, having taken the matter in hand, we will not
+let it go until we have secured conditions which once for all shall
+establish which is the paramount power in South Africa, and shall secure
+for our fellow-subjects there those equal rights and equal privileges
+which were promised them by President Kruger when the independence of
+the Transvaal was granted by the Queen, and which is the least that in
+justice ought to be accorded them.' Lord Salisbury, a short time before,
+had been equally emphatic: 'No one in this country wishes to disturb the
+conventions so long as it is recognised that while they guarantee the
+independence of the Transvaal on the one side, they guarantee equal
+political and civil rights for settlers of all nationalities upon the
+other. But these conventions are not like the laws of the Medes and the
+Persians. They are mortal, they can be destroyed ... and once destroyed
+they can never be reconstructed in the same shape.' The long-enduring
+patience of Great Britain was beginning to show signs of giving way.
+
+Pressure was in the meanwhile being put upon the old President and upon
+his advisers, if he can be said ever to have had any advisers, in order
+to induce him to accept the British offer of a joint committee of
+inquiry. Sir Henry de Villiers, representing the highest Africander
+opinion of the Cape, wrote strongly pleading the cause of peace, and
+urging Mr. Fischer of the Free State to endeavour to give a more
+friendly tone to the negotiations. 'Try to induce President Kruger to
+meet Mr. Chamberlain in a friendly way, and remove all the causes of
+unrest which have disturbed this unhappy country for so many years.'
+Similar advice came from Europe. The Dutch minister telegraphed as
+follows:
+
+'_August 4, 1899._--Communicate confidentially to the President that,
+having heard from the Transvaal Minister the English proposal of the
+International Commission, I recommend the President, in the interest of
+the country, not peremptorily to refuse that proposition.'
+
+'_August 15, 1899._--Please communicate confidentially to the President
+that the German Government entirely shares my opinion expressed in my
+despatch of August 4, not to refuse the English proposal. The German
+Government is, like myself, convinced that every approach to one of the
+Great Powers in this very critical moment will be without any results
+whatever, and very dangerous for the Republic.'
+
+But neither his Africander brothers nor his friends abroad could turn
+the old man one inch from the road upon which he had set his foot. The
+fact is, that he knew well that his franchise proposals would not bear
+examination; that, in the words of an eminent lawyer, they 'might as
+well have been seventy years as seven,' so complicated and impossible
+were the conditions. For a long time he was silent, and when he at last
+spoke it was to open a new phase of the negotiations. His ammunition was
+not all to hand yet, his rifles had not all been distributed, the grass
+had not appeared upon the veldt. The game must be kept going for a
+couple of months. 'You are such past-masters in the art of gaining
+time!' said Mr. Labouchere to Mr. Montague White. The President
+proceeded to prove it.
+
+His new suggestions were put forward on August 12. In them the Joint
+Commission was put aside, and the proposal was made that the Boer
+Government should accede to the franchise proposals of Sir Alfred Milner
+on condition that the British Government withdrew or dropped her claim
+to a suzerainty, agreed to arbitration by a British and South African
+tribunal, and promised never again to interfere in the internal affairs
+of the Republic. To this Great Britain answered that she would agree to
+such arbitration; that she hoped never again to have occasion to
+interfere for the protection of her own subjects, but that with the
+grant of the franchise all occasion for such interference would pass
+away; and, finally, that she would never consent to abandon her position
+as suzerain power. Mr. Chamberlain's despatch ended by reminding the
+Government of the Transvaal that there were other matters of dispute
+open between the two Governments apart from the franchise, and that it
+would be as well to have them settled at the same time. By these he
+meant such questions as the position of the native races and the
+treatment of Anglo-Indians.
+
+For a moment there seemed now to be a fair prospect of peace. There was
+no very great gap between the two parties, and had the negotiations
+been really _bonâ fide_ it seems incredible that it could not be
+bridged. But the Transvaal was secure now of the alliance of the Orange
+Free State; it believed that the Colony was ripe for rebellion; and it
+knew that with 60,000 cavalry and 100 guns it was infinitely the
+strongest military power in Africa. One cannot read the negotiations
+without being convinced that they were never meant to succeed, and the
+party which did not mean them to succeed was the party which prepared
+all the time for war. De Villiers, a friendly critic, says of the
+Transvaal Government: 'Throughout the negotiations they have always been
+wriggling to prevent a clear and precise decision.' Surely the sequel
+showed clearly enough why this was so. Their military hand was stronger
+than their political one, and it was with that that they desired to play
+the game. It would not do, therefore, to get the negotiations into such
+a stage that a peaceful solution should become inevitable. What was the
+use of all those rifles and cannon if the pen were after all to effect a
+compromise? 'The only thing that we are afraid of,' wrote young
+Blignant, 'is that Chamberlain with his admitted fitfulness of temper
+should cheat us out of our war and, consequently, the opportunity of
+annexing the Cape Colony and Natal, and forming the Republican United
+States of South Africa'--a legitimate national ambition perhaps, but not
+compatible with _bonâ-fide_ peaceful negotiations.
+
+It was time, then, to give a less promising turn to the situation. On
+September 2 the answer of the Transvaal Government was returned. It was
+short and uncompromising. They withdrew their offer of the franchise.
+They reasserted the non-existence of the suzerainty. The negotiations
+were at a deadlock. It was difficult to see how they could be reopened.
+In view of the arming of the burghers, the small garrison of Natal had
+been taking up positions to cover the frontier. The Transvaal asked for
+an explanation of their presence. Sir Alfred Milner answered that they
+were guarding British interests, and preparing against contingencies.
+The roar of the fall was sounding loud and near.
+
+On September 8 there was held a Cabinet Council--one of the most
+important in recent years. The military situation was pressing. The
+handful of troops in Africa could not be left at the mercy of the large
+and formidable force which the Boers could at any time hurl against
+them. On the other hand, it was very necessary not to appear to threaten
+or to appeal to force. For this reason reinforcements were sent upon
+such a scale as to make it evident that they were sent for defensive,
+and not for offensive, purposes. Five thousand men were sent from India
+to Natal, and the Cape garrisons were strengthened from England.
+
+At the same time that they took these defensive measures, a message was
+sent to Pretoria, which even the opponents of the Government have
+acknowledged to be temperate, and offering the basis for a peaceful
+settlement. It begins by repudiating emphatically the claim of the
+Transvaal to be a sovereign international State in the same sense in
+which the Orange Free State is one. Any proposal made conditional upon
+such an acknowledgment could not be entertained. The status of the
+Transvaal was settled by certain conventions agreed to by both
+Governments, and nothing had occurred to cause us to acquiesce in a
+radical change in it.
+
+The British Government, however, was prepared to accept the five years'
+franchise as stated in the note of August 19, assuming at the same time
+that in the Raad each member might use his own language.
+
+'Acceptance of these terms by the South African Republic would at once
+remove tension between the two Governments, and would in all probability
+render unnecessary any future intervention to secure redress for
+grievances which the Uitlanders themselves would be able to bring to the
+notice of the Executive Council and the Volksraad.
+
+'Her Majesty's Government are increasingly impressed with the danger of
+further delay in relieving the strain which has already caused so much
+injury to the interests of South Africa, and they earnestly press for an
+immediate and definite reply to the present proposal. If it is acceded
+to they will be ready to make immediate arrangements ... to settle all
+details of the proposed tribunal of arbitration.... If, however, as they
+most anxiously hope will not be the case, the reply of the South African
+Republic should be negative or inconclusive, I am to state that Her
+Majesty's Government must reserve to themselves the right to reconsider
+the situation _de novo_, and to formulate their own proposals for a
+final settlement.'
+
+This despatch was so moderate in form and so courteous in tone that
+press and politicians of every shade of opinion were united in approving
+it, and hoping for a corresponding reply which would relax the tension
+between the two nations. Mr. Morley, Mr. Leonard Courtney, the 'Daily
+Chronicle'--all the most strenuous opponents of the Government
+policy--were satisfied that it was a message of peace. But nothing at
+that time, save a complete and abject surrender upon the part of the
+British, could have satisfied the Boers, who had the most exaggerated
+ideas of their own military prowess and no very high opinion of our own.
+The continental conception of the British wolf and the Transvaal lamb
+would have raised a laugh in Pretoria, where the outcome of the war was
+looked upon as a foregone conclusion. The burghers were in no humour for
+concessions. They knew their own power, and they concluded with justice
+that they were for the time far the strongest military power in South
+Africa. 'We have beaten England before, but it is nothing to the licking
+that we shall give her now!' said one prominent citizen. 'Reitz seemed
+to treat the whole matter as a big joke,' remarked de Villiers. 'Is it
+really necessary for you to go,' said the Chief Justice of the Transvaal
+to an English clergyman. 'The war will be over in a fortnight. We shall
+take Kimberley and Mafeking and give the English such a beating in Natal
+that they will sue for peace.' Such were the extravagant ideas which
+caused them to push aside the olive-branch of peace.
+
+On September 18 the official reply of the Boer Government to the message
+sent from the Cabinet Council was published in London. In manner it was
+unbending and unconciliatory; in substance, it was a complete rejection
+of all the British demands. It refused to recommend or propose to the
+Raad the five-years' franchise and the other provisions which had been
+defined as the minimum which the Home Government could accept as a fair
+measure of justice towards the Uitlanders. The suggestion that the
+debates of the Raad should be bilingual, as they are in the Cape Colony
+and in Canada, was absolutely waved aside. The British Government had
+stated in their last despatch that if the reply should be negative or
+inconclusive they reserved to themselves the right to 'reconsider the
+situation _de novo_, and to formulate their own proposals for a final
+settlement.' The reply had been both negative and inconclusive, and on
+September 22 a council met to determine what the next message should be.
+It was short and firm, but so planned as not to shut the door upon
+peace. Its purport was that the British Government expressed deep regret
+at the rejection of the moderate proposals which had been submitted in
+their last despatch, and that now, in accordance with their promise,
+they would shortly put forward their own plans for a settlement. The
+message was not an ultimatum, but it foreshadowed an ultimatum in the
+future.
+
+In the meantime, upon September 21, the Raad of the Orange Free State
+had met, and it became more and more evident that this republic, with
+whom we had no possible quarrel, but, on the contrary, for whom we had a
+great deal of friendship and admiration, intended to throw in its weight
+against Great Britain. Some time before, an offensive and defensive
+alliance had been concluded between the two States, which must, until
+the secret history of these events comes to be written, appear to have
+been a singularly rash and unprofitable bargain for the smaller one. She
+had nothing to fear from Great Britain, since she had been voluntarily
+turned into an independent republic by her, and had lived in peace with
+her for forty years. Her laws were as liberal as our own. But by this
+suicidal treaty she agreed to share the fortunes of a State which was
+deliberately courting war by its persistently unfriendly attitude, and
+whose reactionary and narrow legislation would, one might imagine, have
+alienated the sympathy of her progressive neighbour. The trend of events
+was seen clearly in the days of President Brand, who was a sane and
+experienced politician. 'President Brand,' says Paul Botha (himself a
+voortrekker and a Boer of the Boers), 'saw clearly what our policy ought
+to have been. He always avoided offending the Transvaal, but he loved
+the Orange Free State and its independence for its own sake and not as
+an appendage to the Transvaal. And in order to maintain its character he
+always strove for the friendship of England.
+
+'President Brand realised that closer union with the turbulent and
+misguided Transvaal, led by Kruger's challenging policy, would
+inevitably result in a disastrous war with England.
+
+'I [Paul Botha] felt this as strongly, and never ceased fighting against
+closer union. I remember once stating these arguments in the Volksraad,
+and wound up my speech by saying, "May Heaven grant that I am wrong in
+what I fear, because, if I am right, then woe, woe to the Orange Free
+State."'
+
+It is evident that if the Free State rushed headlong to utter
+destruction it was not for want of wise voices which tried to guide her
+to some safer path. But there seems to have been a complete
+hallucination as to the comparative strength of the two opponents, and
+as to the probable future of South Africa. Under no possible future
+could the Free State be better off than it was already, a perfectly free
+and independent republic; and yet the country was carried away by
+race-prejudice spread broadcast from a subsidised press and an
+unchristian pulpit. 'When I come to think of the abuse the pulpit made
+of its influence,' says Paul Botha, 'I feel as if I cannot find words
+strong enough to express my indignation. God's word was prostituted. A
+religious people's religion was used to urge them to their destruction.
+A minister of God told me himself, with a wink, that he had to preach
+anti-English because otherwise he would lose favour with those in
+power.' Such were the influences which induced the Free State to make an
+insane treaty, compelling it to wantonly take up arms against a State
+which had never injured it and which bore it nothing but good will.
+
+The tone of President Steyn at the meeting of the Raad, and the support
+which he received from the majority of his burghers, showed unmistakably
+that the two republics would act as one. In his opening speech Steyn
+declared uncompromisingly against the British contention, and declared
+that his State was bound to the Transvaal by everything which was near
+and dear. Among the obvious military precautions which could no longer
+be neglected by the British Government, was the sending of some small
+force to protect the long and exposed line of railway which lies just
+outside the Transvaal border from Kimberley to Rhodesia. Sir Alfred
+Milner communicated with President Steyn as to this movement of troops,
+pointing out that it was in no way directed against the Free State. Sir
+Alfred Milner added that the Imperial Government was still hopeful of a
+friendly settlement with the Transvaal, but if this hope were
+disappointed they looked to the Orange Free State to preserve strict
+neutrality and to prevent military intervention by any of its citizens.
+They undertook that in that case the integrity of the Free State
+frontier would be strictly preserved. Finally, he stated that there was
+absolutely no cause to disturb the good relations between the Free State
+and Great Britain, since we were animated by the most friendly
+intentions towards them. To this the President returned a somewhat
+ungracious answer, to the effect that he disapproved of our action
+towards the Transvaal, and that he regretted the movement of troops,
+which would be considered a menace by the burghers. A subsequent
+resolution of the Free State Raad, ending with the words, 'Come what
+may, the Free State will honestly and faithfully fulfil its obligations
+towards the Transvaal by virtue of the political alliance existing
+between the two republics,' showed how impossible it was that this
+country, formed by ourselves, and without a shadow of a cause of quarrel
+with us, could be saved from being drawn into the whirlpool.
+
+In the meantime, military preparations were being made upon both sides,
+moderate in the case of the British and considerable in that of the
+Boers.
+
+On August 15, at a time when the negotiations had already assumed a very
+serious phase, after the failure of the Bloemfontein Conference and the
+despatch of Sir Alfred Milner, the British forces in South Africa were
+absolutely and absurdly inadequate for the purpose of the defence of our
+own frontier. Surely such a fact must open the eyes of those who, in
+spite of all the evidence, persist that the war was forced on by the
+British. A statesman who forces on a war usually prepares for a war, and
+this is exactly what Mr. Kruger did and the British authorities did not.
+The overbearing suzerain power had at that date, scattered over a huge
+frontier, two cavalry regiments, three field batteries, and six and a
+half infantry battalions--say six thousand men. The innocent pastoral
+States could put in the field more than fifty thousand mounted riflemen,
+whose mobility doubled their numbers, and a most excellent artillery,
+including the heaviest guns which have ever been seen upon a
+battlefield. At this time it is most certain that the Boers could have
+made their way easily either to Durban or to Cape Town. The British
+force, condemned to act upon the defensive, could have been masked and
+afterwards destroyed, while the main body of the invaders would have
+encountered nothing but an irregular local resistance, which would have
+been neutralised by the apathy or hostility of the Dutch colonists. It
+is extraordinary that our authorities seem never to have contemplated
+the possibility of the Boers taking the initiative, or to have
+understood that in that case our belated reinforcements would certainly
+have had to land under the fire of the republican guns. They ran a great
+military risk by their inaction, but at least they made it clear to all
+who are not wilfully blind how far from the thoughts or wishes of the
+British Government it has always been that the matter should be decided
+by force.
+
+In answer to the remonstrances of the Colonial Prime Minister the
+garrison of Natal was gradually increased, partly by troops from
+Europe, and partly by the despatch of 5,000 British troops from India.
+Their arrival late in September raised the number of troops in South
+Africa to 22,000, a force which was inadequate to a contest in the open
+field with the numerous, mobile, and gallant enemy to whom they were to
+be opposed, but which proved to be strong enough to stave off that
+overwhelming disaster which, with our fuller knowledge, we can now see
+to have been impending.
+
+In the weeks which followed the despatch of the Cabinet message of
+September 8, the military situation had ceased to be desperate, but was
+still precarious. Twenty-two thousand regular troops were on the spot
+who might hope to be reinforced by some ten thousand Colonials, but
+these forces had to cover a great frontier, the attitude of Cape Colony
+was by no means whole-hearted and might become hostile, while the black
+population might conceivably throw in its weight against us. Only half
+the regulars could be spared to defend Natal, and no reinforcements
+could reach them in less than a month from the outbreak of hostilities.
+If Mr. Chamberlain was really playing a game of bluff, it must be
+confessed that he was bluffing from a very weak hand.
+
+For purposes of comparison we may give some idea of the forces which Mr.
+Kruger and Mr. Steyn could put in the field. The general press estimate
+of the forces of the two republics varied from 25,000 to 35,000 men. Mr.
+J. B. Robinson, a personal friend of President Kruger's and a man who
+had spent much of his life among the Boers, considered the latter
+estimate to be too high. The calculation had no assured basis to start
+from. A very scattered and isolated population, among whom large
+families were the rule, is a most difficult thing to estimate. Some
+reckoned from the supposed natural increase during eighteen years, but
+the figure given at that date was itself an assumption. Others took
+their calculation from the number of voters in the last presidential
+election; but no one could tell how many abstentions there had been, and
+the fighting age is five years earlier than the voting age in the
+republics. We recognise now that all calculations were far below the
+true figure. It is probable, however, that the information of the
+British Intelligence Department was not far wrong. No branch of the
+British Service has come better out of a very severe ordeal than this
+one, and its report before the war is so accurate, alike in facts and in
+forecast, as to be quite prophetic.
+
+According to this the fighting strength of the Transvaal alone was
+32,000 men, and of the Orange Free State 22,000. With mercenaries and
+rebels from the colonies they would amount to 60,000, while a
+considerable rising of the Cape Dutch would bring them up to 100,000.
+Our actual male prisoners now amount to 42,000, and we can account for
+10,000 casualties, so that, allowing another 10,000 for the burghers at
+large, the Boer force, excluding a great number of Cape rebels, would
+reach 62,000. Of the quality of this large force there is no need to
+speak. The men were brave, hardy, and fired with a strange religious
+enthusiasm. They were all of the seventeenth century, except their
+rifles. Mounted upon their hardy little ponies, they possessed a
+mobility which practically doubled their numbers and made it an
+impossibility ever to outflank them. As marksmen they are supreme. Add
+to this that they had the advantage of acting upon internal lines with
+shorter and safer communications, and one gathers how formidable a task
+lay before the soldiers of the Empire. When we turn from such an
+enumeration of their strength to contemplate the 12,000 men, split into
+two detachments, who awaited them in Natal, we may recognise that, far
+from bewailing our disasters, we should rather congratulate ourselves
+upon our escape from losing that great province which, situated as it is
+between Britain, India, and Australia, must be regarded as the very
+keystone of the imperial arch.
+
+But again one must ask whether in the face of these figures it is still
+possible to maintain that Great Britain was deliberately attempting to
+overthrow by force the independence of the republics.
+
+There was a lull in the political exchanges after the receipt of the
+Transvaal despatch of September 16, which rejected the British proposals
+of September 8. In Africa all hope or fear of peace had ended. The Raads
+had been dissolved and the old President's last words had been that war
+was certain, with a stern invocation of the Lord as the final arbiter.
+Britain was ready less obtrusively, but no less heartily, to refer the
+quarrel to the same dread judge.
+
+On October 2 President Steyn informed Sir Alfred Milner that he had
+deemed it necessary to call out the Free State burghers--that is, to
+mobilise his forces. Sir A. Milner wrote regretting these preparations,
+and declaring that he did not yet despair of peace, for he was sure that
+any reasonable proposal would be favourably considered by her Majesty's
+Government. Steyn's reply was that there was no use in negotiating
+unless the stream of British reinforcements ceased coming into South
+Africa. As our forces were still in a great minority, it was impossible
+to stop the reinforcements, so the correspondence led to nothing. On
+October 7 the army reserves for the First Army Corps were called out in
+Great Britain, and other signs shown that it had been determined to send
+a considerable force to South Africa. Parliament was also summoned, that
+the formal national assent might be gained for those grave measures
+which were evidently pending.
+
+It has been stated that it was the action of the British in calling out
+the reserves which caused the ultimatum from the Boers and so
+precipitated the war. Such a contention is absurd, for it puts the cart
+before the horse. The Transvaal commandos had mobilised upon September
+27, and those of the Free State on October 2. The railways had been
+taken over, the exodus from Johannesburg had begun, and an actual act of
+war had been committed by the stopping of a train and the confiscation
+of the gold which was in it. The British action was subsequent to all
+this, and could not have been the cause of it. But no Government could
+see such portents and delay any longer to take those military
+preparations which were called for by the critical situation. As a
+matter of fact, the Boer ultimatum was prepared before the date of the
+calling out of the reserves, and was only delivered later because the
+final details for war were not quite ready.
+
+It was on October 9 that the somewhat leisurely proceedings of the
+British Colonial Office were brought to a head by the arrival of an
+unexpected and audacious ultimatum from the Boer Government. In contests
+of wit, as of arms, it must be confessed that the laugh has up to now
+been usually upon the side of our simple and pastoral South African
+neighbours. The present instance was no exception to the rule. The
+document was very firm and explicit, but the terms in which it was drawn
+were so impossible that it was evidently framed with the deliberate
+purpose of forcing an immediate war. It demanded that the troops upon
+the borders of the republic should be instantly withdrawn, that all
+reinforcements which had arrived within the last year should leave South
+Africa, and that those who were now upon the sea should be sent back
+without being landed. Failing a satisfactory answer within forty-eight
+hours, 'The Transvaal Government will with great regret be compelled to
+regard the action of her Majesty's Government as a formal declaration
+of war, for the consequences of which it will not hold itself
+responsible.' The audacious message was received throughout the empire
+with a mixture of derision and anger. The answer was despatched next day
+through Sir Alfred Milner.
+
+'_October 10._--Her Majesty's Government have received with great regret
+the peremptory demands of the Government of the South African Republic,
+conveyed in your telegram of the 9th October. You will inform the
+Government of the South African Republic in reply that the conditions
+demanded by the Government of the South African Republic are such as her
+Majesty's Government deem it impossible to discuss.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SOME POINTS EXAMINED
+
+
+Such is a general sketch of the trend of the negotiations and of the
+events which led up to the war. Under their different headings I will
+now examine in as short a space as possible the criticisms to which the
+British Government has been subjected. Various damaging theories and
+alternate lines of action have been suggested, each of which may be
+shortly discussed.
+
+1. _That Mr. Chamberlain was personally concerned in the raid and that
+out of revenge for that failure, or because he was in the power of Mr.
+Rhodes, he forced on the war._--The theory that Mr. Chamberlain was in
+the confidence of the raiders, has been already examined and shown to be
+untenable. That he knew that an insurrection might probably result from
+the despair of the Uitlanders is very probable. It was his business to
+know what was going on so far as he could, and there is no reason why
+his private sympathies, like those of every other Englishman, should not
+be with his own ill-used people. But that he contemplated an invasion of
+the Transvaal by a handful of policemen is absurd. If he did, why should
+he instantly take the strongest steps to render the invasion abortive?
+What could he possibly do to make things miscarry which he did not do?
+And if he were conscious of being in the power of Mr. Rhodes, how would
+he dare to oppose with such vigour that gentleman's pet scheme? The very
+facts and the very telegrams upon which critics rely to prove Mr.
+Chamberlain's complicity will really, when looked at with unprejudiced
+eyes, most clearly show his entire independence. Thus when Rhodes, or
+Harris in Rhodes's name, telegraphs, 'Inform Chamberlain that I shall
+get through all right if he will support me, but he must not send cable
+like he sent to the High Commissioner,' and again, 'Unless you can make
+Chamberlain instruct the High Commissioner to proceed at once to
+Johannesburg the whole position is lost,' is it not perfectly obvious
+that there has been no understanding of any sort, and that the
+conspirators are attempting to force the Colonial Secretary's hand?
+Again, critics make much of the fact that shortly before the raid Mr.
+Chamberlain sold to the Chartered Company the strip of land from which
+the raid started, and that he made a hard bargain, exacting as much as
+200,000_l._ for it. Surely the perversion of an argument could hardly go
+further, for if Mr. Chamberlain were in their confidence and in favour
+of their plan it is certain that he would have given them easy and not
+difficult terms for the land for which they asked. The supposition that
+Mr. Chamberlain was the tool of Rhodes in declaring war, presupposes
+that Mr. Chamberlain could impose his will without question upon a
+Cabinet which contained Lord Salisbury, Lord Lansdowne, Arthur Balfour,
+Hicks-Beach, and the other ministers. Such a supposition is too
+monstrous to discuss.
+
+2. _That it is a capitalists' war, engineered by company promoters and
+Jews._--After the Jameson Raid a large body of the public held this
+view, and it was this which to a great extent tied the hands of the
+Government, and stopped them from taking that strong line which might
+have prevented the accumulation of those huge armaments which could only
+be intended for use against ourselves. It took years to finally
+dissipate the idea, but how thoroughly it has been dissipated in the
+public mind is best shown by the patient fortitude with which our people
+have borne the long and weary struggle in which few families in the land
+have not lost either a friend or a relative. The complaisance of the
+British public towards capitalists goes no further than giving them
+their strict legal rights--and certainly does not extend to pouring out
+money and blood like water for their support. Such a supposition is
+absurd, nor can any reason be given why a body of high-minded and
+honourable British gentlemen like the Cabinet should sacrifice their
+country for the sake of a number of cosmopolitan financiers, most of
+whom are German Jews. The tax which will eventually be placed upon the
+Transvaal mining industry, in order to help to pay for the war, will in
+itself prove that the capitalists have no great voice in the councils of
+the nation. We know now that the leading capitalists in Johannesburg
+were the very men who most strenuously resisted an agitation which might
+lead to war. This seems natural enough when one considers how much
+capitalists had at stake, and how much to lose by war. The agitation for
+the franchise and other rights was a _bonâ-fide_ liberal agitation,
+started by poor men, employés and miners, who intended to live in the
+country, not in Park Lane. The capitalists were the very last to be
+drawn into it. When I say capitalists I mean the capitalists with
+British sympathies, for there is indeed much to be said in favour of the
+war being a capitalists' war, in that it was largely caused by the
+anti-British attitude and advice of the South African Netherlands
+Company, the Dynamite Monopoly, and other leeches which drained the
+country. To them a free and honest government meant ruin, and they
+strained every nerve, even to paying bogus English agitators, in order
+to hinder the cause of reform. Their attitude undoubtedly had something
+to do with stiffening the backs of the Boers and so preventing
+concessions.
+
+3. _That Britain wanted the gold mines._--No possible accusation is more
+popular or more widely believed upon the Continent, and yet none could
+be more ridiculous when it is examined. The gold mines are private
+companies, with shares held by private shareholders, German and French,
+as well as British. Whether the British or the Boer flag flew over the
+country would not alienate a single share from any holder, nor would the
+wealth of Britain be in any way greater. She will be the poorer by the
+vast expense of the war, and it is unlikely that more than one-third of
+this expenditure can be covered by taxation of the profits of the gold
+mines. Apart from this limited contribution towards the war, how is
+Britain the richer because her flag flies over the Rand? The Transvaal
+will be a self-governing colony, like all other British colonies, with
+its own finance minister, its own budget, its own taxes, even its own
+power of imposing duties upon British merchandise. They will pay a
+British governor 10,000_l._, and he will be expected to spend 15,000_l._
+_We_ know all this because it is part of our British system, but it is
+not familiar to those nations who look upon colonies as sources of
+direct revenue to the mother country. It is the most general, and at the
+same time the most untenable, of all Continental comments upon the war.
+The second Transvaal war was the logical sequel of the first, and the
+first was fought before gold was discovered in the country.
+
+4. _That it was a monarchy against a republic._--This argument
+undoubtedly had weight with those true republics like the United States,
+France, and Switzerland, where people who were ignorant of the facts
+were led away by mere names. As a matter of fact Great Britain and the
+British colonies are among the most democratic communities in the
+world. They preserve, partly from sentiment, partly for political
+convenience, a hereditary chief, but the will of the people is decisive
+upon all questions, and every man by his vote helps to mould the destiny
+of the State. There is practically universal suffrage, and the highest
+offices of the State are within reach of any citizen who is competent to
+attain them. On the other hand, the Transvaal is an oligarchy, not a
+democracy, where half the inhabitants claim to be upon an entirely
+different footing from the other half. This rule represents the
+ascendency of one race over the other, such an ascendency as existed in
+Ireland in the eighteenth century. Technically the one country is a
+republic and the other a monarchy, but in truth the empire stood for
+liberty and the republic for tyranny, race ascendency, corruption,
+taxation without representation, and all that is most opposed to the
+broader conception of freedom.
+
+5. _That it was a strong nation attacking a weak one._--That appeal to
+sentiment and to the sporting instincts of the human race must always be
+a powerful one. But in this instance it is entirely misapplied. The
+preparation for war, the ultimatum, the invasion, and the first shedding
+of blood, all came from the nation which the result has shown to be the
+weaker. The reason why this smaller nation attacked so audaciously was
+that they knew perfectly well that they were at the time far the
+stronger power in South Africa, and all their information led them to
+believe that they would continue to be so even when Britain had put
+forth all her strength. It certainly seemed that they were justified in
+this belief. The chief military critics of the Continent had declared
+that 100,000 men was the outside figure which Britain could place in the
+field. Against these they knew that without any rising of their kinsmen
+in the Cape they could place fifty or sixty thousand men, and their
+military history had unfortunately led them to believe that such a force
+of Boers, operating under their own conditions with their own horses in
+their own country, was far superior to this number of British soldiers.
+They knew how excellent was their artillery, and how complete their
+preparations. A dozen extracts could be given to show how confident they
+were of success, from Blignant's letter with his fears that Chamberlain
+would do them out of the war, to Esselen's boast that he would not wash
+until he reached the sea. What they did not foresee, and what put out
+their plans, was that indignant wave of public opinion throughout the
+British Empire which increased threefold--as it would, if necessary,
+have increased tenfold--the strength of the army and so enabled it to
+beat down the Boer resistance. When war was declared, and for a very
+long time afterwards, it was the Boers who were the strong power and the
+British who were the weak one, and any sympathy given on the other
+understanding was sympathy misapplied. From that time onwards the war
+had to take its course, and the British had no choice but to push it to
+its end.
+
+6. _That the British refused to arbitrate._--This has been repeated _ad
+nauseam_, but the allegation will not bear investigation. There are some
+subjects which can be settled by arbitration, and all those Great
+Britain freely consented to treat in this fashion, before a tribunal
+which should be limited to Great Britain and South Africa. Such a
+tribunal would by no means be necessarily drawn from judges who were
+committed to one side or the other. There were many men whose moderation
+and discretion both sides would admit. Such a man, for example, was Rose
+Innes amongst the British, and de Villiers among those who had
+Africander sympathies. Both the Transvaal and the British Governments
+agreed that such a tribunal was competent, but they disagreed upon the
+point that the British Government desired to reserve some subjects from
+this arbitration.
+
+The desire upon the part of Great Britain to exclude outsiders from the
+arbitration tribunal was due to the fact that to admit them was to give
+away the case before going into Court. The Transvaal claimed to be a
+sovereign international state. Great Britain denied it. If the Transvaal
+could appeal to arbitration as a peer among peers in a court of nations,
+she became _ipso facto_ an international state. Therefore Great Britain
+refused such a court.
+
+But why not refer all subjects to such a South African court as was
+finally accepted by both sides? The answer is that it is a monstrous
+hypocrisy to carry cases into an arbitration court, when you know
+beforehand that by their very nature they cannot possibly be settled by
+such a court. To quote Milner's words, 'It is, of course, absurd to
+suggest that the question whether the South African Republic does or
+does not treat British residents in that country with justice, and the
+British Government with the consideration and respect due to any
+friendly, not to say suzerain power, is a question capable of being
+referred to arbitration. You cannot arbitrate on broad questions of
+policy any more than on questions of national honour.' On this point of
+the limitation of arbitration the Transvaal leaders appear to have been
+as unanimous as the British, so that it is untrue to lay the blame of
+the restriction upon one side only. Mr. Reitz, in his scheme of
+arbitration formulated upon June 9, has the express clause 'That each
+side shall have the right to reserve and exclude points which appear to
+it to be too important to be submitted to arbitration.' To this the
+British Government agreed, making the further very great concession that
+an Orange Free Stater should not be regarded as a foreigner. The matter
+was in this state when the Transvaal sent its ultimatum. Up to the
+firing of the first shot the British Government still offered the only
+form of arbitration which was possible without giving away the question
+at issue. It was the Transvaal which, after agreeing to such a Court,
+turned suddenly to the arbitrament of the Mauser and the Creusot.
+
+7. _That the war was to avenge Majuba._--There can be no doubt that our
+defeat in this skirmish had left considerable heart-burnings which were
+not allayed by the subsequent attitude of the Boers and their
+assumption, testified to by Bryce and other friendly observers, that
+what we did after the action was due not to a magnanimous desire to
+repair a wrong but to craven fear. From the outset of the war there was
+a strong desire on the part of the soldiers to avenge Majuba, which was
+fully gratified when, upon the anniversary of that day, Cronje and his
+4,000 brave companions had to raise the white flag. But that a desire to
+avenge Majuba swayed the policy of the country cannot be upheld in view
+of the fact that eighteen years had elapsed; that during that time the
+Boers had again and again broken the conventions by extending their
+boundaries; that three times matters were in such a position that war
+might have resulted and yet that peace was successfully maintained. War
+might very easily have been forced upon the Boers during the years
+before they turned their country into an arsenal, when it would have
+been absolutely impossible for them to have sustained a long campaign.
+That it was not done and that the British Government remained patient
+until it received the outrageous ultimatum, is a proof that Majuba may
+have rankled in our memory but was not allowed to influence our policy.
+
+8. _What proof is there that the Boers ever had any aggressive designs
+upon the British?_--It would be a misuse of terms to call the general
+Boer designs against the British a conspiracy, for it was openly
+advocated in the press, preached from the pulpit, and preached upon the
+platform, that the Dutch should predominate in South Africa, and that
+the portion of it which remained under the British flag should be
+absorbed by that which was outside it. So widespread and deep-seated was
+this ambition, that it was evident that Great Britain must, sooner or
+later, either yield to it or else sustain her position by force of arms.
+She was prepared to give Dutch citizens within her borders the vote, the
+power of making their own laws, complete religious and political
+freedom, and everything which their British comrades could have, without
+any distinction whatever; but when it came to hauling down the flag, it
+was certainly time that a stand should be made.
+
+How this came about cannot be expressed more clearly than in the words
+of Paul Botha, who, as I have already said, was a voortrekker like
+Kruger himself, and a Boer of the Boers, save that he seems to have been
+a man with wider and more liberal views than his fellows. He was member
+for Kroonstadt in the Free State Raad.
+
+'I am convinced,' he says, 'that Kruger's influence completely changed
+the character of the Afrikander Bond--an organisation which I believe
+Hofmeyr started at the Cape with the legitimate purpose of securing
+certain political privileges, but which, under Kruger's henchmen--Sauer,
+Merriman, Te Water, and others--raised unrest in the Cape Colony.
+
+'This successful anti-British policy of Kruger created a number of
+imitators--Steyn, Fischer, Esselen, Smuts, and numerous other young
+educated Africanders of the Transvaal, Orange Free State, and the Cape
+Colony, who, misled by his successes, ambitiously hoped by the same
+means to raise themselves to the same pinnacle.
+
+'Krugerism under them developed into a reign of terror. If you were
+anti-Kruger you were stigmatised as "Engelschgezind," and a traitor to
+your people, unworthy of a hearing. I have suffered bitterly from this
+taunt, especially under Steyn's _régime_. The more hostile you were to
+England the greater patriot you were accounted.
+
+'This gang, which I wish to be clearly understood was spread over the
+whole of South Africa, the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and the
+Cape Colony, used the Bond, the press, and the pulpit to further its
+schemes.
+
+'Reitz, whom I believe to have been an honest enthusiast, set himself up
+as second sponsor to the Bond and voiced the doctrine of this gang:
+"Africa for the Africanders. Sweep the English into the sea." With an
+alluring cry like this, it will be readily understood how easy it was to
+inflame the imagination of the illiterate and uneducated Boer, and to
+work upon his vanity and prejudices. That pernicious rag, Carl
+Borckenhagen's "Bloemfontein Express," enormously contributed to
+spreading this doctrine in the Orange Free State. I myself firmly
+believe that the "Express" was subsidised by Kruger. It was no mystery
+to me from where Borckenhagen, a full-blooded German, got his ardent
+Free State patriotism.
+
+'In the Transvaal this was done by the "Volksstem," written by a
+Hollander and subsidised by Kruger; by the "Rand Post," also written by
+a Hollander, also subsidised by Paul Kruger; and in the Cape Colony by
+the "Patriot," which was started by intriguers and rebels to their own
+Government, at the Paarl--a hot-bed of false Africanderism. "Ons Land"
+may be an honest paper, but by fostering impossible ideas it has done us
+incalculable harm. It grieves me to think that my poor people, through
+want of education, had to swallow this poison undiluted.
+
+'Is it possible to imagine that Steyn, Fischer, and the other educated
+men of the Free State did not know that, following Kruger's hostile
+policy of eliminating the preponderating Power in South Africa, meant
+that that Power would be forced either to fight in self-preservation or
+to disappear ignominiously? For I maintain that there were only two
+courses open to England in answer to Kruger's challenging policy--to
+fight or to retire from South Africa. It was only possible for men
+suffering from tremendously swollen heads, such as our leaders were
+suffering from, not to see the obvious or to doubt the issue.'
+
+So much for a Boer's straightforward account of the forces at work, and
+the influences which were at the back of those forces. It sums the
+situation up tersely, but the situation itself was evident and dominated
+Cape politics. The ambitions of Africanderdom were discussed in the
+broad light of day in the editorial, in the sermon, in the speech,
+though the details by which those ambitions were to be carried out were
+only whispered on the Dutch stoeps.
+
+Here are the opinions of Reitz, the man who more than all others, save
+his master, has the blood of the fallen upon his conscience. It is taken
+from the 'Reminiscences' of Mr. Theophilus Schreiner, the brother of the
+ex-Prime Minister of the Cape:
+
+'I met Mr. Reitz, then a judge of the Orange Free State, in Bloemfontein
+between seventeen and eighteen years ago, shortly after the retrocession
+of the Transvaal, and when he was busy establishing the Afrikander Bond.
+It must be patent to everyone that at that time, at all events, England
+and its Government had no intention of taking away the independence of
+the Transvaal, for she had just "magnanimously" granted the same; no
+intention of making war on the republics, for she had just made peace;
+no intention to seize the Rand gold fields, for they were not yet
+discovered. At that time, then, I met Mr. Reitz, and he did his best to
+get me to become a member of his Afrikander Bond, but, after studying
+its constitution and programme, I refused to do so, whereupon the
+following colloquy in substance took place between us, which has been
+indelibly imprinted on my mind ever since:
+
+'_Reitz_: Why do you refuse? Is the object of getting the people to take
+an interest in political matters not a good one?
+
+'_Myself_: Yes, it is; but I seem to see plainly here between the lines
+of this constitution much more ultimately aimed at than that.
+
+'_Reitz_: What?
+
+'_Myself_: I see quite clearly that the ultimate object aimed at is the
+overthrow of the British power and the expulsion of the British flag
+from South Africa.
+
+'_Reitz_ (_with his pleasant conscious smile, as of one whose secret
+thought and purpose had been discovered, and who was not altogether
+displeased that such was the case_): Well, what if it is so?
+
+'_Myself_: You don't suppose, do you, that that flag is going to
+disappear from South Africa without a tremendous struggle and fight?
+
+'_Reitz_ (_with the same pleasant self-conscious, self-satisfied, and
+yet semi-apologetic smile_): Well, I suppose not; but even so, what of
+that?
+
+'_Myself_: Only this, that when that struggle takes place you and I will
+be on opposite sides; and what is more, the God who was on the side of
+the Transvaal in the late war, because it had right on its side, will be
+on the side of England, because He must view with abhorrence any
+plotting and scheming to overthrow her power and position in South
+Africa, which have been ordained by Him.
+
+'_Reitz_: We'll see.
+
+'Thus the conversation ended, but during the seventeen years that have
+elapsed I have watched the propaganda for the overthrow of British power
+in South Africa being ceaselessly spread by every possible means--the
+press, the pulpit, the platform, the schools, the colleges, the
+Legislature--until it has culminated in the present war, of which Mr.
+Reitz and his co-workers are the origin and the cause. Believe me, the
+day on which F. W. Reitz sat down to pen his ultimatum to Great Britain
+was the proudest and happiest moment of his life, and one which had for
+long years been looked forward to by him with eager longing and
+expectation.'
+
+Compare with these utterances of a Dutch politician of the Cape, and of
+a Dutch politician of the Orange Free State, the following passage from
+a speech delivered by Kruger at Bloemfontein in the year 1887, long
+before Jameson raids or franchise agitations:
+
+'I think it too soon to speak of a United South Africa under one flag.
+Which flag was it to be? The Queen of England would object to having her
+flag hauled down, and we, the burghers of the Transvaal, object to
+hauling ours down. What is to be done? We are now small and of little
+importance, but we are growing, and are preparing the way to take our
+place among the great nations of the world.'
+
+'The dream of our life,' said another, 'is a union of the States of
+South Africa, and this has to come from within, not from without. When
+that is accomplished, South Africa will be great.'
+
+Always the same theory from all quarters of Dutch thought, to be
+followed by many signs that the idea was being prepared for in practice.
+I repeat, that the fairest and most unbiassed historian cannot dismiss
+the movement as a myth.
+
+And to this one may retort, Why should they not do so? Why should they
+not have their own views as to the future of South Africa? Why should
+they not endeavour to have one universal flag and one common speech? Why
+should they not win over our colonists, if they can, and push us into
+the sea? I see no reason why they should not. Let them try if they will.
+And let us try to prevent them. But let us have an end of talk about
+British aggression, of capitalist designs upon the gold fields, of the
+wrongs of a pastoral people, and all the other veils which have been
+used to cover the issue. Let those who talk about British designs upon
+the republics turn their attention for a moment to the evidence which
+there is for republican designs upon the colonies. Let them reflect that
+in the British system all white men are equal, and that in the Boer one
+race has persecuted the other; and let them consider under which the
+truest freedom lies, which stands for universal liberty, and which for
+reaction and racial hatred. Let them ponder and answer all this before
+they determine where their sympathies lie.
+
+Long before the war, when the British public and the British Government
+also had every confidence that the solution would be found in peace,
+every burgher had been provided with his rifle, his ammunition, and his
+instructions as to the part which he was to play in that war which they
+looked upon as certain. A huge conspiracy as to the future, which might
+be verbally discussed but which must not be written, seems to have
+prevailed among the farmers. Curious evidence of it came into my own
+hands in this fashion. After a small action at which I was present I
+entered a deserted Boer farmhouse which had been part of the enemy's
+position, and, desiring to carry away some souvenir which should be of
+no value, I took some papers which appeared to be children's
+writing-exercises. They were so, but among them were one or two letters,
+one of which I append in all its frankness and simplicity. The date is
+some fourteen weeks _before_ the declaration of war, when the British
+were anxious for and confident in a peaceful solution:
+
+                                              'Paradÿs, June 25, 1899.
+
+'MY DEAR HENRY,--I taking my pen up to write you these few lines. That
+we all are in good health, hoping to hear the same from you all. And the
+letter of the 18th is handed to me. And I feel very much obliged that I
+hear you are all in good health.... Here by us are the fields very dry,
+and the dams just by dry also. _Dear Henry, the war are by us very much.
+How is it there by you. News is very scarce to write, but much to speak
+by ourselves._ I must now close with my letter because I see that you
+will be tired out to read it. With best love to you and your family so I
+remain your faithfully friend,
+
+                                                       'PIETER WIESE.'
+
+Here is, in itself, as it seems to me, evidence of that great
+conspiracy, not of ambitions (for there was no reason why they should
+not be openly discussed), but of weapons and of dates for using them,
+which was going on all the time behind that cloud of suspicious
+negotiations with which the Boer Governments veiled their resolution to
+attack the British. A small straw, no doubt, but the result has shown
+how deep and dangerous was the current which it indicates. Here is a
+letter from one of the Snymans to his brother at a later period, but
+still a month before the war. He is talking of Kruger:
+
+'The old chap was nearly raving about it, and said that the burghers
+wanted to tie his hands, and so, brother, the thing is simply war and
+nothing else. He said we had gone too far, and help from oversea was
+positively promised, only unanimity of opinion must reign here or we
+could neither expect nor obtain assistance. Brother, the old man and his
+Hollander dogs talk very easily about the thing; but what shall we do,
+because if one speaks against it one is simply a rebel? So I remain
+dumb.
+
+'On the stoep it is nothing but war, but in the Raad everything is peace
+and Queen. Those are the politics they talk. I have nothing more to say
+here, but I can tell you a good deal. Brother, old Reitz says
+Chamberlain will have a great surprise one of these days, and the
+burghers must sleep with one eye open.
+
+'It is rumoured here that our military officers work day and night to
+send old Victoria an ultimatum before she is ready.'
+
+'On the stoep it is nothing but war, but in the Raad everything is
+peace.' No wonder the British overtures were in vain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE
+
+
+This is not an attempt to write the history of the war, which I have
+done elsewhere, but only to touch upon those various points upon which
+attempts have been made to mislead continental and American opinion. I
+will endeavour to treat each of these subjects in turn, not in the
+spirit of a lawyer preparing a brief, but with an honest endeavour to
+depict the matter as it is, even when I venture to differ from the
+action either of the British Government or of the generals in the field.
+In this chapter I will deal with the question of making peace, and
+examine how far the British are to blame for not having brought those
+negotiations which have twice been opened to a successful conclusion.
+
+The outset of the war saw the Boers aggressive and victorious. They
+flocked into British territory, drove the small forces opposed to them
+into entrenched positions, and held them there at Ladysmith, Kimberley,
+and Mafeking. At the same time they drove back at Colenso and at
+Magersfontein the forces which were sent to relieve these places. During
+this long period of their predominance from October 1899 to February
+1900, there was no word of peace. On the contrary, every yard of British
+territory which was occupied was instantly annexed either by the
+Transvaal or by the Orange Free State. This is admitted and beyond
+dispute. What becomes then of the theory of a defensive war, and what
+can they urge against the justice which awarded the same fate to the
+land of the Boers when it in turn was occupied by us? The Boers did not
+use their temporary victory in any moderate spirit. At the end of
+January 1900, Dr. Leyds, while on his visit to Berlin, said:
+
+'I believe that England will have to give us back a good part of the
+territory formerly snatched away from us.... The Boers will probably
+demand the cession of the strip of coast between Durban and Delagoa Bay,
+with the harbours of Lucia and Kosi. The Orange Free State and the
+Transvaal are to be united and to form one State, together with parts of
+Natal and the northern districts of Cape Colony.'--(_Daily News_ Berlin
+correspondent, February 1, March 16, 1900.)
+
+They were to go to the sea, and nothing but going to the sea would
+satisfy them. The war would end when their flag flew over Cape Town. But
+there came a turn of the tide. The resistance of the garrisons, the
+tenacity of the relieving forces, and the genius of Lord Roberts altered
+the whole situation. The Boers were driven back to the first of their
+capitals. Then for the first time there came from them those proposals
+for peace, which were never heard when the game was going in their
+favour. Here is President Kruger's telegram:
+
+          'THE PRESIDENTS OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE AND OF THE
+          SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC TO THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY.
+
+                                         'Bloemfontein: March 5, 1900.
+
+'The blood and the tears of the thousands who have suffered by this war,
+and the prospect of all the moral and economic ruin with which South
+Africa is now threatened, make it necessary for both belligerents to ask
+themselves dispassionately, and as in the sight of the Triune God, for
+what they are fighting, and whether the aim of each justifies all this
+appalling misery and devastation.
+
+'With this object, and in view of the assertions of various British
+statesmen to the effect that this war was begun and is being carried on
+with the set purpose of undermining Her Majesty's authority in South
+Africa, and of setting up an Administration over all South Africa
+independent of Her Majesty's Government, we consider it our duty
+solemnly to declare that this war was undertaken solely as a defensive
+measure to safeguard the threatened independence of the South African
+Republic, and is only continued in order to secure and safeguard the
+incontestable independence of both Republics as Sovereign International
+States, and to obtain the assurance that those of Her Majesty's subjects
+who have taken part with us in this war shall suffer no harm whatsoever
+in person or property.
+
+'On these conditions, but on these conditions alone, are we now, as in
+the past, desirous of seeing peace re-established in South Africa, and
+of putting an end to the evils now reigning over South Africa; while, if
+Her Majesty's Government is determined to destroy the independence of
+the Republics, there is nothing left to us and to our people but to
+persevere to the end in the course already begun, in spite of the
+overwhelming pre-eminence of the British Empire, confident that that God
+who lighted the unextinguishable fire of the love of freedom in the
+hearts of ourselves and of our fathers will not forsake us, but will
+accomplish His work in us and in our descendants.
+
+'We hesitated to make this declaration earlier to Your Excellency, as we
+feared that as long as the advantage was always on our side, and as long
+as our forces held defensive positions far in Her Majesty's colonies,
+such a declaration might hurt the feelings of honour of the British
+people; but now that the prestige of the British Empire may be
+considered to be assured by the capture of one of our forces by Her
+Majesty's troops, and that we are thereby forced to evacuate other
+positions which our forces had occupied, that difficulty is over, and we
+can no longer hesitate clearly to inform your Government and people in
+the sight of the whole civilised world why we are fighting, and on what
+conditions we are ready to restore peace.'
+
+Here is Lord Salisbury's reply:
+
+                                      'Foreign Office: March 11, 1900.
+
+'I have the honour to acknowledge Your Honours' telegram dated the 5th
+of March from Bloemfontein, of which the purport is principally to
+demand that Her Majesty's Government shall recognise the "incontestable
+independence" of the South African Republic and Orange Free State "as
+Sovereign International States," and to offer, on those terms, to bring
+the war to a conclusion.
+
+'In the beginning of October last peace existed between Her Majesty and
+the two Republics under the Conventions which then were in existence. A
+discussion had been proceeding for some months between Her Majesty's
+Government and the South African Republic, of which the object was to
+obtain redress for certain very serious grievances under which British
+residents in the South African Republic were suffering. In the course of
+those negotiations the South African Republic had, to the knowledge of
+Her Majesty's Government, made considerable armaments, and the latter
+had, consequently, taken steps to provide corresponding reinforcements
+to the British garrisons of Cape Town and Natal. No infringement of the
+rights guaranteed by the Conventions had up to that point taken place on
+the British side. Suddenly, at two days' notice, the South African
+Republic, after issuing an insulting ultimatum, declared war upon Her
+Majesty, and the Orange Free State, with whom there had not even been
+any discussion, took a similar step. Her Majesty's dominions were
+immediately invaded by the two Republics, siege was laid to three towns
+within the British frontier, a large portion of the two colonies was
+overrun, with great destruction to property and life, and the Republics
+claimed to treat the inhabitants of extensive portions of Her Majesty's
+dominions as if those dominions had been annexed to one or other of
+them. In anticipation of these operations, the South African Republic
+had been accumulating for many years past military stores on an enormous
+scale, which by their character could only have been intended for use
+against Great Britain.
+
+'Your Honours make some observations of a negative character upon the
+object with which these preparations were made. I do not think it
+necessary to discuss the question you have raised. But the result of
+these preparations, carried on with great secrecy, has been that the
+British Empire has been compelled to confront an invasion which has
+entailed upon the Empire a costly war and the loss of thousands of
+precious lives. This great calamity has been the penalty which Great
+Britain has suffered for having in recent years acquiesced in the
+existence of the two Republics.
+
+'In view of the use to which the two Republics have put the position
+which was given to them, and the calamities which their unprovoked
+attack has inflicted upon Her Majesty's dominions, Her Majesty's
+Government can only answer Your Honours' telegram by saying that they
+are not prepared to assent to the independence either of the South
+African Republic or of the Orange Free State.'
+
+Is there any sane man of any nation who can contend that a British
+statesman could possibly have taken any other view? From the firing of
+the first shot the irresistible logic of events showed that either the
+Republics must dominate Africa or they must cease to exist. For the
+sparing of the Orange Free State there might, I think, be a fair
+argument, but they had put themselves out of court by annexing every
+foot of British territory which they could lay their hands upon. For the
+sparing of the Transvaal there could be no possible reason. Had that
+State been reconstituted we should instantly have been faced once more
+with the Franchise question, the Uitlander question, the corrupt
+oligarchy, the anti-British conspiracy, and everything which we had
+spent so much blood and money to set right. The desperate situation from
+which the British power was only just emerging was so fresh in our minds
+that we could not feel justified in leaving the possibility--indeed the
+certainty--of its recurrence to our children. Remember, you who judge
+us, that we had done all this before. Once before within our own
+memories we had patched up an inconclusive peace, and left these people
+the power to hurt us. And what had come of it? Eternal trouble ending in
+a great war which strained the resources of the Empire. Could we be
+asked to do the same again? Would any nation on earth have done the same
+again? From the day of the signing of peace we should know that we had
+an implacable and formidable foe to the north of us, nursing his wrath
+and preparing his strength for the day when he might strike us at an
+advantage. Our colonies would lie ever in the shadow of its menace. Who
+can blame us for deciding that the job should be done now in such a way
+that it should never, so far as we could help it, need to be done once
+more?
+
+Such was the end of the first negotiations for peace. The war was
+resumed, and in time the second capital of the Boers was taken and
+President Kruger withdrew to Europe, leaving South Africa in the welter
+to which he had reduced it. Then, for the second time, negotiations for
+peace were opened on the initiative of General Botha, which led to a
+meeting upon February 28, 1901, between Kitchener and Botha. Kitchener
+had already explained that for the reasons given above the restoration
+of independence was impossible, and the negotiations were carried
+through on that understanding. Here is Lord Kitchener's own account of
+the interview and of the points at issue:
+
+ [_Telegram._]                     'Pretoria: March 1, 1901, 2.20 P.M.
+
+'_28th February._--I have had a long interview with Botha, who showed
+very good feeling and seemed anxious to bring about peace. He asked for
+information on a number of subjects which he said that he should submit
+to his Government and people, and if they agreed he should visit Orange
+River Colony and get them to agree. They should all then hand in their
+arms and finish the war. He told me that they could go on for some time,
+and that he was not sure of being able to bring about peace without
+independence. He tried very hard for some kind of independence, but I
+declined to discuss such a point, and said that a modified form of
+independence would be most dangerous and likely to lead to war in the
+future. Subject was then dropped, and--
+
+'Firstly.--The nature of future government of Colonies asked about. He
+wanted more details than were given by Colonial Secretary, and I said
+that, subject to correction from home, I understood that when
+hostilities ceased military guard would be replaced by Crown Colony
+administration, consisting of nominated Executive, with elected assembly
+to advise administration, to be followed after a period by
+representative government. He would have liked representative government
+at once, but seemed satisfied with above.
+
+'Secondly.--Whether a Boer would be able to have a rifle to protect him
+from native? I said I thought he would be by a licence and on
+registration.
+
+'Thirdly.--He asked whether Dutch language would be allowed? I said that
+English and Dutch would, I thought, have equal rights. He expressed hope
+that officials dealing with farmers would know Dutch.
+
+'Fourthly.--The Kaffir question. This turned at once on franchise of
+Kaffirs, and a solution seemed to be that franchise should not be given
+to Kaffirs until after representative government was granted to
+Colonies. Orange Free State laws for Kaffirs were considered good.
+
+'Fifthly.--That Dutch Church property should remain untouched.
+
+'Sixthly.--Public trusts and orphan funds to be left intact. He asked
+whether British Government, in taking over the assets of Republics,
+would also take over legal debts. This he made rather a strong point of,
+and he intended it to include debts legally contracted since the war
+began. He referred to notes issued amounting to less than a million.
+
+'Seventhly.--He asked if any war tax would be imposed on farmers? I said
+I thought not.
+
+'Eighthly.--When would prisoners of war return?
+
+'Ninthly.--He referred to pecuniary assistance to repair burnt farms,
+and enable farmers to start afresh. I said I thought some assistance
+would be given.
+
+'Tenthly.--Amnesty to all at end of war. We spoke of Colonials who
+joined Republics, and he seemed not adverse to their being
+disfranchised.
+
+'I arranged with him that I should write and let him know the view of
+the Government on these points. All I said during the interview was
+qualified by being subject to confirmation from home. He was anxious to
+get an answer soon.'
+
+There followed some correspondence between Lord Kitchener, Sir Alfred
+Milner, and Mr. Chamberlain upon the exact terms which could be given to
+Botha. They ended in the following offer, which was submitted to him
+upon March 7. That, in consideration of a complete military surrender,
+
+'1. There should be a complete amnesty for all _bonâ fide_ acts of war
+for all burghers of the Republics. In the case of Colonial rebels, if
+they returned to their Colonies some inquiry must be held on their
+conduct.
+
+'2. All prisoners to be at once sent back.
+
+'3. Crown Colony government to be given as soon as possible; this in
+turn to change to representative government, as in all other free
+British possessions. The courts of law to be independent of the
+government.
+
+'4. The Dutch and English languages to be put upon an equality.
+
+'5. That the Government should help to replace the farmers on their
+farms, to restore their buildings, should pledge itself not to specially
+tax them, and should pay as an act of grace one million pounds to meet
+the debt incurred by the Republican governments to their own people
+during the war.
+
+'6. That the burghers be allowed sporting fire-arms.
+
+'7. That the Kaffirs should have the protection of the law, but should
+not have the vote.
+
+'In conclusion,' says Lord Kitchener, 'I must inform your honour that if
+the terms are not accepted after a reasonable delay for consideration,
+they must be regarded as cancelled.'
+
+But the wise and chivalrous Botha was overruled by the men around him,
+many of whom had little to lose by a continuance of the struggle. It was
+evident that he did not himself consider independence vital, since he
+had gravely discussed terms which were based upon loss of independence.
+But other influences had been brought to bear upon him, and this was his
+reply--a reply which has already cost the lives of so many of each side:
+
+'I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of Your Excellency's letter
+stating what steps Your Excellency's Government is prepared to take in
+the event of a general and total cessation of hostilities. I have
+advised my Government of Your Excellency's said letter; but, after the
+mutual exchange of views at our interview at Middelburg on 28th February
+last, it will certainly not surprise Your Excellency to know that I do
+not feel disposed to recommend that the terms of the said letter shall
+have the earnest consideration of my Government. I may add also that my
+Government and my chief officers here entirely agree to my views.'
+
+It will be observed that in this reply Botha bases his refusal upon his
+own views as expressed in the original interview with Kitchener; and we
+have his own authority, therefore, to show that they were not determined
+by any changes which Chamberlain may have made in the terms--a favourite
+charge of that gentleman's enemies.
+
+It is impossible to say how, short of independence, Great Britain could
+have improved upon these terms, and it has already been shown that to
+offer independence would mean having to fight the war over again. It has
+been suggested that Great Britain might have offered a definite date
+upon which representative institutions should come in force, but such a
+promise must be disingenuous, for it must evidently depend not upon a
+date, but upon the state of the country. The offers of loans to the
+farmers towards the stocking and rebuilding the farms were surely
+generous to our defeated foes, and, indeed, it is clear now that in some
+respects our generosity went too far, and that the interests of the
+Empire would have suffered severely had these terms been accepted. To
+have given more would certainly seem not to have offered peace, but to
+have implored it.
+
+Whatever the final terms of peace may prove to be, it is to be earnestly
+hoped that 40,000 male prisoners will not be returned, as a matter of
+right, without any guarantee for their future conduct. It is also much
+to be desired that the bastard taal language, which has no literature
+and is almost as unintelligible to a Hollander as to an Englishman, will
+cease to be officially recognised. These two omissions may repay in the
+long run for weary months of extra war since, upon Botha's refusal, the
+British Government withdrew these terms and the hand moved onwards upon
+the dial of fate, never to turn back.
+
+De Wet had said in reference to Kitchener's terms of peace, 'What is
+the use of examining all the points, as the only object for which we are
+fighting is our independence and our national existence?' It is evident,
+however, that Botha did not consider this an absolute bar to renewing
+the negotiations, for upon May 10, two months later, he wrote the
+following letter to Lord Kitchener:
+
+                             'Commandant-General's Camp, May 10, 1901.
+
+'EXCELLENCY,--As I have already assured Your Excellency I am very
+desirous of terminating this war, and its sad consequences. It is,
+however, necessary, in order to comply with the "Grondwet" of this
+Republic and otherwise, that, before any steps are taken in that
+direction, the condition of our country and our cause be brought to the
+notice of His Honour, State President Kruger, in Europe; and I therefore
+wish to send two persons to him in order to acquaint him fully with that
+condition.
+
+'As speed in this matter is of great consequence to both contending
+parties, and as such despatch without Your Excellency's assistance would
+take a considerable time, I should like to hear from Your Excellency
+whether Your Excellency is prepared to assist me in expediting this
+matter by allowing such person or persons to journey there and back
+unhindered, if necessary by the traffic medium within Your Excellency's
+control.--I have, &c.,
+
+                                    'LOUIS BOTHA, Commandant-General.'
+
+To this Kitchener answered:
+
+             'Army Headquarters, South Africa, Pretoria, May 16, 1901.
+
+'YOUR HONOUR,--I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your
+Honour's letter of 10th instant, and, in reply, beg to state that I can
+only deal with you and your superior officers in the field in regard to
+the cessation of hostilities, and that I do not recognise the official
+status of any other persons in the late Republics of the Orange River
+and Transvaal.
+
+'If, however, Your Honour desires, with the object of bringing
+hostilities to a close, to consult with any person in Europe, I will
+forward any telegram Your Honour desires on the subject, and let you
+have the reply. Should, however, Your Honour still desire to send
+messengers, and will inform me of their names and status, I will refer
+the matter to His Majesty's Government for decision.--I have, &c.,
+
+                       'KITCHENER, General,
+
+ 'Commanding-in-Chief, British Troops, South Africa.'
+
+At this period, the second week of May, the Boer cause was in very low
+water, as on the same date we have Botha reopening negotiations which he
+had declared to be definitely closed, and Reitz (the man who used to
+regard the whole matter as a great joke) writing a despairing letter to
+Steyn to the effect that the game was up and that it was time to take
+the last final step. A reply was received from Kruger encouraging the
+Boers to continue their hopeless and fatal resistance. His reply was to
+the effect that there were still great hopes of a successful issue of
+the war, and that he had taken steps to make proper provision for the
+Boer prisoners and for the refugee women. These steps, and very
+efficient ones, too, were to leave them to the generosity of that
+Government which he was so fond of reviling. There are signs that
+something else had occurred to give them fresh hope and also fresh
+material supplies. It looks, upon the face of it, as if, about that
+time, large supplies of rifles, ammunition, and possibly recruits must
+have reached them from some quarter, either from German Damaraland or
+the Portuguese coast. At any rate there has been so much ammunition used
+since, that either Reitz must have been raving or else large supplies
+have reached the Boers from some unknown source.
+
+So much for the official attempts at peace.
+
+They have been given in some detail in order to prove how false it is
+_that the British Government has insisted upon an unconditional
+surrender_. Far from this being so, the terms offered by the British
+Government have been so generous that they have aroused the strongest
+distrust and criticism in this country, where they have seemed to be
+surrendering by the pen all that had been won by the sword. Nothing has
+been refused the enemy, save only independence, and that can never be
+given, if the war has to continue until the last Boer is deported out of
+Africa.
+
+It is only necessary to refer briefly to the unofficial Boer attempts at
+peace. A considerable body of the Boers, including many men of influence
+and of intelligence, were disposed to accept the British flag and to
+settle down in peace. The leaders of this party were the brave Piet de
+Wet, brother of Christian, Paul Botha of Kroonstad, Fraser of
+Bloemfontein, and others. Piet de Wet, who had fought against us as hard
+as any man, wrote to his brother: 'Which is better, for the Republics to
+continue the struggle and run the risk of total ruin as a nation, or to
+submit? Could we for a moment think of taking back the country, if it
+were offered to us, with thousands of people to be supported by a
+Government which has not a farthing? Put passionate feeling aside for a
+moment and use common-sense, and you will then agree with me that the
+best thing for the people and the country is to give in, to be loyal to
+the new Government, and to get responsible government.' Such were the
+sentiments of many of the best of the burghers, and they endeavoured to
+persuade their fellows. Both in the Transvaal and in the Free State,
+Peace Committees were formed among the burghers, who sent deputies to
+lay the facts of the situation before their brethren on commando. The
+results were tragic. Two of the envoys, Morgendaal and de Koch, were
+shot in cold blood, the former having been first beaten. Several of the
+others were beaten, and all were ill-used.
+
+This severity did not, however, stop the movement, but gave it a fiercer
+turn. The burghers who were in favour of peace, finding it useless to
+argue with their fellow-countrymen and knowing that their country was
+being hopelessly ruined by the insensate resistance, took the extreme
+course at last of bearing arms against them. There are at present three
+strong commandos of burghers fighting upon the British side, commanded
+by three Boer Generals--Marais, Celliers, and the younger Cronje, all of
+whom had made their names in fighting against us. This fact alone goes
+far to dispel those stories of British barbarity with which I shall
+presently deal. They are believed in by political fanatics in England
+and by dupes abroad, but the answer which many of the Boers upon the
+spot make to them is to enlist and fight under the British flag. They
+are in the best position for knowing the truth, and how can they show in
+a stronger way what they believe that truth to be?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE FARM-BURNING
+
+
+In the official correspondence which is published between the Boer and
+British leaders in South Africa may very clearly be traced the way in
+which this practice came to assume proportions which shocked public
+opinion. It must be admitted that the results have not justified it, and
+that, putting all moral questions apart, a burned-out family is the last
+which is likely to settle down, as we hope that the Boers may eventually
+settle down, as contented British citizens. On the other hand, when a
+nation adopts guerilla tactics it deliberately courts those sufferings
+to the whole country which such tactics invariably entail. They have
+been the same in all wars and at all times. The army which is stung by
+guerillas, strikes round it furiously and occasionally indiscriminately.
+An army which is continually sniped and harassed becomes embittered, and
+a General feels called upon to take those harsher measures which
+precedent and experience suggest. That such measures have not been
+pushed to an extreme by the British authorities is shown by the fact
+that the captured guerilla has been made a prisoner of war--unlike his
+prototype, the _franc-tireur_. The general question of guerillas may be
+discussed later. At present we will confine our attention to the burning
+of farms.
+
+The first protest from the Boer side is dated February 3, 1900. In it
+the two Presidents accuse the British troops 'of burning and blowing up
+with dynamite the farmhouses, and of the devastation of farms.' The
+document also includes an accusation of having used armed natives
+against the Boers.
+
+Lord Roberts replied upon February 5 to the effect that stringent
+instructions had been given to the British troops to respect private
+property. 'All wanton destruction or injury to peaceful inhabitants is
+contrary to British practice and tradition, and will, if necessary, be
+rigorously repressed by me.' He added that it was an untrue statement
+that natives had ever been encouraged by British officers to commit
+depredations. The charge, which has been the subject of many effective
+cartoons upon the Continent, is as absurd as most of the other works of
+the same artists. Why should the State which refused the aid of its own
+highly trained Indian army of 150,000 men, avail itself of that of
+savages? Lord Roberts denied the assertion with befitting warmth, and it
+is not again repeated in the course of the despatches.
+
+Lord Roberts in this document was not content with denying the Boer
+allegations, but carried the war into the enemy's country:
+
+'I regret to say that it is the Republican forces which have in some
+cases been guilty of carrying on the war in a manner not in accordance
+with civilised usage. I refer especially to the expulsion of loyal
+subjects of Her Majesty from their homes in the invaded districts of
+this Colony, because they refused to be commandeered by the invader. It
+is barbarous to attempt to force men to take sides against their own
+Sovereign and country by threats of spoliation and expulsion. Men,
+women, and children have had to leave their homes owing to such
+compulsion, and many of those who were formerly in comfortable
+circumstances are now being maintained by charity.'
+
+He adds: 'I beg to call your Honours' attention to the wanton
+destruction of property by the Boer forces in Natal. They not only have
+helped themselves freely to the cattle and other property of farmers
+without payment, but they have utterly wrecked the contents of many
+farmhouses. As an instance I would specify Mr. Theodore Wood's farm
+"Longwood" near Springfield. I point out how very different is the
+conduct of the British troops. It is reported to me from Modder River
+that farms within the actual area of the British Camp have never even
+been entered, the occupants are unmolested, and their houses, gardens,
+and crops remain absolutely untouched.'
+
+On March 26 Lord Roberts's Proclamation spoke with no uncertain voice
+upon the subject of private property. It says:
+
+'The following Proclamation, issued by me in the name of Her Majesty's
+Government on the 26th March, begins: Notice is hereby given that all
+persons who within the territories of the South African Republic or
+Orange Free State shall authorise or be guilty of the wanton destruction
+or damage or the counselling, aiding, or assisting in the wanton
+destruction or damage of public or private property, such destruction or
+damage not being justified by the usages and customs of civilised
+warfare, will be held responsible in their persons and property for all
+such wanton destruction and damage.'
+
+This was during the period of the halt at Bloemfontein. I can well
+remember that then and for long afterwards the consideration which was
+shown upon this point seemed to those who were at the spot to be
+exaggerated and absurd. I can remember that when we applied for leave to
+use the deserted villas to put our sick soldiers into--the hospitals
+being full--we were told that it could only be done by private treaty
+with the owners, who were at that time on commando against us. I
+remember also suggesting that the corrugated-iron fencing round the
+cricket field should be used for making huts, and being told that it was
+impossible, as it was private property.
+
+The same extreme respect for personal property was shown during Lord
+Roberts's advance. The country through which he passed swarmed with
+herds and flocks, but, with as scrupulous a regard for the rights of
+property as Wellington showed in the south of France, no hungry soldier
+was allowed to take so much as a chicken. The punishment for looting was
+prompt and stern. It is true that farms were burned occasionally and the
+stock confiscated, but this was as a punishment for some particular
+offence and not part of a system. The limping Tommy looked askance at
+the fat geese which covered the dam by the roadside, but it was as much
+as his life was worth to allow his fingers to close round those tempting
+white necks. On foul water and bully beef he tramped through a land of
+plenty.
+
+A most striking example of British discipline and forbearance was
+furnished at this period, while the war could still be called regular
+upon the Boer side, by Rundle's Division, christened the 'Hungry Eighth'
+by the Army. This Division had the misfortune to be stationed for
+several months some distance from the railway line, and in consequence
+had great difficulty in getting supplies. They were on half-rations for
+a considerable period, and the men were so reduced in strength that
+their military efficiency was much impaired. Yet they lived in a land of
+plenty--a land of large farms well stocked with every sort of food. Why
+it was impossible to get this food for the men I do not know, but I do
+know that the prices for bread, eggs, milk, and other such things were
+kept very high by the wives of the farmers who were away upon commando;
+and that the hungry soldiers were quite unable to buy, and were not
+permitted to take, the nourishment which was essential.
+
+On May 19, while Lord Roberts's force was advancing on Pretoria, De Wet
+sent in a despatch to complain of the destruction of two farms, Paarde
+Kraal and Leeuw Kop. Lord Roberts replied that these two farms were
+destroyed because, while a white flag was flying from the houses, the
+troops were fired upon from the farmsteads. 'I have had two farms near
+Kroonstad,' he adds, 'destroyed for similar reasons, and shall continue
+to punish all such cases of treachery by the destruction of the farms
+where they occur.' Here is a definite declaration of policy, quite
+distinct from wanton destruction, and it is difficult to see how any
+General could take any other steps, with justice to his own men. These
+farms, and all which are included in this category, were justly and
+properly destroyed--the families being removed without violence to a
+place of safety.
+
+The next representations from the Boer Commander were more definite in
+their nature.
+
+'Complaints are repeatedly reaching me,' he writes, 'that private
+dwellings are plundered, and in some cases totally destroyed, and all
+provisions taken from women and children, so that they are compelled to
+wander about without food or covering. To quote several instances: It
+has just been brought to my notice by way of sworn affidavit that the
+house of Field-Cornet S. Buys on the farm, Leeuwspruit district,
+Middelburg, was set on fire and destroyed on 20th June last. His wife,
+who was at home, was given five minutes' time to remove her bedding and
+clothing, and even what she took out was again taken from her. Her food,
+sugar, &c., was all taken, so that for herself and her children she had
+neither covering nor food for the following night. She was asked for the
+key of the safe, and after it was given up by her she was threatened
+with a sword, and money was demanded. All the money that was in the
+house was taken away, all the papers in the safe were torn up, and
+everything at the homestead that could not be taken away was destroyed.
+The house of Field-Cornet Buys's son was also destroyed, the doors and
+windows broken, &c.
+
+'It has also been reported to me that my own buildings, on the farm
+Varkenspruit, district Standerton, as well as the house of Field-Cornet
+Badenhorst, on the adjoining farm, have been totally destroyed, and such
+of the stock as was not removed was shot dead on the farm.
+
+'Further, there is the sworn declaration of Mrs. Hendrik Badenhorst,
+which speaks for itself.
+
+'I cannot believe that such godless barbarities take place with Your
+Excellency's consent, and thus I deem it my solemn duty to protest most
+strongly against such destruction and vindictiveness as being entirely
+contrary to civilised warfare.'
+
+The greater part of these alleged outrages had occurred on General
+Buller's side of the Transvaal, so the matter was referred to him. He
+acknowledged that he had ordered six farmhouses to be destroyed:
+
+'The following circumstances induced me to give the order. On entering
+the Transvaal I caused the attached Proclamation (A) to be widely
+distributed along my line of route. We marched from Volksrust to
+Standerton practically unopposed. Shortly after our arrival at
+Standerton our telegraph line was cut on several nights following, and
+attempts were made to damage the military line by placing dynamite
+cartridges with detonators attached upon it. These attempts were all
+made on or in close vicinity to the estates above named. A watch was
+kept and it was found that the attempts were made not by any formed
+force of the enemy, but by a few scattered banditti who were given
+shelter during the night in the houses I afterwards had destroyed, and
+who thence, when they could, tried to murder our patrols, and sallied
+out at night to damage the line. It was further ascertained that these
+men came and usually returned through Varkenspruit. I directed that
+copies of Proclamation (A) should be personally left at each house, and
+the inmates of each should be warned that these depredations could not
+be permitted, and that if people living under our protection allowed
+these sort of men to resort to their houses without informing us, they
+must take the consequences, and their houses would be destroyed. This
+warning had some effect for a day or two, but on 1st and 2nd of July the
+nuisance recommenced, and on the 7th July, having acquired full proof
+that the houses were being regularly used as shelters for men who were
+hostile to us, and who were not under any proper command, in fact, who
+were only acting as banditti, I had the houses destroyed.
+
+'The women and children occupying the farms were removed elsewhere with
+as little inconvenience to themselves as we could arrange.'
+
+Here again it is impossible to doubt that the British commanders were
+well within their rights. It is true that Article XXIII. of The Hague
+Conventions makes it illegal to destroy the enemy's property, but it
+adds: 'Unless such destruction be imperatively demanded by the
+necessities of war.' Now nothing can be more imperative in war than the
+preservation of the communications of the army. A previous clause of the
+same Article makes it illegal to 'kill or wound treacherously
+individuals belonging to the hostile army.' It is incontestable that to
+take the cover of a farmhouse which flies the white flag in order to
+make attacks is to 'kill or wound treacherously,' and so on a double
+count the action of the British becomes legal, and even inevitable. Lord
+Roberts's message to De Wet upon August 3, 1900, restates both his
+intentions and his reasons for it:
+
+'Latterly, many of my soldiers have been shot from farmhouses over which
+the white flag has been flying, the railway and telegraph lines have
+been cut, and trains wrecked. I have therefore found it necessary, after
+warning your Honour, to take such steps as are sanctioned by the customs
+of war to put an end to these and similar acts, and have burned down the
+farmhouses at or near which such deeds have been perpetrated. This I
+shall continue to do whenever I consider the occasion demands it.
+
+'The remedy lies in your Honour's own hands. The destruction of property
+is most distasteful to me, and I shall be greatly pleased when your
+Honour's co-operation in the matter renders it no longer necessary.'
+
+This raises the question of the legality of the burning of farmhouses in
+the vicinity of the place where the railway is cut. The question
+presented itself forcibly to my mind when I saw with my own eyes the
+tall plumes of smoke rising from six farmhouses, De Wet's among them, in
+the neighbourhood of Roodeval. There is no doubt whatever that in the
+war of 1870--the classic type of modern war--the villages and
+populations near the scene of a cut railway were severely punished. But
+The Hague Conventions had not then been signed. On the one hand, it may
+be urged that it is impossible without such disciplinary measures to
+preserve a line of 1,000 miles running all the way through a hostile or
+semi-hostile country. Also that it is 'imperatively demanded by the
+necessities of war.' On the other hand, there is Article L., which says,
+'No general penalty can be inflicted on the population on account of the
+acts of individuals, for which it cannot be regarded as collectively
+responsible.' An argument might be advanced for either side, but what
+will actually determine is the strongest argument of all--that of
+self-preservation. An army situated as the British Army was, and
+dependent for its supplies upon its communications, _must_ keep them
+open even if it strains the Conventions in doing so. As a matter of
+fact, farm-burning had no effect in checking the railway-cutting, and
+had a considerable effect in embittering the population. Yet a General
+who was cut off from his base thirty times in a month was bound to leave
+the argument of legality to the jurists, and to adopt the means which
+seemed most likely to stop the nuisance. The punishment fell with cruel
+injustice upon some individuals. Others may have been among the actual
+raiders.
+
+On September 2 Lord Roberts communicated his intentions to General
+Botha:
+
+'SIR,--I have the honour to address your Honour regarding the operations
+of those comparatively small bands of armed Boers who conceal themselves
+on farms in the neighbourhood of our lines of communication and thence
+endeavour to damage the railway, thus endangering the lives of
+passengers travelling by train who may or may not be combatants.
+
+'2. My reason for again referring to this subject is that, except in the
+districts occupied by the Army under the personal command of your
+Honour, there is now no formed body of Boer troops in the Transvaal or
+Orange River Colony, and that the war is degenerating into operations
+carried on by irregular and irresponsible guerillas. This would be so
+ruinous to the country and so deplorable from every point of view, that
+I feel bound to do everything in my power to prevent it.
+
+'3. The orders I have at present issued, to give effect to these views,
+are that the farm nearest the scene of any attempt to injure the line or
+wreck a train is to be burnt, and that all farms within a radius of 10
+miles are to be completely cleared of all their stock, supplies, &c.'
+
+Granting that the penalty is legal at all, it must be allowed that it is
+put in a minimum form, since only one farm in each case is to be
+destroyed; and the further clearing of stock is undoubtedly justified,
+since it would tend to cripple the mobility of Boer raiders approaching
+the line. Yet one farm for each attack becomes a formidable total when
+the attacks are on an average of one per day.
+
+We have treated two causes for which farms were burned: (1) For being
+used as cover for snipers; (2) as a punishment for the cutting of
+railways. A third cause now comes to the front. A large number of
+burghers had taken the oath of neutrality and had been allowed to return
+to their farms by the British. These men were persuaded or terrorised by
+the fighting commandos into breaking their parole and abandoning those
+farms on which they had sworn to remain. The farmhouses were their bail,
+and Lord Roberts decreed that it was forfeited. On August 23 he
+announced his decision to General Botha:
+
+'Your Honour represents that well-disposed families living on their
+farms have been driven from their houses, and that their property has
+been taken away or destroyed. This no doubt is true, but not in the
+sense which your letter would imply. Burghers who are well-disposed
+towards the British Government, and anxious to submit to my authority,
+have had their property seized by the Boer commandos, and have been
+threatened with death if they refused to take up arms against the
+British forces. Your Honour's contention that a solemn oath of
+neutrality which the burghers have voluntarily taken in order to remain
+in unmolested occupation of their farms is null and void, because you
+have not consented to it, is hardly open to discussion. I shall punish
+those who violate their oath and confiscate their property, no burgher
+having been forced to take the oath against his will.'
+
+It is quite certain that the Boer Government committed a very clear
+breach of the Conventions of The Hague in compelling, or even in
+permitting, these men to rejoin the ranks. 'In such cases,' says Article
+X., 'their own Government shall not require of, nor accept from, them
+any service incompatible with the parole given.' This is clear as
+regards the Government. But in the case of the men it is different.
+Their promise was in a sense conditional upon effective protection from
+our troops. We had no right to place a man in so terrible a position
+that he had to choose between breaking his parole and death at the hands
+of his own countrymen. If we were not sure that we could protect them,
+we could have retained them in guarded camps, as we eventually did. If
+we chose to turn them loose upon the wide veldt, then it was our fault
+more than theirs that they were forced into the ranks of the enemy. To
+their credit be it said that even under such pressure many of them were
+true to their oath.
+
+But if their guilt is indeed no greater than our own, then how are we
+justified in burning down their houses? It seems to me that these cases
+are very different from those in the other two categories, and that the
+question of compensation to these men should be at least considered. I
+take it that the numerous cases where 'on commando' is marked against a
+burned farm on the official list, means that he had returned to commando
+after giving his parole. The destruction of his house under those
+circumstances is, in the peculiar conditions of the case, a harsh
+measure, but if 'on commando' means simply that the man was away doing
+his duty to his country, without any question of parole, then our
+conscience can never permit that man to go without compensation.
+
+We can trace in this account of the communications between the leaders
+the growth of those harsher measures which have been so generally
+deplored in this country. So long as the war was regular it is certain
+that nothing could be more regular than the British conduct. When,
+however, the war became irregular upon the part of the Boers, and their
+army dissolved into small bands which harried the lines of
+communications, the small posts, and the convoys, there was a
+corresponding change upon the part of the troops. Towards the end of the
+year 1900 that change was pushed to considerable lengths. Certain
+districts which had been Boer centres, where they habitually collected
+time after time, were devastated and destroyed. Such districts were
+those of Kroonstad, Heilbron, Ventersburg, and Winburg. In these four
+districts about one hundred and seventy houses were destroyed. The
+village of Bothaville, which was a depôt of the enemy, was also
+destroyed. It consisted of forty-three houses. In the Transvaal the
+number of houses actually destroyed for strategic purposes seems to have
+been very much smaller. In the official returns only about twelve houses
+are so mentioned. Altogether the houses which have been burned for
+reasons which are open to dispute, including those of the men upon
+commando, do not appear to exceed two hundred and fifty.
+
+It must be confessed that the case of these houses is entirely different
+from the others which have been destroyed, because they were used for
+active warlike operations. Of the 630 buildings which we know to have
+been destroyed, more than half have been used by snipers, or in some
+other direct fashion have brought themselves within the laws of warfare.
+But it cannot be said that these others have done so. The cost of the
+average farmhouse is a mere trifle. A hundred pounds would build a small
+one, and 300_l._ a large. If we take the intermediate figure, then the
+expenditure of 50,000_l._ would compensate for those cases where
+military policy and international law may have been at variance with
+each other. The burning of houses ceased in the year 1900, and, save in
+very special instances, where there was an overwhelming military
+necessity, it has not been resorted to since. In the sweeping of the
+country carried out by French in the Eastern Transvaal and by Blood to
+the north of the Delagoa Railway, no buildings appear to have been
+destroyed, although it was a military necessity to clear the farms of
+every sort of supply in order to hamper the movements of the commandos.
+The destruction of the crops and herds of the Boers, distasteful as such
+work must be, is exactly analogous to the destruction by them of our
+supply trains on which the Army depended for their food. Guerilla
+warfare cannot enjoy all its own advantages and feel none of its own
+defects. It is a two-edged weapon, and the responsibility for the
+consequences rests upon the combatant who first employs it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS
+
+
+When considerable districts of the country were cleared of food in order
+to hamper the movements of the commandos, and when large numbers of
+farmhouses were destroyed under the circumstances already mentioned, it
+became evident that it was the duty of the British, as a civilised
+people, to form camps of refuge for the women and children, where, out
+of reach, as we hoped, of all harm, they could await the return of
+peace. There were three courses open. The first was to send the Boer
+women and children into the Boer lines--a course which became impossible
+when the Boer army broke into scattered bands and had no longer any
+definite lines; the second was to leave them where they were; the third
+was to gather them together and care for them as best we could.
+
+It is curious to observe that the very people who are most critical of
+the line of policy actually adopted, were also most severe when it
+appeared that the alternative might be chosen. The British nation would
+have indeed remained under an ineffaceable stain had they left women and
+children without shelter upon the veldt in the presence of a large
+Kaffir population. Even Mr. Stead could hardly have ruined such a case
+by exaggeration. On some rumour that it would be so, he drew harrowing
+pictures of the moral and physical degradation of the Boer women in the
+vicinity of the British camps. No words can be too strong to stigmatise
+such assertions unless the proof of them is overwhelmingly strong--and
+yet the only 'proof' adduced is the bare assertion of a partisan writer
+in a partisan paper, who does not claim to have any personal knowledge
+of the matter. It is impossible without indignation to know that a
+Briton has written on such evidence of his own fellow-countrymen that
+they have 'used famine as a pander to lust.'
+
+Such language, absurd as it is, shows very clearly the attacks to which
+the British Government would have been subjected had they _not_ formed
+the camps of refuge. It was not merely that burned-out families must be
+given a shelter, but it was that no woman on a lonely farm was safe amid
+a black population, even if she had the means of procuring food. Then,
+again, we had learned our lesson as regards the men who had given their
+parole. They should not again be offered the alternative of breaking
+their oaths or being punished by their own people. The case for the
+formation of the camps must be admitted to be complete and overwhelming.
+They were formed, therefore, by the Government at convenient centres,
+chiefly at Pretoria, Johannesburg, Krugersdorp, Middelburg,
+Potchefstroom, Rustenburg, Heidelburg, Standerton, Pietersburg,
+Klerksdorp, and Volksrust in the Transvaal; Bloemfontein, Kroonstad,
+Bethulie, and Edenburg in the Orange Free State.
+
+Such camps as refuges were no new things, for the British refugees from
+Johannesburg have been living for over a year in precisely such places.
+As no political capital and no international sentiment could be
+extracted from their sufferings, and as they have borne their troubles
+with dignity and restraint, we have heard little of the condition of
+their lives, which is in many ways more deplorable than that of the
+Boers.
+
+Having determined to form the camps, the authorities carried out the
+plan with great thoroughness. The sites seem to have been well chosen,
+and the arrangements in most cases all that could be wished. They were
+formed, however, at an unfortunate moment. Great strain had been placed
+upon our Commissariat by the large army, over 200,000 men, who had to be
+supplied by three tiny railways, which were continually cut. In January
+1901 De Wet made his invasion of Cape Colony, and the demand upon the
+lines was excessive. The extraordinary spectacle was presented at that
+time of the British straining every nerve to feed the women and children
+of the enemy, while that enemy was sniping the engineers and derailing
+the trains which were bringing up the food.
+
+The numbers of the inmates of the refugee camps increased rapidly from
+20,000 at the end of the year 1900, up to more than 100,000 at the end
+of 1901. Great efforts were made by the military authorities to
+accommodate the swelling tide of refugees, and no money was spared for
+that purpose. Early in the year 1901 a painful impression was created in
+England by the report of Miss Hobhouse, an English lady, who had
+visited the camps and criticised them unfavourably. The value of her
+report was discounted, however, by the fact that her political
+prejudices were known to be against the Government. Mr. Charles
+Hobhouse, a relation of hers, and a Radical member of Parliament, has
+since then admitted that some of her statements will not bear
+examination. With the best will in the world her conclusions would have
+been untrustworthy, since she could speak no Dutch, had no experience of
+the Boer character, and knew nothing of the normal conditions of South
+African life.
+
+Her main contentions were that the diet was not sufficient, that there
+was little bedding, that the water-supply was short, that the sanitation
+was bad, that there was overcrowding, and that there was an excessive
+death-rate, especially among the children.
+
+As to diet, the list which she gives agrees roughly with that which is
+officially quoted as the daily allowance at Irene Camp, near Pretoria,
+in July. It is as follows:
+
+    Meat                               1/2 lb.
+    Coffee                             2 oz.
+    Flour                              3/4 lb.
+    Sugar                              2 oz.
+    Salt                               1/2 oz.
+    To every child under six, a bottle of milk
+
+It must be confessed that the diet is a spare one, and that as supplies
+become more plentiful it might well be increased. The allowance may,
+however, be supplemented by purchase, and there is a considerable
+outside fund, largely subscribed by British people, which is used to
+make the scale more liberal. A slight difference was made at first
+between the diet of a family which had surrendered and of that the head
+of which was still in arms against us. A logical distinction may
+certainly be made, but in practice it was felt to be unchivalrous and
+harsh, so it was speedily abandoned.
+
+As to the shortness of the water-supply, it is the curse of all South
+Africa, which alternately suffers from having too much water and too
+little. With artesian wells and better arrangements this difficulty is
+being overcome, but it has applied as strongly to our own camps as to
+those of the Boer refugees.
+
+There seems to be a consensus of opinion from all the camps that the
+defects in sanitation are due to the habits of the inmates, against
+which commandants and doctors are perpetually fighting. Camp life
+without cleanliness must become unhygienic. The medical reports are
+filled with instances of the extreme difficulty which has been
+experienced in enforcing discipline upon those who have been accustomed
+to the absolute liberty of the lonely veldt.
+
+On the question of overcrowding, the demand for tents in South Africa
+has been excessive, and it may well have taxed all the power of the
+authorities to find accommodation for the crowds of women and children.
+The evil has been remedied since the time of Miss Hobhouse's report. It
+is well known that the Boers in their normal life have no objection to
+crowded rooms, and that the inmates of a farmhouse are accustomed to
+conditions which would be unendurable to most. To overcrowd a tent is
+hygienically almost impossible, for the atmosphere of a tent, however
+crowded, will never become tainted in the same sense as a room.
+
+All these things are of human contrivance, and the authorities were
+doing their best to set them right, as Miss Hobhouse herself
+acknowledged. 'They are, I believe, doing their best with very limited
+means,' said she, and in so saying reduced her whole report to nothing.
+For if they are really doing their best, then what more can be said? The
+only alternative is the breaking up of the camps and the dispersal of
+the women. But in that case Mr. Stead is waiting for us with some 'Blood
+and Hell' broadsheet to tell us of the terrible fate of those women upon
+the veldt. It must be one or the other. Of the two I prefer Miss
+Hobhouse and the definite grievances which she reports, to the infinite
+possibilities of Mr. Stead. As to the suggestion that this enormous
+crowd of women and children should be quartered upon their kinsmen in
+the Colony, it is beyond all argument. There has been no offer of such
+wholesale hospitality nor have we any means for enforcing it.
+
+But then we come to the great and piteous tragedy of the refugee camps,
+the mortality, and especially the mortality among the children. That is
+deplorable--more deplorable even than the infant mortality in Mafeking,
+Ladysmith, and Kimberley. But is it avoidable? Or is it one of those
+misfortunes, like that enteric outbreak which swept away so many British
+soldiers, which is beyond our present sanitary science and can only be
+endured with sad resignation? The nature of the disease which is mainly
+responsible for the high mortality shows that it has no direct
+connection with the sanitary conditions of the camps, or with anything
+which it was in our power to alter. Had the deaths come from some
+filth-disease, such as typhus fever, or even from enteric or diphtheria,
+the sanitation of the camps might be held responsible. But it is to a
+severe form of measles that the high mortality is due. Apart from that
+the record of the camps would have been a very fair one. Now measles
+when once introduced among children runs through a community without any
+regard to diet or conditions of life. The only possible hope is the
+segregation of the sufferer. To obtain this early quarantine the
+co-operation of the parent is needed: but in the case in point the Boer
+mothers, with a natural instinct, preferred to cling to the children and
+to make it difficult for the medical men to remove them in the first
+stages of the disease. The result was a rapid spread of the epidemic,
+which was the more fatal as many of the sufferers were in low health
+owing to the privations unavoidably endured in the journey from their
+own homes to the camps. Not only was the spread of the disease assisted
+by the mother, but in her mistaken zeal she frequently used remedies
+which were as fatal as the disease. Children died of arsenical-poisoning,
+having been covered from head to foot with green paint; and others of
+opium-poisoning, having quack drugs which contain laudanum administered
+to them. 'In Potchefstroom as at Irene,' says Dr. Kendal Franks, 'the
+death-rate is attributable not so much to the severity of the epidemic
+as to the ignorance, perverseness, and dirty habits of the parents
+themselves.' But whatever the immediate cause the death of these
+numerous children lies heavy, not upon the conscience, but upon the
+heart of our nation. It is some mitigation to know that the death-rate
+among children is normally quite remarkably high in South Africa, and
+that the rate in the camps was frequently not higher than that of the
+towns near which the camp was situated.
+
+Be this as it may, we cannot deny that the cause of the outbreak of
+measles was the collection of the women and children by us into the
+camps. But why were they collected into camps? Because they could not be
+left on the veldt. And why could they not be left on the veldt? Because
+we had destroyed the means of subsistence. And why had we destroyed the
+means of subsistence? To limit the operations of the mobile bands of
+guerillas. At the end of every tragedy we are forced back to the common
+origin of all of them, and made to understand that the nation which
+obstinately perseveres in a useless guerilla war prepares much trouble
+for its enemy, but absolute ruin for itself.
+
+We have pushed our humanity in this matter of the refugees so far that
+we have looked after our enemies far better than our friends. I
+recognise that the two cases are not on all fours, since the Boers are
+compelled to be in camps and the loyalist refugees are not. But the fact
+remains that the loyalists _are_ in camps, through no fault of their
+own, and that their condition is a worse one than that of our enemies.
+At East London, for example, there are two refugee camps, Boer and
+British. The former has 350, the latter 420 inhabitants. The former are
+by far the better fed, clad, and housed, with a hospital, a school, and
+a washhouse, all of which are wanting in the British camp. At Port
+Elizabeth there is a Boer camp. A Dutch deputation came with 50_l._ to
+expend in improving their condition, but returned without spending the
+money as nothing was needed. The Boer refugees and the British are
+catered for by the same man at Port Elizabeth. He is allowed 15_d._ per
+head for the Boers per day, and 8_d._ for the British. These are the
+'Methods of Barbarism.'
+
+I shall now take a few opinions of the camps from British sources and
+from Boer. I have only seen one British witness who was in sympathy with
+Miss Hobhouse, and that is a lady (name not mentioned) who is quoted in
+the appendix of Mr. Methuen's 'Peace or War.' She takes much the same
+view, insisting mainly upon the insufficient diet, the want of fuel and
+of bed-clothing. Against these two ladies I shall very shortly and in
+condensed form cite a few witnesses from both sides.
+
+Mr. Seaton, of Johannesburg (Secretary of the Congregational Church and
+of the burgher camp), says: 'The reports you send make our blood boil.
+They are frightfully exaggerated, and in many instances not only
+misleading but untrue.... A more healthy spot it would be difficult to
+find.... There is no overcrowding.
+
+'Some weeks ago there was an epidemic of measles in camp of a very
+severe type, and naturally there were many deaths among the children.
+The doctor and nurses worked to the very utmost, and I am pleased to say
+the epidemic is stamped out. No doubt this is what caused the talk by
+the pro-Boers in the House of Commons and elsewhere, but it is one of
+those epidemics which could not be prevented among the class of people
+we have here. They had absolutely no regard for sanitary conveniences,
+and the officials had the greatest difficulty in enforcing the most
+ordinary rules of cleanliness. Another difficulty we had was to get them
+to bring their children when sick into the hospital, where there is
+every convenience. They prefer to disobey the doctor and try the old
+women's remedies, which, as you know, are very plentiful among such
+people. The doctor has had a most trying position, and has worked like a
+slave. Nearly all the deaths have been from measles. We are having a
+fairly mild winter. About three months ago it was bitterly cold, but
+they are used to outdoor life, and this is no worse than they have
+always been used to. The tents are all military tents, and there is no
+sign of leakage. I know they all want tents when they come here, if it
+is possible to get them. On the whole, the inmates are contented, and
+the children are particularly happy. They skip and play about from morn
+till eve.'
+
+The Rev. R. Rogers (Wesleyan minister) writes:
+
+'What is the use of persons ignorant of the life and customs of the
+Boers coming to investigate these burgher camps? I have seen, and do not
+hesitate to say, that most of them are better housed, better clothed,
+and better fed than in their own homes of wattle and daub, and mud
+floors.'
+
+Mr. Howe of the Camp Soldiers' Homes says:
+
+'We do not pass judgment; we only state facts.
+
+'When the first concentration camp was formed we were on the spot, and
+also saw others spring up. We admit that there has been suffering, but
+we solemnly affirm that the officers in charge of the several camps
+known to us were only too anxious to make the helpless people as
+comfortable as possible. We have seen the huge cases and bales of
+comforts for the inmates, and know that, in order to expedite the
+despatch of these things, military stores and ordnance have been kept
+back.'
+
+The Rev. R. B. Douglas (Presbyterian minister) writes:
+
+'I am glad to see that you are not giving credence to the tales of
+brutality and cruelty which are being freely circulated by disloyal
+agitators about the treatment of the Boer refugees. But one point on
+which you ask for more information is worth being noticed--the
+difference of treatment between families of those on commando and
+others. I am in a position to state that the whole difference made
+amounted to two ounces of coffee and four ounces of sugar per week, and
+that even this distinction totally disappeared by the middle of March.
+As a set-off to this, the local Dutch Committee, in distributing some
+sixty cases of clothing, &c., sent out by the charitable, refused to
+give any help to the families of some who were not on commando, on the
+ground that these articles were for the benefit of those who were
+fighting for their country.'
+
+Mrs. Gauntlett, of Johannesburg, writes:
+
+'I have read certain statements you sent me from English papers on
+cruelty to Boer refugee families. I am amazed at the iniquity of men who
+circulate such lies, and the credulity of those who believe them. The
+opinion of Germans, French, Americans, and even many Dutch, here on the
+spot, is that the leniency and amazing liberality of the Government to
+their foes is prolonging the war. A Dutch girl in the Pretoria Camp
+declared to the nurse that for seven months they had not been able to
+get such good food as was given them by the British.'
+
+Mr. Soutar, Secretary of the Pretoria Camp, writes:
+
+'The Boer women and children get as much food as they require, and have
+all sorts of medical comforts, such as beef-tea, extracts of meat,
+jellies, brandy and wine, and the advantage of fully qualified
+attendants. Not only are their absolute requirements provided for, but
+even their "fads" are considered.'
+
+Mr. Scholtz, Inspector of Camps for the Transvaal, reports:
+
+'Many of the children, when they first arrived at the camp, were little
+better than skin and bone, and, being in so emaciated a condition, it
+was not surprising that, when they did catch measles, they could not
+cope with the disease. Many of the women would not open their tents to
+admit fresh air, and, instead of giving the children the proper
+medicines supplied by the military, preferred to give them home
+remedies. The mothers would not sponge the children, and the greatest
+difficulty was experienced in inducing them to send the patients to
+hospital. The cause of the high death-rate among children from measles
+is due to the fact that the women let their children out as soon as the
+measles rash has subsided. Pneumonia and bronchitis naturally supervene.
+Another cause is that the mothers persist in giving their children meat
+and other indigestible foods, even when the doctors strictly prohibit
+it, dysentery resulting as a matter of course. In other respects the
+health of the camp is good, there being only one case of typhoid out of
+5,000 residents in camp.'
+
+Here is light on the Krugersdorp Camp:
+
+'JOHANNESBURG, July 31st.--(Reuter's Special Service.)--Commandant
+Alberts, commanding the Boers near Krugersdorp, has sent a letter to the
+officer commanding the British forces at Krugersdorp, stating that as he
+has with him on commando several families whose male relatives have
+recently surrendered, he wishes to know if he will receive these
+families, as they would like to go to Krugersdorp. The officer replied
+that he would be pleased to receive them, and they are expected to
+arrive to-day.
+
+'This action on the part of the Boers clearly shows that the families
+themselves have no longer any objection to the Refugee Camps, where
+everything is done to promote their comfort, or any disinclination to
+being placed under our care and protection.'
+
+From Reuter's agent at Springfontein:
+
+'I to-day visited the Boer Refugee Camp here, containing 2,700 inmates.
+The camp is splendidly situated, and well laid out. I spoke to several
+refugees, and met with no complaint, all being satisfied with the
+treatment received. The hospital arrangements are excellent, and there
+is very little sickness in the camp.'
+
+From Mr. Celliers, Dutch Minister from Aberdeen, Cape Colony, sent to
+inspect the Port Elizabeth Refugee Camp:
+
+'He was writing this to show that the British Government were doing
+everything in their power to help the exiles, and to show that, although
+these exiles' relatives and friends were still in the field, yet the
+powers were merciful and kind to the exiles, showing them no enmity, for
+which they felt grateful. He wished the people to understand that he was
+at liberty to speak to them privately, and that he had a fair
+opportunity to hear any complaints, if there were any to be made. Mr.
+Hess allowed him to go round, placing full confidence in him, and he
+felt satisfied that if there had been anything wrong he should have
+heard of it. It had been his opinion all along that the Military, in
+sending these exiles down there, had done so for their own safety and
+advantage; and that it had preserved them, and been a blessing in
+disguise, which would be acknowledged by all in time to come.'
+
+Major Harold Sykes's (2nd Dragoons) evidence is reported as follows:
+
+He arranged the first of the Refugee Concentrated Camps, and when he
+left he had a camp of about six thousand women and children under his
+care. All charges of cruelty and inhumanity were vile and calumnious
+falsehoods. Nay, worse, they were miserable, despicable concoctions.
+Both women and children were better off, the great bulk of them, than
+ever they were in their lives. The only thing approaching cruelty to
+them was at the authorities insisted upon cleanliness and proper
+attention to sanitary regulations, which the average Boer, being a
+stranger to, utterly disliked. He had seen all the workings of these
+camps. He could give an unqualified denial to all the villainous
+allegations that had recently been made in public meeting and in the
+House of Commons.
+
+Under date November 1, an officer of the Kroonstad Camp writes:
+
+'We have cricket, tennis, and croquet for them, and they are all jolly
+well treated. Besides other amusements, they have a band twice a week,
+and the other day they got up a concert.'
+
+This is what Mr. Stead calls 'doing to death by slow torture all the
+women and children whom we have penned behind the barbed wire of our
+prison camps.' Can a cause be a sound one which is pleaded in such
+terms!
+
+Now for some Boer voices.
+
+Commandant Alberts writes:
+
+'Major WALTER, Boksburg.--Honoured Sir,--I must express to you and the
+other officers of Boksburg my heartfelt thanks for the great kindness
+shown towards my wife, and at the same time for the message, and I hope
+that this kindness may some time be repaid to you.
+
+'May you and I be spared to have a personal meeting.
+
+'I have the honour to be your honour's servant,
+
+                              '(Signed)       H. ALBERTS, Commandant.'
+
+A Dutch minister writes to Captain SNOWDEN, O.C. of Boer Camp,
+Johannesburg:--'Sir,--I am directed by the Committee of the Dutch
+Reformed Churches here to convey to you the appreciation of the
+Committee for the kindly interest and sympathy shown by you to the women
+and children under your charge.'
+
+One hundred male refugee Boers in the camp at Kroonstad sign the
+following sentiment:
+
+'We also wish to tender Your Excellency our heartiest thanks for the
+interest you take in the education of our youth, and we trust you will
+succeed in your endeavours, and that the growing-up generation will be
+taught to be God-fearing, honest, and loyal citizens under the British
+flag. We regret, however, to state that, notwithstanding the highly
+appreciated efforts of our worthy superintendent and doctors, still so
+many cases of sickness and deaths occur daily in this camp, still we
+hope and trust Your Excellency will do all in your power for the health
+in this camp.
+
+'We trust that the efforts of our worthy superintendent towards
+promoting our welfare under trying circumstances will be appreciated by
+Your Excellency. We are happy to state that the spirit of loyalty is
+daily increasing in this camp, and that the majority of the male
+refugees have taken the oath of allegiance.'
+
+Mr. Dudley Keys, a surrendered burgher, writes to his brother:
+
+'I have been in camp now for more than seven months--a sufficient time,
+you will allow, for reflection--and the immutability of the life
+provides ample scope for indulgence in that direction. How we long for
+the settlement you cannot imagine, nor can you imagine with what disgust
+and impatience we regard every endeavour on the part of the pro-Boers,
+as they are called, to divert the natural and inevitable course of
+things. You will not be surprised at hearing this from a one-time Dutch
+Republican when you take into consideration that all of us who have
+surrendered are fully aware of the fact that we were the aggressors, and
+that our statesmen are to blame for our present predicament. A large
+number of Boers, of course, will never come to view the matter in this
+light. That, of course, is not the result of thought and reflection, but
+utter and total ignorance. When Miss Hobhouse was here I frequently saw
+her priming herself or being primed. Some of our women would tell her
+anything for a dress or a pair of boots. If she knew our countrymen and
+women as well as we know them, her story would have been a short one.
+Now the home Government are despatching this commission. Well, when they
+see the women and children in camp they will naturally feel sorry for
+them. Who would not? But if they only remember that this is war and not
+a picnic, they will satisfy the people in England on their return that
+all we want is peace, and plenty of it.'
+
+He adds:
+
+'In spite of the lack of gratitude shown by our people, the authorities
+continue to make improvements and to lessen the hardships. That this
+entails enormous expenditure you will see by the statistics frequently
+published in the English papers. When I hear our people grumble, I often
+wonder how they would have treated the Britishers if the positions were
+reversed, and I am bound to acknowledge that it would not compare
+favourably with the treatment we receive.'
+
+A Boer woman, writing from Pietermaritzburg, says:
+
+'Those who complain of anything must lie, for we are in good
+circumstances.'
+
+In a second letter she says:
+
+'I can make no complaint at all.'
+
+Mrs. Blignant, writing from the Port Elizabeth Refugee Camp, says:
+
+'If we had to complain it would be false complaint, and all the stories
+about ill-treatment are untrue as far as I can find out.' Among the
+women cared for in this camp was one from Jagersfontein, who
+boasted--and with truth--that she had shot two unarmed British soldiers
+with a revolver.
+
+Such is some of the evidence to be placed against Miss Hobhouse's
+report, and that of the unnamed lady in Pretoria. In justice it must be
+acknowledged that some camps may have been more open to criticism than
+others, and that (as we should expect) they became more perfect with
+time. But I cannot believe that any impartial mind can read the evidence
+without seeing that the British Government was doing its best under
+difficult circumstances to carry out the most humane plan possible, and
+that any other must involve consequences from which a civilised nation
+must shrink.
+
+Towards the end of 1901 an attempt was made to lessen the mortality in
+the camps by bringing them down to the sea-coast. The problem was
+complicated by the fact that many of the refugees were averse from
+leaving their own country, and had come in upon a promise that they
+would not be asked to do so. Those who would were moved down, and the
+camps at East London, Port Elizabeth, and Merebank, near Durban, largely
+increased. 'No expense must be allowed to stand in the way,' said Mr.
+Chamberlain in an official message. In Blue Book (Cd. 853) we find Lord
+Milner and the Colonial Secretary discussing every means by which the
+mortality might be lessened and the comfort of the camps increased.
+
+It is worthy of record that the portrait of an emaciated child has been
+circulated upon the Continent and in America as a proof positive of the
+horrors of the concentration system. It is only too probable that there
+are many emaciated children in the camps, for they usually arrive in
+that condition. This particular portrait however was, as I am credibly
+informed, taken by the British authorities on the occasion of the
+criminal trial of the mother for the ill-usage of the child. The
+incident is characteristic of the unscrupulous tactics which have been
+used from the beginning to poison the mind of the world against Great
+Britain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE BRITISH SOLDIER IN SOUTH AFRICA
+
+
+When Lord Roberts desired to sum up the character of the soldiers whom
+he had led, he declared that they had behaved like gentlemen. I believe
+that statement to be no exaggeration, and I think that when the bitter
+animosities of warfare have subsided, it will be acknowledged by the
+Boers themselves that it is true. They have had some unsavoury work to
+do--for guerilla warfare brings much in its train which is hateful--but
+officers and men have ameliorated and softened the asperities of warfare
+wherever it has been possible to do so. Their character has been most
+foully attacked by politicians at home, and by the ignorant or
+malevolent abroad. Let us examine the evidence.
+
+There were many military attachés present with our Army. Have any of
+them reported against the discipline of our soldiers? So far as their
+reports are known, nothing of the sort has been alleged. Captain Slocum,
+the American representative, writes from Bloemfontein:
+
+'The British have been too merciful, and I believe, had a more rigorous
+course been adopted when the Army first entered this capital and the
+enemy thoroughly stampeded, the war would have been materially
+shortened.'
+
+The French military attaché said: 'What I admire most in this campaign
+is the conduct of your soldiers. Here they are trekking and fighting
+daily in an uninteresting country, scorched by day, cold by night,
+without drink, without women. Any other soldiers in Europe would have
+mutinied long ago.'
+
+There were several foreign war-correspondents with our army. Of these
+the only Frenchman, M. Carrère of the 'Matin' was an ardent pro-Boer.
+Read his book, 'En pleine Epopée.' He is bitter against our policy and
+our politicians. His eyes are very keenly open for flaws in our Army.
+But from cover to cover he has nothing but praise for the devoted Tommy
+and his chivalrous officer.
+
+Three American correspondents were there--there may have been more, but
+three I knew. These were Messrs. Julian Ralph, James Barnes, and Unger.
+The first two were much impressed by the humanity and discipline of the
+British troops, though Mr. Ralph was, I believe, like Captain Slocum, of
+the opinion that it was occasionally pushed too far. Mr. Unger's
+published impressions of the war confirm the same idea.
+
+Here, then, is practical unanimity among all the impartial witnesses. On
+the opinions of our own correspondents I will not dwell. I have the
+advantage of knowing nearly all of them, and though among them are
+several gentlemen who have a chivalrous and idealistic sympathy for the
+Boers, I cannot recollect that I have ever once heard one of them record
+a single instance where they had been shocked by the conduct of a
+soldier.
+
+I may, perhaps, be permitted to add my own testimony. I went to South
+Africa with great sympathy for the individual Boer, and with a belief
+that I should find soldiers in the field very different from soldiers in
+peace. I was three months in Bloemfontein when there were from ten to
+thirty thousand men encamped round the town. During that time I only
+once saw a man drunk. I never saw a man drunk during the short time that
+I was in Pretoria and Johannesburg. I once heard of a soldier striking a
+Boer. It was because the man had refused to raise his hat at the burial
+of the soldier's comrade. I not only never saw any outrage, but in many
+confidential talks with officers I never heard of one. I saw twenty Boer
+prisoners within five minutes of their capture. The soldiers were giving
+them cigarettes. Only two assaults on women came to my ears while I was
+in Africa. In each case the culprit was a Kaffir, and the deed was
+promptly avenged by the British Army.
+
+Miss Hobhouse has mixed with a great number of refugees, many of whom
+are naturally very bitter against us. She is not reticent as to the
+tales which they told her. Not one of them all has a story of outrage.
+One woman, she says, was kicked by a drunken soldier, for which, she
+adds, he was punished.
+
+An inmate of the Springfontein Refugee Camp, Mr. Maltman, of
+Philippolis, writes: 'All the Boer women here speak in the highest terms
+of the treatment they have received at the hands of soldiers.'
+
+Here is the testimony of a burgher's wife, Mrs. Van Niekirk:
+
+'Will you kindly allow me to give my testimony to the kindly treatment
+of the Dutch women and children by the British troops? As the wife of a
+Transvaal burgher, I have lived in Krugersdorp since 1897, until three
+weeks ago. The town was taken in June last, and since then there has
+always been a fairly large force of men in, or quite near it; indeed, on
+several occasions the numbers have amounted to ten thousand, or more,
+and have been of many different regiments, English, Scotch, Irish, and
+Colonial.
+
+'At such times the streets and the few shops open were thronged with
+soldiers, while, even when the town was quietest, there were always
+numbers of them about. The women were at first afraid, but they very
+soon discovered that they could move about as freely as in ordinary
+times, without fear of any annoyance. During the whole six months I
+never saw or heard of a single instance where a woman was treated with
+the slightest disrespect; the bearing of both officers and men was
+invariably deferential to all women, and kindly to children.
+
+'Last July a detachment of Gordon Highlanders was camped on the veldt
+for a week in front of my house, which stands almost alone on the
+outskirts of the town. My husband was away during the time, and I was
+alone with my young children. The nearest camp-fires were not a dozen
+yards from my gate, yet I never experienced the least annoyance, nor
+missed from my ground even so much as a stick of wood.
+
+'I could multiply instances, but after this little need be said; if I
+had not seen it I could not have believed that a victorious army would
+behave with such humanity and consideration in the territory of a people
+even then in arms against them; and if they behave so in Krugersdorp--a
+place mind you, where during the last six months their doings could not
+be openly criticised--is it likely that their conduct in other places
+will be so entirely different?--I am, &c.'
+
+This is the testimony of a woman. Here it is from a man's point of
+view--an old burgher who had very special opportunities for studying the
+conduct of British troops:
+
+'Allow me to state here, once for all, that throughout the entire war
+all the English officers--and a great many of all ranks came to see
+us--treated us with the greatest kindness and courtesy. They knew, too,
+that I was a burgher, and that I had several sons who were doing their
+duty in fighting for the independence of our country.
+
+'I return once more to the conduct of "Tommy Atkins." We saw numbers of
+convoys, some of which were more than sixteen kilometres long, bringing
+a great many Boer prisoners and their families to Pretoria. Tommy was
+everywhere, watching the wagons, marching without a word in clouds of
+dust, frequently in mud to the ankle, never rough towards women or
+children, as has been so often repeated. We have heard the contrary
+stated by our tried friends and by our own children.
+
+'During halts, Tommy was the best and readiest creature imaginable; he
+got the water boiled, laid himself out to attend to the children in a
+thousand ways, and comforted the broken-hearted mothers. His hand was
+ready with help for every invalid. At our farm he helped of his own free
+will in saving a drowning beast, or in removing a fat pig that had been
+killed, sometimes even in rounding-in cattle that had strayed out of
+bounds, and so on, giving help in a thousand ways. For all that he
+wanted no reward. Rewards he refused altogether simply because it was
+good-feeling which made him do these things.
+
+'Sir, these are indisputable facts, which I have repeated as accurately
+as I could, leaving your readers to draw their own conclusions.
+
+                                        'OLD BURGHER OF THE TRANSVAAL.
+
+ 'Rustenburg, Transvaal: July 1901.'
+
+A long and curious letter appears in the 'Suisse Liberale' from a young
+Swiss who spent the whole time of the war upon a farm in the Thabanchu
+district of the Orange Free State. It is very impartial in its
+judgments, and remarks, among other things--talking of the life of the
+local garrison:
+
+'They make frequent visits, send out invitations, and organise picnics.
+In the town they get up charity concerts, balls, sports, and
+horse-races. It is a curious thing that the English, even when they are
+at war, cannot live without their usual sports, and the conquered do not
+show the slightest repugnance to joining the victors in their games or
+to mixing in society with them.'
+
+Is this consistent with stories of military brutality? It appears to be
+a very modified hell which is loose in that portion of Africa.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Osborn Howe were the directors of the Camp Soldiers' Homes
+in South Africa. They have seen as much of the army in South Africa as
+most people, and have looked at it with critical eyes. Here are some of
+their conclusions:
+
+'Neither we nor our staff, scattered between De Aar and Pretoria, have
+ever heard of a single case of outrage or ill-treatment. One and all
+indignantly denied the accusations against our soldiers, and have given
+us many instances of great kindness shown by the troops towards helpless
+women and children.
+
+'We ourselves saw nothing which we could not tell to a gathering of
+schoolgirls.
+
+'When living in the Orange River Colony we were in the midst of the
+farm-burning district, and witnessed Lord Roberts's efforts to spare the
+people suffering by issuing warning proclamations. We saw how the
+officers waited till the farmers had had time to digest these repeated
+warnings, and then with what reluctance both officers and men went to
+carry out the work of destruction, but we never heard of a case where
+there had not first been some overt act on the part of the enemy.
+
+'A story of reported outrage at a Dutch mission-house in the slums of a
+large town was found after personal investigation to have been anything
+but an outrage as the result proved. The young soldiers who entered the
+house when the door was opened in answer to their knock, withdrew after
+they had discovered that the ladies who occupied the house were
+missionaries, nor had anything been removed or injured. But the garbled
+story, with its misuse of the word "outrage," reached a district in Cape
+Colony where it did no little mischief in fanning the flames of
+animosity and rebellion. Thus the reported "outrage" was not even a
+common assault.
+
+'It may be said that our love for the soldiers has warped our judgment.
+We would say we love God, and we love truth more than the honour of our
+soldiers. If there was another side we should not hide it.'
+
+So much for the general facts. But it is notoriously difficult to prove
+a negative. Let us turn then to particular instances which have been
+raked together, and see what can be made of them. One of them occurred
+early in the war, when it was stated that there had been two assaults
+upon women in Northern Natal. Here are the lies duly nailed to the
+counter.
+
+The Vicar of Dundee, Colony of Natal, on being requested by the Bishop
+of Natal to inquire into the truth of a statement that four women of a
+family near Dundee, named Bester, were outraged by English soldiers,
+reported that he had had an interview with the father-in-law of Bester,
+Jacobus Maritz, who is one of the most influential farmers in the
+district. Maritz said to him:
+
+'Well, Mr. Bailey, you do right in coming to me, for our family (Mrs.
+Bester is his daughter) is the _only_ family of Bester in the district,
+and you can say from me, that the story is nothing but a pack of lies.'
+
+The other case, alleged at Dundee, furnished no names. The only thing
+specified was that one of the men was in the uniform of a Highlander.
+The Vicar replies to this: 'As you are aware, no Highland regiment has
+been stationed at Dundee during the war.'
+
+The weapons of slander were blunted by the fact that about May 1900 the
+Transvaal Government, wishing to allay the fears of the women in the
+farms, published an announcement in the 'Volksstem' advising every
+burgher to leave his family upon the farms as the enemy were treating
+women and children with the utmost consideration and respect. We know
+that both President Kruger and General Botha acted up to this advice by
+leaving their own wives under our protection while they carried on their
+campaign against us. At the very instant that Kruger was falsely stating
+at Marseilles that we were making war on women and children, his own
+infirm wife was being so sedulously guarded by British soldiers that the
+passer-by was not even allowed to stare curiously at the windows or to
+photograph the house.
+
+There was a lull in the campaign of calumny which was made up for by the
+whole-hearted effort of M. van Broekhuizen. This man was a minister in
+Pretoria, and, like most of the Dutch ministers, a red-hot politician.
+Having given his parole to restrain his sentiments, he was found to be
+still preaching inflammatory political sermons; so he was advised to
+leave, and given a passage gratis to Europe. He signalised his arrival
+by an article printed in the 'Independence Belge,' declaring among other
+statements that 30 per cent. of the Boer women had been ruined by the
+British troops. Such a statement from such a source raised a feeling of
+horror in Europe, and one of deep anger and incredulity on the side of
+those who knew the British Army. The letter was forwarded to Pretoria
+for investigation, and elicited the following unofficial comments from
+M. Constançon, the former Swiss Consul in that city, who had been
+present during the whole British occupation:
+
+'I am more than astonished, I am disgusted, that a Lausanne paper should
+print such abominable and filthy lies.
+
+'The whole article from the beginning to the end is nothing but a pack
+of lies, and the writer, a minister of the Gospel, of all men, ought to
+know better than to perjure himself and his office in the way he does.
+
+'I have lived for the last eighteen years in or around Pretoria, and
+know almost every Boer family in the district. The two names mentioned
+by Broekhuizen of women assaulted by the troops are quite unknown to me,
+and are certainly not Boer names.
+
+'Ever since the entry of the troops in the Transvaal, I have travelled
+constantly through the whole of Pretoria district and part of the
+Waterberg. I have often put up at Boer houses for the night, and stopped
+at all houses on my road on my business. In most of these houses the men
+were away fighting against the British; women and children alone were to
+be found on the farms. Nowhere and in no instance have I heard a single
+word of complaint against the troops; here and there a few fowls were
+missing and fencing poles pulled out for firewood; but this can only be
+expected from troops on the march. On the other hand, the women could
+not say enough in praise of the soldiers, and their behaviour towards
+their sex. Whenever a camp was established close to the homestead, the
+officers have always had a picket placed round the house for the object
+of preventing all pilfering, and the women, rich or poor, have
+everywhere been treated as ladies.
+
+'Why the Boer women were so unanimous in their praises is because they
+were far from expecting such treatment at the hands of the victors.
+
+'Our town is divided into wards, and every woman and child has been fed
+whenever they were without support, and in one ward we have actually
+five hundred of these receiving rations from the British Government,
+although in most cases the men are still fighting. In the towns the
+behaviour of the troops has been, admirable, all canteens have been
+closed, and in the last six months I have only seen two cases of
+drunkenness amongst soldiers.
+
+'We are quite a little Swiss colony here, and I don't know one of my
+countrymen who would not endorse every word of my statement.
+
+'Many may have sympathies with the Boers, but in all justice they will
+always give credit to the British troops and their officers for the
+humane way this war is carried on, and for the splendid way in which
+Tommy Atkins behaves himself.'
+
+With this was printed in the 'Gazette de Lausanne,' which instituted
+the inquiry, a letter from Mr. Gray, Presbyterian minister in Pretoria,
+which says:
+
+'A few days ago I received an extract from your issue of November 17
+last entitled "La Civilisation Anglaise en Afrique." It consisted mainly
+of a letter over the signature of H. D. van Broekhuizen (not
+Broesehuizen as printed), Boer pastor of Pretoria. Allow me, sir, to
+assure you that the wholesale statements with regard to the atrocities
+of British soldiers contained in that letter are a tissue of falsehoods,
+and constitute an unfounded calumny which it would be difficult to
+parallel in the annals of warfare. It is difficult to conceive the
+motives that actuate the writer, but that they have been violent enough
+to make him absolutely reckless as to facts, is evident.
+
+'When I got the article from your paper I immediately went out to make
+inquiry as to what possible foundation there was for the charges hurled
+so wildly at the British soldier. Having lived in Pretoria for the last
+eleven years I am acquainted with many of the local Boers. Those of them
+whom I questioned assured me that they had never known a case in which
+British soldiers had outraged a woman. One case was rumoured, but had
+never been substantiated, and was regarded as very doubtful. Let it be
+granted that some solitary cases of rudeness may have occurred, that
+would not be surprising under the circumstances. Still it would not
+furnish a ground for the libelling of a whole army. The astonishing fact
+is, however, that in this country one only hears of the surprise
+everywhere felt that the British soldier has been so self-restrained and
+deferential towards women.'
+
+To this M. van Broekhuizen's feeble reply was that there was no
+ex-consul of the name of Constançon in Pretoria. The 'Gazette de
+Lausanne' then pointed out that the gentleman was well known, that he
+had acted in that capacity for many years, and added that if M. van
+Broekhuizen was so ill-informed upon so simple a matter, it was not
+likely that he was very correct upon other more contentious ones. Thus
+again a false coin was nailed to the counter, but only after it had
+circulated so widely that many who had passed it would never know that
+it was proved to be base metal. Incredible as it may seem, the infamous
+falsehood was repeated in 1902 by a Dr. Vallentin, in the 'Deutsche
+Rundschau,' from which it was copied into other leading German papers
+without any reference to its previous disproof in 1901.
+
+Now we will turn for a moment to the evidence of Miss Alice Bron, the
+devoted Belgian nurse, who served on both sides during the war and has
+therefore a fair standard of comparison. Here are a few sentences from
+her reports:
+
+'I have so often heard it said and repeated that the British soldiers
+are the dregs of London and the scum of the criminal classes, that their
+conduct astounded me.'
+
+This is the opinion of a lady who spent two years in the service of
+humanity on the veldt.
+
+Here are one or two other sidelights from Miss Bron:
+
+'How grateful and respectful they all are! I go to the hospital at night
+without the slightest fear, and when a sentry hears my reply, "Sister,"
+to his challenge, he always humbly begs my pardon.
+
+'I have seen the last of them and their affectionate attentions, their
+respect, and their confidence. On this head I could relate many
+instances of exquisite feeling on the part of these poor soldiers.
+
+'A wounded English soldier was speaking of Cronje. "Ah, sister," said
+he, "I am glad that we have made so many prisoners."
+
+'"Why?" I asked, fearing to hear words of hatred.
+
+'"Oh," he said, "I was glad to hear it because I know that they at least
+would be neither wounded nor killed. They will not leave wife nor
+children, neither will they suffer what we are suffering."'
+
+She describes how she met General Wavell:
+
+'"You see I have come to protect you," he said.
+
+'We smiled and bowed, and I thought, "I know your soldiers too well,
+General. We don't need any protection."'
+
+But war may have brutalised the combatants, and so it is of interest to
+have Nurse Bron's impressions at the end of 1901. She gives her
+conversation with a Boer:
+
+'"All that I have to say to you is that what you did down there has
+never been seen in any other war. _Never_ in any country in the world
+has such a dastardly act been committed as the shooting of one who goes
+to meet the white flag."
+
+'Very pale, the chief, a true "gentleman" fifty-three years old, and the
+father of eleven children, answered, "You are right, sister."
+
+'"And since we talk of these things," I said, "I will say that I
+understand very well that you are defending your country, but what I do
+not excuse is your lying as you do about these English."
+
+'"We repeat what we are told."
+
+'"No," I said, "you all of you lie, and you know that you are lying,
+with the Bible on your knees and invoking the name of God, and, thanks
+to your lies, all Europe believes that the English army is composed of
+assassins and thieves. You see how they treat you here!"'
+
+She proceeds to show how they were treated. The patients, it may be
+observed, were not Boer combatants but Cape rebels, liable to instant
+execution. This is the diet after operations:
+
+'For eight, or ten days, the patient has champagne _of the choicest
+French brands_ (her italics), in considerable quantity, then old cognac,
+and finally port, stout, or ale at choice, with five or six eggs a day
+beaten up in brandy and milk, arriving at last at a complete diet of
+which I, though perfectly well, could not have absorbed the half.'
+
+'This,' she says, 'is another instance of the "ferocity" with which,
+according to the European press, the English butchers have conducted the
+war.'
+
+The Sisters of Nazareth in South Africa are a body who are above
+political or racial prejudice. Here are the published words of the
+Mother Superior:
+
+'I receive letters by every mail, but a word that would imply the least
+shadow of reproach on the conduct of the soldiers has never been
+written. As for the British soldier in general, our sisters in various
+parts of the colony, who have come a great deal in contact with the
+military of all ranks, state that they can never say enough of their
+courtesy, politeness, and good behaviour at all times.'
+
+These are not the impressions which the Boer agents, with their command
+of secret-service money and their influence on the European press, have
+given to the world. A constant stream of misrepresentations and lies
+have poisoned the mind of Europe and have made a deep and enduring
+breach between ourselves and our German kinsmen.
+
+The British troops have been accused of shooting women. It is wonderful
+that many women have not been shot, for it has not been unusual for
+farmhouses to be defended by the men when there were women within. As a
+matter of fact, however, very few cases have occurred where a woman has
+been injured. One amazon was killed in the fighting line, rifle in hand,
+outside Ladysmith. A second victim furnished the famous Eloff myth,
+which gave material for many cartoons and editorials. The accusation was
+that in cold blood we had shot Kruger's niece, and a Berlin morning
+paper told the story, with many artistic embellishments, as follows:
+
+'As the Boer saw his wife down, just able to raise herself, he made an
+attempt to run to her assistance, but the inhumans held him fast. The
+officer assured him that she was shot through the temples and must
+anyhow die, and they left her therefore lying. In the evening he heard
+his name called. It was his wife who still lived after twelve hours'
+agony. When they reached Rustenburg she was dead. This woman was Frau
+Eloff, Kruger's niece. In addition to the sympathy for the loss Kruger
+has suffered, this report will renew the bitter feeling of all against
+the brutality of English warfare.'
+
+This story was dished up in many ways by many papers. Here is Lord
+Kitchener's plain account of the matter:
+
+'No woman of that name has been killed, but the report may refer to the
+death of a Mrs. Vandermerve, who unfortunately was killed at a farmhouse
+from which her husband was firing. Mrs. Vandermerve is a sister-in-law
+of Eloff. The death of a woman from a stray bullet is greatly to be
+regretted, but it appears clear that her husband was responsible for the
+fighting which caused the accident.'
+
+So perished another myth. I observe, however, now (Christmas 1901), a
+continental journalist describing an interview with Kruger says, 'he
+wore mourning on account of his niece who died of a gun-shot.' Might not
+his wife's death possibly account for the mourning?
+
+And yet another invention which is destined to the same fate, is the
+story that at the skirmish of Graspan, near Reitz, upon June 6, the
+British used the Boer women as cover, a subject which also afforded
+excellent material for the caricaturists of the Fatherland. The picture
+of rows of charming Boer maidens chained in the open with bloodthirsty
+soldiers crouching behind them was too alluring for the tender-hearted
+artist. Nothing was wanting for a perfect cartoon--except the original
+fact. Here is the report as it appeared in a German paper:
+
+'When the English on June 6 were attacked by the Boers, they ordered the
+women and children to leave the wagons. Placing these in front of the
+soldiers, they shot beneath the women's arms upon the approaching Boers.
+Eight women and two children fell through the Boers' fire. When the
+Boers saw this they stopped firing. Yelling like wild beasts, they broke
+through the soldiers' lines, beating to death the Tommies like mad dogs
+with the butt ends of their rifles.'
+
+The true circumstances of the action so far as they can be collected are
+as follows: Early on June 6 Major Sladen, with 200 mounted infantry, ran
+down a Boer convoy of 100 wagons. He took forty-five male prisoners, and
+the wagons were full of women and children. He halted his men and waited
+for the main British force (De Lisle's) to come up. While he was waiting
+he was fiercely attacked by a large body of Boers, five or six hundred,
+under De Wet. The British threw themselves into a Kaffir kraal and made
+a desperate resistance. The long train of wagons with the women still in
+them extended from this village right across the plain, and the Boers
+used them as cover in skirmishing up to the village. The result was that
+the women and children were under a double fire from either side. One
+woman and two children appear to have been hit, though whether by Boer
+or Briton it must have been difficult to determine. The convoy and the
+prisoners remained eventually in the hands of the British. It will be
+seen then that it is as just to say that the Boers used their women as
+cover for their advance as the British for their defence. Probably in
+the heat of the action both sides thought more of the wagons than of
+what was inside them.
+
+These, with one case at Middelburg, where in a night attack of the Boers
+one or two inmates of the refugee camp are said to have been
+accidentally hit, form the only known instances in the war. And yet so
+well known a paper as the German 'Kladderadatsch' is not ashamed to
+publish a picture of a ruined farm with dead women strewed round it, and
+the male child hanging from the branch of a tree. The 'Kladderadatsch'
+has a reputation as a comic paper, but there should be some limits to
+its facetiousness.
+
+In his pamphlet on 'Methods of Barbarism,' Mr. Stead has recently
+produced a chapter called 'A Glimpse of the Hellish Panorama,' in which
+he deals with the evidence at the Spoelstra trial. Spoelstra was a
+Hollander who, having sworn an oath of neutrality, afterwards despatched
+a letter to a Dutch newspaper without submitting it to a censor, in
+which he made libellous attacks upon the British Army. He was tried for
+the offence and sentenced to a fine of 100_l._, his imprisonment being
+remitted. In the course of the trial he called a number of witnesses for
+the purpose of supporting his charges against the troops, and it is on
+their evidence that Mr. Stead dilates under the characteristic headline
+given above.
+
+Mr. Stead begins his indictment by a paragraph which speaks for itself:
+'It is a cant cry with many persons, by no means confined to those who
+have advocated the war, that the British Army has spent two years in the
+South African Republics without a single case of impropriety being
+proved against a single soldier. I should be very glad to believe it;
+but there is Rudyard Kipling's familiar saying that Tommy Atkins is no
+plaster saint, but a single man in barracks, or, in this case, a single
+man in camp, remarkably like other human beings. We all know him at
+home. There is not one father of a family in the House or on the London
+Press who would allow his servant girl to remain out all night on a
+public common in England in time of profound peace in the company of a
+score of soldiers. If he did, he would feel that he had exposed the girl
+to the loss of her character. This is not merely admitted, but acted
+upon by all decent people who live in garrison towns or in the
+neighbourhood of barracks. Why, then, should they suppose that when the
+same men are released from all the restraints of civilisation, and sent
+forth to burn, destroy, and loot at their own sweet will and pleasure,
+they will suddenly undergo so complete a transformation as to
+scrupulously respect the wives and daughters of the enemy? It is very
+unpopular to say this, and I already hear in advance the shrieks of
+execration of those who will declare that I am calumniating the gallant
+soldiers who are spending their lives in the defence of the interests of
+the Empire. But I do not say a word against our soldiers. I only say
+that they are men.'
+
+He adds:
+
+'It is an unpleasant fact, but it has got to be faced like other facts.
+No war can be conducted--and this war has not been conducted--without
+exposing multitudes of women, married and single, to the worst
+extremities of outrage. It is an inevitable incident of war. It is one
+of the normal phenomena of the military Inferno. It is absolutely
+impossible to attempt any comparative or quantitative estimate of the
+number of women who have suffered wrong at the hands of our troops.'
+
+Was ever such an argument adduced in this world upon a serious matter!
+When stripped of its rhetoric it amounts to this, '250,000 men have
+committed outrages. How do I prove it? Because they are 250,000 men,
+and therefore _must_ commit outrages.' Putting all chivalry, sense of
+duty, and every higher consideration upon one side, is Mr. Stead not
+aware that if a soldier had done such a thing and if his victim could
+have pointed him out, the man's life would be measured by the time that
+was needed to collect a military court to try him? Is there a soldier
+who does not know this? Is there a Boer who does not know it? It is the
+one offence for which there would be no possible forgiveness. Are the
+Boers so meek-spirited a race that they have no desire for vengeance?
+Would any officer take the responsibility of not reporting a man who was
+accused of such a crime? Where, then, are the lists of the men who must
+have suffered if this cruel accusation were true? There are no such
+lists, because such things have never occurred.
+
+Leading up to the events of the trial, Mr. Stead curdles our blood by
+talking of the eleven women who stood up upon oath to testify to the
+ill-treatment which they had received at the hands of our troops. Taken
+with the context, the casual reader would naturally imagine that these
+eleven women were all complaining of some sexual ill-usage. In the very
+next sentence he talks about 'such horrible and shameful incidents.' But
+on examination it proves that eight out of the eleven cases have nothing
+sexual or, indeed, in many of them, anything criminal in their
+character. One is, that a coffin was dug up to see if there were arms in
+it. On this occasion the search was a failure, though it has before now
+been a success. Another was that the bed of a sick woman was
+searched--without any suggestion of indelicacy. Two others, that women
+had been confined while on the trek in wagons. 'The soldiers did not
+bother the woman during or after the confinement. They did not peep into
+the wagon,' said the witness. These are the trivialities which Mr. Stead
+tries to bluff us into classifying as 'horrible and shameful incidents.'
+
+But there were three alleged cases of assault upon women. One of them is
+laid to the charge of a certain Mr. E----n, of the Intelligence
+Department. Now, the use of Mr. and the description 'Intelligence
+Department' make it very doubtful whether this man could be called a
+member of the British Army at all. The inference is that he was a
+civilian, and further, that he was a Dutch civilian. British names which
+will fit E----n are not common, while the Dutch name Esselen or Enslin
+is extremely so. 'I have never been to the Intelligence Department to
+find out whether he really belonged to that Department,' said the
+woman. She adds that E----n acted as an interpreter. Surely, then, he
+must have been a Dutchman. In that case, why is his name the only name
+which is disguised? Is it not a little suggestive?
+
+The second case was that of Mrs. Gouws, whose unfortunate experience was
+communicated to Pastor van Broekhuizen, and had such an effect upon him
+as to cause him to declare that 30 per cent. of the women of the country
+had been ruined. Mrs. Gouws certainly appears by her own account to have
+been very roughly treated, though she does not assert that her assailant
+went to the last extremity--or, indeed, that he did more than use coarse
+terms in his conversation. The husband in his evidence says: 'I have
+seen a great deal of soldiers, and they behaved well, and I could speak
+well of them.' He added that a British officer had taken his wife's
+deposition, and that both the Provost-Marshal and the Military Governor
+were interesting themselves in the case. Though no actual assault was
+committed, it is to be hoped that the man who was rude to a helpless
+woman will sooner or later be identified and punished.
+
+There remains one case, that of Mrs. Botha of Rustenburg, which, if her
+account is corroborated, is as bad as it could be. The mystery of the
+case lies in the fact that by her own account a British force was
+encamped close by, and yet that neither she nor her husband made the
+complaint which would have brought most summary punishment upon the
+criminal. This could not have been from a shrinking from publicity,
+since she was ready to tell the story in Court. There is not the least
+indication who this solitary soldier may have been, and even the date
+was unknown to the complainant. What can be done in such a case? The
+President of the court-martial, with a burst of indignation which shows
+that he at least does not share Mr. Stead's views upon the frequency of
+such crimes in South Africa, cried: 'If such a most awful thing happened
+to a woman, would it not be the first thing for a man to do to rush out
+and bring the guilty man to justice? He ought to risk his life for that.
+There was no reason for him to be frightened. We English are not a
+barbarous nation.' The husband, however, had taken no steps. We may be
+very sure that the case still engages the earnest attention of our
+Provost-Marshal, and that the man, if he exists, will sooner or later
+form an object-lesson upon discipline and humanity to the nearest
+garrison. Such was the Spoelstra trial. Mr. Stead talks fluently of the
+charges made, but deliberately omits the essential fact that after a
+patient hearing not one of them was substantiated.
+
+I cannot end the chapter better than with the words of the Rev. P. S.
+Bosman, head of the Dutch Reformed Church at Pretoria:
+
+'Not a single case of criminal assault or rape by non-commissioned
+officers or men of the British Army in Pretoria on Boer women has come
+to my knowledge. I asked several gentlemen in turn about this point and
+their testimony is the same as mine.'
+
+But Mr. Stead says that it must be so because there are 250,000 men in
+Africa. Could the perversion of argument go further? Which are we to
+believe, our enemy upon the spot or the journalist in London?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST BRITISH TROOPS
+
+
+_Expansive and Explosive Bullets._
+
+When Mr. Stead indulges in vague rhetoric it is difficult to corner him,
+but when he commits himself to a definite statement he is more open to
+attack. Thus, in his 'Methods of Barbarism' he roundly asserts that
+'England sent several million rounds of expanding bullets to South
+Africa, and in the North of the Transvaal and at Mafeking for the first
+three months of the war no other bullets were used.' Mr. Methuen, on the
+authority of a letter of Lieutenant de Montmorency, R.A., states also
+that from October 12, 1899, up to January 15, 1900, the British forces
+north of Mafeking used nothing but Mark IV. ammunition, which is not a
+dum-dum but is an expansive bullet.
+
+Mr. Methuen's statement differs, as will be seen, very widely from Mr.
+Stead's; for Mr. Stead says Mafeking, and Mr. Methuen says north of
+Mafeking. There was a very great deal of fighting at Mafeking, and
+comparatively little north of Mafeking during that time, so that the
+difference is an essential one. To test Mr. Stead's assertion about
+Mafeking, I communicated with General Baden-Powell, the gentleman who is
+most qualified to speak as to what occurred there, and his answer lies
+before me: 'We had no expanding bullets in our supply at Mafeking,
+unless you call the ordinary Martini-Henry an expanding bullet. I would
+not have used them on humane principles, and moreover, an Army order had
+been issued against the use of dum-dum bullets in this campaign. On the
+other hand, explosive bullets are expressly forbidden in the Convention,
+and these the Boers used freely against us in Mafeking, especially on
+May 12.'
+
+I have endeavoured also to test the statement as it concerns the troops
+to the north of Mafeking. The same high authority says: 'With regard to
+the northern force, it is just possible that a few sportsmen in the
+Rhodesian column may have had some sporting bullets, but I certainly
+never heard of them.' A friend of mine who was in Lobatsi during the
+first week of the war assures me that he never saw anything but the
+solid bullet. It must be remembered that the state of things was very
+exceptional with the Rhodesian force. Their communications to the south
+were cut on the second day of the war, and for seven months they were
+dependent upon the long and circuitous Beira route for any supplies
+which reached them. One could imagine that under such circumstances
+uniformity of armament would be more difficult to maintain than in the
+case of an army with an assured base.
+
+The expansive bullet is not, as a matter of fact, contrary to the
+Conventions of The Hague. It was expressly held from being so by the
+representatives of the United States and of Great Britain. In taking
+this view I cannot but think that these two enlightened and humanitarian
+Powers were ill-advised. Those Conventions were of course only binding
+on those who signed them, and therefore in fighting desperate savages
+the man-stopping bullet could still have been used. Whatever our motives
+in taking the view that we did, a swift retribution has come upon us,
+for it has prevented us from exacting any retribution, or even
+complaining, when the Boers have used these weapons against us.
+Explosive bullets are, however, as my distinguished correspondent points
+out, upon a different footing, and if the Boers claim the advantages of
+the Conventions of The Hague, then every burgher found with these
+weapons in his bandolier is liable to punishment.
+
+Our soldiers have been more merciful than our Hague diplomatists, for in
+spite of the reservation of the right to use this ammunition, every
+effort has been made to exclude it from the firing line. An unfortunate
+incident early in the campaign gave our enemies some reason to suspect
+us. The facts are these.
+
+At the end of the spring of 1899 some hundreds of thousands of
+hollow-headed bullets, made in England, were condemned as
+unsatisfactory, not being true to gauge, &c., and were sent to South
+Africa for target practice only. A quantity of this ammunition, known as
+'Metford Mark IV.,' was sent up to Dundee by order of General Symons for
+practice in field firing. As Mark IV. was not for use in a war with
+white races all these cartridges were called in as soon as Kruger
+declared war, and the officers responsible thought they were every one
+returned. By some blundering in the packing at home, however, some of
+this Mark IV. must have got mixed up with the ordinary, or Mark II.,
+ammunition, and was found on our men by the Boers on October 30.
+Accordingly a very careful inspection was ordered, and a few Mark IV.
+bullets were found in our men's pouches, and at once removed. Their
+presence was purely accidental, and undoubtedly caused by a blunder in
+the Ordnance Department long before the war, and it was in consequence
+of this that some hollow-headed bullets were fired by the English early
+in the war without their knowledge.
+
+What is usually known as the dum-dum bullet is a 'soft-nosed' one: but
+the regulation Mark II. is also made at the dum-dum factory, and the
+Boers, seeing the dum-dum label on boxes containing the latter,
+naturally thought the contents were the soft-nosed, which they were not.
+
+It must be admitted that there was some carelessness in permitting
+sporting ammunition ever to get to the front at all. When the Derbyshire
+Militia were taken by De Wet at Roodeval, a number of cases of sporting
+cartridges were captured by the Boers (the officers had used them for
+shooting springbok). My friend, Mr. Langman, who was present, saw the
+Boers, in some instances, filling their bandoliers from these cases on
+the plausible excuse that they were only using our own ammunition. Such
+cartridges should never have been permitted to go up. But in spite of
+instances of bungling, the evidence shows that every effort has been
+made to keep the war as humane as possible. I am inclined to hope that a
+fuller knowledge will show that the same holds good for our enemies, and
+that in spite of individual exceptions, they have never systematically
+used anything except what one of their number described as a
+'gentlemanly' bullet.
+
+
+_Conduct to Prisoners on the Field._
+
+On this count, also, the British soldiers have been exposed to attacks,
+both at home and abroad, which are as unfounded and as shameful as most
+of those which have been already treated.
+
+The first occasion upon which Boer prisoners fell into our hands was at
+the Battle of Elandslaagte, on October 21, 1899. That night was spent by
+the victorious troops in a pouring rain, round such fires as they were
+able to light. It has been recorded by several witnesses that the
+warmest corner by the fire was reserved for the Boer prisoners. It has
+been asserted, and is again asserted, that when the Lancers charged a
+small body of the enemy after the action, they gave no quarter--'too
+well substantiated and too familiar,' says one critic of this assertion.
+I believe, as a matter of fact, that the myth arose from a sensational
+picture in an illustrated paper. The charge was delivered late in the
+evening, in uncertain light. Under such circumstances it is always
+possible, amid so wild and confused a scene, that a man who would have
+surrendered has been cut down or ridden over. But the cavalry brought
+back twenty prisoners, and the number whom they killed or wounded has
+not been placed higher than that, so that it is certain there was no
+indiscriminate slaying. I have read a letter from the officer who
+commanded the cavalry and who directed the charge, in which he tells the
+whole story confidentially to a brother officer. He speaks of his
+prisoners, but there is no reference to any brutality upon the part of
+the troopers.
+
+Mr. Stead makes a great deal of some extracts from the letters of
+private soldiers at the front who talk of bayonetting their enemies.
+Such expressions should be accepted with considerable caution, for it
+may amuse the soldier to depict himself as rather a terrible fellow to
+his home-staying friends. Even if isolated instances could be
+corroborated, it would merely show that men of fiery temperament in the
+flush of battle are occasionally not to be restrained, either by the
+power of discipline or by the example and exhortations of their
+officers. Such instances, I do not doubt, could be found among all
+troops in all wars. But to found upon it a general charge of brutality
+or cruelty is unjust in the case of a foreigner, and unnatural in the
+case of our own people.
+
+There is one final and complete answer to all such charges. It is that
+we have now in our hands 42,000 males of the Boer nations. They assert,
+and we cannot deny, that their losses in killed have been
+extraordinarily light during two years of warfare. How are these
+admitted and certain facts compatible with any general refusal of
+quarter? To anyone who, like myself, has seen the British soldiers
+jesting and smoking cigarettes with their captives within five minutes
+of their being taken, such a charge is ludicrous, but surely even to the
+most biassed mind the fact stated above must be conclusive.
+
+In some ways I fear that the Conventions of The Hague will prove, when
+tested on a large scale, to be a counsel of perfection. It will
+certainly be the extreme test of self-restraint and discipline--a test
+successfully endured by the British troops at Elandslaagte, Bergendal,
+and many other places--to carry a position by assault and then to give
+quarter to those defenders who only surrender at the last instant. It
+seems almost too much to ask. The assailants have been terribly
+punished: they have lost their friends and their officers, in the frenzy
+of battle they storm the position, and then at the last instant the men
+who have done all the mischief stand up unscathed from behind their
+rocks and claim their own personal safety. Only at that moment has the
+soldier seen his antagonist or been on equal terms with him. He must
+give quarter, but it must be confessed that this is trying human nature
+rather high.
+
+But if this holds good of an organised force defending a position, how
+about the solitary sniper? The position of such a man has never been
+defined by the Conventions of The Hague, and no rules are laid down for
+his treatment. It is not wonderful if the troops who have been annoyed
+by him should on occasion take the law into their own hands and treat
+him in a summary fashion.
+
+The very first article of the Conventions of The Hague states that a
+belligerent must (1) Be commanded by some responsible person; (2) Have a
+distinctive emblem visible at a distance; (3) Carry arms openly. Now it
+is evident that the Boer sniper who draws his Mauser from its
+hiding-place in order to have a shot at the Rooineks from a safe kopje
+does not comply with any one of these conditions. In the letter of the
+law, then, he is undoubtedly outside the rules of warfare.
+
+In the spirit he is even more so. Prowling among the rocks and shooting
+those who cannot tell whence the bullet comes, there is no wide gap
+between him and the assassin. His victims never see him, and in the
+ordinary course he incurs no personal danger. I believe such cases to
+have been very rare, but if the soldiers have occasionally shot such a
+man without reference to the officers, can it be said that it was an
+inexcusable action, or even that it was outside the strict rules of
+warfare?
+
+I find in the 'Gazette de Lausanne' a returned Swiss soldier named
+Pache, who had fought for the Boers, expresses his amazement at the way
+in which the British troops after their losses in the storming of a
+position gave quarter to those who had inflicted those losses upon them.
+
+'Only once,' he says, 'at the fight at Tabaksberg, have I seen the
+Boers hold on to their position to the very end. At the last rush of the
+enemy they opened a fruitless magazine fire, and then threw down their
+rifles and lifted their hands, imploring quarter from those whom they
+had been firing at at short range. I was astounded at the clemency of
+the soldiers, who allowed them to live. For my part I should have put
+them to death.'
+
+Of prisoners after capture there is hardly need to speak. There is a
+universal consensus of opinion from all, British or foreign, who have
+had an opportunity of forming an opinion, that the prisoners have been
+treated with humanity and generosity. The same report has come from
+Green Point, St. Helena, Bermuda, Ceylon, Ahmednager, and all other
+camps. An outcry was raised when Ahmednager in India was chosen for a
+prison station, and it was asserted, with that recklessness with which
+so many other charges have been hurled against the authorities, that it
+was a hot-bed of disease. Experience has shown that there was no grain
+of truth in these statements, and the camp has been a very healthy one.
+As it remains the only one which has ever been subjected to harsh
+criticism, it may be of use to append the conclusions of Mr. Jesse
+Collings during a visit to it last month:
+
+'The Boer officers said, speaking for ourselves and men, we have nothing
+at all to complain of. As prisoners of war we could not be better
+treated, and Major Dickenson' (this they wished specially to be
+inserted), 'is as kind and considerate as it is possible to be.'
+
+Some sensational statements were also made in America as to the
+condition of the Bermuda Camps, but a newspaper investigation has shown
+that there is no charge to be brought against them.
+
+Mr. John J. O'Rorke writes to the 'New York Times,' saying, 'That in
+view of the many misrepresentations regarding the treatment of the Boer
+prisoners in Bermuda, he recently obtained a trustworthy opinion from
+one of his correspondents there.'... The correspondent's name is Musson
+Wainwright, and Mr. O'Rorke describes him 'as one of the influential
+residents in the island.' He says, 'That the Boers in Bermuda are better
+off than many residents in New York. They have plenty of beef, plenty of
+bread, plenty of everything except liberty. There are good hospitals and
+good doctors. It is true that some of the Boers are short of clothing,
+but these are very few, and the Government is issuing clothing to them.
+On the whole,' says Mr. Wainwright, 'Great Britain is treating the
+Boers far better than most people would.'
+
+Compare this record with the undoubted privations, many of them
+unnecessary, which our soldiers endured at Waterval near Pretoria, the
+callous neglect of the enteric patients there, and the really barbarous
+treatment of British Colonial prisoners who were confined in cells on
+the absurd plea that in fighting for their flag they were traitors to
+the Africander cause.
+
+
+_Executions._
+
+The number of executions of Boers, as distinguished from the execution
+of Cape rebels, has been remarkably few in a war which has already
+lasted twenty-six months. So far as I have been able to follow them,
+they have been limited to the execution of Cordua for broken parole and
+conspiracy upon August 24, 1900, at Pretoria, the shooting of one or two
+horse-poisoners in Natal, and the shooting of three men after the action
+of October 27, 1900, near Fredericstad. These men, after throwing down
+their arms and receiving quarter, picked them up again and fired at the
+soldiers from behind. No doubt there have been other cases, scattered up
+and down the vast scene of warfare, but I can find no record of them,
+and if they exist at all they must be few in number. Since the beginning
+of 1901 four men have been shot in the Transvaal, three in Pretoria as
+spies and breakers of parole, one in Johannesburg as an aggravated case
+of breaking neutrality by inciting Boers to resist.
+
+At the beginning of the war 90 per cent. of the farmers in the northern
+district of Cape Colony joined the invaders. Upon the expulsion of the
+Boers these men for the most part surrendered. The British Government,
+recognising that pressure had been put upon them and that their position
+had been a difficult one, inflicted no penalty upon the rank-and-file
+beyond depriving them of the franchise for a few years. A few who, like
+the Douglas rebels, were taken red-handed upon the field of battle, were
+condemned to periods of imprisonment which varied from one to five
+years.
+
+This was in the year 1900. In 1901 there was an invasion of the Colony
+by Boers which differed very much from the former one. In the first case
+the country had actually been occupied by the Boer forces, who were able
+to exert real pressure upon the inhabitants. In the second the invaders
+were merely raiding bands who traversed many places but occupied none. A
+British subject who joined on the first occasion might plead compulsion,
+on the second it was undoubtedly of his own free will.
+
+These Boer bands being very mobile, and never fighting save when they
+were at an overwhelming advantage, penetrated all parts of the Colony
+and seduced a number of British subjects from their allegiance. The
+attacking of small posts and the derailing of trains, military or
+civilian, were their chief employment. To cover their tracks they
+continually murdered natives whose information might betray them. Their
+presence kept the Colony in confusion and threatened the communications
+of the Army.
+
+The situation may be brought home to a continental reader by a fairly
+exact parallel. Suppose that an Austrian army had invaded Germany, and
+that while it was deep in German territory bands of Austrian subjects
+who were of German extraction began to tear up the railway lines and
+harass the communications. That was our situation in South Africa. Would
+the Austrians under these circumstances show much mercy to those rebel
+bands, especially if they added cold-blooded murder to their treason? Is
+it likely that they would?
+
+The British, however, were very long-suffering. Many hundreds of these
+rebels passed into their hands, and most of them escaped with fine and
+imprisonment. The ringleaders, and those who were convicted of capital
+penal offences, were put to death. I have been at some pains to make a
+list of the executions in 1901, including those already mentioned. It is
+at least approximately correct:
+
+ +---------+--------------------+----------+------------------------------+
+ | Number  |       Place        |   Date   |           Reason             |
+ +---------+--------------------+----------+------------------------------+
+ |         |                    |   1901   |                              |
+ |    2    | De Aar             | March 19 | Train-wrecking.              |
+ |    2    | Pretoria           |  June 11 | Boers breaking oath of       |
+ |         |                    |          |   neutrality.                |
+ |    1    | Middelburg         |  July 10 | Fighting.                    |
+ |    1    | Cape Town          |    "  13 |    "                         |
+ |    1    | Cradock            |    "  13 |    "                         |
+ |    2    | Middelburg         |    "  24 |    "                         |
+ |    2    | Kenhardt           |    "  25 |    "                         |
+ |    1    | Pretoria           |  Aug. 22 | Boer spy.                    |
+ |    3    | Colesburg          | Sept.  4 | Fighting.                    |
+ |    1    | Middelburg         |  Oct. 10 |    "                         |
+ |    1    | Middelburg         |    "  11 |    "                         |
+ |    1    | Vryburg (hanged)   |    "  12 |    "                         |
+ | Several | Tarkastad          |    "  12 |    "                         |
+ |    1    | Tarkastad          |    "  14 |    "                         |
+ |    1    | Middelburg         |    "  15 |    "                         |
+ |    2    | Cradock (1 hanged, |    "  17 | Train-wrecking and murdering |
+ |         |   1 shot)          |          |   native.                    |
+ |    2    | Vryburg            |    "  29 | Fighting.                    |
+ |    1    | Mafeking           |  Nov. 11 | Shooting a Native.           |
+ |    1    | Colesburg          |    "  12 | Fighting, marauding, and     |
+ |         |                    |          |   assaulting, &c.            |
+ |    1    | Johannesburg       |    "  23 | Persuading surrendered       |
+ |         |                    |          |   burghers to break oath.    |
+ |    1    | Aliwal North       |    "  26 | Cape Police Deserter.        |
+ |    1    | Krugersdorp        |  Dec. 26 | Shooting wounded.            |
+ |    2    | Mafeking           |    "  27 | Kaffir murder.               |
+ +---------+--------------------+----------+------------------------------+
+
+Allowing 3 for the 'several' at Tarkastad on October 12, that makes a
+total of 34. Many will undoubtedly be added in the future, for the
+continual murder of inoffensive natives, some of them children, calls
+for stern justice. In this list 4 were train-wreckers (aggravated cases
+by rebels), 1 was a spy, 4 were murderers of natives, 1 a deserter who
+took twenty horses from the Cape Police, and the remaining 23 were
+British subjects taken fighting and bearing arms against their own
+country.
+
+
+_Hostages upon Railway Trains._
+
+Here the military authorities are open, as it seems to me, to a serious
+charge, not of inhumanity to the enemy but of neglecting those steps
+which it was their duty to take in order to safeguard their own troops.
+If all the victims of derailings and railway cuttings were added
+together it is not an exaggeration to say that it would furnish as many
+killed and wounded as a considerable battle. On at least five occasions
+between twenty and thirty men were incapacitated, and there are very
+numerous cases where smaller numbers were badly hurt.
+
+Let it be said at once that we have no grievance in this. To derail a
+train is legitimate warfare, with many precedents to support it. But to
+checkmate it by putting hostages upon the trains is likewise legitimate
+warfare, with many precedents to support it also. The Germans habitually
+did it in France, and the result justified them as the result has
+justified us. From the time (October 1901) that it was adopted in South
+Africa we have not heard of a single case of derailing, and there can be
+no doubt that the lives of many soldiers, and possibly of some
+civilians, have been saved by the measure.
+
+I will conclude this chapter by two extracts chosen out of many from the
+diary of the Austrian, Count Sternberg. In the first he describes his
+capture:
+
+'Three hours passed thus without our succeeding in finding our object.
+The sergeant then ordered that we should take a rest. We sat down on the
+ground, and chatted good-humouredly with the soldiers. They were fine
+fellows, without the least sign of brutality--in fact, full of sympathy.
+They had every right to be angry with us, for we had spoiled their sleep
+after they had gone through a trying day; yet they did not visit it on
+us in any way, and were most kind. They even shared their drinking-water
+with us. I cannot describe what my feelings were that night. A
+prisoner!'
+
+He adds: 'I can only repeat that the English officers and the English
+soldiers have shown in this war that the profession of arms does not
+debase, but rather ennobles man.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION
+
+
+Writing in November 1900, after hearing an expression of opinion from
+many officers from various parts of the seat of war, I stated in 'The
+Great Boer War': 'The Boers have been the victims of a great deal of
+cheap slander in the press. The men who have seen most of the Boers in
+the field are the most generous in estimating their character. That the
+white flag was hoisted by the Boers as a cold-blooded device for luring
+our men into the open, is an absolute calumny. To discredit their valour
+is to discredit our victory.' My own opinion would have been worthless,
+but this was, as I say, the result of considerable inquiry. General
+Porter said: 'On a few occasions the white flag was abused, but in what
+large community would you not find a few miscreants?' General Lyttelton
+said: 'The Boers are brave men, and I do not think that the atrocities
+which have been reported are the acts of the regular Dutch burghers, but
+of the riff-raff who get into all armies.'
+
+It is a painful fact, but the words could not possibly be written
+to-day. Had the war only ended when it should have ended, the combatants
+might have separated each with a chivalrous feeling of respect for a
+knightly antagonist. But the Boers having appealed to the God of battles
+and heard the judgment, appealed once more against it. Hence came the
+long, bitter, and fruitless struggle which has cost so many lives, so
+much suffering, and a lowering of the whole character of the war.
+
+It is true that during the first year there were many things to
+exasperate the troops. The Boers were a nation of hunters and they used
+many a ruse which seemed to the straightforward soldier to be cowardly
+and unfair. Individuals undoubtedly played the white-flag trick, and
+individuals were guilty of holding up their hands in order to lure the
+soldiers from their cover. There are many instances of this--indeed, in
+one case Lord Roberts was himself a witness of it. Appended is his
+official protest:
+
+'Another instance having occurred of a gross abuse of the white flag and
+of the signal of holding up the hands in token of surrender, it is my
+duty to inform your Honour that if such abuse occurs again I shall most
+reluctantly be compelled to order my troops to disregard the white flag
+entirely.
+
+'The instance occurred on the kopje east of Driefontein Farm yesterday
+evening, and was witnessed by several of my own staff officers, as well
+as by myself, and resulted in the wounding of several of my officers and
+men.
+
+'A large quantity of explosive bullets of three different kinds was
+found in Cronje's laager, and after every engagement with your Honour's
+troops.
+
+'Such breaches of the recognised usages of war and of the Geneva
+Convention are a disgrace to any civilised power.'
+
+But British officers were not unreasonable. They understood that they
+were fighting against a force in which the individual was a law unto
+himself. It was not fair to impute to deliberate treachery upon the part
+of the leaders every slim trick of an unscrupulous burgher. Again, it
+was understood that a coward may hoist an unauthorised white flag and
+his braver companions may refuse to recognise it, as our own people
+might on more than one occasion have done with advantage. For these
+reasons there was very little bitterness against the enemy, and most
+officers would, I believe, have subscribed the opinion which I have
+expressed.
+
+From the first the position of the Boers was entirely irregular as
+regards the recognised rules of warfare. The first article of the
+Conventions of The Hague insists that an army in order to claim
+belligerent rights must first wear some emblem which is visible at a
+distance. It is true that the second article is to the effect that a
+population which has no time to organise themselves and who are
+defending themselves may be excused from this rule; but the Boers were
+the invaders at the outset of the war, and in view of their long and
+elaborate preparations it is absurd to say that they could not have
+furnished burghers on commando with some distinctive badge. When they
+made a change it was for the worse, for they finally dressed themselves
+in the khaki uniforms of our own soldiers, and by this means effected
+several surprises. It is typical of the good humour of the British that
+very many of these khaki-clad burghers have passed through our hands,
+and that no penalty has ever been inflicted upon them for their
+dangerous breach of the rules of war. In this, as in the case of the
+train hostages, we have gone too far in the direction of clemency. Had
+the first six khaki-clad burghers been shot, the lives of many of our
+soldiers would have been saved.
+
+The question of uniform was condoned, however, just as the white-flag
+incidents were condoned. We made allowance for the peculiarities of the
+warfare, and for the difficulties of our enemies. We tried to think that
+they were playing the game as fairly as they could. Already their
+methods were certainly rough. Here, for example, is a sworn narrative of
+a soldier taken in the fighting before Ladysmith:
+
+'Evidence of No. 6418 Private F. Ayling, 3rd Batt. King's Royal Rifles.
+
+                                     'Near Colenso, February 25, 1900.
+
+'I was taken prisoner about 5 A.M. on 23rd instant by the Boers, being
+too far in front of my company to retire. I was allowed to go about 10
+A.M. on the 25th, and rejoined my regiment.
+
+'During this time I was kept in the Boer trenches without food or drink.
+There were quite twenty of our wounded lying close to the trenches, and
+asking for water all the time, which was always refused. If any of the
+wounded moved they were shot at. Most of them died for want of
+assistance, as they were lying there two days and two nights. The Boers
+(who seemed to be all English) said, "Let them die, and give them no
+water."'
+
+Such instances may, however, be balanced against others where
+kind-hearted burghers have shown commiseration and generosity to our
+wounded and prisoners.
+
+As the war dragged on, however, it took a more savage character upon the
+part of our enemy, and it says much for the discipline of the British
+troops that they have held their hands and refused to punish a whole
+nation for the cruelty and treachery of a few. The first absolute murder
+in the war was that of Lieutenant Neumeyer, which occurred at the end of
+November 1900. The facts, which have since been officially confirmed,
+were thus reported at the time from Aliwal:
+
+'Lieutenant Neumeyer, commanding the Orange River Police at Smithfield,
+was driving here, unarmed, in a cart yesterday, when he was "held up" by
+two Boers. He was taken prisoner, handcuffed, and treacherously shot in
+the back with a revolver and again through the head.
+
+'The murderers stripped off the leggings which Lieutenant Neumeyer was
+wearing, searched his clothes for money, and afterwards dragged the body
+to a sluit, where, later in the day it was discovered by the Cape Police
+and brought here. Two natives were eye-witnesses of the murder.
+Lieutenant Neumeyer had served with distinction in the Rhodesian
+campaign.'
+
+At this latter period of the war began that systematic murdering of the
+Kaffirs by the Boers which has been the most savage and terrible feature
+in the whole business. On both sides Kaffirs have been used as
+teamsters, servants, and scouts, but on neither side as soldiers. The
+British could with the greatest ease have swamped the whole Boer
+resistance at the beginning of the war by letting loose the Basutos, the
+Zulus, and the Swazis, all of whom have blood-feuds with the Boers. It
+is very certain that the Boers would have had no such compunctions, for
+when in 1857 the Transvaalers had a quarrel with the Free State we have
+Paul Botha's evidence for the fact that they intrigued with a Kaffir
+chief to attack their kinsmen from the rear. Botha says:
+
+'I have particular knowledge of this matter, because I took part in the
+commando which our Government sent to meet the Transvaal forces. The
+dispute was eventually amicably settled, but, incredible as it may seem,
+the Transvaal had actually sent five persons, headed by the notorious
+Karel Geere, to Moshesh, the Basuto chief, to prevail upon him to attack
+_us_, their kinsmen, in the rear! I was one of the patrol that captured
+Geere and his companions, some of whom I got to know subsequently, and
+who revealed to me the whole dastardly plot.'
+
+This will give some idea as to what we might have had to expect had
+native sympathy gone the other way. In the letter already quoted,
+written by Snyman to his brother, he asserts that Kruger told him that
+he relied upon the assistance of the Swazis and Zulus. As it was,
+however, beyond allowing natives to defend their own lives and property
+when attacked, as in the case of the Baralongs at Mafeking, and the
+Kaffirs in the Transkei, we have only employed Kaffirs in the pages of
+the continental cartoons.
+
+As teamsters, servants, guides, and scouts the Kaffirs were, however,
+essential to us, and realising this the Boers, when the war began to go
+against them, tried to terrorise them into deserting us by killing them
+without mercy whenever they could in any way connect them with the
+British. How many hundreds were done to death in this fashion it is
+impossible to compute. After a British defeat no mercy was shown to the
+drivers of the wagons and the native servants. Boer commandos covered
+their tracks by putting to death every Kaffir who might give
+information. Sometimes they killed even the children. Thus Lord
+Kitchener, in his report, narrates a case where a British column hard
+upon the track of a Boer commando found four little Kaffir boys with
+their brains dashed out in the kraal which the Boers had just evacuated.
+
+A case which particularly touched the feelings of the British people was
+that of Esau, the coloured blacksmith, who was a man of intelligence and
+education, living as a loyal British subject in the British town of
+Calvinia. There was no possible case of 'spying' here, since the man had
+not left his own town. The appended documents will show why the nation
+will not have done its duty until justice has been done upon the
+murderers. A touching letter has been published from Esau to the
+governor of the district in which he says that, come what may, he would
+be loyal to the flag under which he was born. The next news of him was
+of his brutal murder:
+
+'Abraham Esau, a loyal coloured blacksmith, was mercilessly flogged for
+refusing to give information as to where arms were buried. Inflammation
+of the kidneys set in; nevertheless he was again beaten through the
+village with sjamboks until he was unable to walk, and was then shot
+dead.'--Calvinia, February 8. ('Times,' February 16, 1901, p. 7 [3]).
+
+'The district surgeon at Calvinia, writing to the Colonial secretary,
+has fully confirmed the flogging and shooting of Esau by a Boer named
+Strydom, who stated that he acted in accordance with orders. No trial
+was held, and no reason is alleged for the deed.'--Cape Town, February
+19. ('Times,' February 20, 1901, p. 5 [3]).
+
+'The authority for the statement of the flogging by the Boers of a
+coloured man named Esau at Calvinia was a Reuter's telegram, confirmed
+subsequently by the report made to Cape Town by the district surgeon of
+Calvinia.'--From Mr. Brodrick's reply to Mr. Labouchere in House of
+Commons, February 21. ('Times,' February 22, 1901).
+
+'I had a telegram from Sir A. Milner in confirmation of the reports from
+various quarters that have reached me. The High Commissioner states
+that the name of the district surgeon who reported the mal-treatment of
+the coloured man is Foote. Sir A. Milner adds: "There is absolutely no
+doubt about the murder of Esau."'--From Mr. Brodrick's reply to Mr.
+Dillon in House of Commons, February 22. ('Times,' February 23, 1901).
+
+The original rule of the British Service was that the black scouts
+should be unarmed, so as to avoid all accusations of arming natives.
+When it was found that they were systematically shot they were given
+rifles, as it was inhuman to expose them to death without any means of
+defence. I believe that some armed Kaffirs who watch the railway line
+have also been employed in later phases of the war, the weapons to be
+used in self-defence. Considering how pressed the British were at one
+time, and considering that by a word they could have thrown a large and
+highly disciplined Indian army into the scales, I think that their
+refusal to do so is one of the most remarkable examples of moderation in
+history. The French had no hesitation in using Turcos against the
+Germans, nor did the Americans refrain from using Negro regiments
+against the Spaniards. We made it a white man's war, however, and I
+think that we did wisely and well.
+
+So far did the Boers carry their murderous tactics against the natives,
+that British prisoners with dark complexions were in imminent danger.
+Thus at a skirmish at Doorn River on July 27, 1901, the seven Kaffir
+scouts taken with the British were shot in cold blood, and an Englishman
+named Finch was shot with them in the alleged belief that he had Kaffir
+blood. Here is the evidence of the latter murder:
+
+No. 28284 Trooper Charles Catton, 22nd Imperial Yeomanry, being duly
+sworn, states:
+
+'At Doorn River on 27th July, 1901, I was one of the patrol captured by
+the Boers, and after we had surrendered I saw a man lying on the ground,
+wounded, between two natives. I saw a Boer go up to him and shoot him
+through the chest. I noticed the man, Trooper Finch, was alive. I do not
+know the name of the Boer who shot him, but I could recognise him
+again.'
+
+No. 33966 Trooper F. W. Madams, having been duly sworn, states:
+
+'I was one of the patrol captured by the Boers on 27th July, 1901, near
+Doorn River. After we had surrendered I went to look for my hat, and
+after finding it I was passing the wounded man, Trooper Finch, when I
+saw a Boer, whose name I do not know, shoot Trooper Finch through the
+chest with a revolver. I could identify the man who shot him.'
+
+This scandal of the murder of the Kaffirs, a scandal against which no
+protest seems to have been raised by the pro-Boer press in England or
+the Continent, has reached terrible proportions. I append some of the
+evidence from recent official reports from the front:
+
+Case at Magaliesberg.--About October or November 1900, the bodies of
+nine natives were found lying together on the top of the Magaliesberg.
+Of these five were intelligence natives, the remainder being boys
+employed by the Boers, but suspected of giving information. The
+witnesses in this case are now difficult to find, as they are all
+natives; but it appears that the natives were tried by an informal
+court, of which B. A. Klopper, ex-President of the Volksraad, was
+president, and condemned to death. Hendrik Schoeman, son of the late
+general, and Piet Joubert are reported to have acted as escort.
+
+Case of five natives murdered near Wilge River.--On capturing a train
+near Wilge River, Transvaal, on March 11, 1901, the Boers took five
+unarmed natives on one side and shot them, throwing their bodies into a
+ditch. Corporal Sutton, of the Hampshire Regiment, saw, after the
+surrender, a Boer put five shots into a native who was lying down. Other
+soldiers on the train vouch to seeing one man deliberately shoot five
+boys in cold blood.
+
+Case of eight Kaffir boys.--On or about July 17, 1901, eight Kaffir
+boys, between the ages of twelve and fourteen, went out from Uitkijk,
+near Edenburg, to get oranges. None were armed. Boers opened fire, shot
+one, captured six; one escaped, and is now with Major Damant. Corporal
+Willett, Damant's Horse, afterwards saw boys' bodies near farm, but so
+disfigured that they could not be recognised. Some Kaffirs were then
+sent out from Edenburg and recognised them. One boy is supposed to have
+been spared by Boers, body not found. Lieutenant Kentish, Royal Irish
+Fusiliers, saw bodies, and substantially confirms murder, and states
+Boers were under Field-Cornet Dutoit.
+
+Case of Klass, Langspruit, Standerton.--Klass's wife states that on
+August 3, 1901, Cornelius Laas, of Langspruit, and another Boer came to
+the kraal and told Klass to go with them. On his demurring they accused
+him of giving information to the British, and C. Laas shot him through
+the back of the head as he ran away. Another native, the wife of a
+native clergyman at Standerton, saw the dead body.
+
+Case of Two Natives near Hopetown.--On August 22, 1901, Private C. P.
+Fivaz, of the Cape Mounted Police, along with two natives, was captured
+near Venter Hoek, Hopetown district, by a force under Commandant Van
+Reenan. He had off-saddled at the time, and the natives were sleeping in
+a stable. He heard Van Reenan give his men an order to shoot the
+natives, which order was promptly carried out in his presence as regards
+one man, and he was told that the other had also been shot. The resident
+on the farm, A. G. Liebenberg, who warned Fivaz at 5 A.M. of the
+approach of the enemy, buried both the bodies where he found them--viz.,
+one about forty yards from the house and the other about five hundred
+yards away. His statement is corroborated by his son, who saw one of the
+boys killed.
+
+Case of John Makran.--John Makran and Alfius Bampa (the witness) are
+unarmed natives living near Warmbaths, north of Pretoria. On the evening
+of September 17, 1901, Andries Van der Walt and a party of Boers
+surrounded Makran's house. Van der Walt told the boy to come out, and
+when he did so two men seized him. While two men held Makran's hands up
+Van der Walt stood five yards behind him and shot him through the head
+with a Mauser rifle. When the boy fell he shot him again through the
+heart, and then with a knife cut a deep gash across his forehead. Both
+these boys formerly worked for Van der Walt.
+
+Case at Zandspruit.--On the night of October 1, 1901, about 11.30 P.M.,
+a party of Boers surrounded a native house at Dassie Klip, near
+Zandspruit, and killed four natives in or about the house. The party
+consisted of twenty-four, under the following leaders: Dirk Badenhorst,
+of Dassie Klip; Cornelius Erasmus, of Streepfontein; and C. Van der
+Merwe, of Rooi Draai. The witnesses in this case are all natives
+residing at Dassie Klip, who knew the assailants well. In one case a
+native called Karle was endeavouring to escape over a wall, but was
+wounded in the thigh. On seeing he was not dead, Stoffel Visagie, of
+Skuilhoek, drew a revolver and shot him through the head. The charge
+against these natives appears to have been that they harboured British
+scouts.
+
+Case of Jim Zulu.--On or about October 18, 1901, V. C. Thys Pretorius
+(presumably of Pretoria), with seventy men, visited Waterval North, on
+the Pretoria-Pietersburg line, and practically murdered two natives,
+wounding three others, one of whom afterwards died. The witnesses state
+that on the morning of October 18, 1901, Pretorius came to a colliery
+near Waterval North and called for Jim Zulu, and on his appearance shot
+him through the face. Three days later this native died of his wounds.
+At the same time he and another man, named Dorsehasmus, also shot three
+other natives.
+
+Here is a further list, showing how systematic has been this brutality.
+I reproduce it in its official curtness:
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Barkly West, January 28, 1900.--Native
+despatch rider shot and mutilated.
+
+November or December 1900.--Near Virginia two natives were shot, being
+accused of showing the British the road to Ventersburg.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Taungs, December 4, 1900.--Three natives
+murdered at Border Siding.
+
+December 18, 1900.--Native, Philip, shot at Vlakplaats, eight miles
+south-west of Pretoria, by J. Johnson and J. Dilmar, of J. Joubert's
+commando.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Taungs, December 24, 1900.--Native shot
+by Boers at Pudimoe. Three natives killed at Christiana.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Herschel, January 6, 1901.--Two natives
+shot as spies.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Calvinia, January 29, 1901.--Esau case
+and ill-treatment of other natives.
+
+February 28, 1901.--Zulu boy shot dead at Zevenfontein, between Pretoria
+and Johannesburg, charged with giving information to the British, by men
+of Field-Cornet Jan Joubert's commando.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Cradock, March 21, 1901.--Murder of
+native witness, Salmon Booi.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Taungs, May 8, 1901.--Natives shot by
+Boers at Manthe.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Gordonia, May 23, 1901.--Native shot
+dead.
+
+May 25, 1901.--District Harrismith. A native accused of laziness and
+insolence was shot by men in M. Prinsloo's commando.
+
+May 28, 1901.--At Sannah's Post three natives were captured and shot.
+
+June 5, 1901.--Three natives with Colonel Plumer's column captured and
+shot near Paardeberg.
+
+July 27, 1901.--Seven natives captured with a patrol of Imperial
+Yeomanry near Doorn River Hut were shot on the spot.
+
+Report of Intelligence, East Cape Colony, July 29, 1901.--Shooting of
+natives by Commandant Myburgh.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Aliwal North, July 30, 1901.--Shooting of
+natives at refugee camp.
+
+August 23, 1901.--Native captured with a private of the Black Watch near
+Clocolan and shot in his presence.
+
+September 1, 1901.--Four natives with Colonel Dawkins's column captured
+in Fauresmith district and shot by order of Judge Hertzog.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Aliwal North, September 4, 1901.--Brutal
+treatment of natives by Boers under Bester, J.P., of Aliwal North.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Riversdale, September 4, 1901.--Two
+coloured despatch riders severely flogged.
+
+Report of Intelligence, South Cape Colony, September 18, 1901.--Natives
+murdered by Theron's orders.
+
+Report of Chief Commissioner, Richmond, September 23, 1901.--Two unarmed
+natives shot by Commandant Malan.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Prieska, September 26, 1901.--Murder of
+two unarmed natives.
+
+Report of Colonel Hickman, Ladismith, October 1, 1901.--Shooting of two
+natives by Scheepers.
+
+Date uncertain.--A native in Petrusburg Gaol was shot in his cell by two
+Boers on the approach of the British troops.
+
+So much for the Kaffir murders. It is to be earnestly hoped that no
+opportunism or desire to conciliate our enemies at the expense of
+justice will prevent a most thorough examination into every one of these
+black deeds, and a most stern punishment for the criminals.
+
+I return, however, to the question of the conduct of the Boers to their
+white opponents. So long as they were fighting as an army under the eyes
+of the honourable men who led them, their conduct was on the whole good,
+but guerilla warfare brought with it the demoralisation which it always
+does bring, and there was a rapid falling away from the ordinary
+humanity between civilised opponents. I do not mean by this to assert
+that the Boer guerillas behaved as did the Spanish guerillas in 1810,
+or the Mexican in 1866. Such an assertion would be absurd. The Boers
+gave quarter and they received it. But several isolated instances, and
+several general cases have shown the demoralisation of their ranks. Of
+the former I might quote the circumstances of the death of Lieutenant
+Miers.
+
+The official intimation was as follows:
+
+                                              'Pretoria: September 27.
+
+'Lieutenant Miers, Somerset Light Infantry, employed with South African
+Constabulary, went out from his post at Riversdraai, 25th September, to
+meet three Boers approaching under white flag, who, after short
+conversation, were seen to shoot Lieutenant Miers dead and immediately
+gallop away. Inquiry being made and evidence recorded.'
+
+A more detailed account was sent by the non-commissioned officer who was
+present. He described how the Boers approached the fort waving a white
+flag, how a corporal went out to them, and was told that they wished to
+speak with an officer, how Captain Miers rode out alone, and then:
+
+'As soon as the officer had gone but a short distance on the far side of
+the spruit, the Boer with the white flag advanced to meet him; the
+officer also continued to advance till he came up with the blackguard.
+At the end of three or four minutes we saw the two walking back to the
+two Boers (who were standing a good two miles off from this fort of
+ours). When they reached the two Boers we saw the captain dismount, the
+group being barely visible owing to a rise in the ground. At the end of
+five or ten minutes we were just able to distinguish the sound of a
+shot, immediately after which we saw the officer's grey mare bolting
+westwards across the veldt riderless, with one of the Boers galloping
+for all he was worth after it.'
+
+Of the general demoralisation here is the evidence of a witness in that
+very action at Graspan on June 6, which has been made so much of by the
+slanderers of our Army:
+
+No. 4703 Lance-Corporal James Hanshaw, 2nd Batt. Bedfordshire Regiment,
+being duly sworn, states: 'At Graspan on June 6, 1901, I was present
+when we were attacked by the Boers, having previously captured a convoy
+from them. On going towards the wagons I found the Boers already there;
+finding we were outnumbered and resistance hopeless, we threw down our
+arms and held our hands up. Private Blunt, who was with me, shouted.
+"Don't shoot me, I have thrown down my rifle." The Boers then shot
+Private Blunt dead. He was holding his hands above his head at the time.
+Lieutenant Mair then shouted, "Have mercy, you cowards." The Boers then
+deliberately shot Lieutenant Mair dead as he was standing with his hands
+above his head. They then shot at Privates Pearse and Harvey, who were
+both standing with their hands up, the same bullet hitting Private
+Pearse in the nose, and killing Private Harvey. Two Boers then rushed
+from the wagons and threatened to shoot me, kicked me, and told me to
+lie down.'
+
+No. 3253 Private E. Sewell, 2nd Batt. Bedfordshire Regiment, being duly
+sworn, states: 'I was at the fight at Graspan on June 6, 1901. About
+noon on that date the Boers attacked the convoy. I retired to Lieutenant
+Mair's party, when, finding we were outnumbered and surrounded, we put
+our hands up. The Boers took our arms from us and retired round some
+kraals; shortly afterwards they came back, and two men shouted, "Hands
+up." We said we were already prisoners, and that our arms had been
+collected. Private Blunt held up his hands, and at the same time said,
+"Don't shoot me, I am already hands up." The Boers then said, "Take
+that," and shot him through the stomach. Lieutenant Mair then stepped
+out from the wagons, and said, "Have mercy, you cowards." The Boer then
+shot him dead from his horse. The Boer was sitting on his horse almost
+touching Lieutenant Mair at the time. The Boer then shot at
+Lance-Corporal Harvey and Private Pearse, who were standing together
+with their hands up above their heads, the shot wounding Private Pearse
+and killing Lance-Corporal Harvey.'
+
+Here is the evidence of the murder of the wounded at Vlakfontein on May
+29, 1901:
+
+Private D. Chambers, H Company, 1st Batt. Derbyshire Regiment, being
+duly sworn, states: 'Whilst lying on the ground wounded I saw a Boer
+shoot two of our wounded who were lying on the ground near me. This Boer
+also fired at me, but missed me.'
+
+Privates W. Bacon and Charles Girling, 1st Batt. Derbyshire Regiment,
+being duly sworn, state: 'Whilst lying wounded on the ground with two
+other wounded men four Boers came up to us, dismounted, and fired a
+volley at us. We were all hit again, and Private Goodwin, of our
+regiment, was killed. The Boers then took our arms away, and after
+swearing at us rode away.'
+
+Corporal Sargent, 1st Batt. Derbyshire Regiment, being duly sworn,
+states: 'While lying wounded behind a rock I saw a Boer shoot a Yeomanry
+officer who was walking away, wounded in the hand.'
+
+Acting-Sergeant Chambers, 69th Company Imperial Yeomanry, being duly
+sworn, states: 'I saw a Boer, a short man with a dark beard, going round
+carrying his rifle under his arm, as one would carry a sporting rifle,
+and shoot three of our wounded.'
+
+Private A. C. Bell, 69th Company Imperial Yeomanry, being duly sworn,
+states: 'I heard a Boer call to one of our men to put up his hands, and
+when he did so the Boer shot him from about fifteen yards off; I was
+about twenty yards off.'
+
+Private T. George, 69th Company Imperial Yeomanry, being duly sworn,
+states: 'I was walking back to camp wounded, when I saw a Boer about
+seventeen years of age shoot at a wounded Derby man who was calling for
+water; the Boer then came up to me and took my bandolier away.'
+
+Gunner W. H. Blackburn, 28th Battery Royal Field Artillery, being duly
+sworn, states: 'I saw a Boer take a rifle and bandolier from a wounded
+Derby man, and then shoot him; the Boer then came to me and asked me for
+my rifle; I showed it him where it was lying on the ground.'
+
+Things of this sort are progressive. Here is what occurred at
+Brakenlaagte when the rear of Benson's column was destroyed.
+
+Major N. E. Young, D.S.O., Royal Field Artillery, sends the report to
+the Commander-in-Chief of Boer cruelty to the officers and men wounded
+in the action with Colonel Benson's column at Brakenlaagte. It is dated
+Pretoria, November 7, and Lord Kitchener's covering letter is dated
+November 9.
+
+Major Young, who made the inquiries into the charges of cruelty in
+accordance with Lord Kitchener's instructions, says:
+
+'Out of a total of 147 wounded non-commissioned officers and men seen by
+me fifty-four had not been in the hands of the Boers. Of the remaining
+ninety-three men, eighteen informed me they had nothing to complain of.
+
+'Seventy-five non-commissioned officers and men made complaint of
+ill-treatment of a more or less serious nature; nearly all of these had
+been robbed of whatever money they possessed, also of their watches and
+private papers.
+
+'Many had been deprived of other articles of clothing, hats, jackets,
+and socks, in some cases being left with an old shirt and a pair of
+drawers only.
+
+'There is a consensus of opinion that the wounded lying round the guns
+were fired on by Boers, who had already disarmed them, for a long
+period, after all firing in their neighbourhood from our side had
+ceased.
+
+'Even the late Colonel Benson was not respected, though he was protected
+for some time by a man in authority; eventually his spurs, gaiters, and
+private papers were removed.'
+
+Major Young, in concluding his report, says:--
+
+'I was impressed with the idea that the statements made to me were true
+and not wilfully exaggerated, so simply were they made. There seems no
+doubt that though the Boer commandants have the will they have no longer
+the power to repress outrage and murder on the part of their
+subordinates.'
+
+Lieutenant G. Acland Troyte, King's Royal Rifle Corps, 25th Mounted
+Infantry, states: 'I was wounded on October 25 in a rearguard action
+with Colonel Benson's force, near Kaffirstadt. The Boers came up and
+stripped me of everything except my drawers, shirt, and socks, they gave
+me an old pair of trousers, and later a coat.'
+
+Lieutenant Reginald Seymour, 1st Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps, 25th
+Mounted Infantry:--'On October 30 my company was sent back to the
+support of Colonel Benson's rearguard. I was wounded early in the day.
+The Boers came up. They took my greatcoat, gaiters, spurs, and helmet;
+they took the money and watches from the other wounded, but left them
+their clothes except the coat of one man. They then left us without
+assistance. Two Boers afterwards returned and took away a greatcoat
+belonging to one of our men which had been left over me. One of the
+party who stripped us was addressed by the remainder as Commandant.'
+
+Captain C. W. Collins, Cheshire Regiment:--'I was signalling officer to
+Colonel Benson on October 30. I was wounded, and lying near the guns
+about a hundred yards in rear of them. A field-cornet came up and went
+away without molesting me. At about 5.30 P.M., or a little later, the
+ambulances came and picked me up; my ambulance went on some distance
+farther, and Colonel Benson and some men were put in it. There seemed to
+be a lot of delay, which annoyed the Colonel, and he asked to be allowed
+to get away. The delay, however, continued till a Boer came and took
+away Colonel Benson's documents from his pocket, notwithstanding his
+protest that they were all private papers, and that they had been seen
+by a commandant earlier in the day, who said they were not required.'
+
+Private E. Rigby, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps, states the Boers
+took all his clothes except his shirt. This man is not quite able to
+speak yet.
+
+Trooper Hood, 2nd Scottish Horse: 'While I was lying wounded on the
+ground the Boers came up and stripped me of my hat and coat, boots,
+15_s._, and a metal watch. I saw them fire at another wounded man as he
+was coming to me for a drink.'
+
+Trooper Alexander Main, 2nd Scottish Horse: 'While lying on the ground,
+the Boers came close up and stood about fifteen to twenty yards away
+from where we were lying wounded round the guns. All were wounded at
+this time, and no one was firing. I saw the Boers there fire at the
+wounded. Captain Lloyd, a staff officer, was lying beside me wounded in
+the leg at this time; he received one or two more shots in the body, and
+shortly afterwards he died. I myself received three more wounds.'
+
+Trooper Jamieson, Scottish Horse: 'The Boers took off his boots and they
+hurt his shattered arm in a terrible manner while getting off his
+bandolier. His arm has been removed.'
+
+Private Parrish, 1st Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps: 'Our ridge was not
+firing any more, but whenever a wounded man showed himself, they fired
+at him, in this way several were killed; one man who was waving a bit of
+blue stuff with the idea of getting an ambulance, received about twenty
+shots.'
+
+Private Prickett, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps: 'On October 30 I
+was lying wounded. I saw the Boers come up, and an old Boer with black
+beard and whiskers, and wearing leggings, whom I should be able to
+recognise again, shot my friend, Private F. Foster, 4th Batt. King's
+Royal Rifle Corps, by putting the muzzle of his rifle to his side.
+Private Foster had been firing under cover of an ant-heap till the Boers
+took the position; he then threw away his rifle to put his hands up, but
+was shot all the same.'
+
+Private N. H. Grierson, Scottish Horse: 'I was wounded and lying by the
+side of Colonel Benson. When the Boers came up they wanted to begin to
+loot; Colonel Benson stopped them, telling them he had received a letter
+from Commandant Grobelaar saying the wounded would be respected. Colonel
+Benson asked if he could see Grobelaar; they said they would fetch him,
+and brought up someone who was in authority, but I do not think it was
+Grobelaar. Colonel Benson told him the wounded were not to be touched,
+and he said he would do his best; he himself protected Colonel Benson
+for about an hour, but he was still there when a Boer took off Colonel
+Benson's spurs and gaiters.'
+
+Sergeant Ketley, 7th Hussars: 'I was wounded in the head and hip just
+before the Boers rushed the guns. I was covered with blood. A Boer came
+up, took away my carbine and revolver and asked me to put up my hands. I
+could not do this, being too weak with the loss of blood. He loaded my
+own carbine and aimed from his breast while kneeling, and pointed at my
+breast. He fired and hit me in the right arm just below the shoulder.'
+
+Private Bell, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps, 25th Mounted Infantry:
+'When the Boers came up they took my boots off very roughly, hurting my
+wounded leg very much. I saw them taking watches and money off the other
+men.'
+
+Private C. Connor, Royal Dublin Fusiliers: 'I was lying beside the guns
+among a lot of our wounded, who were not firing. Every time one of our
+wounded attempted to move the Boers fired at them; several men (about
+ten or eleven) were killed in this way.'
+
+Lieutenant Bircham, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps: 'Was in the same
+ambulance wagon as Lieutenant Martin, King's Own Yorkshire Light
+Infantry (since deceased), and the latter told him that when he
+(Lieutenant Martin) was lying on the ground wounded the Boers took off
+his spurs and gaiters. In taking off his spurs they wrenched his leg,
+the bone of which was shattered, completely round, so as to be able to
+get at the spurs more easily, though Lieutenant Martin told them where
+he was hit.'
+
+Corporal P. Gower, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps, 25th Mounted
+Infantry: 'I was wounded and unconscious. When I came to, the Boers were
+stripping the men round me. A man, Private Foster, who was not five
+yards from me, put up his hands in token of surrender, but was shot at
+about five-yards range by a tall man with a black beard. He was killed.'
+
+Corporal Atkins, 84th Battery Royal Field Artillery: 'The Boers came up
+to me and said, "Can you work this gun?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Get up
+and show me." I said, "How can I? I have one hand taken away, and I am
+wounded in both legs"--this last was not true. He then said, "Give us
+your boots"--he took them and my mackintosh. He took what money was in
+my belt. One of our men, Bombardier Collins, got up to try and put up a
+white flag, as we were being fired at both from the camp and by the
+Boers; as soon as he got up they began shooting at him. I saw a Kaffir
+fire three shots from about thirty yards off.'
+
+Bombardier Collins, 84th Battery Royal Field Artillery: 'When lying
+wounded near the guns after the Boers had been up to them I tried to
+raise a white flag as our own people were dropping their bullets close
+to us. When I did this they fired at me.'
+
+So long as an excuse could be found for a brave enemy we found it. But
+the day is rapidly approaching when we must turn to the world with our
+evidence and say, 'Are these the deeds of soldiers or of brigands? If
+they act as brigands, then, why must we for ever treat them as
+soldiers?' I have read letters from soldiers who saw their own comrades
+ill-treated at Brakenlaagte. I trust that they will hold their hands,
+but it is almost more than can be asked of human nature.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+CONCLUSIONS
+
+
+I have now dealt with the various vexed questions of the war, and have,
+I hope, said enough to show that we have no reason to blush for our
+soldiers, but only for those of their fellow-countrymen who have
+traduced them. But there are a number of opponents of the war who have
+never descended to such baseness, and who honestly hold that the war
+might have been avoided, and also that we might, after it broke out,
+have found some terms which the Boers could accept. At their back they
+have all those amiable and goodhearted idealists who have not examined
+the question very critically, but are oppressed by the fear that the
+Empire is acting too roughly towards these pastoral republics. Such an
+opinion is just as honest as, and infinitely more respectable than, that
+of some journalists whose arrogance at the beginning of the war brought
+shame upon us. There is no better representative of such views than Mr.
+Methuen in his 'Peace or War,' an able and moderate statement. Let us
+examine his conclusions, omitting the causes of the war, which have
+already been treated at some length.
+
+Mr. Methuen draws a close comparison between the situation and that of
+the American Revolution. There are certainly points of resemblance--and
+also of difference. Our cause was essentially unjust with the Americans
+and essentially just with the Boers. We have the Empire at our back now.
+We have the command of the seas. We are very wealthy. These are all new
+and important factors.
+
+The revolt of the Boer States against the British suzerainty is much
+more like the revolt of the Southern States against the Government of
+Washington. The situation here after Colenso was that of the North after
+Bull's Run. Mr. Methuen has much to say of Boer bitterness, but was it
+greater than Southern bitterness? That war was fought to a finish and we
+see what has come of it. I do not claim that the parallel is exact, but
+it is at least as nearly exact as that from which Mr. Methuen draws
+such depressing conclusions. He has many gloomy remarks upon our
+prospects, but it is in facing gloomy prospects with a high heart that a
+nation proves that it is not yet degenerate. Better pay all the price
+which he predicts than shrink for one instant from our task.
+
+Mr. Methuen makes a good deal of the foolish and unchivalrous, even
+brutal, way in which some individuals and some newspapers have spoken of
+the enemy. I suppose there are few gentlemen who have not winced at such
+remarks. But let Mr. Methuen glance at the continental press and see the
+work of the supporters of the enemy. It will make him feel more
+charitable towards his boorish fellow-countrymen. Or let him examine the
+Dutch press in South Africa and see if all the abuse is on one side.
+Here are some appreciations from the first letter of P.S. (of Colesburg)
+in the 'Times':
+
+'Your lazy, dirty, drunken, lower classes.'
+
+'Your officers are pedantic scholars or frivolous society men.'
+
+'The major part of your population consists of females, cripples,
+epileptics, consumptives, cancerous people, invalids, and lunatics of
+all kinds.'
+
+'Nine-tenths of your statesmen and higher officials are suffering from
+kidney disease.'
+
+'We will not be governed by a set of British curs.'
+
+No great chivalry or consideration of the feelings of one's opponent
+there! Here is a poem from the 'Volksstem' on August 26, 1899, weeks
+before the war, describing the Boer programme. A translation runs thus:
+
+    'Then shall our ears with pleasure listen
+      To widow's wail and orphan's cry;
+    And shall we gird, as joyful witness,
+      The death-watch of your villainy.
+
+    'Then shall we massacre and butcher
+      You, and swallow glad your blood;
+    And count it "capital with interest"--
+      Villain's interest--sweet and good.
+
+    'And when the sun shall set in Heaven,
+      Dark with the clouds of steaming blood,
+    A ghastly, woeful, dying murmur
+      Will be the Briton's last salute.
+
+    'Then shall we start our jolly banquet,
+      And toast the first "the British blood."'
+
+No doubt a decent Boer would be as ashamed of this as we are of some of
+our Jingo papers. But even their leaders, Reitz, Steyn, and Kruger, have
+allowed themselves to use language about the British which cannot,
+fortunately, be matched upon our side.
+
+Mr. Methuen is severe upon Lord Salisbury for the uncompromising nature
+of his reply to the Presidents' overtures for peace in March 1900. But
+what other practical course could he suggest? Is it not evident that if
+independence were left to the Boers the war would have been without
+result, since all the causes which led to it would be still open and
+unsolved. On the morrow of such a peace we should be faced by the
+Franchise question, the Uitlander question, and every other question for
+the settling of which we have made such sacrifices. Is that a sane
+policy? Is it even tenable on the grounds of humanity, since it is
+perfectly clear that it must lead to another and a greater struggle in
+the course of a few years? When the work was more than half done it
+would have been madness to hold our hand.
+
+Surely there is no need for gloomy forebodings. The war has seemed long
+to us who have endured it, but to our descendants it will probably seem
+a very short time for the conquest of so huge a country and so stubborn
+a foe. Our task is not endless. Four-fifths of the manhood of the
+country is already in our hands, and the fifth remaining diminishes week
+by week. Our mobility and efficiency increase. There is not the
+slightest ground for Mr. Methuen's lament about the condition of the
+Army. It is far fitter than when it began. It is mathematically certain
+that a very few months must see the last commando hunted down. Meanwhile
+civil life is gaining strength once more. Already the Orange River
+Colony pays its own way, and the Transvaal is within measurable distance
+of doing the same. Industries are waking up, and on the Rand the roar of
+the stamps has replaced that of the cannon. Fifteen hundred of them will
+soon be at work, and the refugees are returning at the rate of 400 a
+week.
+
+It is argued that the bitterness of this struggle will never die out,
+but history has shown that it is the fights which are fought to an
+absolute finish which leave the least rancour. Remember Lee's noble
+words: 'We are a Christian people. We have fought this fight as long and
+as well as we knew how. We have been defeated. For us, as a Christian
+people, there is now but one course to pursue. We must accept the
+situation.' That is how a brave man accepts the judgment of the God of
+battles. So it may at last be with the Boers. These prison camps and
+concentration camps have at least brought them, men and women, in
+contact with our people. Perhaps the memories left behind will not be
+entirely bitter. Providence works in strange ways, and possibly the
+seeds of reconciliation, may be planted even there.
+
+As to the immediate future it is probable that the Transvaal, with the
+rush of immigrants which prosperity will bring, will soon be, next to
+Natal, the most British of the South African States. With Natal British,
+Rhodesia British, the Transvaal British, the Cape half and half, and
+only the Orange River Colony Dutch, the British would be assured of a
+majority in a parliament of United South Africa. It would be well to
+allow Natal to absorb the Vryheid district of the Transvaal.
+
+It has occurred to me--a suggestion which I put forward with all
+diffidence--that it would be a wise and practicable step to form a Boer
+Reservation in the northern districts of the Transvaal (Watersberg and
+Zoutpansberg). Let them live there as Basutos live in Basutoland, or
+Indians in Indian territory, or the inhabitants of a protected state in
+India. Guarantee them, as long as they remain peaceable under the
+British flag, complete protection from the invasion of the miner or the
+prospector. Let them live their own lives in their own way, with some
+simple form of home rule of their own. The irreconcilable men who could
+never rub shoulders with the British could find a home there, and the
+British colonies would be all the stronger for the placing in quarantine
+of those who might infect their neighbours with their own bitterness.
+Such a State could not be a serious source of danger, since we could
+control all the avenues by which arms could reach it. I am aware that
+the Watersberg and the Zoutpansberg are not very desirable places of
+residence, but the thing is voluntary and no man would need to go there
+unless he wished. Without some such plan the Empire will have no
+safety-valve in South Africa.
+
+I cannot conclude this short review of the South African question
+without some allusion to the attitude of continental nations during the
+struggle. This has been in all cases correct upon the part of the
+governments, and in nearly all cases incorrect upon the part of the
+people. A few brave and clear-headed men, like Yves Guyot in France, and
+M. Tallichet and M. Naville in Switzerland, have been our friends, or
+rather the friends of truth; but the vast majority of all nations have
+been carried away by that flood of prejudice and lies which has had its
+source in a venal, or at best an ignorant, press. In this country the
+people in the long run can always impose its will upon the Government,
+and it has, I believe, come to some very definite conclusions which will
+affect British foreign policy for many years to come.
+
+Against France there is no great bitterness, for we feel that France has
+never had much reason to look upon us in any light save that of an
+enemy. For many years we have wished to be friendly, but the traditions
+of centuries are not so easily forgotten. Besides, some of our
+shortcomings are of recent date. Many of us were, and are, ashamed of
+the absurd and hysterical outcry in this country over the Dreyfus case.
+Are there no miscarriages of justice in the Empire? An expression of
+opinion was permissible, but the wholesale national abuse has disarmed
+us from resenting some equally immoderate criticism of our own character
+and morals. To Russia also we can bear no grudge, for we know that there
+is no real public opinion in that country, and that their press has no
+means for forming first-hand conclusions. Besides, in this case also
+there is a certain secular enmity which may account for a warped
+judgment.
+
+But it is very different with Germany. Again and again in the world's
+history we have been the friends and the allies of these people. It was
+so in the days of Marlborough, in those of the Great Frederick, and in
+those of Napoleon. When we could not help them with men we helped them
+with money. Our fleet has crushed their enemies. And now, for the first
+time in history, we have had a chance of seeing who were our friends in
+Europe, and nowhere have we met more hatred and more slander than from
+the German press and the German people. Their most respectable journals
+have not hesitated to represent the British troops--troops every bit as
+humane and as highly disciplined as their own--not only as committing
+outrages on person and property, but even as murdering women and
+children.
+
+At first this unexpected phenomenon merely surprised the British people,
+then it pained them, and, finally, after two years of it, it has roused
+a deep and enduring anger in their minds. There is a rumour which crops
+up from time to time, and which appears to have some foundation, that
+there is a secret agreement by which the Triple Alliance can, under
+certain circumstances, claim the use of the British fleet. There are,
+probably, only a few men in Europe who know whether this is so or not.
+But if it is, it would be only fair to denounce such a treaty as soon as
+may be, for very many years must pass before it would be possible for
+the public to forget and forgive the action of Germany. Nor can we
+entirely exonerate the German Government, for we know the Germans to be
+a well-disciplined people; and we cannot believe that Anglophobia could
+have reached the point of mania without some official encouragement--or,
+at least, in the face of any official discouragement.
+
+The agitation reached its climax in the uproar over the reference which
+Mr. Chamberlain made to the war of 1870 in his speech at Edinburgh. In
+this speech Mr. Chamberlain very justly remarked that we could find
+precedents for any severe measures which we might be compelled to take
+against the guerillas, in the history of previous campaigns--those of
+the French in Algiers, the Russians in the Caucasus, the Austrians in
+Bosnia, and the Germans in France. Such a remark implied, of course, no
+blame upon these respective countries, but pointed out the martial
+precedents which justify such measures. It is true that the Germans in
+France never found any reason to lay the country waste, for they were
+never faced with a universal guerilla warfare as we have been, but they
+gave the _franc-tireur_, or the man who was found cutting the wire of
+the line, very short shrift; whereas we have never put to death a single
+_bonâ-fide_ Boer for this offence. Possibly it was not that the Germans
+were too severe, but that we were too lax. In any case, it is evident
+that there was nothing offensive in the statement, and those who have
+been well informed as to the doings of the British soldiers in the war
+will know that any troops in the world might be proud to be classed with
+them, either in valour or humanity.
+
+But the agitators did not even trouble to ascertain the words which Mr.
+Chamberlain had used--though they might have seen them in the original
+on the table of the _Lesezimmer_ of the nearest hotel. On the strength
+of a garbled report a tumult arose over the whole country and many
+indignation meetings were held. Six hundred and eighty clergymen were
+found whose hearts and heads were soft enough to be imposed upon by
+absurd tales of British atrocities, and these reverend gentlemen
+subscribed an insulting protest against them. The whole movement was so
+obviously artificial--or at least based upon misapprehension--that it
+excited as much amusement as anger in this country; but still the honour
+of our Army is very dear to us, and the continued attacks upon it have
+left an enduring feeling of resentment amongst us, which will not, and
+should not, die away in this generation. It is not too much to say that
+five years ago a complete defeat by Germany in a European war would have
+certainly caused British intervention. Public sentiment and racial
+affinity would never have allowed us to see her really go to the wall.
+And now it is certain that in our lifetime no British guinea and no
+soldier's life would under any circumstances be spent for such an end.
+That is one strange result of the Boer war, and in the long run it is
+possible that it may prove not the least important.
+
+Yet some allowance must be made for people who for years have had only
+one side of the question laid before them, and have had that one side
+supported by every sort of malignant invention and misrepresentation.
+Surely the day will come when truth will prevail, if only for the reason
+that the sources of corruption will run dry. It is difficult to imagine
+that any permanent policy can ever be upheld by falsehood. When that day
+does come, and the nations of Europe see how they have been hoodwinked
+and made tools of by a few artful and unscrupulous men, it is possible
+that a tardy justice will be done to the dignity and inflexible
+resolution which Great Britain has shown throughout. Until the dawn
+breaks we can but go upon our way, looking neither to the right nor to
+the left, but keeping our eyes fixed ever upon one great object--a South
+Africa in which there shall never again be strife, and in which Boer and
+Briton shall enjoy the same rights and the same liberties, with a common
+law to shield them and a common love of their own fatherland to weld
+them into one united nation.
+
+
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+<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The War in South Africa, by Arthur Conan Doyle</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The War in South Africa</p>
+<p>       Its Cause and Conduct</p>
+<p>Author: Arthur Conan Doyle</p>
+<p>Release Date: March 29, 2008  [eBook #24951]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h3 class="pg">E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Stephen Blundell,<br />
+    and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<div class="m0"><h1><big>THE WAR<br />
+<span class="hd1">IN SOUTH AFRICA</span></big></h1>
+
+<p class="hd2"><i>ITS CAUSE AND CONDUCT</i></p>
+
+<p class="hd3">BY</p>
+
+<h2 class="m0">A. CONAN DOYLE</h2>
+
+<p class="hd3">AUTHOR OF 'THE GREAT BOER WAR'</p>
+
+<p class="hd4">PUBLISHED BY<br />
+SMITH, ELDER, &amp; CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON, S.W.</p>
+
+<p class="hd5">All Copies for the Colonies and India supplied by<br />
+G. BELL &amp; SONS, London and Bombay</p>
+
+<p class="hd5">1902<br /><br />
+[All rights reserved]</p></div>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p>
+<h2>PREFACE</h2>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">For</span> some reason, which may be either arrogance or apathy, the
+British are very slow to state their case to the world. At present
+the reasons for our actions and the methods which we have used
+are set forth in many Blue-books, tracts, and leaflets, but have never,
+so far as I know, been collected into one small volume. In view of
+the persistent slanders to which our politicians and our soldiers
+have been equally exposed, it becomes a duty which we owe to our
+national honour to lay the facts before the world. I wish someone
+more competent, and with some official authority, had undertaken
+the task, which I have tried to do as best I might from an
+independent standpoint.</p>
+
+<p>There was never a war in history in which the right was
+absolutely on one side, or in which no incidents of the campaign
+were open to criticism. I do not pretend that it was so here.
+But I do not think that any unprejudiced man can read the facts
+without acknowledging that the British Government has done
+its best to avoid war, and the British Army to wage it with
+humanity.</p>
+
+<p>To my publisher and to myself this work has been its own
+reward. In this way we hope to put the price within the reach
+of all, and yet leave a profit for the vendor. Our further ambition
+is, however, to translate it into all European tongues, and to send<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span>
+a free copy to every deputy and every newspaper on the Continent
+and in America. For this work money will be needed&mdash;a
+considerable sum. We propose to make an appeal to the public
+for these funds. Any sums which are sent to me or to my
+publisher will be devoted to this work. There cannot be too
+much, for the more we get the more we shall do.</p>
+
+<p>I may add that I have not burdened my pages with continual
+references. My quotations are reliable and can always, if necessary,
+be substantiated.</p>
+
+<div class="m0"><p class="td3">A. CONAN DOYLE.</p>
+<p><span class="smcap">Undershaw, Hindhead:</span><br />
+<i><span class="sgn">January, 1902.</span></i></p></div>
+
+<hr />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td class="center"><small>CHAP.</small></td><td class="td2" colspan="2"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2">I.</td><td class="td1">THE BOER PEOPLE</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2">II.</td><td class="td1">THE CAUSE OF QUARREL</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_23">23</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2">III.</td><td class="td1">THE NEGOTIATIONS</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2">IV.</td><td class="td1">SOME POINTS EXAMINED</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_61">61</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2">V.</td><td class="td1">THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_73">73</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2">VI.</td><td class="td1">THE FARM-BURNING</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2">VII.</td><td class="td1">THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2">VIII.</td><td class="td1">THE BRITISH SOLDIER IN SOUTH AFRICA</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2">IX.</td><td class="td1">FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST BRITISH TROOPS</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2">X.</td><td class="td1">THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td2">XI.</td><td class="td1">CONCLUSIONS</td><td class="td2"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p>
+<h1 class="mb">THE WAR:<br />
+<span class="hd1">ITS CAUSE AND CONDUCT</span></h1>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h2><small>THE BOER PEOPLE</small></h2>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">It</span> is impossible to appreciate the South African problem and
+the causes which have led up to the present war between the
+British Empire and the Boer republics without some knowledge,
+however superficial, of the past history of South Africa. To tell
+the tale one must go back to the beginning, for there has been
+complete continuity of history in South Africa, and every stage
+has depended upon that which has preceded it. No one can know
+or appreciate the Boer who does not know his past, for he is what
+his past has made him.</p>
+
+<p>It was about the time when Oliver Cromwell was at his zenith&mdash;in
+1652, to be pedantically accurate&mdash;that the Dutch made their
+first lodgment at the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese had
+been there before them, but, repelled by the evil weather, and
+lured forward by rumours of gold, they had passed the true
+seat of empire, and had voyaged farther, to settle along the
+eastern coast. But the Dutchmen at the Cape prospered and
+grew stronger in that robust climate. They did not penetrate
+far inland, for they were few in number, and all they wanted was
+to be found close at hand. But they built themselves houses,
+and they supplied the Dutch East India Company with food and
+water, gradually budding off little townlets, Wynberg, Stellenbosch,
+and pushing their settlements up the long slopes which
+lead to that great central plateau which extends for 1,500 miles
+from the edge of the Karoo to the Valley of the Zambesi.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>For a hundred more years the history of the colony was a
+record of the gradual spreading of the Africanders over the huge
+expanse of veldt which lay to the north of them. Cattle-raising
+became an industry, but in a country where six acres can hardly
+support a sheep, large farms are necessary for even small herds.
+Six thousand acres was the usual size, and 5<i>l.</i> a year the rent
+payable to Government. The diseases which follow the white
+man had in Africa, as in America and Australia, been fatal to the
+natives, and an epidemic of smallpox cleared the country for the
+new-comers. Farther and farther north they pushed, founding
+little towns here and there, such as Graaf-Reinet and Swellendam,
+where a Dutch Reformed Church and a store for the sale of the
+bare necessaries of life formed a nucleus for a few scattered
+dwellings. Already the settlers were showing that independence
+of control and that detachment from Europe which has been their
+most prominent characteristic. Even the mild sway of the Dutch
+Company had caused them to revolt. The local rising, however,
+was hardly noticed in the universal cataclysm which followed the
+French Revolution. After twenty years, during which the world
+was shaken by the Titanic struggle in the final counting up of
+the game and paying of the stakes, the Cape Colony was added in
+1814 to the British Empire.</p>
+
+<p>In all the vast collection of British States there is probably not
+one the title-deeds to which are more incontestable than to this.
+Britain had it by two rights, the right of conquest and the
+right of purchase. In 1806 troops landed, defeated the local forces,
+and took possession of Cape Town. In 1814 Britain paid the large
+sum of six million pounds to the Stadtholder for the transference
+of this and some South American land. It was a bargain
+which was probably made rapidly and carelessly in that general
+redistribution which was going on. As a house of call upon the
+way to India the place was seen to be of value, but the country
+itself was looked upon as unprofitable and desert. What would
+Castlereagh or Liverpool have thought could they have seen the
+items which they were buying for six million pounds? The
+inventory would have been a mixed one of good and of evil: nine
+fierce Kaffir wars, the greatest diamond mines in the world, the
+wealthiest gold mines, two costly and humiliating campaigns with
+men whom we respected even when we fought with them, and
+now at last, we hope, a South Africa of peace and prosperity, with
+equal rights and equal duties for all men.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The title-deeds to the estate are, as I have said, good ones,
+but there is one singular and ominous flaw in their provisions.
+The ocean has marked three boundaries to it, but the fourth is
+undefined. There is no word of the 'hinterland,' for neither the
+term nor the idea had then been thought of. Had Great Britain
+bought those vast regions which extended beyond the settlements?
+Or were the discontented Dutch at liberty to pass onwards and
+found fresh nations to bar the path of the Anglo-Celtic colonists?
+In that question lay the germ of all the trouble to come. An
+American would realise the point at issue if he could conceive
+that after the founding of the United States the Dutch inhabitants
+of the State of New York had trekked to the westward and
+established fresh communities under a new flag. Then, when the
+American population overtook these western States, they would
+be face to face with the problem which this country has had to
+solve. If they found these new States fiercely anti-American and
+extremely unprogressive, they would experience that aggravation
+of their difficulties with which British statesmen have had to deal.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of their transference to the British flag the
+colonists&mdash;Dutch, French, and German&mdash;numbered some thirty
+thousand. They were slaveholders, and the slaves were about as
+numerous as themselves. The prospect of complete amalgamation
+between the British and the original settlers would have
+seemed to be a good one, since they were of much the same
+stock, and their creeds could only be distinguished by their
+varying degrees of bigotry and intolerance. Five thousand
+British emigrants were landed in 1820, settling on the Eastern
+borders of the colony, and from that time onwards there was a
+slow but steady influx of English-speaking colonists. The Government
+had the historical faults and the historical virtues of British
+rule. It was mild, clean, honest, tactless, and inconsistent. On
+the whole, it might have done very well had it been content to
+leave things as it found them. But to change the habits of the
+most conservative of Teutonic races was a dangerous venture, and
+one which has led to a long series of complications, making up
+the troubled history of South Africa.</p>
+
+<p>The Imperial Government has always taken an honourable
+and philanthropic view of the rights of the native and the claim
+which he has to the protection of the law. We hold, and rightly,
+that British justice, if not blind, should at least be colour-blind.
+The view is irreproachable in theory and incontestable in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+argument, but it is apt to be irritating when urged by a Boston
+moralist or a London philanthropist upon men whose whole society
+has been built upon the assumption that the black is the inferior
+race. Such a people like to find the higher morality for themselves,
+not to have it imposed upon them by those who live under
+entirely different conditions.</p>
+
+<p>The British Government in South Africa has always played
+the unpopular part of the friend and protector of the native
+servants. It was upon this very point that the first friction
+appeared between the old settlers and the new administration. A
+rising with bloodshed followed the arrest of a Dutch farmer who
+had maltreated his slave. It was suppressed, and five of the
+participants were hanged. This punishment was unduly severe
+and exceedingly injudicious. A brave race can forget the victims
+of the field of battle, but never those of the scaffold. The
+making of political martyrs is the last insanity of statesmanship.
+However, the thing was done, and it is typical of the enduring
+resentment which was left behind that when, after the Jameson
+Raid, it seemed that the leaders of that ill-fated venture might be
+hanged, the beam was actually brought from a farmhouse at
+Cookhouse Drift to Pretoria, that the Englishmen might die as
+the Dutchmen had died in 1816. Slagter's Nek marked the
+dividing of the ways between the British Government and the
+Africanders.</p>
+
+<p>And the separation soon became more marked. With vicarious
+generosity, the English Government gave very lenient terms to
+the Kaffir tribes who in 1834 had raided the border farmers.
+And then, finally, in this same year there came the emancipation
+of the slaves throughout the British Empire, which fanned all
+smouldering discontents into an active flame.</p>
+
+<p>It must be confessed that on this occasion the British philanthropist
+was willing to pay for what he thought was right. It
+was a noble national action, and one the morality of which was
+in advance of its time, that the British Parliament should vote
+the enormous sum of twenty million pounds to pay compensation
+to the slaveholders, and so to remove an evil with which the
+mother country had no immediate connection. It was as well
+that the thing should have been done when it was, for had we
+waited till the colonies affected had governments of their own it
+could never have been done by constitutional methods. With
+many a grumble the good British householder drew his purse<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+from his fob, and paid for what he thought to be right. If
+any special grace attends the virtuous action which brings
+nothing but tribulation in this world, then we may hope for it
+over this emancipation. We spent our money, we ruined our
+West Indian colonies, and we started a disaffection in South
+Africa, the end of which we have not seen.</p>
+
+<p>But the details of the measure were less honourable than the
+principle. It was carried out suddenly, so that the country had
+no time to adjust itself to the new conditions. Three million
+pounds were ear-marked for South Africa, which gives a price
+per slave of from 60<i>l.</i> to 70<i>l.</i>, a sum considerably below
+the current local rates. Finally, the compensation was made
+payable in London, so that the farmers sold their claims at
+reduced prices to middlemen. Indignation meetings were held
+in every little townlet and cattle-camp on the Karoo. The old
+Dutch spirit was up&mdash;the spirit of the men who cut the dykes.
+Rebellion was useless. But a vast untenanted land stretched to
+the north of them. The nomad life was congenial to them, and
+in their huge ox-drawn wagons&mdash;like those bullock-carts in which
+some of their old kinsmen came to Gaul&mdash;they had vehicles and
+homes and forts all in one. One by one they were loaded up, the
+huge teams were inspanned, the women were seated inside, the
+men with their long-barrelled guns walked alongside, and the
+great exodus was begun. Their herds and flocks accompanied
+the migration, and the children helped to round them in and
+drive them. One tattered little boy of ten cracked his sjambok
+whip behind the bullocks. He was a small item in that singular
+crowd, but he was of interest to us, for his name was Paul
+Stephanus Kruger.</p>
+
+<p>It was a strange exodus, only comparable in modern times to
+the sallying forth of the Mormons from Nauvoo upon their search
+for the promised land of Utah. The country was known and
+sparsely settled as far north as the Orange River, but beyond
+there was a great region which had never been penetrated save
+by some daring hunter or adventurous pioneer. It chanced&mdash;if
+there be indeed such an element as chance in the graver affairs of
+man&mdash;that a Zulu conqueror had swept over this land and left it
+untenanted, save by the dwarf bushmen, the hideous aborigines,
+lowest of the human race. There were fine grazing and good
+soil for the emigrants. They travelled in small detached parties,
+but their total numbers were considerable, from six to ten thousand<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+according to their historian, or nearly a quarter of the whole
+population of the colony. Some of the early bands perished
+miserably. A large number made a trysting-place at a high peak
+to the east of Bloemfontein, in what was lately the Orange Free
+State. One party of the emigrants was cut off by the formidable
+Matabeli, a branch of the great Zulu nation.</p>
+
+<p>The final victory of the 'voortrekkers' cleared all the country
+between the Orange River and the Limpopo, the sites of what have
+been known as the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. In the
+meantime another body of the emigrants had descended into
+Natal, and had defeated Dingaan, the great Chief of the Zulus.</p>
+
+<p>And now at the end of their great journey, after overcoming
+the difficulties of distance, of nature, and of savage enemies, the
+Boers saw at the end of their travels the very thing which they
+desired least&mdash;that which they had come so far to avoid&mdash;the flag
+of Great Britain. The Boers had occupied Natal from within,
+but England had previously done the same by sea, and a small
+colony of Englishmen had settled at Port Natal, now known as
+Durban. The home Government, however, had acted in a
+vacillating way, and it was only the conquest of Natal by the
+Boers which caused them to claim it as a British colony. At the
+same time they asserted the unwelcome doctrine that a British
+subject could not at will throw off his allegiance, and that, go
+where they might, the wandering farmers were still only the
+pioneers of British colonies. To emphasise the fact three
+companies of soldiers were sent in 1842 to what is now Durban&mdash;the
+usual Corporal's guard with which Great Britain starts a
+new empire. This handful of men was waylaid by the Boers and
+cut up, as their successors have been so often since. The
+survivors, however, fortified themselves, and held a defensive
+position&mdash;as also their successors have done so many times since&mdash;until
+reinforcements arrived and the farmers dispersed. Natal
+from this time onward became a British colony, and the majority
+of the Boers trekked north and east with bitter hearts to tell
+their wrongs to their brethren of the Orange Free State and of
+the Transvaal.</p>
+
+<p>Had they any wrongs to tell? It is difficult to reach that
+height of philosophic detachment which enables the historian to
+deal absolutely impartially where his own country is a party to
+the quarrel. But at least we may allow that there is a case for
+our adversary. Our annexation of Natal had been by no means<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
+definite, and it was they and not we who first broke that bloodthirsty
+Zulu power which threw its shadow across the country.
+It was hard after such trials and such exploits to turn their back
+upon the fertile land which they had conquered, and to return to
+the bare pastures of the upland veldt. They carried out of Natal
+a heavy sense of injury, which has helped to poison our relations
+with them ever since. It was, in a way, a momentous episode,
+this little skirmish of soldiers and emigrants, for it was the
+heading off of the Boer from the sea and the confinement of his
+ambition to the land. Had it gone the other way, a new and
+possibly formidable flag would have been added to the maritime
+nations.</p>
+
+<p>The emigrants who had settled in the huge tract of country
+between the Orange River in the south and the Limpopo in the
+north had been recruited by new-comers from the Cape Colony
+until they numbered some fifteen thousand souls. This population
+was scattered over a space as large as Germany, and larger
+than Pennsylvania, New York, and New England. Their form of
+government was individualistic and democratic to the last degree
+compatible with any sort of cohesion. Their wars with the
+Kaffirs and their fear and dislike of the British Government
+appear to have been the only ties which held them together.
+They divided and subdivided within their own borders, like a
+germinating egg. The Transvaal was full of lusty little high-mettled
+communities, who quarrelled among themselves as
+fiercely as they had done with the authorities at the Cape.
+Lydenburg, Zoutpansberg, and Potchefstroom were on the point
+of turning their rifles against each other. In the south, between
+the Orange River and the Vaal, there was no form of government
+at all, but a welter of Dutch farmers, Basutos, Hottentots, and
+half-breeds living in a chronic state of turbulence, recognising
+neither the British authority to the south of them nor the Transvaal
+republics to the north. The chaos became at last unendurable,
+and in 1848 a garrison was placed in Bloemfontein and the
+district incorporated in the British Empire. The emigrants
+made a futile resistance at Boomplaats, and after a single defeat
+allowed themselves to be drawn into the settled order of civilised
+rule.</p>
+
+<p>At this period the Transvaal, where most of the Boers had
+settled, desired a formal acknowledgment of their independence,
+which the British authorities determined once and for all to give<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+them. The great barren country, which produced little save
+marksmen, had no attractions for a Colonial Office which was
+bent upon the limitation of its liabilities. A Convention was
+concluded between the two parties, known as the Sand River
+Convention, which is one of the fixed points in South African
+history. By it the British Government guaranteed to the Boer
+farmers the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern
+themselves by their own laws without any interference upon the
+part of the British. It stipulated that there should be no
+slavery, and with that single reservation washed its hands finally,
+as it imagined, of the whole question. So the Transvaal Republic
+came formally into existence.</p>
+
+<p>In the very year after the Sand River Convention, a second
+republic, the Orange Free State, was created by the deliberate
+withdrawal of Great Britain from the territory which she had for
+eight years occupied. The Eastern Question was already becoming
+acute, and the cloud of a great war was drifting up, visible to
+all men. British statesmen felt that their commitments were
+very heavy in every part of the world, and the South African
+annexations had always been a doubtful value and an undoubted
+trouble. Against the will of a large part of the inhabitants,
+whether a majority or not it is impossible to say, we withdrew our
+troops as amicably as the Romans withdrew from Britain, and the
+new republic was left with absolute and unfettered independence.
+On a petition being presented against the withdrawal, the Home
+Government actually voted 48,000<i>l.</i> to compensate those who
+had suffered from the change. Whatever historical grievance the
+Transvaal may have against Great Britain, we can at least, save
+perhaps in one matter, claim to have a very clear conscience concerning
+our dealings with the Orange Free State. Thus in 1852
+and in 1854 were born those sturdy States who have been able for
+a time to hold at bay the united forces of the Empire.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime Cape Colony, in spite of these secessions, had
+prospered exceedingly, and her population&mdash;British, German, and
+Dutch&mdash;had grown by 1870 to over two hundred thousand souls, the
+Dutch still slightly predominating. According to the liberal colonial
+policy of Great Britain, the time had come to cut the cord and let
+the young nation conduct its own affairs. In 1872 complete
+self-government was given to it, the Governor, as the representative of
+the Queen, retaining a nominal unexercised veto upon legislation.
+According to this system the Dutch majority of the colony could,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+and did, put their own representatives into power and run the
+government upon Dutch lines. Already Dutch law had been
+restored, and Dutch put on the same footing as English as the
+official language of the country. The extreme liberality of such
+measures, and the uncompromising way in which they have been
+carried out, however distasteful the legislation might seem to
+English ideas, are among the chief reasons which made the illiberal
+treatment of British settlers in the Transvaal so keenly resented
+at the Cape. A Dutch Government was ruling the British in a
+British colony, at a moment when the Boers would not give an
+Englishman a vote upon a municipal council in a city which he
+had built himself.</p>
+
+<p>For twenty-five years after the Sand River Convention the
+burghers of the Transvaal Republic had pursued a strenuous
+and violent existence, fighting incessantly with the natives and
+sometimes with each other, with an occasional fling at the little
+Dutch republic to the south. Disorganisation ensued. The
+burghers would not pay taxes and the treasury was empty. One
+fierce Kaffir tribe threatened them from the north, and the Zulus
+on the east. It is an exaggeration to pretend that British intervention
+saved the Boers, for no one can read their military history
+without seeing that they were a match for Zulus and Sekukuni
+combined. But certainly a formidable invasion was pending, and
+the scattered farmhouses were as open to the Kaffirs as our
+farmers' homesteads were in the American colonies when the
+Indians were on the war-path. Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the
+British Commissioner, after an inquiry of three months, solved
+all questions by the formal annexation of the country. The fact
+that he took possession of it with a force of some twenty-five men
+showed the honesty of his belief that no armed resistance was to
+be feared. This, then, in 1877, was a complete reversal of the
+Sand River Convention and the opening of a new chapter in the
+history of South Africa.</p>
+
+<p>There did not appear to be any strong feeling at the time
+against the annexation. The people were depressed with their
+troubles and weary of contention. Burgers, the President, put in
+a formal protest, and took up his abode in Cape Colony, where he
+had a pension from the British Government. A memorial against
+the measure received the signatures of a majority of the Boer
+inhabitants, but there was a fair minority who took the other view.
+Kruger himself accepted a paid office under Government. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+was every sign that the people, if judiciously handled, would settle
+down under the British flag.</p>
+
+<p>But the Empire has always had poor luck in South Africa,
+and never worse than on that occasion. Through no bad faith,
+but simply through preoccupation and delay, the promises made
+were not instantly fulfilled. If the Transvaalers had waited, they
+would have had their Volksraad and all that they wanted. But
+the British Government had some other local matters to set right,
+the rooting out of Sekukuni and the breaking of the Zulus, before
+they would fulfil their pledges. The delay was keenly resented.
+And we were unfortunate in our choice of Governor. The burghers
+are a homely folk, and they like an occasional cup of coffee with
+the anxious man who tries to rule them. The 300<i>l.</i> a year of
+coffee-money allowed by the Transvaal to its President is by no
+means a mere form. A wise administrator would fall into the
+social and democratic habits of the people. Sir Theophilus Shepstone
+did so. Sir Owen Lanyon did not. There was no Volksraad
+and no coffee, and the popular discontent grew rapidly. In three
+years the British had broken up the two savage hordes which had
+been threatening the land. The finances, too, had been restored.
+The reasons which had made so many burghers favour the
+annexation were weakened by the very power which had every
+interest in preserving them.</p>
+
+<p>It cannot be too often pointed out that in this annexation, the
+starting-point of our troubles, Great Britain, however mistaken
+she may have been, had no possible selfish interest in view.
+There were no Rand mines in those days, nor was there anything
+in the country to tempt the most covetous. An empty treasury
+and two expensive native wars were the reversion which we took
+over. It was honestly considered that the country was in too
+distracted a state to govern itself, and had, by its weakness,
+become a scandal and a danger to its neighbours and to itself.
+There was nothing sordid in the British action, though it may
+have been premature and injudicious. There is some reason to
+think that if it had been delayed it would eventually have been
+done on the petition of the majority of the inhabitants.</p>
+
+<p>In December 1880 the Boers rose. Every farmhouse sent out
+its riflemen, and the trysting-place was the outside of the nearest
+British fort. All through the country small detachments were
+surrounded and besieged by the farmers. Standerton, Pretoria,
+Potchefstroom, Lydenburg, Wakkerstroom, Rustenburg, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+Marabastad were all invested and all held out until the end of
+the war. In the open country the troops were less fortunate.
+At Bronkhorst Spruit a small British force was taken by surprise
+and shot down without harm to their antagonists. The surgeon
+who treated them has left it on record that the average number
+of wounds was five per man. At Laing's Nek an inferior force of
+British endeavoured to rush a hill which was held by Boer riflemen.
+Half of the men were killed and wounded. Ingogo may
+be called a drawn battle, though the British loss was more heavy
+than that of the enemy. Finally came the defeat of Majuba Hill,
+where 400 infantry upon a mountain were defeated and driven
+off by a swarm of sharpshooters who advanced under the cover of
+boulders. Of all these actions there was not one which was more
+than a skirmish, and had they been followed by a final British
+victory they would now be hardly remembered. It is the fact
+that they were skirmishes which succeeded in their object which
+has given them an importance which is exaggerated.</p>
+
+<p>The defeat at Majuba Hill was followed by the complete surrender
+of the Gladstonian Government, an act which was either
+the most pusillanimous or the most magnanimous in recent history.
+It is hard for the big man to draw away from the small before
+blows are struck, but when the big man has been knocked down
+three times it is harder still. An overwhelming British force was
+in the field, and the General declared that he held the enemy in
+the hollow of his hand. British military calculations have been
+falsified before now by these farmers, and it may be that the task
+of Wood and Roberts would have been harder than they imagined;
+but on paper, at least, it looked as if the enemy could be crushed
+without difficulty. So the public thought, and yet they consented
+to the upraised sword being stayed. With them, as apart
+from the politicians, the motive was undoubtedly a moral and
+Christian one. They considered that the annexation of the
+Transvaal had evidently been an injustice, that the farmers had a
+right to the freedom for which they fought, and that it was an
+unworthy thing for a great nation to continue an unjust war for
+the sake of a military revenge. Such was the motive of the
+British public when it acquiesced in the action of the Government.
+It was the height of idealism, and the result has not been
+such as to encourage its repetition.</p>
+
+<p>An armistice was concluded on March 5, 1881, which led up
+to a peace on the 23rd of the same month. The Government,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
+after yielding to force what it had repeatedly refused to friendly
+representations, made a clumsy compromise in their settlement.
+A policy of idealism and Christian morality should have been
+thorough if it were to be tried at all. It was obvious that if the
+annexation were unjust, then the Transvaal should have reverted
+to the condition in which it was before the annexation, as defined
+by the Sand River Convention. But the Government for some
+reason would not go so far as this. They niggled and quibbled
+and bargained until the State was left as a curious hybrid thing
+such as the world has never seen. It was a republic which was
+part of the system of a monarchy, dealt with by the Colonial
+Office, and included under the heading of 'Colonies' in the news
+columns of the 'Times.' It was autonomous, and yet subject to
+some vague suzerainty, the limits of which no one has ever been
+able to define. Altogether, in its provisions and in its omissions,
+the Convention of Pretoria appears to prove that our political
+affairs were as badly conducted as our military in this unfortunate
+year of 1881.</p>
+
+<p>It was evident from the first that so illogical and contentious
+an agreement could not possibly prove to be a final settlement,
+and indeed the ink of the signatures was hardly dry before an
+agitation was on foot for its revision. The Boers considered, and
+with justice, that if they were to be left as undisputed victors in
+the war then they should have the full fruits of victory. On the
+other hand, the English-speaking colonies had their allegiance
+tested to the uttermost. The proud Anglo-Celtic stock is not
+accustomed to be humbled, and yet they found themselves through
+the action of the home Government converted into members of a
+beaten race. It was very well for the citizen of London to console
+his wounded pride by the thought that he had done a magnanimous
+action, but it was different with the British colonist of
+Durban or Cape Town who, by no act of his own, and without
+any voice in the settlement, found himself humiliated before
+his Dutch neighbour. An ugly feeling of resentment was left
+behind, which might perhaps have passed away had the Transvaal
+accepted the settlement in the spirit in which it was meant, but
+which grew more and more dangerous, as during eighteen years
+our people saw, or thought that they saw, that one concession led
+always to a fresh demand, and that the Dutch republics aimed not
+merely at equality, but at dominance in South Africa. Professor
+Bryce, a friendly critic, after a personal examination of the country<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+and the question, has left it upon record that the Boers saw
+neither generosity nor humanity in our conduct, but only fear.
+An outspoken race, they conveyed their feelings to their neighbours.
+Can it be wondered at that South Africa has been in a
+ferment ever since, and that the British Africander has yearned
+with an intensity of feeling unknown in England for the hour of
+revenge?</p>
+
+<p>The Government of the Transvaal after the war was left in
+the hands of a triumvirate, but after one year Kruger became
+President, an office which he continued to hold for eighteen
+years. His career as ruler vindicates the wisdom of that wise but
+unwritten provision of the American Constitution by which there is
+a limit to the tenure of this office. Continued rule for half a
+generation must turn a man into an autocrat. The old President
+has said himself, in his homely but shrewd way, that when one
+gets a good ox to lead the team it is a pity to change him. If a
+good ox, however, is left to choose his own direction without
+guidance, he may draw his wagon into trouble.</p>
+
+<p>During three years the little State showed signs of a tumultuous
+activity. Considering that it was larger than France and that the
+population could not have been more than fifty thousand, one would
+have thought that they might have found room without any
+inconvenient crowding. But the burghers passed beyond their
+borders in every direction. The President cried aloud that he
+had been shut up in a kraal, and he proceeded to find ways out
+of it. A great trek was projected for the north, but fortunately
+it miscarried. To the east they raided Zululand, and succeeded,
+in defiance of the British settlement of that country, in tearing
+away one-third of it and adding it to the Transvaal. To the west,
+with no regard to the three-year-old treaty, they invaded Bechuanaland,
+and set up the two new republics of Goshen and Stellaland.
+So outrageous were these proceedings that Great Britain
+was forced to fit out in 1884 a new expedition under Sir Charles
+Warren for the purpose of turning these freebooters out of the
+country. It may be asked, Why should these men be called freebooters
+if the founders of Rhodesia were pioneers? The answer
+is that the Transvaal was limited by treaty to certain boundaries
+which these men transgressed, while no pledges were broken
+when the British power expanded to the north. The upshot of
+these trespasses was the scene upon which every drama of South
+Africa rings down. Once more the purse was drawn from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
+pocket of the unhappy taxpayer, and a million or so was paid out
+to defray the expenses of the police force necessary to keep these
+treaty-breakers in order. Let this be borne in mind when we
+assess the moral and material damage done to the Transvaal by
+the Jameson Raid.</p>
+
+<p>In 1884 a deputation from the Transvaal visited England, and
+at their solicitation the clumsy Treaty of Pretoria was altered into
+the still more clumsy Convention of London. The changes in the
+provisions were all in favour of the Boers, and a second successful
+war could hardly have given them more than Lord Derby handed
+them in time of peace. Their style was altered from the Transvaal
+to the South African Republic, a change which was ominously
+suggestive of expansion in the future. The control of Great
+Britain over their foreign policy was also relaxed, though a power
+of veto was retained. But the most important thing of all, and
+the fruitful cause of future trouble, lay in an omission. A suzerainty
+is a vague term, but in politics, as in theology, the more
+nebulous a thing is the more does it excite the imagination and
+the passions of men. This suzerainty was declared in the preamble
+of the first treaty, and no mention of it was made in the
+second. Was it thereby abrogated or was it not? The British
+contention is that only the articles were changed, and that the
+preamble continued to hold good for both treaties. They point
+out that not only the suzerainty, but also the independence, of
+the Transvaal is proclaimed in that preamble, and that if one
+lapses the other must do so also. On the other hand, the Boers
+point to the fact that there is actually a preamble to the second
+convention, which would seem, therefore, to take the place of the
+first. As a matter of fact, the discussion is a barren one, since
+both parties agree that Great Britain retained certain rights over
+the making of treaties by the Republic, which rights place her in
+a different position to an entirely independent state. Whether
+this difference amounts to a suzerainty or not is a subject for
+the academic discussion of international jurists. What is of
+importance is the fact, not the word.</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h2><small>THE CAUSE OF QUARREL</small></h2>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Gold</span> had been known to exist in the Transvaal before, but it was
+only in 1886 that it was realised that the deposits which lie some
+thirty miles south of the capital are of a very extraordinary and
+valuable nature. The proportion of gold in the quartz is not
+particularly high, nor are the veins of a remarkable thickness, but
+the peculiarity of the Rand mines lies in the fact that throughout
+this 'banket' formation the metal is so uniformly distributed
+that the enterprise can claim a certainty which is not usually
+associated with the industry. It is quarrying rather than mining.
+Add to this that the reefs which were originally worked as outcrops
+have now been traced to enormous depths, and present the
+same features as those at the surface. A conservative estimate of
+the value of the gold has placed it at seven hundred millions of
+pounds.</p>
+
+<p>Such a discovery produced the inevitable effect. A great
+number of adventurers flocked into the country, some desirable
+and some very much the reverse. There were circumstances,
+however, which kept away the rowdy and desperado element who
+usually make for a newly-opened goldfield. It was not a class of
+mining which encouraged the individual adventurer. It was a
+field for elaborate machinery, which could only be provided by
+capital. Managers, engineers, miners, technical experts, and the
+tradesmen and middlemen who live upon them, these were
+the Uitlanders, drawn from all races under the sun, but with
+the Anglo-Celtic vastly predominant. The best engineers were
+American, the best miners were Cornish, the best managers were
+English, the money to run the mines was largely subscribed in
+England. As time went on, however, the German and French
+interests became more extensive, until their joint holdings are
+now probably as heavy as those of the British. Soon the population
+of the mining centres became about as numerous as that of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span>
+the whole Boer community, and consisted mainly of men in the
+prime of life&mdash;men, too, of exceptional intelligence and energy.</p>
+
+<p>The situation was an extraordinary one. I have already attempted
+to bring the problem home to an American by suggesting
+that the Dutch of New York had trekked west and founded an
+anti-American and highly unprogressive State. To carry out the
+analogy we will now suppose that that State was California, that
+the gold of that State attracted a large inrush of American
+citizens, that these citizens were heavily taxed and badly used,
+and that they deafened Washington with their outcry about their
+injuries. That would be a fair parallel to the relations between
+the Transvaal, the Uitlanders, and the British Government.</p>
+
+<p>That these Uitlanders had very real and pressing grievances
+no one could possibly deny. To recount them all would be a
+formidable task, for their whole lives were darkened by injustice.
+There was not a wrong which had driven the Boer from Cape
+Colony which he did not now practise himself upon others&mdash;and
+a wrong may be excusable in 1835 which is monstrous in 1895.
+The primitive virtue which had characterised the farmers broke
+down in the face of temptation. The country Boers were little
+affected, some of them not at all, but the Pretoria Government
+became a most corrupt oligarchy, venal and incompetent
+to the last degree. Officials and imported Hollanders handled
+the stream of gold which came in from the mines, while the
+unfortunate Uitlander who paid nine-tenths of the taxation was
+fleeced at every turn, and met with laughter and taunts when he
+endeavoured to win the franchise by which he might peaceably
+set right the wrongs from which he suffered. He was not an
+unreasonable person. On the contrary, he was patient to the
+verge of meekness, as capital is likely to be when it is surrounded
+by rifles. But his situation was intolerable, and after successive
+attempts at peaceful agitation, and numerous humble petitions to
+the Volksraad, he began at last to realise that he would never
+obtain redress unless he could find some way of winning it for
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>Without attempting to enumerate all the wrongs which
+embittered the Uitlanders, the more serious of them may be
+summed up in this way:</p>
+
+<p>1. That they were heavily taxed and provided about seven-eighths
+of the revenue of the country. The revenue of the South
+African Republic&mdash;which had been 154,000<i>l.</i> in 1886, when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+goldfields were opened&mdash;had grown in 1899 to four million
+pounds, and the country through the industry of the new-comers
+had changed from one of the poorest to the richest in the whole
+world (per head of population).</p>
+
+<p>2. That in spite of this prosperity which they had brought,
+they were left without a vote, and could by no means influence
+the disposal of the great sums which they were providing.
+Such a case of taxation without representation has never been
+known.</p>
+
+<p>3. That they had no voice in the choice or payment of
+officials. Men of the worst private character might be placed
+with complete authority over valuable interests. The total official
+salaries had risen in 1899 to a sum sufficient to pay 40<i>l.</i> per head
+to the entire male Boer population.</p>
+
+<p>4. That they had no control over education. Mr. John
+Robinson, the Director-General of the Johannesburg Educational
+Council, has reckoned the sum spent on the Uitlander schools as
+650<i>l.</i> out of 63,000<i>l.</i> allotted for education, making 1<i>s.</i> 10<i>d.</i> per
+head per annum on Uitlander children, and 8<i>l.</i> 6<i>s.</i> per head
+on Boer children&mdash;the Uitlander, as always, paying seven-eighths
+of the original sum.</p>
+
+<p>5. No power of municipal government. Watercarts instead
+of pipes, filthy buckets instead of drains, a corrupt and violent
+police, a high death-rate in what should be a health resort&mdash;all
+this in a city which they had built themselves.</p>
+
+<p>6. Despotic government in the matter of the Press and of the
+right of public meeting.</p>
+
+<p>7. Disability from service upon a jury.</p>
+
+<p>8. Continual harassing of the mining interest by vexatious
+legislation. Under this head come many grievances, some special
+to the mines and some affecting all Uitlanders. The dynamite
+monopoly, by which the miners had to pay 600,000<i>l.</i> extra per
+annum in order to get a worse quality of dynamite; the liquor
+laws, by which the Kaffirs were allowed to be habitually drunk;
+the incompetence and extortions of the State-owned railway; the
+granting of concessions for numerous articles of ordinary consumption
+to individuals, by which high prices were maintained; the
+surrounding of Johannesburg by tolls from which the town had
+no profit&mdash;these were among the economical grievances, some
+large, some petty, which ramified through every transaction of
+life. These are the wrongs which Mr. W. T. Stead has described<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+as 'the twopenny-halfpenny grievances of a handful of Englishmen.'</p>
+
+<p>The manner in which the blood was sucked from the Uitlanders,
+and the rapid spread of wealth among the Boer officials, may be
+gathered from the list of the salaries of the State servants from
+the opening of the mines to the outbreak of the war:</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table class="hd1" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td class="td4">&nbsp;</td><td class="center">&pound;</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1886</td><td class="td2">51,831</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1887</td><td class="td2">99,083</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1888</td><td class="td2">164,466</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1889</td><td class="td2">249,641</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1890</td><td class="td2">324,520</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1891</td><td class="td2">332,888</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1892</td><td class="td2">323,608</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1893</td><td class="td2">361,275</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1894</td><td class="td2">419,775</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1895</td><td class="td2">570,047</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1896</td><td class="td2">813,029</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1897</td><td class="td2">996,959</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1898</td><td class="td2">1,080,382</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">1899</td><td class="td2">1,216,394</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p class="noin">which shows, as Mr. FitzPatrick has pointed out, that the salary
+list had become twenty-four times what it was when the Uitlanders
+arrived, and five times as much as the total revenue was then.</p>
+
+<p>But outside and beyond all the definite wrongs from which
+they suffered, there was a constant irritation to freeborn and progressive
+men, accustomed to liberal institutions, that they should
+be despotically ruled by a body of men some of whom were
+ignorant bigots, some of them buffoons, and nearly all of them
+openly and shamelessly corrupt. Out of twenty-five members of
+the First Volksraad twenty-one were, in the case of the Selati Railway
+Company, publicly and circumstantially accused of bribery,
+with full details of the bribes received, their date, and who paid
+them. The black-list includes the present vice-president, Schalk
+Burger; the vice-president of that date; Eloff, the son-in-law of
+Kruger; and the secretary of the Volksraad. Apparently every
+man of the executive and the legislature had his price.</p>
+
+<p>A corrupt assembly is an evil master, but when it is narrow-minded
+and bigoted as well, it becomes indeed intolerable. The
+following tit-bits from the debates in the two Raads show the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+intelligence and spirit of the men who were ruling over one of
+the most progressive communities in the world:</p>
+
+<p>'Pillar-boxes in Pretoria were opposed on the grounds that they
+were extravagant and effeminate. Deputy Taljaard said that he
+could not see why people wanted to be always writing letters; he
+wrote none himself. In the days of his youth he had written a
+letter and had not been afraid to travel fifty miles and more on
+horseback and by wagon to post it&mdash;and now people complained if
+they had to go one mile.'</p>
+
+<p>A debate on the possibility of decreasing the plague of locusts
+led to the following enlightened discussion:</p>
+
+<p>'<i>July 21.</i>&mdash;Mr. Roos said locusts were a plague, as in the days
+of King Pharaoh, sent by God, and the country would assuredly
+be loaded with shame and obloquy if it tried to raise its hand
+against the mighty hand of the Almighty.</p>
+
+<p>'Messrs. Declerq and Steenkamp spoke in the same strain,
+quoting largely from the Scriptures.</p>
+
+<p>'The Chairman related a true story of a man whose farm was
+always spared by the locusts, until one day he caused some to be
+killed. His farm was then devastated.</p>
+
+<p>'Mr. Stoop conjured the members not to constitute themselves
+terrestrial gods and oppose the Almighty.</p>
+
+<p>'Mr. Lucas Meyer raised a storm by ridiculing the arguments
+of the former speakers, and comparing the locusts to beasts of
+prey which they destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>'Mr. Labuschagne was violent. He said the locusts were quite
+different from beasts of prey. They were a special plague sent
+by God for their sinfulness.'</p>
+
+<p>In a further debate:</p>
+
+<p>'Mr. Jan de Beer complained of the lack of uniformity in
+neckties. Some wore a Tom Thumb variety, and others wore
+scarves. This was a state of things to be deplored, and he considered
+that the Raad should put its foot down and define the size
+and shape of neckties.'</p>
+
+<p>The following note of a debate gives some idea of how far the
+legislators were qualified to deal with commercial questions:</p>
+
+<p>'<i>May 8.</i>&mdash;On the application of the Sheba G. M. Co. for permission
+to erect an a&euml;rial tram from the mine to the mill,</p>
+
+<p>'Mr. Grobelaar asked whether an a&euml;rial tram was a balloon or
+whether it could fly through the air.</p>
+
+<p>'The only objection that the Chairman had to urge against<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+granting the tram was that the Company had an English name,
+and that with so many Dutch ones available.</p>
+
+<p>'Mr. Taljaard objected to the word "participeeren" (participate)
+as not being Dutch, and to him unintelligible: "I can't
+believe the word is Dutch; why have I never come across it in
+the Bible if it is?"</p>
+
+<p>'<i>June 18.</i>&mdash;On the application for a concession to treat
+tailings,</p>
+
+<p>'Mr. Taljaard wished to know if the words "pyrites" and
+"concentrates" could not be translated into the Dutch language.
+He could not understand what it meant. He had gone to night-school
+as long as he had been in Pretoria, and even now he could
+not explain everything to his burghers. He thought it a shame
+that big hills should be made on ground under which there might
+be rich reefs, and which in future might be required for a market
+or outspan. He would support the recommendation on condition
+that the name of the quartz should be translated into Dutch, as
+there might be more in this than some of them imagined.'</p>
+
+<p>Such debates as these may be amusing at a distance, but they
+are less entertaining when they come from an autocrat who has
+complete power over the conditions of your life.</p>
+
+<p>From the fact that they were a community extremely preoccupied
+by their own business, it followed that the Uitlanders
+were not ardent politicians, and that they desired to have a share
+in the government of the State for the purpose of making the
+conditions of their own industry and of their own daily lives more
+endurable. How far there was need of such an interference may
+be judged by any fair-minded man who reads the list of their
+complaints. A superficial view may recognise the Boers as the
+champions of liberty, but a deeper insight must see that they (as
+represented by their elected rulers) have in truth stood for all
+that history has shown to be odious in the form of exclusiveness
+and oppression. Their conception of liberty has been a narrow
+and selfish one, and they have consistently inflicted upon others
+far heavier wrongs than those against which they had themselves
+rebelled.</p>
+
+<p>As the mines increased in importance and the miners in
+numbers, it was found that these political disabilities affected
+some of that cosmopolitan crowd far more than others, in proportion
+to the amount of freedom to which their home institutions
+had made them accustomed. The Continental Uitlanders were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
+more patient of that which was unendurable to the American and
+the Briton. The Americans, however, were in so great a minority
+that it was upon the British that the brunt of the struggle for
+freedom fell. Apart from the fact that the British were more
+numerous than all the other Uitlanders combined, there were
+special reasons why they should feel their humiliating position
+more than the members of any other race. In the first place,
+many of the British were British South Africans, who knew that
+in the neighbouring countries which gave them birth the most
+liberal possible institutions had been given to the kinsmen of
+these very Boers who were refusing them the management of
+their own drains and water-supply. And again, every Briton
+knew that Great Britain claimed to be the paramount Power in
+South Africa, and so he felt as if his own land, to which he might
+have looked for protection, was conniving at and acquiescing in
+his ill-treatment. As citizens of the paramount Power, it was
+peculiarly galling that they should be held in political subjection.
+The British, therefore, were the most persistent and energetic of
+the agitators.</p>
+
+<p>But it is a poor cause which cannot bear to fairly state and
+honestly consider the case of its opponents. The Boers had
+made, as has been briefly shown, great efforts to establish a
+country of their own. They had travelled far, worked hard, and
+fought bravely. After all their efforts they were fated to see an
+influx of strangers into their country, some of them men of
+questionable character, who threatened to outnumber the original
+inhabitants. If the franchise were granted to these, there could
+be no doubt that, though at first the Boers might control a
+majority of the votes, it was only a question of time before the
+new-comers would dominate the Raad and elect their own
+President, who might adopt a policy abhorrent to the original
+owners of the land. Were the Boers to lose by the ballot-box the
+victory which they had won by their rifles? Was it fair to
+expect it? These new-comers came for gold. They got their
+gold. Their companies paid a hundred per cent. Was not that
+enough to satisfy them? If they did not like the country, why
+did they not leave it? No one compelled them to stay there.
+But if they stayed, let them be thankful that they were tolerated
+at all, and not presume to interfere with the laws of those by
+whose courtesy they were allowed to enter the country.</p>
+
+<p>That is a fair statement of the Boer position, and at first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+sight an impartial man might say that there was a good deal to
+say for it; but a closer examination would show that, though
+it might be tenable in theory, it is unjust and impossible in
+practice.</p>
+
+<p>In the present crowded state of the world a policy of Thibet
+may be carried out in some obscure corner, but it cannot be done
+in a great tract of country which lies right across the main line
+of industrial progress. The position is too absolutely artificial.
+A handful of people by the right of conquest take possession of
+an enormous country over which they are dotted at such intervals
+that it is their boast that one farmhouse cannot see the smoke of
+another, and yet, though their numbers are so disproportionate to
+the area which they cover, they refuse to admit any other people
+upon equal terms, but claim to be a privileged class who shall
+dominate the new-comers completely. They are outnumbered in
+their own land by immigrants who are far more highly educated
+and progressive, and yet they hold them down in a way which
+exists nowhere else upon earth. What is their right? The right
+of conquest. Then the same right may be justly invoked to
+reverse so intolerable a situation. This they would themselves
+acknowledge. 'Come on and fight! Come on!' cried a member
+of the Volksraad when the franchise petition of the Uitlanders
+was presented. 'Protest! Protest! What is the good of
+protesting?' said Kruger to Mr. W. Y. Campbell; 'you have
+not got the guns, I have.' There was always the final court
+of appeal. Judge Creusot and Judge Mauser were always
+behind the President.</p>
+
+<p>Again, the argument of the Boers would be more valid had
+they received no benefit from these immigrants. If they had
+ignored them they might fairly have stated that they did not
+desire their presence. But even while they protested they grew
+rich at the Uitlanders' expense. They could not have it both
+ways. It would be consistent to discourage him and not profit
+by him, or to make him comfortable and build the State upon
+his money; but to ill-treat him and at the same time grow
+strong by his taxation must surely be an injustice.</p>
+
+<p>And again, the whole argument is based upon the narrow
+racial supposition that every naturalised citizen not of Boer
+extraction must necessarily be unpatriotic. This is not borne
+out by the examples of history. The new-comer soon becomes as
+proud of his country and as jealous of her liberty as the old.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
+Had President Kruger given the franchise generously to the
+Uitlander, his pyramid would have been firm upon its base and
+not balanced upon its apex. It is true that the corrupt oligarchy
+would have vanished, and the spirit of a broader, more tolerant
+freedom influenced the counsels of the State. But the republic
+would have become stronger and more permanent with a population
+who, if they differed in details, were united in essentials.
+Whether such a solution would have been to the advantage of
+British interests in South Africa is quite another question. In
+more ways than one President Kruger has been a good friend to
+the Empire.</p>
+
+<p>At the time of the Convention of Pretoria (1881) the rights of
+burghership might be obtained by one year's residence. In 1882
+it was raised to five years, the reasonable limit which obtains
+both in Great Britain and in the United States. Had it remained
+so, it is safe to say that there would never have been
+either an Uitlander question or a war. Grievances would have
+been righted from the inside without external interference.</p>
+
+<p>In 1890 the inrush of outsiders alarmed the Boers, and the
+franchise was raised so as to be only attainable by those who had
+lived fourteen years in the country. The Uitlanders, who were
+increasing rapidly in numbers and were suffering from the
+formidable list of grievances already enumerated, perceived that
+their wrongs were so numerous that it was hopeless to have them
+set right seriatim, and that only by obtaining the leverage of the
+franchise could they hope to move the heavy burden which
+weighed them down. In 1893 a petition of 13,000 Uitlanders,
+couched in most respectful terms, was submitted to the Raad,
+but met with contemptuous neglect. Undeterred, however, by
+this failure, the National Reform Union, an association which
+was not one of capitalists, came back to the attack in 1894. They
+drew up a petition which was signed by 35,000 adult male
+Uitlanders, as great a number probably as the total Boer male
+population of the country. A small liberal body in the Raad
+supported this memorial and endeavoured in vain to obtain some
+justice for the new-comers. Mr. Jeppe was the mouthpiece of
+this select band. 'They own half the soil, they pay at least three-quarters
+of the taxes,' said he. 'They are men who in capital,
+energy, and education are at least our equals. What will become
+of us or our children on that day when we may find ourselves
+in a minority of one in twenty without a single friend among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
+the other nineteen, among those who will then tell us that they
+wished to be brothers, but that we by our own act have made
+them strangers to the republic?' Such reasonable and liberal
+sentiments were combated by members who asserted that the
+signatures could not belong to law-abiding citizens, since they
+were actually agitating against the law of the franchise, and
+others whose intolerance was expressed by the defiance of the
+member already quoted, who challenged the Uitlanders to come
+out and fight. The champions of exclusiveness and racial hatred
+won the day. The memorial was rejected by sixteen votes to
+eight, and the franchise law was, on the initiative of the President,
+actually made more stringent than ever, being framed in
+such a way that during the fourteen years of probation the
+applicant should give up his previous nationality, so that for that
+period he would belong to no country at all. No hopes
+were held out that any possible attitude upon the part of the
+Uitlanders would soften the determination of the President and
+his burghers. One who remonstrated was led outside the State
+buildings by the President, who pointed up at the national flag.
+'You see that flag?' said he. 'If I grant the franchise, I may
+as well pull it down.' His animosity against the immigrants was
+bitter. 'Burghers, friends, thieves, murderers, new-comers, and
+others,' is the conciliatory opening of one of his public addresses.
+Though Johannesburg is only thirty-two miles from Pretoria, and
+though the State of which he was the head depended for its
+revenue upon the goldfields, he paid it only three visits in nine
+years.</p>
+
+<p>This settled animosity was deplorable, but not unnatural. A
+man imbued with the idea of a chosen people, and unread in any
+book save the one which cultivates this very idea, could not be
+expected to have learned the historical lessons of the advantages
+which a State reaps from a liberal policy. To him it was as if
+the Ammonites and Moabites had demanded admission into the
+twelve tribes. He mistook an agitation against the exclusive
+policy of the State for one against the existence of the State itself.
+A wide franchise would have made his republic firm-based and
+permanent. It was a minority of the Uitlanders who had any
+desire to come into the British system. They were a cosmopolitan
+crowd, only united by the bond of a common injustice.
+The majority of the British immigrants had no desire to subvert
+the State. But when every other method had failed, and their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span>
+petition for the rights of freemen had been flung back at them, it
+was natural that their eyes should turn to that flag which waved
+to the north, the west, and the south of them&mdash;the flag which
+means purity of government with equal rights and equal duties
+for all men. Constitutional agitation was laid aside, arms were
+smuggled in, and everything prepared for an organised rising.</p>
+
+<p>It had been arranged that the town was to rise upon a certain
+night, that Pretoria should be attacked, the fort seized, and the
+rifles and ammunition, used to arm the Uitlanders. It was a
+feasible device, though it must seem to us, who have had such
+an experience of the military virtues of the burghers, a very
+desperate one. But it is conceivable that the rebels might have
+held Johannesburg until the universal sympathy which their
+cause excited throughout South Africa would have caused Great
+Britain to intervene. Unfortunately they had complicated
+matters by asking for outside help. Mr. Cecil Rhodes was
+Premier of the Cape, a man of immense energy, and one who had
+rendered great services to the empire. The motives of his action
+are obscure&mdash;certainly, we may say that they were not sordid,
+for he has always been a man whose thoughts were large and
+whose habits were simple. But whatever they may have been&mdash;whether
+an ill-regulated desire to consolidate South Africa under
+British rule, or a burning sympathy with the Uitlanders in their
+fight against injustice&mdash;it is certain that he allowed his lieutenant,
+Dr. Jameson, to assemble the mounted police of the Chartered
+Company, of which Rhodes was founder and director, for the
+purpose of co-operating with the rebels at Johannesburg. Moreover,
+when the revolt at Johannesburg was postponed, on account
+of a disagreement as to which flag they were to rise under, it
+appears that Jameson (with or without the orders of Rhodes)
+forced the hand of the conspirators by invading the country with
+a force absurdly inadequate to the work which he had taken in
+hand. Five hundred policemen and two field-guns made up the
+forlorn hope who started from near Mafeking and crossed the
+Transvaal border upon December 29, 1895. On January 2 they
+were surrounded by the Boers amid the broken country near
+Dornkop, and after losing many of their number killed and
+wounded, without food and with spent horses, they were compelled
+to lay down their arms. Six burghers lost their lives in
+the skirmish.</p>
+
+<p>Determined attempts have been made to connect the British<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+Government with this fiasco, and to pretend that the Colonial
+Secretary and other statesmen were cognisant of it. Such an
+impression has been fostered by the apparent reluctance of the
+Commission of Inquiry to push their researches to the uttermost.
+It is much to be regretted that every possible telegram and letter
+should not have been called for upon that occasion; but the idea
+that this was not done for fear that Mr. Chamberlain and the
+British Government would be implicated, becomes absurd in the
+presence of the fact that the Commission included among its members
+Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Sir William Harcourt.
+Is it conceivable that these gentlemen held their hands for fear
+of damaging the Government, or that Mr. Chamberlain could
+afterwards have the effrontery to publicly and solemnly deny all
+knowledge of the business in the presence of gentlemen who had
+connived at the suppression of the proofs that he <i>did</i> know?
+Such a supposition is ridiculous, and yet it is involved in the
+theory that the Commission refrained from pushing their examination
+because they were afraid of showing their country to have
+been in the wrong.</p>
+
+<p>Again, even the most embittered enemy of Mr. Chamberlain
+must admit that he is a clear-headed man, a man of resolution,
+and a man with some sense of proportion as to the means which
+should be used for an end. Is such a man, knowing the military
+record of the burghers, the sort of man to connive at the invasion
+of their country by 500 policemen and two guns? Would he
+be likely, even if he approved of the general aim, to sanction
+such a harebrained piece of folly? And, having sanctioned it,
+would he be so weak of purpose as to take energetic steps, the
+instant that he heard of the invasion, to undo that which he
+is supposed himself to have done, and to cause the failure of
+his own scheme? Why should he on such a supposition send
+energetic messages to Johannesburg forbidding the British to
+co-operate with the raiders? The whole accusation is so absurd
+that it is only the mania of party spite or of national hatred
+which could induce anyone to believe it.</p>
+
+<p>Again, supposing for an instant that the British Government
+knew anything about the coming raid, what is the first and most
+obvious thing which they would have done? Whether Jameson
+got safely to Johannesburg or not there was evidently a probability
+of a great race-struggle in South Africa. Would they not then,
+on some pretext or another, have increased the strength of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+British force in the country, which was so weak that it was powerless
+to influence the course of events? It is certain that this is
+so. But nothing of the kind was done.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Chamberlain's own denial is clear and emphatic:</p>
+
+<p>'I desire to say in the most explicit manner that I had not
+then, and that I never had, any knowledge, or until, I think it
+was the day before the actual raid took place, the slightest suspicion
+of anything in the nature of a hostile or armed invasion
+of the Transvaal.'&mdash;(British South Africa Committee, 1897. Q.
+6223.)</p>
+
+<p>The Earl of Selborne, Under-Secretary of State for the
+Colonies, was no less explicit:</p>
+
+<p>'Neither then nor at any subsequent period prior to the raid
+did we know of what is now called "Jameson's plan," nor that the
+revolution at Johannesburg was being largely controlled and
+financed from Cape Colony and Rhodesia.... Sir Hercules
+Robinson had no suspicion of what was impending, nor apparently
+President Kruger, nor Mr. Hofmeyr, nor any public man in South
+Africa, except those who were preparing the plan. At any rate
+the fact remains that from no quarter did the Colonial Office
+receive any warning. I submit, therefore, it would have been a
+most extraordinary thing if any suspicion had occurred to us.'</p>
+
+<p>The finding of the Committee&mdash;a Committee composed of men
+of all parties, some of whom, as we know, were yearning 'to give
+Joe a fall'&mdash;was unanimous in condemning the raid and equally
+unanimous in exonerating the Government from any knowledge of
+it. Their Report said:</p>
+
+<p>'Your Committee fully accept the statements of the Secretary
+of State for the Colonies, and of the Under-Secretary, and entirely
+exonerate the officials of the Colonial Office of having been
+in any sense cognisant of the plans which led up to the incursion
+of Dr. Jameson's force into the South African Republic....</p>
+
+<p>'Neither the Secretary of State for the Colonies, nor any of
+the officials of the Colonial Office received any information which
+made them, or should have made them, or any of them, aware of
+the plot during its development.'</p>
+
+<p>And yet to this day it is one of the articles of faith of a few
+crack-brained fanatics in this country, and of many ill-informed
+and prejudiced editors upon the Continent, that the British
+Government was responsible for the raid.</p>
+
+<p>The Uitlanders have been severely criticised for not having<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
+sent out a force to help Jameson in his difficulties, but it is
+impossible to see how they could have acted in any other manner.
+They had done all they could to prevent Jameson coming to their
+relief, and now it was rather unreasonable to suppose that they
+should relieve their reliever. Indeed, they had an entirely exaggerated
+idea of the strength of the force which he was bringing,
+and received the news of his capture with incredulity. When it
+became confirmed they rose, but in a half-hearted fashion which
+was not due to want of courage, but to the difficulties of their
+position. On the one hand the British Government disowned
+Jameson entirely, and did all it could to discourage the rising; on
+the other, the President had the raiders in his keeping at Pretoria,
+and let it be understood that their fate depended upon the
+behaviour of the Uitlanders. They were led to believe that Jameson
+would be shot unless they laid down their arms, though, as a
+matter of fact, Jameson and his people had surrendered upon a
+promise of quarter. So skilfully did Kruger use his hostages
+that he succeeded, with the help of the British Commissioner, in
+getting the thousands of excited Johannesburgers to lay down their
+arms without bloodshed. Completely out-man&#339;uvred by the
+astute old President, the leaders of the reform movement used all
+their influence in the direction of peace, thinking that a general
+amnesty would follow; but the moment that they and their
+people were helpless the detectives and armed burghers occupied
+the town, and sixty of their number were hurried to Pretoria
+Gaol.</p>
+
+<p>To the raiders themselves the President behaved with
+generosity. Perhaps he could not find it in his heart to be
+harsh to the men who had managed to put him in the right and
+won for him the sympathy of the world. His own illiberal and
+oppressive treatment of the new-comers was forgotten in the face
+of this illegal inroad of filibusters. The true issues were so
+obscured by this intrusion that it has taken years to clear them,
+and perhaps they will never be wholly cleared. It was forgotten
+that it was the bad government of the country which was the real
+cause of the unfortunate raid. From then onwards the government
+might grow worse and worse, but it was always possible to
+point to the raid as justifying everything. Were the Uitlanders
+to have the franchise? How could they expect it after the raid?
+Would Britain object to the enormous importation of arms and
+obvious preparations for war? They were only precautions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+against a second raid. For years the raid stood in the way, not
+only of all progress, but of all remonstrance. Through an action
+over which they had no control, and which they had done their
+best to prevent, the British Government was left with a bad case
+and a weakened moral authority.</p>
+
+<p>The raiders were sent home, where the rank and file were
+very properly released, and the chief officers were condemned to
+terms of imprisonment which certainly did not err upon the side
+of severity. In the meantime, both President Kruger and his
+burghers had shown a greater severity to the political prisoners
+from Johannesburg than to the armed followers of Jameson. The
+nationality of these prisoners is interesting and suggestive. There
+were twenty-three Englishmen, sixteen South Africans, nine
+Scotchmen, six Americans, two Welshmen, one Irishman, one
+Australian, one Hollander, one Bavarian, one Canadian, one
+Swiss, and one Turk. The list is sufficient comment upon the
+assertion that only the British Uitlanders made serious complaints
+of subjection and injustice. The prisoners were arrested
+in January, but the trial did not take place until the end of
+April. All were found guilty of high treason. Mr. Lionel
+Phillips, Colonel Rhodes (brother of Mr. Cecil Rhodes), George
+Farrar, and Mr. Hammond, the American engineer, were condemned
+to death, a sentence which was afterwards commuted to
+the payment of an enormous fine. The other prisoners were
+condemned to two years' imprisonment, with a fine of 2,000<i>l.</i>
+each. The imprisonment was of the most arduous and trying
+sort, and was embittered by the harshness of the gaoler, Du
+Plessis. One of the unfortunate men cut his throat, and several
+fell seriously ill, the diet and the sanitary conditions being equally
+unhealthy. At last, at the end of May, all the prisoners but
+six were released. Four of the six soon followed, two stalwarts,
+Sampson and Davies, refusing to sign any petition and remaining
+in prison until they were set free in 1897. Altogether the Transvaal
+Government received in fines from the reform prisoners the
+enormous sum of 212,000<i>l.</i> A certain comic relief was immediately
+afterwards given to so grave an episode by the presentation
+of a bill to Great Britain for 1,677,938<i>l.</i> 3<i>s.</i> 3<i>d.</i>&mdash;the greater
+part of which was under the heading of moral and intellectual
+damage. It is to be feared that even the 3<i>s.</i> 3<i>d.</i> remains still
+unpaid.</p>
+
+<p>The raid was past and the reform movement was past, but the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+causes which produced them both remained. It is hardly conceivable
+that a statesman who loved his country would have
+refrained from making some effort to remove a state of things
+which had already caused such grave dangers, and which must
+obviously become more serious with every year that passed. But
+Paul Kruger had hardened his heart, and was not to be moved.
+The grievances of the Uitlanders became heavier than ever. The
+one power in the land to which they had been able to appeal
+for some sort of redress amid their troubles was the law courts.
+Now it was decreed that the courts should be dependent on the
+Volksraad. The Chief Justice protested against such a degradation
+of his high office, and he was dismissed in consequence
+without a pension. The judge who had condemned the reformers
+was chosen to fill the vacancy, and the protection of a fixed law
+was withdrawn from the Uitlanders.</p>
+
+<p>A commission appointed by the State was sent to examine
+into the condition of the mining industry and the grievances from
+which the new-comers suffered. The chairman was Mr. Schalk
+Burger, one of the most liberal of the Boers, and the proceedings
+were thorough and impartial. The result was a report which
+amply vindicated the reformers, and suggested remedies which
+would have gone a long way towards satisfying the Uitlanders.
+With such enlightened legislation their motives for seeking the
+franchise would have been less pressing. But the President and
+his Raad would have none of the recommendations of the commission.
+The rugged old autocrat declared that Schalk Burger was
+a traitor to his country for having signed such a document, and a
+new reactionary committee was chosen to report upon the report.
+Words and papers were the only outcome of the affair. No
+amelioration came to the new-comers. But at least they had again
+put their case publicly upon record, and it had been endorsed by
+the most respected of the burghers. Gradually in the press of
+the English-speaking countries the raid was ceasing to obscure
+the issue. More and more clearly it was coming out that no
+permanent settlement was possible where half the population
+was oppressed by the other half. They had tried peaceful
+means and failed. They had tried warlike means and failed.
+What was there left for them to do? Their own country,
+the paramount power of South Africa, had never helped them.
+Perhaps if it were directly appealed to it might do so. It could
+not, if only for the sake of its own imperial prestige, leave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+its children for ever in a state of subjection. The small spark
+which caused a final explosion came from the shooting of a
+British subject named Edgar by a Boer policeman, Jones, in
+Johannesburg. The action of the policeman was upheld by the
+authorities, and the British felt that their lives were no longer
+safe in the presence of an armed overbearing police. At
+another time the incident might have been of no great importance,
+but at that moment it seemed to be taken as the crowning
+example of the injustice under which the miners suffered. A
+meeting of protest called by the British residents was broken up by
+gangs of workmen under Boer officials. Driven to desperation the
+Uitlanders determined upon a petition to Queen Victoria, and in
+doing so they brought their grievances out of the limits of a local
+controversy into the broader field of international politics. Great
+Britain must either protect them or acknowledge that their protection
+was beyond her power. A direct petition to the Queen
+praying for protection was signed in April 1899 by 21,000
+Uitlanders.</p>
+
+<p>The lines which this historical petition took may be judged
+from the following excerpt:</p>
+
+<p>'The condition of Your Majesty's subjects in this State has
+indeed become well-nigh intolerable.</p>
+
+<p>'The acknowledged and admitted grievances of which Your
+Majesty's subjects complained prior to 1895, not only are not redressed,
+but exist to-day in an aggravated form. They are still
+deprived of all political rights, they are denied any voice in the
+government of the country, they are taxed far above the requirements
+of the country, the revenue of which is misapplied and
+devoted to objects which keep alive a continuous and well-founded
+feeling of irritation, without in any way advancing the general
+interest of the State. Maladministration and peculation of public
+moneys go hand-in-hand, without any vigorous measures being
+adopted to put a stop to the scandal. The education of Uitlander
+children is made subject to impossible conditions. The police
+afford no adequate protection to the lives and property of the
+inhabitants of Johannesburg; they are rather a source of danger
+to the peace and safety of the Uitlander population.</p>
+
+<p>'A further grievance has become prominent since the beginning
+of the year. The power vested in the Government by means
+of the Public Meetings Act has been a menace to Your Majesty's
+subjects since the enactment of the Act in 1894. This power has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+now been applied in order to deliver a blow that strikes at the
+inherent and inalienable birthright of every British subject&mdash;namely,
+his right to petition his Sovereign. Straining to the
+utmost the language and intention of the law, the Government
+have arrested two British subjects who assisted in presenting a
+petition to Your Majesty on behalf of four thousand fellow-subjects.
+Not content with this, the Government, when Your
+Majesty's loyal subjects again attempted to lay their grievances
+before Your Majesty, permitted their meeting to be broken up,
+and the objects of it to be defeated, by a body of Boers, organised
+by Government officials and acting under the protection of the
+police. By reason, therefore, of the direct, as well as the indirect,
+act of the Government, Your Majesty's loyal subjects have been
+prevented from publicly ventilating their grievances, and from
+laying them before Your Majesty.</p>
+
+<p>'Wherefore Your Majesty's humble petitioners humbly beseech
+Your Most Gracious Majesty to extend Your Majesty's protection
+to Your Majesty's loyal subjects resident in this State, and to
+cause an inquiry to be made into grievances and complaints
+enumerated and set forth in this humble petition, and to direct
+Your Majesty's representative in South Africa to take measures
+which will insure the speedy reform of the abuses complained of,
+and to obtain substantial guarantees from the Government of this
+State for a recognition of their rights as British subjects.'</p>
+
+<p>From the date of this direct petition from our ill-used people
+to their Sovereign events moved inevitably towards one end.
+Sometimes the surface was troubled and sometimes smooth, but
+the stream always ran swiftly and the roar of the fall sounded
+ever louder in the ears.</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h2><small>THE NEGOTIATIONS</small></h2>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">The</span> British Government and the British people do not desire any
+direct authority in South Africa. Their one supreme interest is
+that the various States there should live in concord and prosperity,
+and that there should be no need for the presence of a British
+redcoat within the whole great peninsula. Our foreign critics,
+with their misapprehension of the British colonial system, can
+never realise that whether the four-coloured flag of the Transvaal
+or the Union Jack of a self-governing colony waved over the gold
+mines would not make the difference of one shilling to the
+revenue of Great Britain. The Transvaal as a British province
+would have its own legislature, its own revenue, its own expenditure,
+and its own tariff against the mother country, as well as
+against the rest of the world, and Britain be none the richer for
+the change. This is so obvious to a Briton that he has ceased to
+insist upon it, and it is for that reason perhaps that it is so
+universally misunderstood abroad. On the other hand, while she
+is no gainer by the change, most of the expense of it in blood
+and in money falls upon the home country. On the face of it,
+therefore, Great Britain had every reason to avoid so formidable a
+task as the conquest of the South African Republic. At the best
+she had nothing to gain, and at the worst she had an immense
+deal to lose. There was no room for ambition or aggression. It
+was a case of shirking or fulfilling a most arduous duty.</p>
+
+<p>There could be no question of a plot for the annexation of the
+Transvaal. In a free country the Government cannot move in
+advance of public opinion, and public opinion is influenced by and
+reflected in the newspapers. One may examine the files of the
+press during all the months of negotiations and never find one
+reputable opinion in favour of such a course, nor did one in society
+ever meet an advocate of such a measure. But a great wrong
+was being done, and all that was asked was the minimum change<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+which would set it right, and restore equality between the white
+races in Africa. 'Let Kruger only be liberal in the extension of
+the franchise,' said the paper which is most representative of the
+sanest British opinion, 'and he will find that the power of the
+republic will become not weaker, but infinitely more secure. Let
+him once give the majority of the resident males of full age the
+full vote, and he will have given the republic a stability and power
+which nothing else can. If he rejects all pleas of this kind, and
+persists in his present policy, he may possibly stave off the evil
+day, and preserve his cherished oligarchy for another few years;
+but the end will be the same.' The extract reflects the tone of all
+the British press with the exception of one or two papers which
+considered that even the persistent ill-usage of our people, and
+the fact that we were peculiarly responsible for them in this
+State, did not justify us in interfering in the internal affairs of
+the republic. It cannot be denied that the Jameson Raid had
+weakened the force of those who wished to interfere energetically
+on behalf of British subjects. There was a vague but widespread
+feeling that perhaps the capitalists were engineering the situation
+for their own ends. It is difficult to imagine how a state of unrest
+and insecurity, to say nothing of a state of war, can ever be
+to the advantage of capital, and surely it is obvious that if some
+arch-schemer were using the grievances of the Uitlanders for his
+own ends the best way to checkmate him would be to remove
+those grievances. The suspicion, however, did exist among
+those who like to ignore the obvious and magnify the remote, and
+throughout the negotiations the hand of Great Britain was
+weakened, as her adversary had doubtless calculated that it would
+be, by an earnest but fussy and faddy minority.</p>
+
+<p>It was in April 1899 that the British Uitlanders sent their
+petition praying for protection to their native country. Since the
+April previous a correspondence had been going on between
+Dr. Leyds, Secretary of State for the South African Republic, and
+Mr. Chamberlain, Colonial Secretary, upon the existence or non-existence
+of the suzerainty. On the one hand, it was contended
+that the substitution of a second convention had entirely annulled
+the first; on the other, that the preamble of the first applied also
+to the second. If the Transvaal contention were correct it is
+clear that Great Britain had been tricked and jockeyed into such
+a position, since she had received no <i>quid pro quo</i> in the second
+convention, and even the most careless of Colonial Secretaries<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+could hardly have been expected to give away a very substantial
+something for nothing. But the contention throws us back upon
+the academic question of what a suzerainty is. The Transvaal
+admitted a power of veto over their foreign policy, and this admission
+in itself, unless they openly tore up the convention, must
+deprive them of the position of a sovereign State.</p>
+
+<p>But now to this debate, which had so little of urgency in it
+that seven months intervened between statement and reply, there
+came the bitterly vital question of the wrongs and appeal of the
+Uitlanders. Sir Alfred Milner, the British Commissioner in
+South Africa, a man of liberal politics who had been appointed by
+a Conservative Government, commanded the respect and confidence
+of all parties. His record was that of an able, clear-headed man,
+too just to be either guilty of or tolerant of injustice. To him the
+matter was referred, and a conference was arranged between
+President Kruger and him at Bloemfontein, the capital of the
+Orange Free State. They met on May 31, 1899.</p>
+
+<p>There were three different classes of subject which had to be
+discussed at the Conference. One included all those alleged
+breaches of the Convention of London which had caused so much
+friction between the two Governments, and which had thrice in
+eighteen years brought the States to the verge of war. Among
+these subjects would be the Boer annexations of native territory,
+such interference with trade as the stopping of the Drifts, the
+question of suzerainty, and the possibility of arbitration. The
+second class of questions would deal with the grievances of the
+Uitlanders, which presented a problem which had in no way been
+provided for in the Conventions. The third class contained the
+question of the ill-treatment of British Indians, and other causes
+of quarrel. Sir Alfred Milner was faced with the alternative
+either to argue over each of these questions in turn&mdash;an endless
+and unprofitable business&mdash;or to put forward some one test-question
+which would strike at the root of the matter and prove
+whether a real attempt would be made by the Boer Government
+to relieve the tension. The question which he selected was that
+of the franchise for the Uitlanders, for it was evident that if they
+obtained not a fair share&mdash;such a request was never made&mdash;but
+any appreciable share in the government of the country, they
+would in time be able to relieve their own grievances and so
+spare the British Government the heavy task of acting as their
+champions. But the Conference was quickly wrecked upon this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+question. Milner contended for a five-years' retroactive franchise,
+with provisions to secure adequate representation for the mining
+districts. Kruger offered a seven-years' franchise, coupled with
+numerous conditions which whittled down its value very much;
+promised five members out of thirty-one to represent half the
+male adult population; and added a provision that all differences
+should be subject to arbitration by foreign powers&mdash;a
+condition which is incompatible with any claim to suzerainty.
+This offer dropped the term for the franchise from fourteen years
+to seven, but it retained a number of conditions which might
+make it illusory, while demanding in exchange a most important
+concession from the British Government. The proposals of each
+were impossible to the other, and early in June Sir Alfred Milner
+was back in Cape Town and President Kruger in Pretoria, with
+nothing settled except the extreme difficulty of a settlement.</p>
+
+<p>On June 12 Sir Alfred Milner received a deputation at Cape
+Town and reviewed the situation. 'The principle of equality of
+races was,' he said, 'essential for South Africa. The one State
+where inequality existed kept all the others in a fever. Our
+policy was one not of aggression, but of singular patience, which
+could not, however, lapse into indifference.' Two days later
+Kruger addressed the Raad. 'The other side had not conceded
+one tittle, and I could not give more. God has always stood
+by us. I do not want war, but I will not give more away.
+Although our independence has once been taken away, God had
+restored it.' He spoke with sincerity no doubt, but it is hard to
+hear God invoked with such confidence for the system which
+encouraged the liquor traffic to the natives, and bred the most
+corrupt set of officials that the modern world has seen.</p>
+
+<p>A despatch from Sir Alfred Milner, giving his views upon the
+situation, made the British public recognise, as nothing else had
+done, how serious the position was, and how essential it was that
+an earnest national effort should be made to set it right. In it
+he said:</p>
+
+<p>'The case for intervention is overwhelming. The only
+attempted answer is that things will right themselves if left
+alone. But, in fact, the policy of leaving things alone has been
+tried for years, and it has led to their going from bad to worse.
+It is not true that this is owing to the raid. They were going
+from bad to worse before the raid. We were on the verge of war
+before the raid, and the Transvaal was on the verge of revolution.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
+The effect of the raid has been to give the policy of leaving things
+alone a new lease of life, and with the old consequences.</p>
+
+<p>'The spectacle of thousands of British subjects kept permanently
+in the position of helots, constantly chafing under
+undoubted grievances, and calling vainly to her Majesty's
+Government for redress, does steadily undermine the influence
+and reputation of Great Britain within the Queen's dominions.
+A section of the press, not in the Transvaal only, preaches openly
+and constantly the doctrine of a republic embracing all South
+Africa, and supports it by menacing references to the armaments
+of the Transvaal, its alliance with the Orange Free State, and the
+active sympathy which, in case of war, it would receive from a
+section of her Majesty's subjects. I regret to say that this
+doctrine, supported as it is by a ceaseless stream of malignant
+lies about the intentions of her Majesty's Government, is producing
+a great effect on a large number of our Dutch fellow-colonists.
+Language is frequently used which seems to imply
+that the Dutch have some superior right, even in this colony, to
+their fellow-citizens of British birth. Thousands of men peaceably
+disposed, and if left alone perfectly satisfied with their
+position as British subjects, are being drawn into disaffection,
+and there is a corresponding exasperation upon the part of the
+British.</p>
+
+<p>'I can see nothing which will put a stop to this mischievous
+propaganda but some striking proof of the intention of her
+Majesty's Government not to be ousted from its position in South
+Africa.'</p>
+
+<p>Such were the grave and measured words with which the
+British pro-consul warned his countrymen of what was to come.
+He saw the stormcloud piling in the north, but even his eyes had
+not yet discerned how near and how terrible was the tempest.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the end of June and the early part of July much
+was hoped from the mediation of the heads of the Afrikander
+Bond, the political union of the Dutch Cape colonists. On the
+one hand, they were the kinsmen of the Boers; on the other,
+they were British subjects, and were enjoying the blessings of
+those liberal institutions which we were anxious to see extended
+to the Transvaal. 'Only treat our folk as we treat yours!'
+Our whole contention was compressed into that prayer. But
+nothing came of the mission, though a scheme endorsed by
+Mr. Hofmeyr and Mr. Herholdt, of the Bond, with Mr. Fischer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
+of the Free State, was introduced into the Raad and applauded
+by Mr. Schreiner, the Africander Premier of Cape Colony. In its
+original form the provisions were obscure and complicated, the
+franchise varying from nine years to seven under different conditions.
+In debate, however, the terms were amended until the
+time was reduced to seven years, and the proposed representation
+of the Goldfields placed at five. The concession was not a great
+one, nor could the representation, five out of thirty-one, be considered
+a generous provision for half the adult male population;
+but the reduction of the years of residence was eagerly hailed in
+England as a sign that a compromise might be effected. A sigh
+of relief went up from the country. 'If,' said the Colonial
+Secretary, 'this report is confirmed, this important change in the
+proposals of President Kruger, coupled with previous amendments,
+leads Government to hope that the new law may prove to
+be the basis of a settlement on the lines laid down by Sir Alfred
+Milner in the Bloemfontein Conference.' He added that there
+were some vexatious conditions attached, but concluded, 'Her
+Majesty's Government feel assured that the President, having
+accepted the principle for which they have contended, will be
+prepared to reconsider any detail of his scheme which can be
+shown to be a possible hindrance to the full accomplishment of
+the object in view, and that he will not allow them to be nullified
+or reduced in value by any subsequent alterations of the law or
+acts of administration.' At the same time, the 'Times' declared
+the crisis to be at an end: 'If the Dutch statesmen of the Cape
+have induced their brethren in the Transvaal to carry such a Bill,
+they will have deserved the lasting gratitude, not only of their
+own countrymen and of the English colonists in South Africa,
+but of the British Empire and of the civilised world.' The reception
+of the idea that the crisis was at an end is surely a conclusive
+proof how little it was desired in England that that crisis should
+lead to war.</p>
+
+<p>But this fair prospect was soon destined to be overcast. Questions
+of detail arose which, when closely examined, proved to be
+matters of very essential importance. The Uitlanders and British
+South Africans, who had experienced in the past how illusory the
+promises of the President might be, insisted upon guarantees. The
+seven years offered were two years more than that which Sir Alfred
+Milner had declared to be an irreducible minimum. The difference
+of two years would not have hindered their acceptance, even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
+at the expense of some humiliation to our representative. But
+there were conditions which excited distrust when drawn up by so
+wily a diplomatist. One was that the alien who aspired to burghership
+had to produce a certificate of continuous registration for
+a certain time. But the law of registration had fallen into disuse
+in the Transvaal, and consequently this provision might render
+the whole Bill valueless. Since it was carefully retained, it was
+certainly meant for use. The door had been opened, but a stone
+was placed to block it. Again, the continued burghership of the
+new-comers was made to depend upon the resolution of the first
+Raad, so that should the mining members propose any measure of
+reform, not only their Bill but they also might be swept out of
+the house by a Boer majority. What could an Opposition do if a
+vote of the Government might at any moment unseat them all?
+It was clear that a measure which contained such provisions must
+be very carefully sifted before a British Government could accept
+it as a final settlement and a complete concession of justice to
+its subjects. On the other hand, it naturally felt loth to refuse
+those clauses which offered some prospect of an amelioration in
+their condition. It took the course, therefore, of suggesting that
+each Government should appoint delegates to form a joint commission
+which should inquire into the working of the proposed
+Bill before it was put into a final form. The proposal was submitted
+to the Raad on August 7, with the addition that when
+this was done Sir Alfred Milner was prepared to discuss anything
+else, including arbitration without the interference of foreign
+powers.</p>
+
+<p>The suggestion of this joint commission has been criticised
+as an unwarrantable intrusion into the internal affairs of another
+country. But then the whole question from the beginning was
+about the internal affairs of another country, since there could be
+no rest in South Africa so long as one race tried to dominate the
+other. It is futile to suggest analogies, and to imagine what
+France would do if Germany were to interfere in a question of
+French franchise. Supposing that France contained nearly as many
+Germans as Frenchmen, and that they were ill-treated, Germany
+would interfere quickly enough and continue to do so until some
+fair <i>modus vivendi</i> was established. The fact is that the case of
+the Transvaal stands alone, that such a condition of things has
+never been known, and that no previous precedent can apply to it,
+save the general rule that white men who are heavily taxed must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+have some representation. Sentiment may incline to the smaller
+nation, but reason and justice are all on the side of Britain.</p>
+
+<p>A long delay followed upon the proposal of the Secretary of
+the Colonies. No reply was forthcoming from Pretoria. But on
+all sides there came evidence that those preparations for war
+which had been quietly going on even before the Jameson Raid
+were now being hurriedly perfected. For so small a State enormous
+sums were being spent upon military equipment. Cases of rifles
+and boxes of cartridges streamed into the arsenal, not only from
+Delagoa Bay, but even, to the indignation of the English colonists,
+through Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Huge packing-cases,
+marked 'Agricultural Instruments' and 'Mining Machinery,'
+arrived from Germany and France, to find their places in the forts
+of Johannesburg or Pretoria. As early as May the Orange Free
+State President, who was looked upon by the simple and trustful
+British as the honest broker who was about to arrange a peace,
+was writing to Grobler, the Transvaal official, claiming his share
+of the twenty-five million cartridges which had then been imported.
+This was the man who was posing as mediator between the two
+parties a fortnight later at Bloemfontein.</p>
+
+<p>For three years the Transvaal had been arming to the teeth.
+So many modern magazine-rifles had been imported that there
+were enough to furnish five to every male burgher in the country.
+The importation of ammunition was on the same gigantic scale.
+For what were these formidable preparations? Evidently for a
+war with Great Britain, and not for a defensive war. It is not in
+a defensive war that a State provides sufficient rifles to arm
+every man of Dutch blood in the whole of South Africa. No
+British reinforcements had been sent during the years that
+the Transvaal was obviously preparing for a struggle. In that
+one eloquent fact lies a complete proof as to which side forced
+on a war, and which side desired to avoid one. For three weeks
+and more, during which Mr. Kruger was silent, these preparations
+went on more energetically and more openly.</p>
+
+<p>But beyond them, and of infinitely more importance, there
+was one fact which dominated the situation and retarded the
+crisis. A burgher cannot go to war without his horse, his horse
+cannot move without grass, grass will not come until after rain,
+and it was still some weeks before the rain would be due. Negotiations,
+then, must not be unduly hurried while the veldt was a
+bare russet-coloured dust-swept plain. Mr. Chamberlain and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+British public waited week after week for an answer. But there
+was a limit to their patience, and it was reached on August 26,
+when the Colonial Secretary showed, with a plainness of speech
+which is as unusual as it is welcome in diplomacy, that the question
+could not be hung up for ever. 'The sands are running down in
+the glass,' said he. 'If they run out we shall not hold ourselves
+limited by that which we have already offered, but, having taken
+the matter in hand, we will not let it go until we have secured
+conditions which once for all shall establish which is the paramount
+power in South Africa, and shall secure for our fellow-subjects
+there those equal rights and equal privileges which were
+promised them by President Kruger when the independence of
+the Transvaal was granted by the Queen, and which is the least
+that in justice ought to be accorded them.' Lord Salisbury, a
+short time before, had been equally emphatic: 'No one in this
+country wishes to disturb the conventions so long as it is recognised
+that while they guarantee the independence of the Transvaal on
+the one side, they guarantee equal political and civil rights for
+settlers of all nationalities upon the other. But these conventions
+are not like the laws of the Medes and the Persians. They are
+mortal, they can be destroyed ... and once destroyed they can
+never be reconstructed in the same shape.' The long-enduring
+patience of Great Britain was beginning to show signs of giving
+way.</p>
+
+<p>Pressure was in the meanwhile being put upon the old President
+and upon his advisers, if he can be said ever to have had any
+advisers, in order to induce him to accept the British offer of a
+joint committee of inquiry. Sir Henry de Villiers, representing
+the highest Africander opinion of the Cape, wrote strongly pleading
+the cause of peace, and urging Mr. Fischer of the Free State
+to endeavour to give a more friendly tone to the negotiations.
+'Try to induce President Kruger to meet Mr. Chamberlain in a
+friendly way, and remove all the causes of unrest which have
+disturbed this unhappy country for so many years.' Similar
+advice came from Europe. The Dutch minister telegraphed as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>'<i>August 4, 1899.</i>&mdash;Communicate confidentially to the President
+that, having heard from the Transvaal Minister the English proposal
+of the International Commission, I recommend the President,
+in the interest of the country, not peremptorily to refuse that
+proposition.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>'<i>August 15, 1899.</i>&mdash;Please communicate confidentially to the
+President that the German Government entirely shares my opinion
+expressed in my despatch of August 4, not to refuse the English
+proposal. The German Government is, like myself, convinced
+that every approach to one of the Great Powers in this very
+critical moment will be without any results whatever, and very
+dangerous for the Republic.'</p>
+
+<p>But neither his Africander brothers nor his friends abroad
+could turn the old man one inch from the road upon which he
+had set his foot. The fact is, that he knew well that his franchise
+proposals would not bear examination; that, in the words of an
+eminent lawyer, they 'might as well have been seventy years as
+seven,' so complicated and impossible were the conditions. For
+a long time he was silent, and when he at last spoke it was to
+open a new phase of the negotiations. His ammunition was not
+all to hand yet, his rifles had not all been distributed, the grass
+had not appeared upon the veldt. The game must be kept
+going for a couple of months. 'You are such past-masters
+in the art of gaining time!' said Mr. Labouchere to Mr.
+Montague White. The President proceeded to prove it.</p>
+
+<p>His new suggestions were put forward on August 12. In
+them the Joint Commission was put aside, and the proposal
+was made that the Boer Government should accede to the
+franchise proposals of Sir Alfred Milner on condition that the
+British Government withdrew or dropped her claim to a suzerainty,
+agreed to arbitration by a British and South African
+tribunal, and promised never again to interfere in the internal
+affairs of the Republic. To this Great Britain answered that she
+would agree to such arbitration; that she hoped never again to
+have occasion to interfere for the protection of her own subjects,
+but that with the grant of the franchise all occasion for such
+interference would pass away; and, finally, that she would never
+consent to abandon her position as suzerain power. Mr. Chamberlain's
+despatch ended by reminding the Government of the
+Transvaal that there were other matters of dispute open between
+the two Governments apart from the franchise, and that it would
+be as well to have them settled at the same time. By these he
+meant such questions as the position of the native races and the
+treatment of Anglo-Indians.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment there seemed now to be a fair prospect of peace.
+There was no very great gap between the two parties, and had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+the negotiations been really <i>bon&acirc; fide</i> it seems incredible that it
+could not be bridged. But the Transvaal was secure now of the
+alliance of the Orange Free State; it believed that the Colony
+was ripe for rebellion; and it knew that with 60,000 cavalry and
+100 guns it was infinitely the strongest military power in Africa.
+One cannot read the negotiations without being convinced that
+they were never meant to succeed, and the party which did not
+mean them to succeed was the party which prepared all the time
+for war. De Villiers, a friendly critic, says of the Transvaal
+Government: 'Throughout the negotiations they have always
+been wriggling to prevent a clear and precise decision.' Surely
+the sequel showed clearly enough why this was so. Their military
+hand was stronger than their political one, and it was with
+that that they desired to play the game. It would not do, therefore,
+to get the negotiations into such a stage that a peaceful
+solution should become inevitable. What was the use of all those
+rifles and cannon if the pen were after all to effect a compromise?
+'The only thing that we are afraid of,' wrote young Blignant,
+'is that Chamberlain with his admitted fitfulness of temper
+should cheat us out of our war and, consequently, the opportunity
+of annexing the Cape Colony and Natal, and forming the Republican
+United States of South Africa'&mdash;a legitimate national
+ambition perhaps, but not compatible with <i>bon&acirc;-fide</i> peaceful
+negotiations.</p>
+
+<p>It was time, then, to give a less promising turn to the situation.
+On September 2 the answer of the Transvaal Government was
+returned. It was short and uncompromising. They withdrew
+their offer of the franchise. They reasserted the non-existence of
+the suzerainty. The negotiations were at a deadlock. It was
+difficult to see how they could be reopened. In view of the
+arming of the burghers, the small garrison of Natal had been
+taking up positions to cover the frontier. The Transvaal asked
+for an explanation of their presence. Sir Alfred Milner answered
+that they were guarding British interests, and preparing against
+contingencies. The roar of the fall was sounding loud and near.</p>
+
+<p>On September 8 there was held a Cabinet Council&mdash;one of the
+most important in recent years. The military situation was
+pressing. The handful of troops in Africa could not be left at
+the mercy of the large and formidable force which the Boers
+could at any time hurl against them. On the other hand, it was
+very necessary not to appear to threaten or to appeal to force.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+For this reason reinforcements were sent upon such a scale as to
+make it evident that they were sent for defensive, and not for
+offensive, purposes. Five thousand men were sent from India to
+Natal, and the Cape garrisons were strengthened from England.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time that they took these defensive measures, a
+message was sent to Pretoria, which even the opponents of the
+Government have acknowledged to be temperate, and offering
+the basis for a peaceful settlement. It begins by repudiating
+emphatically the claim of the Transvaal to be a sovereign international
+State in the same sense in which the Orange Free State
+is one. Any proposal made conditional upon such an acknowledgment
+could not be entertained. The status of the Transvaal was
+settled by certain conventions agreed to by both Governments,
+and nothing had occurred to cause us to acquiesce in a radical
+change in it.</p>
+
+<p>The British Government, however, was prepared to accept
+the five years' franchise as stated in the note of August 19,
+assuming at the same time that in the Raad each member might
+use his own language.</p>
+
+<p>'Acceptance of these terms by the South African Republic
+would at once remove tension between the two Governments, and
+would in all probability render unnecessary any future intervention
+to secure redress for grievances which the Uitlanders themselves
+would be able to bring to the notice of the Executive Council and
+the Volksraad.</p>
+
+<p>'Her Majesty's Government are increasingly impressed with
+the danger of further delay in relieving the strain which has
+already caused so much injury to the interests of South Africa,
+and they earnestly press for an immediate and definite reply to
+the present proposal. If it is acceded to they will be ready to
+make immediate arrangements ... to settle all details of the
+proposed tribunal of arbitration.... If, however, as they most
+anxiously hope will not be the case, the reply of the South African
+Republic should be negative or inconclusive, I am to state that
+Her Majesty's Government must reserve to themselves the right
+to reconsider the situation <i>de novo</i>, and to formulate their own
+proposals for a final settlement.'</p>
+
+<p>This despatch was so moderate in form and so courteous in
+tone that press and politicians of every shade of opinion were
+united in approving it, and hoping for a corresponding reply
+which would relax the tension between the two nations. Mr.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
+Morley, Mr. Leonard Courtney, the 'Daily Chronicle'&mdash;all the
+most strenuous opponents of the Government policy&mdash;were satisfied
+that it was a message of peace. But nothing at that time, save
+a complete and abject surrender upon the part of the British,
+could have satisfied the Boers, who had the most exaggerated
+ideas of their own military prowess and no very high opinion of
+our own. The continental conception of the British wolf and the
+Transvaal lamb would have raised a laugh in Pretoria, where the
+outcome of the war was looked upon as a foregone conclusion.
+The burghers were in no humour for concessions. They knew
+their own power, and they concluded with justice that they were
+for the time far the strongest military power in South Africa.
+'We have beaten England before, but it is nothing to the licking
+that we shall give her now!' said one prominent citizen. 'Reitz
+seemed to treat the whole matter as a big joke,' remarked
+de Villiers. 'Is it really necessary for you to go,' said the Chief
+Justice of the Transvaal to an English clergyman. 'The war will
+be over in a fortnight. We shall take Kimberley and Mafeking
+and give the English such a beating in Natal that they will sue
+for peace.' Such were the extravagant ideas which caused them
+to push aside the olive-branch of peace.</p>
+
+<p>On September 18 the official reply of the Boer Government
+to the message sent from the Cabinet Council was published in
+London. In manner it was unbending and unconciliatory; in
+substance, it was a complete rejection of all the British demands.
+It refused to recommend or propose to the Raad the five-years'
+franchise and the other provisions which had been defined as the
+minimum which the Home Government could accept as a fair
+measure of justice towards the Uitlanders. The suggestion that
+the debates of the Raad should be bilingual, as they are in the
+Cape Colony and in Canada, was absolutely waved aside. The
+British Government had stated in their last despatch that if the
+reply should be negative or inconclusive they reserved to themselves
+the right to 'reconsider the situation <i>de novo</i>, and to
+formulate their own proposals for a final settlement.' The reply
+had been both negative and inconclusive, and on September 22
+a council met to determine what the next message should be.
+It was short and firm, but so planned as not to shut the door
+upon peace. Its purport was that the British Government
+expressed deep regret at the rejection of the moderate proposals
+which had been submitted in their last despatch, and that now,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+in accordance with their promise, they would shortly put forward
+their own plans for a settlement. The message was not an ultimatum,
+but it foreshadowed an ultimatum in the future.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, upon September 21, the Raad of the Orange
+Free State had met, and it became more and more evident that
+this republic, with whom we had no possible quarrel, but, on the
+contrary, for whom we had a great deal of friendship and admiration,
+intended to throw in its weight against Great Britain. Some
+time before, an offensive and defensive alliance had been concluded
+between the two States, which must, until the secret
+history of these events comes to be written, appear to have been
+a singularly rash and unprofitable bargain for the smaller one.
+She had nothing to fear from Great Britain, since she had been
+voluntarily turned into an independent republic by her, and had
+lived in peace with her for forty years. Her laws were as liberal
+as our own. But by this suicidal treaty she agreed to share the
+fortunes of a State which was deliberately courting war by its
+persistently unfriendly attitude, and whose reactionary and
+narrow legislation would, one might imagine, have alienated the
+sympathy of her progressive neighbour. The trend of events was
+seen clearly in the days of President Brand, who was a sane and
+experienced politician. 'President Brand,' says Paul Botha
+(himself a voortrekker and a Boer of the Boers), 'saw clearly
+what our policy ought to have been. He always avoided offending
+the Transvaal, but he loved the Orange Free State and its
+independence for its own sake and not as an appendage to the
+Transvaal. And in order to maintain its character he always
+strove for the friendship of England.</p>
+
+<p>'President Brand realised that closer union with the turbulent
+and misguided Transvaal, led by Kruger's challenging policy,
+would inevitably result in a disastrous war with England.</p>
+
+<p>'I [Paul Botha] felt this as strongly, and never ceased fighting
+against closer union. I remember once stating these arguments
+in the Volksraad, and wound up my speech by saying, "May
+Heaven grant that I am wrong in what I fear, because, if I am
+right, then woe, woe to the Orange Free State."'</p>
+
+<p>It is evident that if the Free State rushed headlong to utter
+destruction it was not for want of wise voices which tried to guide
+her to some safer path. But there seems to have been a complete
+hallucination as to the comparative strength of the two opponents,
+and as to the probable future of South Africa. Under no possible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span>
+future could the Free State be better off than it was already, a
+perfectly free and independent republic; and yet the country was
+carried away by race-prejudice spread broadcast from a subsidised
+press and an unchristian pulpit. 'When I come to think of the
+abuse the pulpit made of its influence,' says Paul Botha, 'I feel
+as if I cannot find words strong enough to express my indignation.
+God's word was prostituted. A religious people's religion was used
+to urge them to their destruction. A minister of God told me
+himself, with a wink, that he had to preach anti-English because
+otherwise he would lose favour with those in power.' Such were
+the influences which induced the Free State to make an insane
+treaty, compelling it to wantonly take up arms against a State
+which had never injured it and which bore it nothing but good
+will.</p>
+
+<p>The tone of President Steyn at the meeting of the Raad, and
+the support which he received from the majority of his burghers,
+showed unmistakably that the two republics would act as one.
+In his opening speech Steyn declared uncompromisingly against
+the British contention, and declared that his State was bound to
+the Transvaal by everything which was near and dear. Among
+the obvious military precautions which could no longer be
+neglected by the British Government, was the sending of some
+small force to protect the long and exposed line of railway which
+lies just outside the Transvaal border from Kimberley to Rhodesia.
+Sir Alfred Milner communicated with President Steyn as to this
+movement of troops, pointing out that it was in no way directed
+against the Free State. Sir Alfred Milner added that the
+Imperial Government was still hopeful of a friendly settlement
+with the Transvaal, but if this hope were disappointed they
+looked to the Orange Free State to preserve strict neutrality and
+to prevent military intervention by any of its citizens. They
+undertook that in that case the integrity of the Free State
+frontier would be strictly preserved. Finally, he stated that there
+was absolutely no cause to disturb the good relations between
+the Free State and Great Britain, since we were animated by the
+most friendly intentions towards them. To this the President
+returned a somewhat ungracious answer, to the effect that he
+disapproved of our action towards the Transvaal, and that he
+regretted the movement of troops, which would be considered a
+menace by the burghers. A subsequent resolution of the Free
+State Raad, ending with the words, 'Come what may, the Free<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+State will honestly and faithfully fulfil its obligations towards the
+Transvaal by virtue of the political alliance existing between the
+two republics,' showed how impossible it was that this country,
+formed by ourselves, and without a shadow of a cause of quarrel
+with us, could be saved from being drawn into the whirlpool.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime, military preparations were being made upon
+both sides, moderate in the case of the British and considerable
+in that of the Boers.</p>
+
+<p>On August 15, at a time when the negotiations had already
+assumed a very serious phase, after the failure of the Bloemfontein
+Conference and the despatch of Sir Alfred Milner, the British
+forces in South Africa were absolutely and absurdly inadequate
+for the purpose of the defence of our own frontier. Surely such
+a fact must open the eyes of those who, in spite of all the evidence,
+persist that the war was forced on by the British. A
+statesman who forces on a war usually prepares for a war, and
+this is exactly what Mr. Kruger did and the British authorities
+did not. The overbearing suzerain power had at that date,
+scattered over a huge frontier, two cavalry regiments, three field
+batteries, and six and a half infantry battalions&mdash;say six thousand
+men. The innocent pastoral States could put in the field more
+than fifty thousand mounted riflemen, whose mobility doubled
+their numbers, and a most excellent artillery, including the
+heaviest guns which have ever been seen upon a battlefield. At
+this time it is most certain that the Boers could have made their
+way easily either to Durban or to Cape Town. The British force,
+condemned to act upon the defensive, could have been masked
+and afterwards destroyed, while the main body of the invaders
+would have encountered nothing but an irregular local resistance,
+which would have been neutralised by the apathy or hostility of
+the Dutch colonists. It is extraordinary that our authorities
+seem never to have contemplated the possibility of the Boers
+taking the initiative, or to have understood that in that case our
+belated reinforcements would certainly have had to land under
+the fire of the republican guns. They ran a great military risk
+by their inaction, but at least they made it clear to all who are
+not wilfully blind how far from the thoughts or wishes of the
+British Government it has always been that the matter should
+be decided by force.</p>
+
+<p>In answer to the remonstrances of the Colonial Prime Minister
+the garrison of Natal was gradually increased, partly by troops<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+from Europe, and partly by the despatch of 5,000 British troops
+from India. Their arrival late in September raised the number
+of troops in South Africa to 22,000, a force which was inadequate
+to a contest in the open field with the numerous, mobile, and
+gallant enemy to whom they were to be opposed, but which proved
+to be strong enough to stave off that overwhelming disaster
+which, with our fuller knowledge, we can now see to have been
+impending.</p>
+
+<p>In the weeks which followed the despatch of the Cabinet
+message of September 8, the military situation had ceased to be
+desperate, but was still precarious. Twenty-two thousand regular
+troops were on the spot who might hope to be reinforced by some
+ten thousand Colonials, but these forces had to cover a great frontier,
+the attitude of Cape Colony was by no means whole-hearted
+and might become hostile, while the black population might conceivably
+throw in its weight against us. Only half the regulars
+could be spared to defend Natal, and no reinforcements could
+reach them in less than a month from the outbreak of hostilities.
+If Mr. Chamberlain was really playing a game of bluff, it must be
+confessed that he was bluffing from a very weak hand.</p>
+
+<p>For purposes of comparison we may give some idea of the
+forces which Mr. Kruger and Mr. Steyn could put in the field.
+The general press estimate of the forces of the two republics
+varied from 25,000 to 35,000 men. Mr. J. B. Robinson, a personal
+friend of President Kruger's and a man who had spent
+much of his life among the Boers, considered the latter estimate
+to be too high. The calculation had no assured basis to start
+from. A very scattered and isolated population, among whom
+large families were the rule, is a most difficult thing to estimate.
+Some reckoned from the supposed natural increase during eighteen
+years, but the figure given at that date was itself an assumption.
+Others took their calculation from the number of voters in the
+last presidential election; but no one could tell how many abstentions
+there had been, and the fighting age is five years earlier
+than the voting age in the republics. We recognise now that all
+calculations were far below the true figure. It is probable, however,
+that the information of the British Intelligence Department
+was not far wrong. No branch of the British Service has come
+better out of a very severe ordeal than this one, and its report
+before the war is so accurate, alike in facts and in forecast, as to
+be quite prophetic.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>According to this the fighting strength of the Transvaal
+alone was 32,000 men, and of the Orange Free State 22,000.
+With mercenaries and rebels from the colonies they would amount
+to 60,000, while a considerable rising of the Cape Dutch would
+bring them up to 100,000. Our actual male prisoners now amount
+to 42,000, and we can account for 10,000 casualties, so that,
+allowing another 10,000 for the burghers at large, the Boer force,
+excluding a great number of Cape rebels, would reach 62,000.
+Of the quality of this large force there is no need to speak. The
+men were brave, hardy, and fired with a strange religious enthusiasm.
+They were all of the seventeenth century, except their
+rifles. Mounted upon their hardy little ponies, they possessed
+a mobility which practically doubled their numbers and made it
+an impossibility ever to outflank them. As marksmen they are
+supreme. Add to this that they had the advantage of acting
+upon internal lines with shorter and safer communications, and
+one gathers how formidable a task lay before the soldiers of the
+Empire. When we turn from such an enumeration of their
+strength to contemplate the 12,000 men, split into two detachments,
+who awaited them in Natal, we may recognise that, far
+from bewailing our disasters, we should rather congratulate ourselves
+upon our escape from losing that great province which,
+situated as it is between Britain, India, and Australia, must be
+regarded as the very keystone of the imperial arch.</p>
+
+<p>But again one must ask whether in the face of these figures
+it is still possible to maintain that Great Britain was deliberately
+attempting to overthrow by force the independence of the
+republics.</p>
+
+<p>There was a lull in the political exchanges after the receipt of
+the Transvaal despatch of September 16, which rejected the
+British proposals of September 8. In Africa all hope or fear of
+peace had ended. The Raads had been dissolved and the old President's
+last words had been that war was certain, with a stern
+invocation of the Lord as the final arbiter. Britain was ready
+less obtrusively, but no less heartily, to refer the quarrel to the
+same dread judge.</p>
+
+<p>On October 2 President Steyn informed Sir Alfred Milner that
+he had deemed it necessary to call out the Free State burghers&mdash;that
+is, to mobilise his forces. Sir A. Milner wrote regretting
+these preparations, and declaring that he did not yet despair of
+peace, for he was sure that any reasonable proposal would be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+favourably considered by her Majesty's Government. Steyn's
+reply was that there was no use in negotiating unless the stream
+of British reinforcements ceased coming into South Africa. As
+our forces were still in a great minority, it was impossible to stop
+the reinforcements, so the correspondence led to nothing. On
+October 7 the army reserves for the First Army Corps were called
+out in Great Britain, and other signs shown that it had been determined
+to send a considerable force to South Africa. Parliament
+was also summoned, that the formal national assent might be
+gained for those grave measures which were evidently pending.</p>
+
+<p>It has been stated that it was the action of the British in
+calling out the reserves which caused the ultimatum from the
+Boers and so precipitated the war. Such a contention is absurd,
+for it puts the cart before the horse. The Transvaal commandos
+had mobilised upon September 27, and those of the Free State on
+October 2. The railways had been taken over, the exodus from
+Johannesburg had begun, and an actual act of war had been committed
+by the stopping of a train and the confiscation of the gold
+which was in it. The British action was subsequent to all this,
+and could not have been the cause of it. But no Government
+could see such portents and delay any longer to take those military
+preparations which were called for by the critical situation. As a
+matter of fact, the Boer ultimatum was prepared before the date
+of the calling out of the reserves, and was only delivered later
+because the final details for war were not quite ready.</p>
+
+<p>It was on October 9 that the somewhat leisurely proceedings
+of the British Colonial Office were brought to a head by the arrival
+of an unexpected and audacious ultimatum from the Boer Government.
+In contests of wit, as of arms, it must be confessed that
+the laugh has up to now been usually upon the side of our simple
+and pastoral South African neighbours. The present instance
+was no exception to the rule. The document was very firm and
+explicit, but the terms in which it was drawn were so impossible
+that it was evidently framed with the deliberate purpose of forcing
+an immediate war. It demanded that the troops upon the
+borders of the republic should be instantly withdrawn, that all
+reinforcements which had arrived within the last year should leave
+South Africa, and that those who were now upon the sea should
+be sent back without being landed. Failing a satisfactory answer
+within forty-eight hours, 'The Transvaal Government will with
+great regret be compelled to regard the action of her Majesty's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
+Government as a formal declaration of war, for the consequences
+of which it will not hold itself responsible.' The audacious
+message was received throughout the empire with a mixture of
+derision and anger. The answer was despatched next day through
+Sir Alfred Milner.</p>
+
+<p>'<i>October 10.</i>&mdash;Her Majesty's Government have received with
+great regret the peremptory demands of the Government of the South
+African Republic, conveyed in your telegram of the 9th October.
+You will inform the Government of the South African Republic
+in reply that the conditions demanded by the Government of the
+South African Republic are such as her Majesty's Government
+deem it impossible to discuss.'</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h2><small>SOME POINTS EXAMINED</small></h2>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Such</span> is a general sketch of the trend of the negotiations and of
+the events which led up to the war. Under their different headings
+I will now examine in as short a space as possible the
+criticisms to which the British Government has been subjected.
+Various damaging theories and alternate lines of action have been
+suggested, each of which may be shortly discussed.</p>
+
+<p>1. <i>That Mr. Chamberlain was personally concerned in the
+raid and that out of revenge for that failure, or because he was in
+the power of Mr. Rhodes, he forced on the war.</i>&mdash;The theory that
+Mr. Chamberlain was in the confidence of the raiders, has been
+already examined and shown to be untenable. That he knew
+that an insurrection might probably result from the despair of
+the Uitlanders is very probable. It was his business to know
+what was going on so far as he could, and there is no reason why
+his private sympathies, like those of every other Englishman,
+should not be with his own ill-used people. But that he contemplated
+an invasion of the Transvaal by a handful of policemen
+is absurd. If he did, why should he instantly take the strongest
+steps to render the invasion abortive? What could he possibly
+do to make things miscarry which he did not do? And if he
+were conscious of being in the power of Mr. Rhodes, how would
+he dare to oppose with such vigour that gentleman's pet scheme?
+The very facts and the very telegrams upon which critics
+rely to prove Mr. Chamberlain's complicity will really, when
+looked at with unprejudiced eyes, most clearly show his entire
+independence. Thus when Rhodes, or Harris in Rhodes's name,
+telegraphs, 'Inform Chamberlain that I shall get through all
+right if he will support me, but he must not send cable like he
+sent to the High Commissioner,' and again, 'Unless you can
+make Chamberlain instruct the High Commissioner to proceed
+at once to Johannesburg the whole position is lost,' is it not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+perfectly obvious that there has been no understanding of any
+sort, and that the conspirators are attempting to force the
+Colonial Secretary's hand? Again, critics make much of the
+fact that shortly before the raid Mr. Chamberlain sold to the
+Chartered Company the strip of land from which the raid started,
+and that he made a hard bargain, exacting as much as 200,000<i>l.</i>
+for it. Surely the perversion of an argument could hardly go
+further, for if Mr. Chamberlain were in their confidence and in
+favour of their plan it is certain that he would have given them
+easy and not difficult terms for the land for which they asked.
+The supposition that Mr. Chamberlain was the tool of Rhodes in
+declaring war, presupposes that Mr. Chamberlain could impose
+his will without question upon a Cabinet which contained Lord
+Salisbury, Lord Lansdowne, Arthur Balfour, Hicks-Beach, and the
+other ministers. Such a supposition is too monstrous to discuss.</p>
+
+<p>2. <i>That it is a capitalists' war, engineered by company
+promoters and Jews.</i>&mdash;After the Jameson Raid a large body of
+the public held this view, and it was this which to a great extent
+tied the hands of the Government, and stopped them from taking
+that strong line which might have prevented the accumulation of
+those huge armaments which could only be intended for use against
+ourselves. It took years to finally dissipate the idea, but how
+thoroughly it has been dissipated in the public mind is best shown
+by the patient fortitude with which our people have borne the
+long and weary struggle in which few families in the land have
+not lost either a friend or a relative. The complaisance of the
+British public towards capitalists goes no further than giving
+them their strict legal rights&mdash;and certainly does not extend to
+pouring out money and blood like water for their support. Such
+a supposition is absurd, nor can any reason be given why a body
+of high-minded and honourable British gentlemen like the
+Cabinet should sacrifice their country for the sake of a number
+of cosmopolitan financiers, most of whom are German Jews. The
+tax which will eventually be placed upon the Transvaal mining
+industry, in order to help to pay for the war, will in itself prove
+that the capitalists have no great voice in the councils of the
+nation. We know now that the leading capitalists in Johannesburg
+were the very men who most strenuously resisted an agitation
+which might lead to war. This seems natural enough when one
+considers how much capitalists had at stake, and how much to lose
+by war. The agitation for the franchise and other rights was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+<i>bon&acirc;-fide</i> liberal agitation, started by poor men, employ&eacute;s and
+miners, who intended to live in the country, not in Park Lane.
+The capitalists were the very last to be drawn into it. When I
+say capitalists I mean the capitalists with British sympathies, for
+there is indeed much to be said in favour of the war being a
+capitalists' war, in that it was largely caused by the anti-British
+attitude and advice of the South African Netherlands Company,
+the Dynamite Monopoly, and other leeches which drained the
+country. To them a free and honest government meant ruin,
+and they strained every nerve, even to paying bogus English
+agitators, in order to hinder the cause of reform. Their attitude
+undoubtedly had something to do with stiffening the backs of
+the Boers and so preventing concessions.</p>
+
+<p>3. <i>That Britain wanted the gold mines.</i>&mdash;No possible accusation
+is more popular or more widely believed upon the Continent,
+and yet none could be more ridiculous when it is examined. The
+gold mines are private companies, with shares held by private
+shareholders, German and French, as well as British. Whether the
+British or the Boer flag flew over the country would not alienate a
+single share from any holder, nor would the wealth of Britain be in
+any way greater. She will be the poorer by the vast expense of the
+war, and it is unlikely that more than one-third of this expenditure
+can be covered by taxation of the profits of the gold mines. Apart
+from this limited contribution towards the war, how is Britain
+the richer because her flag flies over the Rand? The Transvaal
+will be a self-governing colony, like all other British colonies,
+with its own finance minister, its own budget, its own taxes, even
+its own power of imposing duties upon British merchandise.
+They will pay a British governor 10,000<i>l.</i>, and he will be expected
+to spend 15,000<i>l.</i> <i>We</i> know all this because it is part of our
+British system, but it is not familiar to those nations who look
+upon colonies as sources of direct revenue to the mother country.
+It is the most general, and at the same time the most untenable,
+of all Continental comments upon the war. The second Transvaal
+war was the logical sequel of the first, and the first was
+fought before gold was discovered in the country.</p>
+
+<p>4. <i>That it was a monarchy against a republic.</i>&mdash;This
+argument undoubtedly had weight with those true republics like
+the United States, France, and Switzerland, where people who
+were ignorant of the facts were led away by mere names. As a
+matter of fact Great Britain and the British colonies are among<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+the most democratic communities in the world. They preserve,
+partly from sentiment, partly for political convenience, a hereditary
+chief, but the will of the people is decisive upon all questions,
+and every man by his vote helps to mould the destiny of the
+State. There is practically universal suffrage, and the highest
+offices of the State are within reach of any citizen who is
+competent to attain them. On the other hand, the Transvaal is
+an oligarchy, not a democracy, where half the inhabitants claim
+to be upon an entirely different footing from the other half. This
+rule represents the ascendency of one race over the other, such an
+ascendency as existed in Ireland in the eighteenth century.
+Technically the one country is a republic and the other a
+monarchy, but in truth the empire stood for liberty and the
+republic for tyranny, race ascendency, corruption, taxation without
+representation, and all that is most opposed to the broader
+conception of freedom.</p>
+
+<p>5. <i>That it was a strong nation attacking a weak one.</i>&mdash;That
+appeal to sentiment and to the sporting instincts of the
+human race must always be a powerful one. But in this instance
+it is entirely misapplied. The preparation for war, the ultimatum,
+the invasion, and the first shedding of blood, all came from the
+nation which the result has shown to be the weaker. The reason
+why this smaller nation attacked so audaciously was that they knew
+perfectly well that they were at the time far the stronger power in
+South Africa, and all their information led them to believe that
+they would continue to be so even when Britain had put forth
+all her strength. It certainly seemed that they were justified
+in this belief. The chief military critics of the Continent had
+declared that 100,000 men was the outside figure which Britain
+could place in the field. Against these they knew that without any
+rising of their kinsmen in the Cape they could place fifty or sixty
+thousand men, and their military history had unfortunately led
+them to believe that such a force of Boers, operating under their
+own conditions with their own horses in their own country, was
+far superior to this number of British soldiers. They knew how
+excellent was their artillery, and how complete their preparations.
+A dozen extracts could be given to show how confident they were
+of success, from Blignant's letter with his fears that Chamberlain
+would do them out of the war, to Esselen's boast that he would
+not wash until he reached the sea. What they did not foresee,
+and what put out their plans, was that indignant wave of public<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
+opinion throughout the British Empire which increased threefold&mdash;as
+it would, if necessary, have increased tenfold&mdash;the strength of the
+army and so enabled it to beat down the Boer resistance. When
+war was declared, and for a very long time afterwards, it was the
+Boers who were the strong power and the British who were the
+weak one, and any sympathy given on the other understanding
+was sympathy misapplied. From that time onwards the war had
+to take its course, and the British had no choice but to push it to
+its end.</p>
+
+<p>6. <i>That the British refused to arbitrate.</i>&mdash;This has been
+repeated <i>ad nauseam</i>, but the allegation will not bear investigation.
+There are some subjects which can be settled by arbitration,
+and all those Great Britain freely consented to treat in this
+fashion, before a tribunal which should be limited to Great
+Britain and South Africa. Such a tribunal would by no means
+be necessarily drawn from judges who were committed to one
+side or the other. There were many men whose moderation
+and discretion both sides would admit. Such a man, for example,
+was Rose Innes amongst the British, and de Villiers among
+those who had Africander sympathies. Both the Transvaal
+and the British Governments agreed that such a tribunal
+was competent, but they disagreed upon the point that the
+British Government desired to reserve some subjects from this
+arbitration.</p>
+
+<p>The desire upon the part of Great Britain to exclude outsiders
+from the arbitration tribunal was due to the fact that to admit
+them was to give away the case before going into Court. The
+Transvaal claimed to be a sovereign international state. Great
+Britain denied it. If the Transvaal could appeal to arbitration as
+a peer among peers in a court of nations, she became <i>ipso facto</i>
+an international state. Therefore Great Britain refused such a
+court.</p>
+
+<p>But why not refer all subjects to such a South African court
+as was finally accepted by both sides? The answer is that it is
+a monstrous hypocrisy to carry cases into an arbitration court,
+when you know beforehand that by their very nature they cannot
+possibly be settled by such a court. To quote Milner's words,
+'It is, of course, absurd to suggest that the question whether the
+South African Republic does or does not treat British residents in
+that country with justice, and the British Government with the
+consideration and respect due to any friendly, not to say suzerain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span>
+power, is a question capable of being referred to arbitration.
+You cannot arbitrate on broad questions of policy any more
+than on questions of national honour.' On this point of the
+limitation of arbitration the Transvaal leaders appear to have
+been as unanimous as the British, so that it is untrue to lay the
+blame of the restriction upon one side only. Mr. Reitz, in his
+scheme of arbitration formulated upon June 9, has the express
+clause 'That each side shall have the right to reserve and exclude
+points which appear to it to be too important to be submitted to
+arbitration.' To this the British Government agreed, making the
+further very great concession that an Orange Free Stater should not
+be regarded as a foreigner. The matter was in this state when
+the Transvaal sent its ultimatum. Up to the firing of the first
+shot the British Government still offered the only form of
+arbitration which was possible without giving away the question
+at issue. It was the Transvaal which, after agreeing to such a
+Court, turned suddenly to the arbitrament of the Mauser and the
+Creusot.</p>
+
+<p>7. <i>That the war was to avenge Majuba.</i>&mdash;There can be no
+doubt that our defeat in this skirmish had left considerable heart-burnings
+which were not allayed by the subsequent attitude of
+the Boers and their assumption, testified to by Bryce and other
+friendly observers, that what we did after the action was due not
+to a magnanimous desire to repair a wrong but to craven fear.
+From the outset of the war there was a strong desire on the part
+of the soldiers to avenge Majuba, which was fully gratified when,
+upon the anniversary of that day, Cronje and his 4,000 brave
+companions had to raise the white flag. But that a desire to
+avenge Majuba swayed the policy of the country cannot be upheld
+in view of the fact that eighteen years had elapsed; that during
+that time the Boers had again and again broken the conventions
+by extending their boundaries; that three times matters were
+in such a position that war might have resulted and yet that
+peace was successfully maintained. War might very easily have
+been forced upon the Boers during the years before they turned
+their country into an arsenal, when it would have been absolutely
+impossible for them to have sustained a long campaign. That it
+was not done and that the British Government remained patient
+until it received the outrageous ultimatum, is a proof that Majuba
+may have rankled in our memory but was not allowed to influence
+our policy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>8. <i>What proof is there that the Boers ever had any aggressive
+designs upon the British?</i>&mdash;It would be a misuse of terms to call
+the general Boer designs against the British a conspiracy, for it
+was openly advocated in the press, preached from the pulpit, and
+preached upon the platform, that the Dutch should predominate
+in South Africa, and that the portion of it which remained under
+the British flag should be absorbed by that which was outside it.
+So widespread and deep-seated was this ambition, that it was
+evident that Great Britain must, sooner or later, either yield
+to it or else sustain her position by force of arms. She was prepared
+to give Dutch citizens within her borders the vote, the
+power of making their own laws, complete religious and political
+freedom, and everything which their British comrades could have,
+without any distinction whatever; but when it came to hauling
+down the flag, it was certainly time that a stand should be made.</p>
+
+<p>How this came about cannot be expressed more clearly than
+in the words of Paul Botha, who, as I have already said, was a
+voortrekker like Kruger himself, and a Boer of the Boers, save
+that he seems to have been a man with wider and more liberal
+views than his fellows. He was member for Kroonstadt in the
+Free State Raad.</p>
+
+<p>'I am convinced,' he says, 'that Kruger's influence completely
+changed the character of the Afrikander Bond&mdash;an organisation
+which I believe Hofmeyr started at the Cape with the legitimate
+purpose of securing certain political privileges, but which, under
+Kruger's henchmen&mdash;Sauer, Merriman, Te Water, and others&mdash;raised
+unrest in the Cape Colony.</p>
+
+<p>'This successful anti-British policy of Kruger created a
+number of imitators&mdash;Steyn, Fischer, Esselen, Smuts, and
+numerous other young educated Africanders of the Transvaal,
+Orange Free State, and the Cape Colony, who, misled by his
+successes, ambitiously hoped by the same means to raise themselves
+to the same pinnacle.</p>
+
+<p>'Krugerism under them developed into a reign of terror. If
+you were anti-Kruger you were stigmatised as "Engelschgezind,"
+and a traitor to your people, unworthy of a hearing. I have
+suffered bitterly from this taunt, especially under Steyn's <i>r&eacute;gime</i>.
+The more hostile you were to England the greater patriot you
+were accounted.</p>
+
+<p>'This gang, which I wish to be clearly understood was spread
+over the whole of South Africa, the Transvaal, the Orange Free<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+State, and the Cape Colony, used the Bond, the press, and the
+pulpit to further its schemes.</p>
+
+<p>'Reitz, whom I believe to have been an honest enthusiast, set
+himself up as second sponsor to the Bond and voiced the doctrine
+of this gang: "Africa for the Africanders. Sweep the English
+into the sea." With an alluring cry like this, it will be readily
+understood how easy it was to inflame the imagination of the
+illiterate and uneducated Boer, and to work upon his vanity and
+prejudices. That pernicious rag, Carl Borckenhagen's "Bloemfontein
+Express," enormously contributed to spreading this
+doctrine in the Orange Free State. I myself firmly believe that
+the "Express" was subsidised by Kruger. It was no mystery to
+me from where Borckenhagen, a full-blooded German, got his
+ardent Free State patriotism.</p>
+
+<p>'In the Transvaal this was done by the "Volksstem," written
+by a Hollander and subsidised by Kruger; by the "Rand Post,"
+also written by a Hollander, also subsidised by Paul Kruger; and
+in the Cape Colony by the "Patriot," which was started by
+intriguers and rebels to their own Government, at the Paarl&mdash;a
+hot-bed of false Africanderism. "Ons Land" may be an honest
+paper, but by fostering impossible ideas it has done us incalculable
+harm. It grieves me to think that my poor people,
+through want of education, had to swallow this poison undiluted.</p>
+
+<p>'Is it possible to imagine that Steyn, Fischer, and the other
+educated men of the Free State did not know that, following
+Kruger's hostile policy of eliminating the preponderating Power in
+South Africa, meant that that Power would be forced either to
+fight in self-preservation or to disappear ignominiously? For I
+maintain that there were only two courses open to England in
+answer to Kruger's challenging policy&mdash;to fight or to retire from
+South Africa. It was only possible for men suffering from
+tremendously swollen heads, such as our leaders were suffering
+from, not to see the obvious or to doubt the issue.'</p>
+
+<p>So much for a Boer's straightforward account of the forces at
+work, and the influences which were at the back of those forces.
+It sums the situation up tersely, but the situation itself was
+evident and dominated Cape politics. The ambitions of Africanderdom
+were discussed in the broad light of day in the editorial,
+in the sermon, in the speech, though the details by which those
+ambitions were to be carried out were only whispered on the
+Dutch stoeps.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Here are the opinions of Reitz, the man who more than all
+others, save his master, has the blood of the fallen upon his conscience.
+It is taken from the 'Reminiscences' of Mr. Theophilus
+Schreiner, the brother of the ex-Prime Minister of the Cape:</p>
+
+<p>'I met Mr. Reitz, then a judge of the Orange Free State, in
+Bloemfontein between seventeen and eighteen years ago, shortly
+after the retrocession of the Transvaal, and when he was busy
+establishing the Afrikander Bond. It must be patent to everyone
+that at that time, at all events, England and its Government
+had no intention of taking away the independence of the Transvaal,
+for she had just "magnanimously" granted the same; no intention
+of making war on the republics, for she had just made peace;
+no intention to seize the Rand gold fields, for they were not yet
+discovered. At that time, then, I met Mr. Reitz, and he did his
+best to get me to become a member of his Afrikander Bond, but,
+after studying its constitution and programme, I refused to do so,
+whereupon the following colloquy in substance took place between
+us, which has been indelibly imprinted on my mind ever since:</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Reitz</i>: Why do you refuse? Is the object of getting the
+people to take an interest in political matters not a good one?</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Myself</i>: Yes, it is; but I seem to see plainly here between
+the lines of this constitution much more ultimately aimed at than
+that.</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Reitz</i>: What?</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Myself</i>: I see quite clearly that the ultimate object aimed at
+is the overthrow of the British power and the expulsion of the
+British flag from South Africa.</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Reitz</i> (<i>with his pleasant conscious smile, as of one whose
+secret thought and purpose had been discovered, and who was not
+altogether displeased that such was the case</i>): Well, what if it
+is so?</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Myself</i>: You don't suppose, do you, that that flag is going
+to disappear from South Africa without a tremendous struggle
+and fight?</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Reitz</i> (<i>with the same pleasant self-conscious, self-satisfied,
+and yet semi-apologetic smile</i>): Well, I suppose not; but even so,
+what of that?</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Myself</i>: Only this, that when that struggle takes place you
+and I will be on opposite sides; and what is more, the God who
+was on the side of the Transvaal in the late war, because it had
+right on its side, will be on the side of England, because He must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
+view with abhorrence any plotting and scheming to overthrow
+her power and position in South Africa, which have been ordained
+by Him.</p>
+
+<p>'<i>Reitz</i>: We'll see.</p>
+
+<p>'Thus the conversation ended, but during the seventeen years
+that have elapsed I have watched the propaganda for the overthrow
+of British power in South Africa being ceaselessly spread by every
+possible means&mdash;the press, the pulpit, the platform, the schools,
+the colleges, the Legislature&mdash;until it has culminated in the
+present war, of which Mr. Reitz and his co-workers are the origin
+and the cause. Believe me, the day on which F. W. Reitz sat
+down to pen his ultimatum to Great Britain was the proudest
+and happiest moment of his life, and one which had for long
+years been looked forward to by him with eager longing and
+expectation.'</p>
+
+<p>Compare with these utterances of a Dutch politician of the
+Cape, and of a Dutch politician of the Orange Free State, the
+following passage from a speech delivered by Kruger at Bloemfontein
+in the year 1887, long before Jameson raids or franchise
+agitations:</p>
+
+<p>'I think it too soon to speak of a United South Africa under
+one flag. Which flag was it to be? The Queen of England would
+object to having her flag hauled down, and we, the burghers of
+the Transvaal, object to hauling ours down. What is to be done?
+We are now small and of little importance, but we are growing,
+and are preparing the way to take our place among the great
+nations of the world.'</p>
+
+<p>'The dream of our life,' said another, 'is a union of the States
+of South Africa, and this has to come from within, not from
+without. When that is accomplished, South Africa will be great.'</p>
+
+<p>Always the same theory from all quarters of Dutch thought,
+to be followed by many signs that the idea was being prepared
+for in practice. I repeat, that the fairest and most unbiassed
+historian cannot dismiss the movement as a myth.</p>
+
+<p>And to this one may retort, Why should they not do so?
+Why should they not have their own views as to the future of
+South Africa? Why should they not endeavour to have one
+universal flag and one common speech? Why should they not
+win over our colonists, if they can, and push us into the sea? I
+see no reason why they should not. Let them try if they will.
+And let us try to prevent them. But let us have an end of talk<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+about British aggression, of capitalist designs upon the gold fields,
+of the wrongs of a pastoral people, and all the other veils which
+have been used to cover the issue. Let those who talk about
+British designs upon the republics turn their attention for a
+moment to the evidence which there is for republican designs
+upon the colonies. Let them reflect that in the British system all
+white men are equal, and that in the Boer one race has persecuted
+the other; and let them consider under which the truest
+freedom lies, which stands for universal liberty, and which for
+reaction and racial hatred. Let them ponder and answer all
+this before they determine where their sympathies lie.</p>
+
+<p>Long before the war, when the British public and the British
+Government also had every confidence that the solution would
+be found in peace, every burgher had been provided with his
+rifle, his ammunition, and his instructions as to the part which
+he was to play in that war which they looked upon as certain.
+A huge conspiracy as to the future, which might be verbally
+discussed but which must not be written, seems to have prevailed
+among the farmers. Curious evidence of it came into my own
+hands in this fashion. After a small action at which I was
+present I entered a deserted Boer farmhouse which had been part
+of the enemy's position, and, desiring to carry away some souvenir
+which should be of no value, I took some papers which appeared
+to be children's writing-exercises. They were so, but among
+them were one or two letters, one of which I append in all its
+frankness and simplicity. The date is some fourteen weeks <i>before</i>
+the declaration of war, when the British were anxious for and
+confident in a peaceful solution:</p>
+
+<div class="mt"><p class="td3">'Parad&yuml;s, June 25, 1899.</p></div>
+
+<p>'<span class="smcap">My dear Henry</span>,&mdash;I taking my pen up to write you these
+few lines. That we all are in good health, hoping to hear the
+same from you all. And the letter of the 18th is handed to me.
+And I feel very much obliged that I hear you are all in good
+health.... Here by us are the fields very dry, and the dams
+just by dry also. <i>Dear Henry, the war are by us very much.
+How is it there by you. News is very scarce to write, but much
+to speak by ourselves.</i> I must now close with my letter because
+I see that you will be tired out to read it. With best love to you
+and your family so I remain your faithfully friend,</p>
+
+<div class="mb"><p class="td3">'<span class="smcap">Pieter Wiese</span>.'</p></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>Here is, in itself, as it seems to me, evidence of that great
+conspiracy, not of ambitions (for there was no reason why they
+should not be openly discussed), but of weapons and of dates for
+using them, which was going on all the time behind that cloud
+of suspicious negotiations with which the Boer Governments veiled
+their resolution to attack the British. A small straw, no doubt,
+but the result has shown how deep and dangerous was the current
+which it indicates. Here is a letter from one of the Snymans to
+his brother at a later period, but still a month before the war. He
+is talking of Kruger:</p>
+
+<p>'The old chap was nearly raving about it, and said that the
+burghers wanted to tie his hands, and so, brother, the thing is
+simply war and nothing else. He said we had gone too far, and
+help from oversea was positively promised, only unanimity of
+opinion must reign here or we could neither expect nor obtain
+assistance. Brother, the old man and his Hollander dogs talk
+very easily about the thing; but what shall we do, because if one
+speaks against it one is simply a rebel? So I remain dumb.</p>
+
+<p>'On the stoep it is nothing but war, but in the Raad everything
+is peace and Queen. Those are the politics they talk. I
+have nothing more to say here, but I can tell you a good deal.
+Brother, old Reitz says Chamberlain will have a great surprise one
+of these days, and the burghers must sleep with one eye open.</p>
+
+<p>'It is rumoured here that our military officers work day and
+night to send old Victoria an ultimatum before she is ready.'</p>
+
+<p>'On the stoep it is nothing but war, but in the Raad everything
+is peace.' No wonder the British overtures were in vain.</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h2><small>THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE</small></h2>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">This</span> is not an attempt to write the history of the war, which I
+have done elsewhere, but only to touch upon those various points
+upon which attempts have been made to mislead continental and
+American opinion. I will endeavour to treat each of these
+subjects in turn, not in the spirit of a lawyer preparing a brief,
+but with an honest endeavour to depict the matter as it is, even
+when I venture to differ from the action either of the British
+Government or of the generals in the field. In this chapter I
+will deal with the question of making peace, and examine how
+far the British are to blame for not having brought those negotiations
+which have twice been opened to a successful conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>The outset of the war saw the Boers aggressive and victorious.
+They flocked into British territory, drove the small forces opposed
+to them into entrenched positions, and held them there at Ladysmith,
+Kimberley, and Mafeking. At the same time they drove
+back at Colenso and at Magersfontein the forces which were sent
+to relieve these places. During this long period of their predominance
+from October 1899 to February 1900, there was no
+word of peace. On the contrary, every yard of British territory
+which was occupied was instantly annexed either by the Transvaal
+or by the Orange Free State. This is admitted and beyond
+dispute. What becomes then of the theory of a defensive war,
+and what can they urge against the justice which awarded the
+same fate to the land of the Boers when it in turn was occupied
+by us? The Boers did not use their temporary victory in any
+moderate spirit. At the end of January 1900, Dr. Leyds, while
+on his visit to Berlin, said:</p>
+
+<p>'I believe that England will have to give us back a good part
+of the territory formerly snatched away from us.... The Boers
+will probably demand the cession of the strip of coast between
+Durban and Delagoa Bay, with the harbours of Lucia and Kosi.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+The Orange Free State and the Transvaal are to be united and
+to form one State, together with parts of Natal and the northern
+districts of Cape Colony.'&mdash;(<i>Daily News</i> Berlin correspondent,
+February 1, March 16, 1900.)</p>
+
+<p>They were to go to the sea, and nothing but going to the sea
+would satisfy them. The war would end when their flag flew
+over Cape Town. But there came a turn of the tide. The
+resistance of the garrisons, the tenacity of the relieving forces,
+and the genius of Lord Roberts altered the whole situation. The
+Boers were driven back to the first of their capitals. Then for
+the first time there came from them those proposals for peace,
+which were never heard when the game was going in their favour.
+Here is President Kruger's telegram:</p>
+
+<div class="mt"><p class="center">'THE PRESIDENTS OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE AND OF THE<br />
+SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC TO THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY.</p>
+
+<p class="td3">'Bloemfontein: March 5, 1900.</p></div>
+
+<p>'The blood and the tears of the thousands who have suffered
+by this war, and the prospect of all the moral and economic ruin
+with which South Africa is now threatened, make it necessary for
+both belligerents to ask themselves dispassionately, and as in the
+sight of the Triune God, for what they are fighting, and whether
+the aim of each justifies all this appalling misery and devastation.</p>
+
+<p>'With this object, and in view of the assertions of various
+British statesmen to the effect that this war was begun and is
+being carried on with the set purpose of undermining Her
+Majesty's authority in South Africa, and of setting up an
+Administration over all South Africa independent of Her
+Majesty's Government, we consider it our duty solemnly to declare
+that this war was undertaken solely as a defensive measure to
+safeguard the threatened independence of the South African
+Republic, and is only continued in order to secure and safeguard
+the incontestable independence of both Republics as Sovereign
+International States, and to obtain the assurance that those of
+Her Majesty's subjects who have taken part with us in this war
+shall suffer no harm whatsoever in person or property.</p>
+
+<p>'On these conditions, but on these conditions alone, are we
+now, as in the past, desirous of seeing peace re-established in
+South Africa, and of putting an end to the evils now reigning
+over South Africa; while, if Her Majesty's Government is determined
+to destroy the independence of the Republics, there is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
+nothing left to us and to our people but to persevere to the end
+in the course already begun, in spite of the overwhelming pre-eminence
+of the British Empire, confident that that God who
+lighted the unextinguishable fire of the love of freedom in the
+hearts of ourselves and of our fathers will not forsake us, but will
+accomplish His work in us and in our descendants.</p>
+
+<p class="mb">'We hesitated to make this declaration earlier to Your
+Excellency, as we feared that as long as the advantage was always
+on our side, and as long as our forces held defensive positions
+far in Her Majesty's colonies, such a declaration might hurt the
+feelings of honour of the British people; but now that the prestige
+of the British Empire may be considered to be assured by the
+capture of one of our forces by Her Majesty's troops, and that we
+are thereby forced to evacuate other positions which our forces
+had occupied, that difficulty is over, and we can no longer hesitate
+clearly to inform your Government and people in the sight of the
+whole civilised world why we are fighting, and on what conditions
+we are ready to restore peace.'</p>
+
+<p>Here is Lord Salisbury's reply:</p>
+
+<div class="m0"><p class="td3">'Foreign Office: March 11, 1900.</p></div>
+
+<p>'I have the honour to acknowledge Your Honours' telegram
+dated the 5th of March from Bloemfontein, of which the purport
+is principally to demand that Her Majesty's Government shall
+recognise the "incontestable independence" of the South African
+Republic and Orange Free State "as Sovereign International
+States," and to offer, on those terms, to bring the war to a
+conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>'In the beginning of October last peace existed between Her
+Majesty and the two Republics under the Conventions which then
+were in existence. A discussion had been proceeding for some
+months between Her Majesty's Government and the South African
+Republic, of which the object was to obtain redress for certain
+very serious grievances under which British residents in the South
+African Republic were suffering. In the course of those negotiations
+the South African Republic had, to the knowledge of Her
+Majesty's Government, made considerable armaments, and the
+latter had, consequently, taken steps to provide corresponding
+reinforcements to the British garrisons of Cape Town and Natal.
+No infringement of the rights guaranteed by the Conventions had
+up to that point taken place on the British side. Suddenly, at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+two days' notice, the South African Republic, after issuing an
+insulting ultimatum, declared war upon Her Majesty, and the
+Orange Free State, with whom there had not even been any
+discussion, took a similar step. Her Majesty's dominions were
+immediately invaded by the two Republics, siege was laid to
+three towns within the British frontier, a large portion of the two
+colonies was overrun, with great destruction to property and life,
+and the Republics claimed to treat the inhabitants of extensive
+portions of Her Majesty's dominions as if those dominions had
+been annexed to one or other of them. In anticipation of these
+operations, the South African Republic had been accumulating
+for many years past military stores on an enormous scale, which
+by their character could only have been intended for use against
+Great Britain.</p>
+
+<p>'Your Honours make some observations of a negative character
+upon the object with which these preparations were made. I do
+not think it necessary to discuss the question you have raised.
+But the result of these preparations, carried on with great secrecy,
+has been that the British Empire has been compelled to confront
+an invasion which has entailed upon the Empire a costly war and
+the loss of thousands of precious lives. This great calamity has
+been the penalty which Great Britain has suffered for having in
+recent years acquiesced in the existence of the two Republics.</p>
+
+<p>'In view of the use to which the two Republics have put the
+position which was given to them, and the calamities which their
+unprovoked attack has inflicted upon Her Majesty's dominions,
+Her Majesty's Government can only answer Your Honours' telegram
+by saying that they are not prepared to assent to the
+independence either of the South African Republic or of the
+Orange Free State.'</p>
+
+<p>Is there any sane man of any nation who can contend that
+a British statesman could possibly have taken any other view?
+From the firing of the first shot the irresistible logic of events
+showed that either the Republics must dominate Africa or they
+must cease to exist. For the sparing of the Orange Free State
+there might, I think, be a fair argument, but they had put themselves
+out of court by annexing every foot of British territory
+which they could lay their hands upon. For the sparing of the
+Transvaal there could be no possible reason. Had that State
+been reconstituted we should instantly have been faced once more
+with the Franchise question, the Uitlander question, the corrupt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span>
+oligarchy, the anti-British conspiracy, and everything which we
+had spent so much blood and money to set right. The desperate
+situation from which the British power was only just emerging was
+so fresh in our minds that we could not feel justified in leaving
+the possibility&mdash;indeed the certainty&mdash;of its recurrence to our
+children. Remember, you who judge us, that we had done all
+this before. Once before within our own memories we had
+patched up an inconclusive peace, and left these people the
+power to hurt us. And what had come of it? Eternal trouble
+ending in a great war which strained the resources of the Empire.
+Could we be asked to do the same again? Would any nation on
+earth have done the same again? From the day of the signing
+of peace we should know that we had an implacable and formidable
+foe to the north of us, nursing his wrath and preparing his
+strength for the day when he might strike us at an advantage.
+Our colonies would lie ever in the shadow of its menace. Who
+can blame us for deciding that the job should be done now in
+such a way that it should never, so far as we could help it, need
+to be done once more?</p>
+
+<p>Such was the end of the first negotiations for peace. The
+war was resumed, and in time the second capital of the Boers was
+taken and President Kruger withdrew to Europe, leaving South
+Africa in the welter to which he had reduced it. Then, for the
+second time, negotiations for peace were opened on the initiative
+of General Botha, which led to a meeting upon February 28, 1901,
+between Kitchener and Botha. Kitchener had already explained
+that for the reasons given above the restoration of independence
+was impossible, and the negotiations were carried through on that
+understanding. Here is Lord Kitchener's own account of the
+interview and of the points at issue:</p>
+
+<div class="mt">
+<p class="td3"><span class="p1">[<i>Telegram.</i>]</span>'Pretoria: March 1, 1901, 2.20 <span class="smcapl">P.M.</span></p></div>
+
+<p>'<i>28th February.</i>&mdash;I have had a long interview with Botha, who
+showed very good feeling and seemed anxious to bring about
+peace. He asked for information on a number of subjects which
+he said that he should submit to his Government and people, and
+if they agreed he should visit Orange River Colony and get
+them to agree. They should all then hand in their arms
+and finish the war. He told me that they could go on for
+some time, and that he was not sure of being able to bring about
+peace without independence. He tried very hard for some kind<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+of independence, but I declined to discuss such a point, and said
+that a modified form of independence would be most dangerous and
+likely to lead to war in the future. Subject was then dropped, and&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>'Firstly.&mdash;The nature of future government of Colonies asked
+about. He wanted more details than were given by Colonial
+Secretary, and I said that, subject to correction from home,
+I understood that when hostilities ceased military guard would
+be replaced by Crown Colony administration, consisting of
+nominated Executive, with elected assembly to advise administration,
+to be followed after a period by representative government.
+He would have liked representative government at once, but
+seemed satisfied with above.</p>
+
+<p>'Secondly.&mdash;Whether a Boer would be able to have a rifle to
+protect him from native? I said I thought he would be by a
+licence and on registration.</p>
+
+<p>'Thirdly.&mdash;He asked whether Dutch language would be
+allowed? I said that English and Dutch would, I thought, have
+equal rights. He expressed hope that officials dealing with
+farmers would know Dutch.</p>
+
+<p>'Fourthly.&mdash;The Kaffir question. This turned at once on
+franchise of Kaffirs, and a solution seemed to be that franchise
+should not be given to Kaffirs until after representative government
+was granted to Colonies. Orange Free State laws for
+Kaffirs were considered good.</p>
+
+<p>'Fifthly.&mdash;That Dutch Church property should remain untouched.</p>
+
+<p>'Sixthly.&mdash;Public trusts and orphan funds to be left intact.
+He asked whether British Government, in taking over the assets
+of Republics, would also take over legal debts. This he made
+rather a strong point of, and he intended it to include debts
+legally contracted since the war began. He referred to notes
+issued amounting to less than a million.</p>
+
+<p>'Seventhly.&mdash;He asked if any war tax would be imposed on
+farmers? I said I thought not.</p>
+
+<p>'Eighthly.&mdash;When would prisoners of war return?</p>
+
+<p>'Ninthly.&mdash;He referred to pecuniary assistance to repair
+burnt farms, and enable farmers to start afresh. I said I thought
+some assistance would be given.</p>
+
+<p>'Tenthly.&mdash;Amnesty to all at end of war. We spoke of
+Colonials who joined Republics, and he seemed not adverse to
+their being disfranchised.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p>
+
+<p class="mb">'I arranged with him that I should write and let him know the
+view of the Government on these points. All I said during the
+interview was qualified by being subject to confirmation from
+home. He was anxious to get an answer soon.'</p>
+
+<p>There followed some correspondence between Lord Kitchener,
+Sir Alfred Milner, and Mr. Chamberlain upon the exact terms
+which could be given to Botha. They ended in the following
+offer, which was submitted to him upon March 7. That, in consideration
+of a complete military surrender,</p>
+
+<p>'1. There should be a complete amnesty for all <i>bon&acirc; fide</i> acts
+of war for all burghers of the Republics. In the case of Colonial
+rebels, if they returned to their Colonies some inquiry must be
+held on their conduct.</p>
+
+<p>'2. All prisoners to be at once sent back.</p>
+
+<p>'3. Crown Colony government to be given as soon as possible;
+this in turn to change to representative government, as in all
+other free British possessions. The courts of law to be independent
+of the government.</p>
+
+<p>'4. The Dutch and English languages to be put upon an
+equality.</p>
+
+<p>'5. That the Government should help to replace the farmers
+on their farms, to restore their buildings, should pledge itself not
+to specially tax them, and should pay as an act of grace one million
+pounds to meet the debt incurred by the Republican governments
+to their own people during the war.</p>
+
+<p>'6. That the burghers be allowed sporting fire-arms.</p>
+
+<p>'7. That the Kaffirs should have the protection of the law,
+but should not have the vote.</p>
+
+<p>'In conclusion,' says Lord Kitchener, 'I must inform your
+honour that if the terms are not accepted after a reasonable delay
+for consideration, they must be regarded as cancelled.'</p>
+
+<p>But the wise and chivalrous Botha was overruled by
+the men around him, many of whom had little to lose by a
+continuance of the struggle. It was evident that he did not
+himself consider independence vital, since he had gravely discussed
+terms which were based upon loss of independence. But other
+influences had been brought to bear upon him, and this was his
+reply&mdash;a reply which has already cost the lives of so many of each
+side:</p>
+
+<p>'I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of Your Excellency's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span>
+letter stating what steps Your Excellency's Government is prepared
+to take in the event of a general and total cessation of
+hostilities. I have advised my Government of Your Excellency's
+said letter; but, after the mutual exchange of views at our
+interview at Middelburg on 28th February last, it will certainly
+not surprise Your Excellency to know that I do not feel disposed
+to recommend that the terms of the said letter shall have the
+earnest consideration of my Government. I may add also that
+my Government and my chief officers here entirely agree to my
+views.'</p>
+
+<p>It will be observed that in this reply Botha bases his refusal
+upon his own views as expressed in the original interview with
+Kitchener; and we have his own authority, therefore, to show that
+they were not determined by any changes which Chamberlain
+may have made in the terms&mdash;a favourite charge of that gentleman's
+enemies.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to say how, short of independence, Great
+Britain could have improved upon these terms, and it has already
+been shown that to offer independence would mean having to
+fight the war over again. It has been suggested that Great
+Britain might have offered a definite date upon which representative
+institutions should come in force, but such a promise must
+be disingenuous, for it must evidently depend not upon a date,
+but upon the state of the country. The offers of loans to the
+farmers towards the stocking and rebuilding the farms were surely
+generous to our defeated foes, and, indeed, it is clear now that in
+some respects our generosity went too far, and that the interests
+of the Empire would have suffered severely had these terms been
+accepted. To have given more would certainly seem not to have
+offered peace, but to have implored it.</p>
+
+<p>Whatever the final terms of peace may prove to be, it is to be
+earnestly hoped that 40,000 male prisoners will not be returned,
+as a matter of right, without any guarantee for their future conduct.
+It is also much to be desired that the bastard taal language,
+which has no literature and is almost as unintelligible to a
+Hollander as to an Englishman, will cease to be officially recognised.
+These two omissions may repay in the long run for weary months
+of extra war since, upon Botha's refusal, the British Government
+withdrew these terms and the hand moved onwards upon the dial
+of fate, never to turn back.</p>
+
+<p>De Wet had said in reference to Kitchener's terms of peace,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+'What is the use of examining all the points, as the only object
+for which we are fighting is our independence and our national
+existence?' It is evident, however, that Botha did not consider
+this an absolute bar to renewing the negotiations, for upon May 10,
+two months later, he wrote the following letter to Lord Kitchener:</p>
+
+<div class="mt"><p class="td3">'Commandant-General's Camp, May 10, 1901.</p></div>
+
+<p>'<span class="smcap">Excellency</span>,&mdash;As I have already assured Your Excellency I
+am very desirous of terminating this war, and its sad consequences.
+It is, however, necessary, in order to comply with the "Grondwet"
+of this Republic and otherwise, that, before any steps are taken in
+that direction, the condition of our country and our cause be
+brought to the notice of His Honour, State President Kruger, in
+Europe; and I therefore wish to send two persons to him in order
+to acquaint him fully with that condition.</p>
+
+<p>'As speed in this matter is of great consequence to both contending
+parties, and as such despatch without Your Excellency's
+assistance would take a considerable time, I should like to hear
+from Your Excellency whether Your Excellency is prepared to
+assist me in expediting this matter by allowing such person or
+persons to journey there and back unhindered, if necessary by the
+traffic medium within Your Excellency's control.&mdash;I have, &amp;c.,</p>
+
+<div class="mb"><p class="td3">'<span class="smcap">Louis Botha</span>, Commandant-General.'</p></div>
+
+<p>To this Kitchener answered:</p>
+
+<div class="mt"><p class="td3">'Army Headquarters, South Africa, Pretoria, May 16, 1901.</p></div>
+
+<p>'<span class="smcap">Your Honour</span>,&mdash;I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt
+of Your Honour's letter of 10th instant, and, in reply, beg to
+state that I can only deal with you and your superior officers in
+the field in regard to the cessation of hostilities, and that I do not
+recognise the official status of any other persons in the late
+Republics of the Orange River and Transvaal.</p>
+
+<p>'If, however, Your Honour desires, with the object of bringing
+hostilities to a close, to consult with any person in Europe, I will
+forward any telegram Your Honour desires on the subject, and let
+you have the reply. Should, however, Your Honour still desire
+to send messengers, and will inform me of their names and status,
+I will refer the matter to His Majesty's Government for decision.&mdash;I
+have, &amp;c.,</p>
+
+<p class="center">'<span class="smcap">Kitchener</span>, General,</p>
+<p class="mb">'Commanding-in-Chief, British Troops, South Africa.'</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>At this period, the second week of May, the Boer cause was
+in very low water, as on the same date we have Botha reopening
+negotiations which he had declared to be definitely closed, and Reitz
+(the man who used to regard the whole matter as a great joke)
+writing a despairing letter to Steyn to the effect that the game was
+up and that it was time to take the last final step. A reply was
+received from Kruger encouraging the Boers to continue their
+hopeless and fatal resistance. His reply was to the effect that there
+were still great hopes of a successful issue of the war, and that he
+had taken steps to make proper provision for the Boer prisoners
+and for the refugee women. These steps, and very efficient ones,
+too, were to leave them to the generosity of that Government
+which he was so fond of reviling. There are signs that something
+else had occurred to give them fresh hope and also fresh
+material supplies. It looks, upon the face of it, as if, about that
+time, large supplies of rifles, ammunition, and possibly recruits
+must have reached them from some quarter, either from German
+Damaraland or the Portuguese coast. At any rate there has been
+so much ammunition used since, that either Reitz must have been
+raving or else large supplies have reached the Boers from some
+unknown source.</p>
+
+<p>So much for the official attempts at peace.</p>
+
+<p>They have been given in some detail in order to prove how
+false it is <i>that the British Government has insisted upon an
+unconditional surrender</i>. Far from this being so, the terms
+offered by the British Government have been so generous that
+they have aroused the strongest distrust and criticism in this
+country, where they have seemed to be surrendering by the pen
+all that had been won by the sword. Nothing has been refused
+the enemy, save only independence, and that can never be given,
+if the war has to continue until the last Boer is deported out of
+Africa.</p>
+
+<p>It is only necessary to refer briefly to the unofficial Boer
+attempts at peace. A considerable body of the Boers, including
+many men of influence and of intelligence, were disposed to accept
+the British flag and to settle down in peace. The leaders of this
+party were the brave Piet de Wet, brother of Christian, Paul
+Botha of Kroonstad, Fraser of Bloemfontein, and others. Piet
+de Wet, who had fought against us as hard as any man, wrote to
+his brother: 'Which is better, for the Republics to continue the
+struggle and run the risk of total ruin as a nation, or to submit?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+Could we for a moment think of taking back the country, if it
+were offered to us, with thousands of people to be supported by a
+Government which has not a farthing? Put passionate feeling
+aside for a moment and use common-sense, and you will then
+agree with me that the best thing for the people and the country
+is to give in, to be loyal to the new Government, and to get
+responsible government.' Such were the sentiments of many of
+the best of the burghers, and they endeavoured to persuade their
+fellows. Both in the Transvaal and in the Free State, Peace
+Committees were formed among the burghers, who sent deputies
+to lay the facts of the situation before their brethren on commando.
+The results were tragic. Two of the envoys, Morgendaal
+and de Koch, were shot in cold blood, the former having been
+first beaten. Several of the others were beaten, and all were
+ill-used.</p>
+
+<p>This severity did not, however, stop the movement, but gave
+it a fiercer turn. The burghers who were in favour of peace,
+finding it useless to argue with their fellow-countrymen and
+knowing that their country was being hopelessly ruined by the
+insensate resistance, took the extreme course at last of bearing
+arms against them. There are at present three strong commandos
+of burghers fighting upon the British side, commanded by three
+Boer Generals&mdash;Marais, Celliers, and the younger Cronje, all of
+whom had made their names in fighting against us. This fact
+alone goes far to dispel those stories of British barbarity with
+which I shall presently deal. They are believed in by political
+fanatics in England and by dupes abroad, but the answer which
+many of the Boers upon the spot make to them is to enlist and
+fight under the British flag. They are in the best position for
+knowing the truth, and how can they show in a stronger way
+what they believe that truth to be?</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h2><small>THE FARM-BURNING</small></h2>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">In</span> the official correspondence which is published between the Boer
+and British leaders in South Africa may very clearly be traced
+the way in which this practice came to assume proportions which
+shocked public opinion. It must be admitted that the results
+have not justified it, and that, putting all moral questions apart, a
+burned-out family is the last which is likely to settle down, as we
+hope that the Boers may eventually settle down, as contented
+British citizens. On the other hand, when a nation adopts guerilla
+tactics it deliberately courts those sufferings to the whole country
+which such tactics invariably entail. They have been the same
+in all wars and at all times. The army which is stung by
+guerillas, strikes round it furiously and occasionally indiscriminately.
+An army which is continually sniped and harassed
+becomes embittered, and a General feels called upon to take those
+harsher measures which precedent and experience suggest. That
+such measures have not been pushed to an extreme by the
+British authorities is shown by the fact that the captured guerilla
+has been made a prisoner of war&mdash;unlike his prototype, the <i>franc-tireur</i>.
+The general question of guerillas may be discussed later.
+At present we will confine our attention to the burning of farms.</p>
+
+<p>The first protest from the Boer side is dated February 3,
+1900. In it the two Presidents accuse the British troops 'of
+burning and blowing up with dynamite the farmhouses, and of
+the devastation of farms.' The document also includes an
+accusation of having used armed natives against the Boers.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Roberts replied upon February 5 to the effect that
+stringent instructions had been given to the British troops to
+respect private property. 'All wanton destruction or injury to
+peaceful inhabitants is contrary to British practice and tradition,
+and will, if necessary, be rigorously repressed by me.' He added
+that it was an untrue statement that natives had ever been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+encouraged by British officers to commit depredations. The
+charge, which has been the subject of many effective cartoons
+upon the Continent, is as absurd as most of the other works of the
+same artists. Why should the State which refused the aid of its
+own highly trained Indian army of 150,000 men, avail itself
+of that of savages? Lord Roberts denied the assertion with
+befitting warmth, and it is not again repeated in the course of
+the despatches.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Roberts in this document was not content with denying
+the Boer allegations, but carried the war into the enemy's country:</p>
+
+<p>'I regret to say that it is the Republican forces which have
+in some cases been guilty of carrying on the war in a manner not
+in accordance with civilised usage. I refer especially to the
+expulsion of loyal subjects of Her Majesty from their homes in
+the invaded districts of this Colony, because they refused to be
+commandeered by the invader. It is barbarous to attempt to
+force men to take sides against their own Sovereign and country
+by threats of spoliation and expulsion. Men, women, and
+children have had to leave their homes owing to such compulsion,
+and many of those who were formerly in comfortable
+circumstances are now being maintained by charity.'</p>
+
+<p>He adds: 'I beg to call your Honours' attention to the wanton
+destruction of property by the Boer forces in Natal. They not
+only have helped themselves freely to the cattle and other
+property of farmers without payment, but they have utterly
+wrecked the contents of many farmhouses. As an instance I would
+specify Mr. Theodore Wood's farm "Longwood" near Springfield.
+I point out how very different is the conduct of the British troops.
+It is reported to me from Modder River that farms within the
+actual area of the British Camp have never even been entered,
+the occupants are unmolested, and their houses, gardens, and
+crops remain absolutely untouched.'</p>
+
+<p>On March 26 Lord Roberts's Proclamation spoke with no
+uncertain voice upon the subject of private property. It says:</p>
+
+<p>'The following Proclamation, issued by me in the name of
+Her Majesty's Government on the 26th March, begins: Notice is
+hereby given that all persons who within the territories of the
+South African Republic or Orange Free State shall authorise or
+be guilty of the wanton destruction or damage or the counselling,
+aiding, or assisting in the wanton destruction or damage of public
+or private property, such destruction or damage not being justified<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+by the usages and customs of civilised warfare, will be held
+responsible in their persons and property for all such wanton
+destruction and damage.'</p>
+
+<p>This was during the period of the halt at Bloemfontein. I
+can well remember that then and for long afterwards the consideration
+which was shown upon this point seemed to those who were
+at the spot to be exaggerated and absurd. I can remember that
+when we applied for leave to use the deserted villas to put
+our sick soldiers into&mdash;the hospitals being full&mdash;we were told that
+it could only be done by private treaty with the owners, who were
+at that time on commando against us. I remember also suggesting
+that the corrugated-iron fencing round the cricket field should
+be used for making huts, and being told that it was impossible, as
+it was private property.</p>
+
+<p>The same extreme respect for personal property was shown
+during Lord Roberts's advance. The country through which he
+passed swarmed with herds and flocks, but, with as scrupulous a
+regard for the rights of property as Wellington showed in the
+south of France, no hungry soldier was allowed to take so much
+as a chicken. The punishment for looting was prompt and stern.
+It is true that farms were burned occasionally and the stock
+confiscated, but this was as a punishment for some particular
+offence and not part of a system. The limping Tommy looked
+askance at the fat geese which covered the dam by the roadside,
+but it was as much as his life was worth to allow his fingers to
+close round those tempting white necks. On foul water and bully
+beef he tramped through a land of plenty.</p>
+
+<p>A most striking example of British discipline and forbearance
+was furnished at this period, while the war could still be called
+regular upon the Boer side, by Rundle's Division, christened the
+'Hungry Eighth' by the Army. This Division had the misfortune
+to be stationed for several months some distance from the railway
+line, and in consequence had great difficulty in getting
+supplies. They were on half-rations for a considerable period,
+and the men were so reduced in strength that their military
+efficiency was much impaired. Yet they lived in a land of plenty&mdash;a
+land of large farms well stocked with every sort of food.
+Why it was impossible to get this food for the men I do not
+know, but I do know that the prices for bread, eggs, milk, and
+other such things were kept very high by the wives of the
+farmers who were away upon commando; and that the hungry<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+soldiers were quite unable to buy, and were not permitted to take,
+the nourishment which was essential.</p>
+
+<p>On May 19, while Lord Roberts's force was advancing on
+Pretoria, De Wet sent in a despatch to complain of the destruction
+of two farms, Paarde Kraal and Leeuw Kop. Lord Roberts replied
+that these two farms were destroyed because, while a white flag
+was flying from the houses, the troops were fired upon from the
+farmsteads. 'I have had two farms near Kroonstad,' he adds,
+'destroyed for similar reasons, and shall continue to punish all
+such cases of treachery by the destruction of the farms where they
+occur.' Here is a definite declaration of policy, quite distinct
+from wanton destruction, and it is difficult to see how any General
+could take any other steps, with justice to his own men. These
+farms, and all which are included in this category, were justly and
+properly destroyed&mdash;the families being removed without violence
+to a place of safety.</p>
+
+<p>The next representations from the Boer Commander were more
+definite in their nature.</p>
+
+<p>'Complaints are repeatedly reaching me,' he writes, 'that
+private dwellings are plundered, and in some cases totally
+destroyed, and all provisions taken from women and children, so
+that they are compelled to wander about without food or covering.
+To quote several instances: It has just been brought to my
+notice by way of sworn affidavit that the house of Field-Cornet
+S. Buys on the farm, Leeuwspruit district, Middelburg, was set on
+fire and destroyed on 20th June last. His wife, who was at home,
+was given five minutes' time to remove her bedding and clothing,
+and even what she took out was again taken from her. Her food,
+sugar, &amp;c., was all taken, so that for herself and her children she
+had neither covering nor food for the following night. She was
+asked for the key of the safe, and after it was given up by her
+she was threatened with a sword, and money was demanded. All
+the money that was in the house was taken away, all the papers
+in the safe were torn up, and everything at the homestead that
+could not be taken away was destroyed. The house of Field-Cornet
+Buys's son was also destroyed, the doors and windows broken, &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>'It has also been reported to me that my own buildings, on
+the farm Varkenspruit, district Standerton, as well as the house
+of Field-Cornet Badenhorst, on the adjoining farm, have been
+totally destroyed, and such of the stock as was not removed was
+shot dead on the farm.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>'Further, there is the sworn declaration of Mrs. Hendrik
+Badenhorst, which speaks for itself.</p>
+
+<p>'I cannot believe that such godless barbarities take place
+with Your Excellency's consent, and thus I deem it my solemn
+duty to protest most strongly against such destruction and
+vindictiveness as being entirely contrary to civilised warfare.'</p>
+
+<p>The greater part of these alleged outrages had occurred on
+General Buller's side of the Transvaal, so the matter was referred
+to him. He acknowledged that he had ordered six farmhouses to
+be destroyed:</p>
+
+<p>'The following circumstances induced me to give the order.
+On entering the Transvaal I caused the attached Proclamation
+(A) to be widely distributed along my line of route. We marched
+from Volksrust to Standerton practically unopposed. Shortly
+after our arrival at Standerton our telegraph line was cut on
+several nights following, and attempts were made to damage the
+military line by placing dynamite cartridges with detonators
+attached upon it. These attempts were all made on or in close
+vicinity to the estates above named. A watch was kept and it
+was found that the attempts were made not by any formed force of
+the enemy, but by a few scattered banditti who were given shelter
+during the night in the houses I afterwards had destroyed, and
+who thence, when they could, tried to murder our patrols, and
+sallied out at night to damage the line. It was further ascertained
+that these men came and usually returned through
+Varkenspruit. I directed that copies of Proclamation (A) should
+be personally left at each house, and the inmates of each should
+be warned that these depredations could not be permitted, and
+that if people living under our protection allowed these sort of
+men to resort to their houses without informing us, they must
+take the consequences, and their houses would be destroyed.
+This warning had some effect for a day or two, but on 1st and
+2nd of July the nuisance recommenced, and on the 7th July,
+having acquired full proof that the houses were being regularly
+used as shelters for men who were hostile to us, and who were not
+under any proper command, in fact, who were only acting as
+banditti, I had the houses destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>'The women and children occupying the farms were removed
+elsewhere with as little inconvenience to themselves as we could
+arrange.'</p>
+
+<p>Here again it is impossible to doubt that the British commanders<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+were well within their rights. It is true that Article
+XXIII. of The Hague Conventions makes it illegal to destroy the
+enemy's property, but it adds: 'Unless such destruction be imperatively
+demanded by the necessities of war.' Now nothing can
+be more imperative in war than the preservation of the communications
+of the army. A previous clause of the same Article makes
+it illegal to 'kill or wound treacherously individuals belonging to
+the hostile army.' It is incontestable that to take the cover of a
+farmhouse which flies the white flag in order to make attacks is
+to 'kill or wound treacherously,' and so on a double count the
+action of the British becomes legal, and even inevitable. Lord
+Roberts's message to De Wet upon August 3, 1900, restates both
+his intentions and his reasons for it:</p>
+
+<p>'Latterly, many of my soldiers have been shot from farmhouses
+over which the white flag has been flying, the railway and telegraph
+lines have been cut, and trains wrecked. I have therefore
+found it necessary, after warning your Honour, to take such steps
+as are sanctioned by the customs of war to put an end to these
+and similar acts, and have burned down the farmhouses at or near
+which such deeds have been perpetrated. This I shall continue to
+do whenever I consider the occasion demands it.</p>
+
+<p>'The remedy lies in your Honour's own hands. The destruction
+of property is most distasteful to me, and I shall be greatly pleased
+when your Honour's co-operation in the matter renders it no longer
+necessary.'</p>
+
+<p>This raises the question of the legality of the burning of farmhouses
+in the vicinity of the place where the railway is cut. The
+question presented itself forcibly to my mind when I saw with my
+own eyes the tall plumes of smoke rising from six farmhouses,
+De Wet's among them, in the neighbourhood of Roodeval.
+There is no doubt whatever that in the war of 1870&mdash;the classic
+type of modern war&mdash;the villages and populations near the scene
+of a cut railway were severely punished. But The Hague Conventions
+had not then been signed. On the one hand, it may be
+urged that it is impossible without such disciplinary measures
+to preserve a line of 1,000 miles running all the way through
+a hostile or semi-hostile country. Also that it is 'imperatively
+demanded by the necessities of war.' On the other hand, there is
+Article L., which says, 'No general penalty can be inflicted on
+the population on account of the acts of individuals, for which it
+cannot be regarded as collectively responsible.' An argument<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+might be advanced for either side, but what will actually determine
+is the strongest argument of all&mdash;that of self-preservation.
+An army situated as the British Army was, and dependent for its
+supplies upon its communications, <i>must</i> keep them open even if
+it strains the Conventions in doing so. As a matter of fact, farm-burning
+had no effect in checking the railway-cutting, and had
+a considerable effect in embittering the population. Yet a General
+who was cut off from his base thirty times in a month was bound
+to leave the argument of legality to the jurists, and to adopt the
+means which seemed most likely to stop the nuisance. The
+punishment fell with cruel injustice upon some individuals.
+Others may have been among the actual raiders.</p>
+
+<p>On September 2 Lord Roberts communicated his intentions
+to General Botha:</p>
+
+<p>'<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,&mdash;I have the honour to address your Honour regarding
+the operations of those comparatively small bands of
+armed Boers who conceal themselves on farms in the neighbourhood
+of our lines of communication and thence endeavour
+to damage the railway, thus endangering the lives of passengers
+travelling by train who may or may not be combatants.</p>
+
+<p>'2. My reason for again referring to this subject is that,
+except in the districts occupied by the Army under the personal
+command of your Honour, there is now no formed body of Boer
+troops in the Transvaal or Orange River Colony, and that the
+war is degenerating into operations carried on by irregular and
+irresponsible guerillas. This would be so ruinous to the country
+and so deplorable from every point of view, that I feel bound to do
+everything in my power to prevent it.</p>
+
+<p>'3. The orders I have at present issued, to give effect to these
+views, are that the farm nearest the scene of any attempt to
+injure the line or wreck a train is to be burnt, and that all farms
+within a radius of 10 miles are to be completely cleared of all
+their stock, supplies, &amp;c.'</p>
+
+<p>Granting that the penalty is legal at all, it must be allowed
+that it is put in a minimum form, since only one farm in each case
+is to be destroyed; and the further clearing of stock is undoubtedly
+justified, since it would tend to cripple the mobility of Boer raiders
+approaching the line. Yet one farm for each attack becomes a
+formidable total when the attacks are on an average of one per day.</p>
+
+<p>We have treated two causes for which farms were burned:
+(1) For being used as cover for snipers; (2) as a punishment for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
+the cutting of railways. A third cause now comes to the front.
+A large number of burghers had taken the oath of neutrality and
+had been allowed to return to their farms by the British. These
+men were persuaded or terrorised by the fighting commandos into
+breaking their parole and abandoning those farms on which they
+had sworn to remain. The farmhouses were their bail, and Lord
+Roberts decreed that it was forfeited. On August 23 he announced
+his decision to General Botha:</p>
+
+<p>'Your Honour represents that well-disposed families living on
+their farms have been driven from their houses, and that their
+property has been taken away or destroyed. This no doubt is true,
+but not in the sense which your letter would imply. Burghers
+who are well-disposed towards the British Government, and anxious
+to submit to my authority, have had their property seized by the
+Boer commandos, and have been threatened with death if they
+refused to take up arms against the British forces. Your Honour's
+contention that a solemn oath of neutrality which the burghers
+have voluntarily taken in order to remain in unmolested occupation
+of their farms is null and void, because you have not consented
+to it, is hardly open to discussion. I shall punish those who violate
+their oath and confiscate their property, no burgher having been
+forced to take the oath against his will.'</p>
+
+<p>It is quite certain that the Boer Government committed a very
+clear breach of the Conventions of The Hague in compelling, or
+even in permitting, these men to rejoin the ranks. 'In such
+cases,' says Article X., 'their own Government shall not require
+of, nor accept from, them any service incompatible with the parole
+given.' This is clear as regards the Government. But in the
+case of the men it is different. Their promise was in a sense
+conditional upon effective protection from our troops. We had no
+right to place a man in so terrible a position that he had to choose
+between breaking his parole and death at the hands of his own
+countrymen. If we were not sure that we could protect them, we
+could have retained them in guarded camps, as we eventually did.
+If we chose to turn them loose upon the wide veldt, then it was our
+fault more than theirs that they were forced into the ranks of the
+enemy. To their credit be it said that even under such pressure
+many of them were true to their oath.</p>
+
+<p>But if their guilt is indeed no greater than our own, then how
+are we justified in burning down their houses? It seems to me
+that these cases are very different from those in the other two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+categories, and that the question of compensation to these men
+should be at least considered. I take it that the numerous cases
+where 'on commando' is marked against a burned farm on
+the official list, means that he had returned to commando after
+giving his parole. The destruction of his house under those circumstances
+is, in the peculiar conditions of the case, a harsh
+measure, but if 'on commando' means simply that the man was
+away doing his duty to his country, without any question of parole,
+then our conscience can never permit that man to go without
+compensation.</p>
+
+<p>We can trace in this account of the communications between
+the leaders the growth of those harsher measures which have
+been so generally deplored in this country. So long as the war
+was regular it is certain that nothing could be more regular than
+the British conduct. When, however, the war became irregular
+upon the part of the Boers, and their army dissolved into small
+bands which harried the lines of communications, the small posts,
+and the convoys, there was a corresponding change upon the
+part of the troops. Towards the end of the year 1900 that change
+was pushed to considerable lengths. Certain districts which had
+been Boer centres, where they habitually collected time after
+time, were devastated and destroyed. Such districts were those of
+Kroonstad, Heilbron, Ventersburg, and Winburg. In these four
+districts about one hundred and seventy houses were destroyed.
+The village of Bothaville, which was a dep&ocirc;t of the enemy, was
+also destroyed. It consisted of forty-three houses. In the Transvaal
+the number of houses actually destroyed for strategic
+purposes seems to have been very much smaller. In the official
+returns only about twelve houses are so mentioned. Altogether
+the houses which have been burned for reasons which are open to
+dispute, including those of the men upon commando, do not
+appear to exceed two hundred and fifty.</p>
+
+<p>It must be confessed that the case of these houses is entirely
+different from the others which have been destroyed, because they
+were used for active warlike operations. Of the 630 buildings
+which we know to have been destroyed, more than half have
+been used by snipers, or in some other direct fashion have brought
+themselves within the laws of warfare. But it cannot be said
+that these others have done so. The cost of the average farmhouse
+is a mere trifle. A hundred pounds would build a small
+one, and 300<i>l.</i> a large. If we take the intermediate figure,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span>
+then the expenditure of 50,000<i>l.</i> would compensate for those cases
+where military policy and international law may have been at
+variance with each other. The burning of houses ceased in the
+year 1900, and, save in very special instances, where there
+was an overwhelming military necessity, it has not been resorted
+to since. In the sweeping of the country carried out by French
+in the Eastern Transvaal and by Blood to the north of the
+Delagoa Railway, no buildings appear to have been destroyed,
+although it was a military necessity to clear the farms of every
+sort of supply in order to hamper the movements of the commandos.
+The destruction of the crops and herds of the Boers,
+distasteful as such work must be, is exactly analogous to the
+destruction by them of our supply trains on which the Army
+depended for their food. Guerilla warfare cannot enjoy all its
+own advantages and feel none of its own defects. It is a two-edged
+weapon, and the responsibility for the consequences rests
+upon the combatant who first employs it.</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h2><small>THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS</small></h2>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">When</span> considerable districts of the country were cleared of food in
+order to hamper the movements of the commandos, and when large
+numbers of farmhouses were destroyed under the circumstances
+already mentioned, it became evident that it was the duty of the
+British, as a civilised people, to form camps of refuge for the
+women and children, where, out of reach, as we hoped, of all harm,
+they could await the return of peace. There were three courses
+open. The first was to send the Boer women and children into
+the Boer lines&mdash;a course which became impossible when the Boer
+army broke into scattered bands and had no longer any definite
+lines; the second was to leave them where they were; the
+third was to gather them together and care for them as best we
+could.</p>
+
+<p>It is curious to observe that the very people who are most
+critical of the line of policy actually adopted, were also most
+severe when it appeared that the alternative might be chosen.
+The British nation would have indeed remained under an ineffaceable
+stain had they left women and children without shelter
+upon the veldt in the presence of a large Kaffir population. Even
+Mr. Stead could hardly have ruined such a case by exaggeration.
+On some rumour that it would be so, he drew harrowing pictures
+of the moral and physical degradation of the Boer women in the
+vicinity of the British camps. No words can be too strong to
+stigmatise such assertions unless the proof of them is overwhelmingly
+strong&mdash;and yet the only 'proof' adduced is the bare
+assertion of a partisan writer in a partisan paper, who does not
+claim to have any personal knowledge of the matter. It is impossible
+without indignation to know that a Briton has written on
+such evidence of his own fellow-countrymen that they have 'used
+famine as a pander to lust.'</p>
+
+<p>Such language, absurd as it is, shows very clearly the attacks<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span>
+to which the British Government would have been subjected had
+they <i>not</i> formed the camps of refuge. It was not merely that
+burned-out families must be given a shelter, but it was that no
+woman on a lonely farm was safe amid a black population, even if
+she had the means of procuring food. Then, again, we had
+learned our lesson as regards the men who had given their parole.
+They should not again be offered the alternative of breaking
+their oaths or being punished by their own people. The case for
+the formation of the camps must be admitted to be complete and
+overwhelming. They were formed, therefore, by the Government
+at convenient centres, chiefly at Pretoria, Johannesburg, Krugersdorp,
+Middelburg, Potchefstroom, Rustenburg, Heidelburg,
+Standerton, Pietersburg, Klerksdorp, and Volksrust in the Transvaal;
+Bloemfontein, Kroonstad, Bethulie, and Edenburg in the
+Orange Free State.</p>
+
+<p>Such camps as refuges were no new things, for the British
+refugees from Johannesburg have been living for over a year in
+precisely such places. As no political capital and no international
+sentiment could be extracted from their sufferings, and as they
+have borne their troubles with dignity and restraint, we have
+heard little of the condition of their lives, which is in many ways
+more deplorable than that of the Boers.</p>
+
+<p>Having determined to form the camps, the authorities carried
+out the plan with great thoroughness. The sites seem to have
+been well chosen, and the arrangements in most cases all that
+could be wished. They were formed, however, at an unfortunate
+moment. Great strain had been placed upon our Commissariat by
+the large army, over 200,000 men, who had to be supplied by
+three tiny railways, which were continually cut. In January
+1901 De Wet made his invasion of Cape Colony, and the demand
+upon the lines was excessive. The extraordinary spectacle was
+presented at that time of the British straining every nerve to feed
+the women and children of the enemy, while that enemy was
+sniping the engineers and derailing the trains which were bringing
+up the food.</p>
+
+<p>The numbers of the inmates of the refugee camps increased
+rapidly from 20,000 at the end of the year 1900, up to more than
+100,000 at the end of 1901. Great efforts were made by the
+military authorities to accommodate the swelling tide of refugees,
+and no money was spared for that purpose. Early in the year
+1901 a painful impression was created in England by the report of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span>
+Miss Hobhouse, an English lady, who had visited the camps and
+criticised them unfavourably. The value of her report was discounted,
+however, by the fact that her political prejudices were
+known to be against the Government. Mr. Charles Hobhouse,
+a relation of hers, and a Radical member of Parliament, has since
+then admitted that some of her statements will not bear examination.
+With the best will in the world her conclusions would have
+been untrustworthy, since she could speak no Dutch, had no experience
+of the Boer character, and knew nothing of the normal
+conditions of South African life.</p>
+
+<p>Her main contentions were that the diet was not sufficient,
+that there was little bedding, that the water-supply was short,
+that the sanitation was bad, that there was overcrowding, and
+that there was an excessive death-rate, especially among the
+children.</p>
+
+<p>As to diet, the list which she gives agrees roughly with that
+which is officially quoted as the daily allowance at Irene Camp,
+near Pretoria, in July. It is as follows:</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table class="hd1" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr><td class="td4">Meat</td><td class="td2">&frac12; lb.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">Coffee</td><td class="td2">2 oz.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">Flour</td><td class="td2">&frac34; lb.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">Sugar</td><td class="td2">2 oz.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="td4">Salt</td><td class="td2">&frac12; oz.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="center" colspan="2">To every child under six, a bottle of milk</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p class="noin">It must be confessed that the diet is a spare one, and that as
+supplies become more plentiful it might well be increased. The
+allowance may, however, be supplemented by purchase, and there
+is a considerable outside fund, largely subscribed by British
+people, which is used to make the scale more liberal. A slight
+difference was made at first between the diet of a family which
+had surrendered and of that the head of which was still in arms
+against us. A logical distinction may certainly be made, but in
+practice it was felt to be unchivalrous and harsh, so it was
+speedily abandoned.</p>
+
+<p>As to the shortness of the water-supply, it is the curse of all
+South Africa, which alternately suffers from having too much
+water and too little. With artesian wells and better arrangements
+this difficulty is being overcome, but it has applied as
+strongly to our own camps as to those of the Boer refugees.</p>
+
+<p>There seems to be a consensus of opinion from all the camps<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+that the defects in sanitation are due to the habits of the inmates,
+against which commandants and doctors are perpetually fighting.
+Camp life without cleanliness must become unhygienic. The
+medical reports are filled with instances of the extreme difficulty
+which has been experienced in enforcing discipline upon those
+who have been accustomed to the absolute liberty of the lonely
+veldt.</p>
+
+<p>On the question of overcrowding, the demand for tents in
+South Africa has been excessive, and it may well have taxed all
+the power of the authorities to find accommodation for the crowds
+of women and children. The evil has been remedied since the
+time of Miss Hobhouse's report. It is well known that the Boers
+in their normal life have no objection to crowded rooms, and that
+the inmates of a farmhouse are accustomed to conditions which
+would be unendurable to most. To overcrowd a tent is hygienically
+almost impossible, for the atmosphere of a tent, however
+crowded, will never become tainted in the same sense as a room.</p>
+
+<p>All these things are of human contrivance, and the authorities
+were doing their best to set them right, as Miss Hobhouse herself
+acknowledged. 'They are, I believe, doing their best with very
+limited means,' said she, and in so saying reduced her whole
+report to nothing. For if they are really doing their best, then
+what more can be said? The only alternative is the breaking up
+of the camps and the dispersal of the women. But in that case
+Mr. Stead is waiting for us with some 'Blood and Hell' broadsheet
+to tell us of the terrible fate of those women upon the veldt.
+It must be one or the other. Of the two I prefer Miss Hobhouse
+and the definite grievances which she reports, to the infinite
+possibilities of Mr. Stead. As to the suggestion that this
+enormous crowd of women and children should be quartered upon
+their kinsmen in the Colony, it is beyond all argument. There
+has been no offer of such wholesale hospitality nor have we any
+means for enforcing it.</p>
+
+<p>But then we come to the great and piteous tragedy of the
+refugee camps, the mortality, and especially the mortality among
+the children. That is deplorable&mdash;more deplorable even than the
+infant mortality in Mafeking, Ladysmith, and Kimberley. But is it
+avoidable? Or is it one of those misfortunes, like that enteric outbreak
+which swept away so many British soldiers, which is beyond
+our present sanitary science and can only be endured with sad resignation?
+The nature of the disease which is mainly responsible for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span>
+the high mortality shows that it has no direct connection with the
+sanitary conditions of the camps, or with anything which it was in
+our power to alter. Had the deaths come from some filth-disease,
+such as typhus fever, or even from enteric or diphtheria, the
+sanitation of the camps might be held responsible. But it is to
+a severe form of measles that the high mortality is due. Apart
+from that the record of the camps would have been a very fair
+one. Now measles when once introduced among children runs
+through a community without any regard to diet or conditions of
+life. The only possible hope is the segregation of the sufferer. To
+obtain this early quarantine the co-operation of the parent is needed:
+but in the case in point the Boer mothers, with a natural instinct,
+preferred to cling to the children and to make it difficult for
+the medical men to remove them in the first stages of the disease.
+The result was a rapid spread of the epidemic, which was the more
+fatal as many of the sufferers were in low health owing to the
+privations unavoidably endured in the journey from their own
+homes to the camps. Not only was the spread of the disease
+assisted by the mother, but in her mistaken zeal she frequently
+used remedies which were as fatal as the disease. Children died
+of arsenical-poisoning, having been covered from head to foot with
+green paint; and others of opium-poisoning, having quack drugs
+which contain laudanum administered to them. 'In Potchefstroom
+as at Irene,' says Dr. Kendal Franks, 'the death-rate is attributable
+not so much to the severity of the epidemic as to the ignorance,
+perverseness, and dirty habits of the parents themselves.' But
+whatever the immediate cause the death of these numerous
+children lies heavy, not upon the conscience, but upon the heart of
+our nation. It is some mitigation to know that the death-rate
+among children is normally quite remarkably high in South
+Africa, and that the rate in the camps was frequently not higher
+than that of the towns near which the camp was situated.</p>
+
+<p>Be this as it may, we cannot deny that the cause of the outbreak
+of measles was the collection of the women and children by
+us into the camps. But why were they collected into camps?
+Because they could not be left on the veldt. And why could they
+not be left on the veldt? Because we had destroyed the means
+of subsistence. And why had we destroyed the means of subsistence?
+To limit the operations of the mobile bands of guerillas.
+At the end of every tragedy we are forced back to the common
+origin of all of them, and made to understand that the nation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
+which obstinately perseveres in a useless guerilla war prepares
+much trouble for its enemy, but absolute ruin for itself.</p>
+
+<p>We have pushed our humanity in this matter of the refugees
+so far that we have looked after our enemies far better than our
+friends. I recognise that the two cases are not on all fours, since
+the Boers are compelled to be in camps and the loyalist refugees
+are not. But the fact remains that the loyalists <i>are</i> in camps,
+through no fault of their own, and that their condition is a worse
+one than that of our enemies. At East London, for example, there
+are two refugee camps, Boer and British. The former has 350,
+the latter 420 inhabitants. The former are by far the better fed,
+clad, and housed, with a hospital, a school, and a washhouse, all of
+which are wanting in the British camp. At Port Elizabeth there
+is a Boer camp. A Dutch deputation came with 50<i>l.</i> to expend
+in improving their condition, but returned without spending the
+money as nothing was needed. The Boer refugees and the
+British are catered for by the same man at Port Elizabeth. He
+is allowed 15<i>d.</i> per head for the Boers per day, and 8<i>d.</i> for the
+British. These are the 'Methods of Barbarism.'</p>
+
+<p>I shall now take a few opinions of the camps from British
+sources and from Boer. I have only seen one British witness who
+was in sympathy with Miss Hobhouse, and that is a lady (name
+not mentioned) who is quoted in the appendix of Mr. Methuen's
+'Peace or War.' She takes much the same view, insisting mainly
+upon the insufficient diet, the want of fuel and of bed-clothing.
+Against these two ladies I shall very shortly and in condensed
+form cite a few witnesses from both sides.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Seaton, of Johannesburg (Secretary of the Congregational
+Church and of the burgher camp), says: 'The reports you send
+make our blood boil. They are frightfully exaggerated, and in
+many instances not only misleading but untrue.... A more
+healthy spot it would be difficult to find.... There is no overcrowding.</p>
+
+<p>'Some weeks ago there was an epidemic of measles in camp
+of a very severe type, and naturally there were many deaths
+among the children. The doctor and nurses worked to the very
+utmost, and I am pleased to say the epidemic is stamped out.
+No doubt this is what caused the talk by the pro-Boers in the
+House of Commons and elsewhere, but it is one of those epidemics
+which could not be prevented among the class of people we have
+here. They had absolutely no regard for sanitary conveniences,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+and the officials had the greatest difficulty in enforcing the most
+ordinary rules of cleanliness. Another difficulty we had was to
+get them to bring their children when sick into the hospital,
+where there is every convenience. They prefer to disobey the
+doctor and try the old women's remedies, which, as you know, are
+very plentiful among such people. The doctor has had a most
+trying position, and has worked like a slave. Nearly all the
+deaths have been from measles. We are having a fairly mild
+winter. About three months ago it was bitterly cold, but they
+are used to outdoor life, and this is no worse than they have
+always been used to. The tents are all military tents, and there
+is no sign of leakage. I know they all want tents when they
+come here, if it is possible to get them. On the whole, the
+inmates are contented, and the children are particularly happy.
+They skip and play about from morn till eve.'</p>
+
+<p>The Rev. R. Rogers (Wesleyan minister) writes:</p>
+
+<p>'What is the use of persons ignorant of the life and customs of
+the Boers coming to investigate these burgher camps? I have
+seen, and do not hesitate to say, that most of them are better
+housed, better clothed, and better fed than in their own homes
+of wattle and daub, and mud floors.'</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Howe of the Camp Soldiers' Homes says:</p>
+
+<p>'We do not pass judgment; we only state facts.</p>
+
+<p>'When the first concentration camp was formed we were
+on the spot, and also saw others spring up. We admit that there
+has been suffering, but we solemnly affirm that the officers in
+charge of the several camps known to us were only too anxious to
+make the helpless people as comfortable as possible. We have
+seen the huge cases and bales of comforts for the inmates, and
+know that, in order to expedite the despatch of these things, military
+stores and ordnance have been kept back.'</p>
+
+<p>The Rev. R. B. Douglas (Presbyterian minister) writes:</p>
+
+<p>'I am glad to see that you are not giving credence to the tales
+of brutality and cruelty which are being freely circulated by disloyal
+agitators about the treatment of the Boer refugees. But
+one point on which you ask for more information is worth being
+noticed&mdash;the difference of treatment between families of those on
+commando and others. I am in a position to state that the whole
+difference made amounted to two ounces of coffee and four ounces
+of sugar per week, and that even this distinction totally disappeared
+by the middle of March. As a set-off to this, the local Dutch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
+Committee, in distributing some sixty cases of clothing, &amp;c., sent
+out by the charitable, refused to give any help to the families of
+some who were not on commando, on the ground that these
+articles were for the benefit of those who were fighting for their
+country.'</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Gauntlett, of Johannesburg, writes:</p>
+
+<p>'I have read certain statements you sent me from English
+papers on cruelty to Boer refugee families. I am amazed at the
+iniquity of men who circulate such lies, and the credulity of those
+who believe them. The opinion of Germans, French, Americans,
+and even many Dutch, here on the spot, is that the leniency and
+amazing liberality of the Government to their foes is prolonging
+the war. A Dutch girl in the Pretoria Camp declared to the
+nurse that for seven months they had not been able to get such
+good food as was given them by the British.'</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Soutar, Secretary of the Pretoria Camp, writes:</p>
+
+<p>'The Boer women and children get as much food as they
+require, and have all sorts of medical comforts, such as beef-tea,
+extracts of meat, jellies, brandy and wine, and the advantage of
+fully qualified attendants. Not only are their absolute requirements
+provided for, but even their "fads" are considered.'</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Scholtz, Inspector of Camps for the Transvaal, reports:</p>
+
+<p>'Many of the children, when they first arrived at the camp,
+were little better than skin and bone, and, being in so emaciated
+a condition, it was not surprising that, when they did catch
+measles, they could not cope with the disease. Many of the
+women would not open their tents to admit fresh air, and, instead
+of giving the children the proper medicines supplied by the military,
+preferred to give them home remedies. The mothers would
+not sponge the children, and the greatest difficulty was experienced
+in inducing them to send the patients to hospital. The
+cause of the high death-rate among children from measles is due
+to the fact that the women let their children out as soon as the
+measles rash has subsided. Pneumonia and bronchitis naturally
+supervene. Another cause is that the mothers persist in giving
+their children meat and other indigestible foods, even when the
+doctors strictly prohibit it, dysentery resulting as a matter of
+course. In other respects the health of the camp is good, there
+being only one case of typhoid out of 5,000 residents in camp.'</p>
+
+<p>Here is light on the Krugersdorp Camp:</p>
+
+<p>'<span class="smcap">Johannesburg</span>, July 31st.&mdash;(Reuter's Special Service.)&mdash;Commandant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>
+Alberts, commanding the Boers near Krugersdorp, has
+sent a letter to the officer commanding the British forces at
+Krugersdorp, stating that as he has with him on commando
+several families whose male relatives have recently surrendered,
+he wishes to know if he will receive these families, as they would
+like to go to Krugersdorp. The officer replied that he would
+be pleased to receive them, and they are expected to arrive
+to-day.</p>
+
+<p>'This action on the part of the Boers clearly shows that the
+families themselves have no longer any objection to the Refugee
+Camps, where everything is done to promote their comfort, or any
+disinclination to being placed under our care and protection.'</p>
+
+<p>From Reuter's agent at Springfontein:</p>
+
+<p>'I to-day visited the Boer Refugee Camp here, containing
+2,700 inmates. The camp is splendidly situated, and well laid
+out. I spoke to several refugees, and met with no complaint,
+all being satisfied with the treatment received. The hospital
+arrangements are excellent, and there is very little sickness in
+the camp.'</p>
+
+<p>From Mr. Celliers, Dutch Minister from Aberdeen, Cape
+Colony, sent to inspect the Port Elizabeth Refugee Camp:</p>
+
+<p>'He was writing this to show that the British Government
+were doing everything in their power to help the exiles, and to
+show that, although these exiles' relatives and friends were still
+in the field, yet the powers were merciful and kind to the exiles,
+showing them no enmity, for which they felt grateful. He wished
+the people to understand that he was at liberty to speak to them
+privately, and that he had a fair opportunity to hear any complaints,
+if there were any to be made. Mr. Hess allowed him to
+go round, placing full confidence in him, and he felt satisfied that
+if there had been anything wrong he should have heard of it. It
+had been his opinion all along that the Military, in sending these
+exiles down there, had done so for their own safety and advantage;
+and that it had preserved them, and been a blessing in disguise,
+which would be acknowledged by all in time to come.'</p>
+
+<p>Major Harold Sykes's (2nd Dragoons) evidence is reported as
+follows:</p>
+
+<p>He arranged the first of the Refugee Concentrated Camps,
+and when he left he had a camp of about six thousand women and
+children under his care. All charges of cruelty and inhumanity
+were vile and calumnious falsehoods. Nay, worse, they were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+miserable, despicable concoctions. Both women and children
+were better off, the great bulk of them, than ever they were in
+their lives. The only thing approaching cruelty to them was
+at the authorities insisted upon cleanliness and proper attention
+to sanitary regulations, which the average Boer, being a stranger
+to, utterly disliked. He had seen all the workings of these camps.
+He could give an unqualified denial to all the villainous allegations
+that had recently been made in public meeting and in the
+House of Commons.</p>
+
+<p>Under date November 1, an officer of the Kroonstad Camp
+writes:</p>
+
+<p>'We have cricket, tennis, and croquet for them, and they are
+all jolly well treated. Besides other amusements, they have a
+band twice a week, and the other day they got up a concert.'</p>
+
+<p>This is what Mr. Stead calls 'doing to death by slow torture
+all the women and children whom we have penned behind the
+barbed wire of our prison camps.' Can a cause be a sound one
+which is pleaded in such terms!</p>
+
+<p>Now for some Boer voices.</p>
+
+<p>Commandant Alberts writes:</p>
+
+<p>'Major <span class="smcap">Walter</span>, Boksburg.&mdash;Honoured Sir,&mdash;I must express
+to you and the other officers of Boksburg my heartfelt thanks for
+the great kindness shown towards my wife, and at the same time
+for the message, and I hope that this kindness may some time be
+repaid to you.</p>
+
+<p>'May you and I be spared to have a personal meeting.</p>
+
+<p>'I have the honour to be your honour's servant,</p>
+
+<div class="mb"><p class="td3">'(Signed) <span class="sgn">H.</span> <span class="smcap">Alberts</span>, Commandant.'</p></div>
+
+<p>A Dutch minister writes to Captain <span class="smcap">Snowden</span>, O.C. of Boer
+Camp, Johannesburg:&mdash;'Sir,&mdash;I am directed by the Committee of
+the Dutch Reformed Churches here to convey to you the appreciation
+of the Committee for the kindly interest and sympathy
+shown by you to the women and children under your charge.'</p>
+
+<p>One hundred male refugee Boers in the camp at Kroonstad
+sign the following sentiment:</p>
+
+<p>'We also wish to tender Your Excellency our heartiest thanks
+for the interest you take in the education of our youth, and we
+trust you will succeed in your endeavours, and that the growing-up
+generation will be taught to be God-fearing, honest, and
+loyal citizens under the British flag. We regret, however, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+state that, notwithstanding the highly appreciated efforts of our
+worthy superintendent and doctors, still so many cases of sickness
+and deaths occur daily in this camp, still we hope and trust
+Your Excellency will do all in your power for the health in this
+camp.</p>
+
+<p>'We trust that the efforts of our worthy superintendent
+towards promoting our welfare under trying circumstances will
+be appreciated by Your Excellency. We are happy to state
+that the spirit of loyalty is daily increasing in this camp, and
+that the majority of the male refugees have taken the oath of
+allegiance.'</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Dudley Keys, a surrendered burgher, writes to his
+brother:</p>
+
+<p>'I have been in camp now for more than seven months&mdash;a
+sufficient time, you will allow, for reflection&mdash;and the immutability
+of the life provides ample scope for indulgence in that
+direction. How we long for the settlement you cannot imagine,
+nor can you imagine with what disgust and impatience we regard
+every endeavour on the part of the pro-Boers, as they are called,
+to divert the natural and inevitable course of things. You will
+not be surprised at hearing this from a one-time Dutch Republican
+when you take into consideration that all of us who have
+surrendered are fully aware of the fact that we were the aggressors,
+and that our statesmen are to blame for our present predicament.
+A large number of Boers, of course, will never come to view the
+matter in this light. That, of course, is not the result of thought
+and reflection, but utter and total ignorance. When Miss
+Hobhouse was here I frequently saw her priming herself or being
+primed. Some of our women would tell her anything for a dress
+or a pair of boots. If she knew our countrymen and women as
+well as we know them, her story would have been a short one.
+Now the home Government are despatching this commission.
+Well, when they see the women and children in camp they will
+naturally feel sorry for them. Who would not? But if they
+only remember that this is war and not a picnic, they will satisfy
+the people in England on their return that all we want is peace,
+and plenty of it.'</p>
+
+<p>He adds:</p>
+
+<p>'In spite of the lack of gratitude shown by our people, the
+authorities continue to make improvements and to lessen the
+hardships. That this entails enormous expenditure you will see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
+by the statistics frequently published in the English papers.
+When I hear our people grumble, I often wonder how they would
+have treated the Britishers if the positions were reversed, and
+I am bound to acknowledge that it would not compare favourably
+with the treatment we receive.'</p>
+
+<p>A Boer woman, writing from Pietermaritzburg, says:</p>
+
+<p>'Those who complain of anything must lie, for we are in good
+circumstances.'</p>
+
+<p>In a second letter she says:</p>
+
+<p>'I can make no complaint at all.'</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Blignant, writing from the Port Elizabeth Refugee Camp,
+says:</p>
+
+<p>'If we had to complain it would be false complaint, and all
+the stories about ill-treatment are untrue as far as I can find out.'
+Among the women cared for in this camp was one from Jagersfontein,
+who boasted&mdash;and with truth&mdash;that she had shot two
+unarmed British soldiers with a revolver.</p>
+
+<p>Such is some of the evidence to be placed against Miss
+Hobhouse's report, and that of the unnamed lady in Pretoria.
+In justice it must be acknowledged that some camps may have
+been more open to criticism than others, and that (as we should
+expect) they became more perfect with time. But I cannot
+believe that any impartial mind can read the evidence without
+seeing that the British Government was doing its best under
+difficult circumstances to carry out the most humane plan
+possible, and that any other must involve consequences from
+which a civilised nation must shrink.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the end of 1901 an attempt was made to lessen the
+mortality in the camps by bringing them down to the sea-coast.
+The problem was complicated by the fact that many of the refugees
+were averse from leaving their own country, and had come in upon
+a promise that they would not be asked to do so. Those who would
+were moved down, and the camps at East London, Port Elizabeth,
+and Merebank, near Durban, largely increased. 'No expense must
+be allowed to stand in the way,' said Mr. Chamberlain in an official
+message. In Blue Book (Cd. 853) we find Lord Milner and the
+Colonial Secretary discussing every means by which the mortality
+might be lessened and the comfort of the camps increased.</p>
+
+<p>It is worthy of record that the portrait of an emaciated child
+has been circulated upon the Continent and in America as a proof
+positive of the horrors of the concentration system. It is only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+too probable that there are many emaciated children in the camps,
+for they usually arrive in that condition. This particular portrait
+however was, as I am credibly informed, taken by the British
+authorities on the occasion of the criminal trial of the mother for
+the ill-usage of the child. The incident is characteristic of the
+unscrupulous tactics which have been used from the beginning
+to poison the mind of the world against Great Britain.</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h2><small>THE BRITISH SOLDIER IN SOUTH AFRICA</small></h2>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">When</span> Lord Roberts desired to sum up the character of the soldiers
+whom he had led, he declared that they had behaved like gentlemen.
+I believe that statement to be no exaggeration, and I think
+that when the bitter animosities of warfare have subsided, it will
+be acknowledged by the Boers themselves that it is true. They
+have had some unsavoury work to do&mdash;for guerilla warfare brings
+much in its train which is hateful&mdash;but officers and men have
+ameliorated and softened the asperities of warfare wherever it
+has been possible to do so. Their character has been most foully
+attacked by politicians at home, and by the ignorant or malevolent
+abroad. Let us examine the evidence.</p>
+
+<p>There were many military attach&eacute;s present with our Army.
+Have any of them reported against the discipline of our soldiers?
+So far as their reports are known, nothing of the sort has been
+alleged. Captain Slocum, the American representative, writes from
+Bloemfontein:</p>
+
+<p>'The British have been too merciful, and I believe, had a
+more rigorous course been adopted when the Army first entered
+this capital and the enemy thoroughly stampeded, the war would
+have been materially shortened.'</p>
+
+<p>The French military attach&eacute; said: 'What I admire most in
+this campaign is the conduct of your soldiers. Here they are
+trekking and fighting daily in an uninteresting country, scorched
+by day, cold by night, without drink, without women. Any other
+soldiers in Europe would have mutinied long ago.'</p>
+
+<p>There were several foreign war-correspondents with our army.
+Of these the only Frenchman, M. Carr&egrave;re of the 'Matin' was an
+ardent pro-Boer. Read his book, 'En pleine Epop&eacute;e.' He is
+bitter against our policy and our politicians. His eyes are very
+keenly open for flaws in our Army. But from cover to cover he has
+nothing but praise for the devoted Tommy and his chivalrous officer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Three American correspondents were there&mdash;there may have
+been more, but three I knew. These were Messrs. Julian Ralph,
+James Barnes, and Unger. The first two were much impressed
+by the humanity and discipline of the British troops, though Mr.
+Ralph was, I believe, like Captain Slocum, of the opinion that it
+was occasionally pushed too far. Mr. Unger's published impressions
+of the war confirm the same idea.</p>
+
+<p>Here, then, is practical unanimity among all the impartial
+witnesses. On the opinions of our own correspondents I will not
+dwell. I have the advantage of knowing nearly all of them, and
+though among them are several gentlemen who have a chivalrous
+and idealistic sympathy for the Boers, I cannot recollect that I
+have ever once heard one of them record a single instance where
+they had been shocked by the conduct of a soldier.</p>
+
+<p>I may, perhaps, be permitted to add my own testimony. I
+went to South Africa with great sympathy for the individual
+Boer, and with a belief that I should find soldiers in the field very
+different from soldiers in peace. I was three months in Bloemfontein
+when there were from ten to thirty thousand men encamped
+round the town. During that time I only once saw a man drunk.
+I never saw a man drunk during the short time that I was in
+Pretoria and Johannesburg. I once heard of a soldier striking a
+Boer. It was because the man had refused to raise his hat at the
+burial of the soldier's comrade. I not only never saw any outrage,
+but in many confidential talks with officers I never heard of one.
+I saw twenty Boer prisoners within five minutes of their capture.
+The soldiers were giving them cigarettes. Only two assaults on
+women came to my ears while I was in Africa. In each case the
+culprit was a Kaffir, and the deed was promptly avenged by the
+British Army.</p>
+
+<p>Miss Hobhouse has mixed with a great number of refugees,
+many of whom are naturally very bitter against us. She is not
+reticent as to the tales which they told her. Not one of them all
+has a story of outrage. One woman, she says, was kicked by a
+drunken soldier, for which, she adds, he was punished.</p>
+
+<p>An inmate of the Springfontein Refugee Camp, Mr. Maltman, of
+Philippolis, writes: 'All the Boer women here speak in the highest
+terms of the treatment they have received at the hands of soldiers.'</p>
+
+<p>Here is the testimony of a burgher's wife, Mrs. Van Niekirk:</p>
+
+<p>'Will you kindly allow me to give my testimony to the kindly
+treatment of the Dutch women and children by the British troops?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
+As the wife of a Transvaal burgher, I have lived in Krugersdorp
+since 1897, until three weeks ago. The town was taken in June
+last, and since then there has always been a fairly large force of
+men in, or quite near it; indeed, on several occasions the numbers
+have amounted to ten thousand, or more, and have been of many
+different regiments, English, Scotch, Irish, and Colonial.</p>
+
+<p>'At such times the streets and the few shops open were thronged
+with soldiers, while, even when the town was quietest, there were
+always numbers of them about. The women were at first afraid,
+but they very soon discovered that they could move about as freely
+as in ordinary times, without fear of any annoyance. During the
+whole six months I never saw or heard of a single instance where
+a woman was treated with the slightest disrespect; the bearing of
+both officers and men was invariably deferential to all women, and
+kindly to children.</p>
+
+<p>'Last July a detachment of Gordon Highlanders was camped
+on the veldt for a week in front of my house, which stands almost
+alone on the outskirts of the town. My husband was away during
+the time, and I was alone with my young children. The nearest
+camp-fires were not a dozen yards from my gate, yet I never
+experienced the least annoyance, nor missed from my ground even
+so much as a stick of wood.</p>
+
+<p>'I could multiply instances, but after this little need be said;
+if I had not seen it I could not have believed that a victorious
+army would behave with such humanity and consideration in the
+territory of a people even then in arms against them; and if they
+behave so in Krugersdorp&mdash;a place mind you, where during the
+last six months their doings could not be openly criticised&mdash;is
+it likely that their conduct in other places will be so entirely
+different?&mdash;I am, &amp;c.'</p>
+
+<p>This is the testimony of a woman. Here it is from a man's
+point of view&mdash;an old burgher who had very special opportunities
+for studying the conduct of British troops:</p>
+
+<p>'Allow me to state here, once for all, that throughout the
+entire war all the English officers&mdash;and a great many of all ranks
+came to see us&mdash;treated us with the greatest kindness and
+courtesy. They knew, too, that I was a burgher, and that I had
+several sons who were doing their duty in fighting for the independence
+of our country.</p>
+
+<p>'I return once more to the conduct of "Tommy Atkins."
+We saw numbers of convoys, some of which were more than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+sixteen kilometres long, bringing a great many Boer prisoners
+and their families to Pretoria. Tommy was everywhere, watching
+the wagons, marching without a word in clouds of dust,
+frequently in mud to the ankle, never rough towards women or
+children, as has been so often repeated. We have heard the
+contrary stated by our tried friends and by our own children.</p>
+
+<p>'During halts, Tommy was the best and readiest creature
+imaginable; he got the water boiled, laid himself out to attend to
+the children in a thousand ways, and comforted the broken-hearted
+mothers. His hand was ready with help for every
+invalid. At our farm he helped of his own free will in saving a
+drowning beast, or in removing a fat pig that had been killed,
+sometimes even in rounding-in cattle that had strayed out of
+bounds, and so on, giving help in a thousand ways. For all that
+he wanted no reward. Rewards he refused altogether simply
+because it was good-feeling which made him do these things.</p>
+
+<p>'Sir, these are indisputable facts, which I have repeated as
+accurately as I could, leaving your readers to draw their own
+conclusions.</p>
+
+<div class="mb"><p class="td3">'<span class="smcap">Old Burgher of the Transvaal</span>.</p>
+<p class="sgn">'Rustenburg, Transvaal: July 1901.'</p></div>
+
+<p>A long and curious letter appears in the 'Suisse Liberale'
+from a young Swiss who spent the whole time of the war upon a
+farm in the Thabanchu district of the Orange Free State. It is
+very impartial in its judgments, and remarks, among other things&mdash;talking
+of the life of the local garrison:</p>
+
+<p>'They make frequent visits, send out invitations, and organise
+picnics. In the town they get up charity concerts, balls, sports,
+and horse-races. It is a curious thing that the English, even
+when they are at war, cannot live without their usual sports, and
+the conquered do not show the slightest repugnance to joining
+the victors in their games or to mixing in society with them.'</p>
+
+<p>Is this consistent with stories of military brutality? It
+appears to be a very modified hell which is loose in that portion
+of Africa.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. and Mrs. Osborn Howe were the directors of the Camp
+Soldiers' Homes in South Africa. They have seen as much of
+the army in South Africa as most people, and have looked at it
+with critical eyes. Here are some of their conclusions:</p>
+
+<p>'Neither we nor our staff, scattered between De Aar and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
+Pretoria, have ever heard of a single case of outrage or ill-treatment.
+One and all indignantly denied the accusations against
+our soldiers, and have given us many instances of great kindness
+shown by the troops towards helpless women and children.</p>
+
+<p>'We ourselves saw nothing which we could not tell to a
+gathering of schoolgirls.</p>
+
+<p>'When living in the Orange River Colony we were in the
+midst of the farm-burning district, and witnessed Lord Roberts's
+efforts to spare the people suffering by issuing warning proclamations.
+We saw how the officers waited till the farmers had had
+time to digest these repeated warnings, and then with what
+reluctance both officers and men went to carry out the work of
+destruction, but we never heard of a case where there had not
+first been some overt act on the part of the enemy.</p>
+
+<p>'A story of reported outrage at a Dutch mission-house in the
+slums of a large town was found after personal investigation to
+have been anything but an outrage as the result proved. The
+young soldiers who entered the house when the door was opened
+in answer to their knock, withdrew after they had discovered that
+the ladies who occupied the house were missionaries, nor had
+anything been removed or injured. But the garbled story, with
+its misuse of the word "outrage," reached a district in Cape
+Colony where it did no little mischief in fanning the flames of
+animosity and rebellion. Thus the reported "outrage" was not
+even a common assault.</p>
+
+<p>'It may be said that our love for the soldiers has warped our
+judgment. We would say we love God, and we love truth more
+than the honour of our soldiers. If there was another side we
+should not hide it.'</p>
+
+<p>So much for the general facts. But it is notoriously difficult
+to prove a negative. Let us turn then to particular instances
+which have been raked together, and see what can be made of
+them. One of them occurred early in the war, when it was stated
+that there had been two assaults upon women in Northern Natal.
+Here are the lies duly nailed to the counter.</p>
+
+<p>The Vicar of Dundee, Colony of Natal, on being requested by
+the Bishop of Natal to inquire into the truth of a statement that
+four women of a family near Dundee, named Bester, were outraged
+by English soldiers, reported that he had had an interview
+with the father-in-law of Bester, Jacobus Maritz, who is one of
+the most influential farmers in the district. Maritz said to him:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>'Well, Mr. Bailey, you do right in coming to me, for our
+family (Mrs. Bester is his daughter) is the <i>only</i> family of Bester
+in the district, and you can say from me, that the story is nothing
+but a pack of lies.'</p>
+
+<p>The other case, alleged at Dundee, furnished no names. The
+only thing specified was that one of the men was in the uniform
+of a Highlander. The Vicar replies to this: 'As you are aware, no
+Highland regiment has been stationed at Dundee during the war.'</p>
+
+<p>The weapons of slander were blunted by the fact that about
+May 1900 the Transvaal Government, wishing to allay the fears
+of the women in the farms, published an announcement in the
+'Volksstem' advising every burgher to leave his family upon the
+farms as the enemy were treating women and children with the
+utmost consideration and respect. We know that both President
+Kruger and General Botha acted up to this advice by leaving
+their own wives under our protection while they carried on their
+campaign against us. At the very instant that Kruger was
+falsely stating at Marseilles that we were making war on women
+and children, his own infirm wife was being so sedulously guarded
+by British soldiers that the passer-by was not even allowed to
+stare curiously at the windows or to photograph the house.</p>
+
+<p>There was a lull in the campaign of calumny which was
+made up for by the whole-hearted effort of M. van Broekhuizen.
+This man was a minister in Pretoria, and, like most of the Dutch
+ministers, a red-hot politician. Having given his parole to
+restrain his sentiments, he was found to be still preaching
+inflammatory political sermons; so he was advised to leave, and
+given a passage gratis to Europe. He signalised his arrival by
+an article printed in the 'Independence Belge,' declaring among
+other statements that 30 per cent. of the Boer women had been
+ruined by the British troops. Such a statement from such a
+source raised a feeling of horror in Europe, and one of deep
+anger and incredulity on the side of those who knew the British
+Army. The letter was forwarded to Pretoria for investigation,
+and elicited the following unofficial comments from M. Constan&ccedil;on,
+the former Swiss Consul in that city, who had been
+present during the whole British occupation:</p>
+
+<p>'I am more than astonished, I am disgusted, that a Lausanne
+paper should print such abominable and filthy lies.</p>
+
+<p>'The whole article from the beginning to the end is nothing
+but a pack of lies, and the writer, a minister of the Gospel, of all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+men, ought to know better than to perjure himself and his office
+in the way he does.</p>
+
+<p>'I have lived for the last eighteen years in or around Pretoria,
+and know almost every Boer family in the district. The two
+names mentioned by Broekhuizen of women assaulted by the
+troops are quite unknown to me, and are certainly not Boer
+names.</p>
+
+<p>'Ever since the entry of the troops in the Transvaal, I have
+travelled constantly through the whole of Pretoria district and
+part of the Waterberg. I have often put up at Boer houses for
+the night, and stopped at all houses on my road on my business.
+In most of these houses the men were away fighting against the
+British; women and children alone were to be found on the farms.
+Nowhere and in no instance have I heard a single word of complaint
+against the troops; here and there a few fowls were missing
+and fencing poles pulled out for firewood; but this can only be
+expected from troops on the march. On the other hand, the
+women could not say enough in praise of the soldiers, and their
+behaviour towards their sex. Whenever a camp was established
+close to the homestead, the officers have always had a picket placed
+round the house for the object of preventing all pilfering, and the
+women, rich or poor, have everywhere been treated as ladies.</p>
+
+<p>'Why the Boer women were so unanimous in their praises is
+because they were far from expecting such treatment at the hands
+of the victors.</p>
+
+<p>'Our town is divided into wards, and every woman and child
+has been fed whenever they were without support, and in one ward
+we have actually five hundred of these receiving rations from the
+British Government, although in most cases the men are still
+fighting. In the towns the behaviour of the troops has been,
+admirable, all canteens have been closed, and in the last six
+months I have only seen two cases of drunkenness amongst
+soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>'We are quite a little Swiss colony here, and I don't know one
+of my countrymen who would not endorse every word of my
+statement.</p>
+
+<p>'Many may have sympathies with the Boers, but in all justice
+they will always give credit to the British troops and their officers
+for the humane way this war is carried on, and for the splendid
+way in which Tommy Atkins behaves himself.'</p>
+
+<p>With this was printed in the 'Gazette de Lausanne,' which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span>
+instituted the inquiry, a letter from Mr. Gray, Presbyterian
+minister in Pretoria, which says:</p>
+
+<p>'A few days ago I received an extract from your issue of
+November 17 last entitled "La Civilisation Anglaise en Afrique."
+It consisted mainly of a letter over the signature of H. D. van
+Broekhuizen (not Broesehuizen as printed), Boer pastor of Pretoria.
+Allow me, sir, to assure you that the wholesale statements with
+regard to the atrocities of British soldiers contained in that letter
+are a tissue of falsehoods, and constitute an unfounded calumny
+which it would be difficult to parallel in the annals of warfare.
+It is difficult to conceive the motives that actuate the writer, but
+that they have been violent enough to make him absolutely reckless
+as to facts, is evident.</p>
+
+<p>'When I got the article from your paper I immediately went
+out to make inquiry as to what possible foundation there was for
+the charges hurled so wildly at the British soldier. Having lived
+in Pretoria for the last eleven years I am acquainted with many of
+the local Boers. Those of them whom I questioned assured me
+that they had never known a case in which British soldiers had
+outraged a woman. One case was rumoured, but had never been
+substantiated, and was regarded as very doubtful. Let it be
+granted that some solitary cases of rudeness may have occurred,
+that would not be surprising under the circumstances. Still it
+would not furnish a ground for the libelling of a whole army.
+The astonishing fact is, however, that in this country one only
+hears of the surprise everywhere felt that the British soldier has
+been so self-restrained and deferential towards women.'</p>
+
+<p>To this M. van Broekhuizen's feeble reply was that there was
+no ex-consul of the name of Constan&ccedil;on in Pretoria. The
+'Gazette de Lausanne' then pointed out that the gentleman was
+well known, that he had acted in that capacity for many years,
+and added that if M. van Broekhuizen was so ill-informed upon
+so simple a matter, it was not likely that he was very correct
+upon other more contentious ones. Thus again a false coin was
+nailed to the counter, but only after it had circulated so widely
+that many who had passed it would never know that it was proved
+to be base metal. Incredible as it may seem, the infamous
+falsehood was repeated in 1902 by a Dr. Vallentin, in the
+'Deutsche Rundschau,' from which it was copied into other leading
+German papers without any reference to its previous disproof in
+1901.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Now we will turn for a moment to the evidence of Miss Alice
+Bron, the devoted Belgian nurse, who served on both sides during
+the war and has therefore a fair standard of comparison. Here
+are a few sentences from her reports:</p>
+
+<p>'I have so often heard it said and repeated that the British
+soldiers are the dregs of London and the scum of the criminal
+classes, that their conduct astounded me.'</p>
+
+<p>This is the opinion of a lady who spent two years in the
+service of humanity on the veldt.</p>
+
+<p>Here are one or two other sidelights from Miss Bron:</p>
+
+<p>'How grateful and respectful they all are! I go to the
+hospital at night without the slightest fear, and when a sentry
+hears my reply, "Sister," to his challenge, he always humbly begs
+my pardon.</p>
+
+<p>'I have seen the last of them and their affectionate attentions,
+their respect, and their confidence. On this head I could relate
+many instances of exquisite feeling on the part of these poor
+soldiers.</p>
+
+<p>'A wounded English soldier was speaking of Cronje. "Ah,
+sister," said he, "I am glad that we have made so many prisoners."</p>
+
+<p>'"Why?" I asked, fearing to hear words of hatred.</p>
+
+<p>'"Oh," he said, "I was glad to hear it because I know that they
+at least would be neither wounded nor killed. They will not
+leave wife nor children, neither will they suffer what we are
+suffering."'</p>
+
+<p>She describes how she met General Wavell:</p>
+
+<p>'"You see I have come to protect you," he said.</p>
+
+<p>'We smiled and bowed, and I thought, "I know your soldiers
+too well, General. We don't need any protection."'</p>
+
+<p>But war may have brutalised the combatants, and so it is
+of interest to have Nurse Bron's impressions at the end of 1901.
+She gives her conversation with a Boer:</p>
+
+<p>'"All that I have to say to you is that what you did down
+there has never been seen in any other war. <i>Never</i> in any
+country in the world has such a dastardly act been committed as
+the shooting of one who goes to meet the white flag."</p>
+
+<p>'Very pale, the chief, a true "gentleman" fifty-three years old,
+and the father of eleven children, answered, "You are right, sister."</p>
+
+<p>'"And since we talk of these things," I said, "I will say that
+I understand very well that you are defending your country, but
+what I do not excuse is your lying as you do about these English.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>"</p>
+
+<p>'"We repeat what we are told."</p>
+
+<p>'"No," I said, "you all of you lie, and you know that you are
+lying, with the Bible on your knees and invoking the name of
+God, and, thanks to your lies, all Europe believes that the
+English army is composed of assassins and thieves. You see how
+they treat you here!"'</p>
+
+<p>She proceeds to show how they were treated. The patients,
+it may be observed, were not Boer combatants but Cape rebels,
+liable to instant execution. This is the diet after operations:</p>
+
+<p>'For eight, or ten days, the patient has champagne <i>of the
+choicest French brands</i> (her italics), in considerable quantity,
+then old cognac, and finally port, stout, or ale at choice,
+with five or six eggs a day beaten up in brandy and milk,
+arriving at last at a complete diet of which I, though perfectly
+well, could not have absorbed the half.'</p>
+
+<p>'This,' she says, 'is another instance of the "ferocity" with
+which, according to the European press, the English butchers
+have conducted the war.'</p>
+
+<p>The Sisters of Nazareth in South Africa are a body who are
+above political or racial prejudice. Here are the published words
+of the Mother Superior:</p>
+
+<p>'I receive letters by every mail, but a word that would imply
+the least shadow of reproach on the conduct of the soldiers has
+never been written. As for the British soldier in general, our
+sisters in various parts of the colony, who have come a great deal
+in contact with the military of all ranks, state that they can
+never say enough of their courtesy, politeness, and good behaviour
+at all times.'</p>
+
+<p>These are not the impressions which the Boer agents, with
+their command of secret-service money and their influence on the
+European press, have given to the world. A constant stream of
+misrepresentations and lies have poisoned the mind of Europe and
+have made a deep and enduring breach between ourselves and our
+German kinsmen.</p>
+
+<p>The British troops have been accused of shooting women. It
+is wonderful that many women have not been shot, for it has
+not been unusual for farmhouses to be defended by the men when
+there were women within. As a matter of fact, however, very
+few cases have occurred where a woman has been injured. One
+amazon was killed in the fighting line, rifle in hand, outside
+Ladysmith. A second victim furnished the famous Eloff myth,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+which gave material for many cartoons and editorials. The accusation
+was that in cold blood we had shot Kruger's niece, and a
+Berlin morning paper told the story, with many artistic embellishments,
+as follows:</p>
+
+<p>'As the Boer saw his wife down, just able to raise herself, he
+made an attempt to run to her assistance, but the inhumans
+held him fast. The officer assured him that she was shot through
+the temples and must anyhow die, and they left her therefore lying.
+In the evening he heard his name called. It was his wife who
+still lived after twelve hours' agony. When they reached Rustenburg
+she was dead. This woman was Frau Eloff, Kruger's niece.
+In addition to the sympathy for the loss Kruger has suffered, this
+report will renew the bitter feeling of all against the brutality of
+English warfare.'</p>
+
+<p>This story was dished up in many ways by many papers. Here
+is Lord Kitchener's plain account of the matter:</p>
+
+<p>'No woman of that name has been killed, but the report may
+refer to the death of a Mrs. Vandermerve, who unfortunately was
+killed at a farmhouse from which her husband was firing. Mrs.
+Vandermerve is a sister-in-law of Eloff. The death of a woman
+from a stray bullet is greatly to be regretted, but it appears clear
+that her husband was responsible for the fighting which caused
+the accident.'</p>
+
+<p>So perished another myth. I observe, however, now (Christmas
+1901), a continental journalist describing an interview with
+Kruger says, 'he wore mourning on account of his niece who died
+of a gun-shot.' Might not his wife's death possibly account for
+the mourning?</p>
+
+<p>And yet another invention which is destined to the same fate,
+is the story that at the skirmish of Graspan, near Reitz, upon
+June 6, the British used the Boer women as cover, a subject which
+also afforded excellent material for the caricaturists of the Fatherland.
+The picture of rows of charming Boer maidens chained in
+the open with bloodthirsty soldiers crouching behind them was
+too alluring for the tender-hearted artist. Nothing was wanting
+for a perfect cartoon&mdash;except the original fact. Here is the report
+as it appeared in a German paper:</p>
+
+<p>'When the English on June 6 were attacked by the Boers, they
+ordered the women and children to leave the wagons. Placing
+these in front of the soldiers, they shot beneath the women's arms
+upon the approaching Boers. Eight women and two children<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
+fell through the Boers' fire. When the Boers saw this they
+stopped firing. Yelling like wild beasts, they broke through the
+soldiers' lines, beating to death the Tommies like mad dogs with
+the butt ends of their rifles.'</p>
+
+<p>The true circumstances of the action so far as they can be
+collected are as follows: Early on June 6 Major Sladen, with 200
+mounted infantry, ran down a Boer convoy of 100 wagons. He
+took forty-five male prisoners, and the wagons were full of women
+and children. He halted his men and waited for the main British
+force (De Lisle's) to come up. While he was waiting he was
+fiercely attacked by a large body of Boers, five or six hundred,
+under De Wet. The British threw themselves into a Kaffir kraal
+and made a desperate resistance. The long train of wagons
+with the women still in them extended from this village right
+across the plain, and the Boers used them as cover in skirmishing
+up to the village. The result was that the women and children
+were under a double fire from either side. One woman and two
+children appear to have been hit, though whether by Boer or
+Briton it must have been difficult to determine. The convoy and
+the prisoners remained eventually in the hands of the British. It
+will be seen then that it is as just to say that the Boers used their
+women as cover for their advance as the British for their defence.
+Probably in the heat of the action both sides thought more of the
+wagons than of what was inside them.</p>
+
+<p>These, with one case at Middelburg, where in a night attack
+of the Boers one or two inmates of the refugee camp are said to
+have been accidentally hit, form the only known instances in the
+war. And yet so well known a paper as the German 'Kladderadatsch'
+is not ashamed to publish a picture of a ruined farm with
+dead women strewed round it, and the male child hanging from
+the branch of a tree. The 'Kladderadatsch' has a reputation as a
+comic paper, but there should be some limits to its facetiousness.</p>
+
+<p>In his pamphlet on 'Methods of Barbarism,' Mr. Stead has
+recently produced a chapter called 'A Glimpse of the Hellish
+Panorama,' in which he deals with the evidence at the Spoelstra
+trial. Spoelstra was a Hollander who, having sworn an oath of
+neutrality, afterwards despatched a letter to a Dutch newspaper
+without submitting it to a censor, in which he made libellous
+attacks upon the British Army. He was tried for the offence and
+sentenced to a fine of 100<i>l.</i>, his imprisonment being remitted.
+In the course of the trial he called a number of witnesses for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+purpose of supporting his charges against the troops, and it is on
+their evidence that Mr. Stead dilates under the characteristic
+headline given above.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Stead begins his indictment by a paragraph which speaks
+for itself: 'It is a cant cry with many persons, by no means
+confined to those who have advocated the war, that the British
+Army has spent two years in the South African Republics without
+a single case of impropriety being proved against a single soldier.
+I should be very glad to believe it; but there is Rudyard Kipling's
+familiar saying that Tommy Atkins is no plaster saint, but a
+single man in barracks, or, in this case, a single man in camp,
+remarkably like other human beings. We all know him at home.
+There is not one father of a family in the House or on the London
+Press who would allow his servant girl to remain out all night on
+a public common in England in time of profound peace in the
+company of a score of soldiers. If he did, he would feel that he
+had exposed the girl to the loss of her character. This is not
+merely admitted, but acted upon by all decent people who live in
+garrison towns or in the neighbourhood of barracks. Why, then,
+should they suppose that when the same men are released from
+all the restraints of civilisation, and sent forth to burn, destroy,
+and loot at their own sweet will and pleasure, they will suddenly
+undergo so complete a transformation as to scrupulously respect
+the wives and daughters of the enemy? It is very unpopular to
+say this, and I already hear in advance the shrieks of execration
+of those who will declare that I am calumniating the gallant
+soldiers who are spending their lives in the defence of the interests
+of the Empire. But I do not say a word against our soldiers. I
+only say that they are men.'</p>
+
+<p>He adds:</p>
+
+<p>'It is an unpleasant fact, but it has got to be faced like
+other facts. No war can be conducted&mdash;and this war has not
+been conducted&mdash;without exposing multitudes of women, married
+and single, to the worst extremities of outrage. It is an inevitable
+incident of war. It is one of the normal phenomena of the
+military Inferno. It is absolutely impossible to attempt any
+comparative or quantitative estimate of the number of women
+who have suffered wrong at the hands of our troops.'</p>
+
+<p>Was ever such an argument adduced in this world upon a serious
+matter! When stripped of its rhetoric it amounts to this, '250,000
+men have committed outrages. How do I prove it? Because they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+are 250,000 men, and therefore <i>must</i> commit outrages.' Putting
+all chivalry, sense of duty, and every higher consideration upon
+one side, is Mr. Stead not aware that if a soldier had done
+such a thing and if his victim could have pointed him out, the
+man's life would be measured by the time that was needed to
+collect a military court to try him? Is there a soldier who does
+not know this? Is there a Boer who does not know it? It is
+the one offence for which there would be no possible forgiveness.
+Are the Boers so meek-spirited a race that they have no desire
+for vengeance? Would any officer take the responsibility of not
+reporting a man who was accused of such a crime? Where, then,
+are the lists of the men who must have suffered if this cruel
+accusation were true? There are no such lists, because such
+things have never occurred.</p>
+
+<p>Leading up to the events of the trial, Mr. Stead curdles our
+blood by talking of the eleven women who stood up upon oath to
+testify to the ill-treatment which they had received at the hands
+of our troops. Taken with the context, the casual reader would
+naturally imagine that these eleven women were all complaining
+of some sexual ill-usage. In the very next sentence he talks about
+'such horrible and shameful incidents.' But on examination it
+proves that eight out of the eleven cases have nothing sexual or,
+indeed, in many of them, anything criminal in their character.
+One is, that a coffin was dug up to see if there were arms in it.
+On this occasion the search was a failure, though it has before
+now been a success. Another was that the bed of a sick woman
+was searched&mdash;without any suggestion of indelicacy. Two others,
+that women had been confined while on the trek in wagons.
+'The soldiers did not bother the woman during or after the
+confinement. They did not peep into the wagon,' said the
+witness. These are the trivialities which Mr. Stead tries to bluff
+us into classifying as 'horrible and shameful incidents.'</p>
+
+<p>But there were three alleged cases of assault upon women.
+One of them is laid to the charge of a certain Mr. E&mdash;&mdash;n, of the
+Intelligence Department. Now, the use of Mr. and the description
+'Intelligence Department' make it very doubtful whether this
+man could be called a member of the British Army at all. The
+inference is that he was a civilian, and further, that he was a
+Dutch civilian. British names which will fit E&mdash;&mdash;n are not
+common, while the Dutch name Esselen or Enslin is extremely so.
+'I have never been to the Intelligence Department to find out<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
+whether he really belonged to that Department,' said the woman.
+She adds that E&mdash;&mdash;n acted as an interpreter. Surely, then, he
+must have been a Dutchman. In that case, why is his name the
+only name which is disguised? Is it not a little suggestive?</p>
+
+<p>The second case was that of Mrs. Gouws, whose unfortunate
+experience was communicated to Pastor van Broekhuizen, and had
+such an effect upon him as to cause him to declare that 30 per
+cent. of the women of the country had been ruined. Mrs. Gouws
+certainly appears by her own account to have been very roughly
+treated, though she does not assert that her assailant went to the
+last extremity&mdash;or, indeed, that he did more than use coarse terms
+in his conversation. The husband in his evidence says: 'I have
+seen a great deal of soldiers, and they behaved well, and I could
+speak well of them.' He added that a British officer had taken
+his wife's deposition, and that both the Provost-Marshal and the
+Military Governor were interesting themselves in the case. Though
+no actual assault was committed, it is to be hoped that the man
+who was rude to a helpless woman will sooner or later be identified
+and punished.</p>
+
+<p>There remains one case, that of Mrs. Botha of Rustenburg,
+which, if her account is corroborated, is as bad as it could be.
+The mystery of the case lies in the fact that by her own account
+a British force was encamped close by, and yet that neither she
+nor her husband made the complaint which would have brought
+most summary punishment upon the criminal. This could not
+have been from a shrinking from publicity, since she was ready
+to tell the story in Court. There is not the least indication
+who this solitary soldier may have been, and even the date
+was unknown to the complainant. What can be done in such a
+case? The President of the court-martial, with a burst of
+indignation which shows that he at least does not share Mr.
+Stead's views upon the frequency of such crimes in South Africa,
+cried: 'If such a most awful thing happened to a woman, would
+it not be the first thing for a man to do to rush out and bring
+the guilty man to justice? He ought to risk his life for that.
+There was no reason for him to be frightened. We English are
+not a barbarous nation.' The husband, however, had taken no
+steps. We may be very sure that the case still engages the
+earnest attention of our Provost-Marshal, and that the man, if he
+exists, will sooner or later form an object-lesson upon discipline
+and humanity to the nearest garrison. Such was the Spoelstra<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+trial. Mr. Stead talks fluently of the charges made, but
+deliberately omits the essential fact that after a patient hearing
+not one of them was substantiated.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot end the chapter better than with the words of the
+Rev. P. S. Bosman, head of the Dutch Reformed Church at
+Pretoria:</p>
+
+<p>'Not a single case of criminal assault or rape by non-commissioned
+officers or men of the British Army in Pretoria
+on Boer women has come to my knowledge. I asked several
+gentlemen in turn about this point and their testimony is the
+same as mine.'</p>
+
+<p>But Mr. Stead says that it must be so because there are
+250,000 men in Africa. Could the perversion of argument go
+further? Which are we to believe, our enemy upon the spot or
+the journalist in London?</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h2><small>FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST BRITISH TROOPS</small></h2>
+
+<h3>Expansive and Explosive Bullets.</h3>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">When</span> Mr. Stead indulges in vague rhetoric it is difficult to corner
+him, but when he commits himself to a definite statement he is
+more open to attack. Thus, in his 'Methods of Barbarism' he
+roundly asserts that 'England sent several million rounds of
+expanding bullets to South Africa, and in the North of the Transvaal
+and at Mafeking for the first three months of the war no
+other bullets were used.' Mr. Methuen, on the authority of a
+letter of Lieutenant de Montmorency, R.A., states also that from
+October 12, 1899, up to January 15, 1900, the British forces north
+of Mafeking used nothing but Mark IV. ammunition, which is
+not a dum-dum but is an expansive bullet.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Methuen's statement differs, as will be seen, very widely
+from Mr. Stead's; for Mr. Stead says Mafeking, and Mr. Methuen
+says north of Mafeking. There was a very great deal of fighting
+at Mafeking, and comparatively little north of Mafeking during
+that time, so that the difference is an essential one. To test
+Mr. Stead's assertion about Mafeking, I communicated with
+General Baden-Powell, the gentleman who is most qualified to
+speak as to what occurred there, and his answer lies before me:
+'We had no expanding bullets in our supply at Mafeking, unless
+you call the ordinary Martini-Henry an expanding bullet. I
+would not have used them on humane principles, and moreover,
+an Army order had been issued against the use of dum-dum
+bullets in this campaign. On the other hand, explosive bullets
+are expressly forbidden in the Convention, and these the Boers
+used freely against us in Mafeking, especially on May 12.'</p>
+
+<p>I have endeavoured also to test the statement as it concerns
+the troops to the north of Mafeking. The same high authority
+says: 'With regard to the northern force, it is just possible that
+a few sportsmen in the Rhodesian column may have had some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
+sporting bullets, but I certainly never heard of them.' A friend
+of mine who was in Lobatsi during the first week of the war
+assures me that he never saw anything but the solid bullet. It
+must be remembered that the state of things was very exceptional
+with the Rhodesian force. Their communications to the south
+were cut on the second day of the war, and for seven months they
+were dependent upon the long and circuitous Beira route for any
+supplies which reached them. One could imagine that under
+such circumstances uniformity of armament would be more
+difficult to maintain than in the case of an army with an assured
+base.</p>
+
+<p>The expansive bullet is not, as a matter of fact, contrary to
+the Conventions of The Hague. It was expressly held from being
+so by the representatives of the United States and of Great
+Britain. In taking this view I cannot but think that these two
+enlightened and humanitarian Powers were ill-advised. Those
+Conventions were of course only binding on those who signed
+them, and therefore in fighting desperate savages the man-stopping
+bullet could still have been used. Whatever our
+motives in taking the view that we did, a swift retribution has
+come upon us, for it has prevented us from exacting any retribution,
+or even complaining, when the Boers have used these
+weapons against us. Explosive bullets are, however, as my distinguished
+correspondent points out, upon a different footing,
+and if the Boers claim the advantages of the Conventions of The
+Hague, then every burgher found with these weapons in his
+bandolier is liable to punishment.</p>
+
+<p>Our soldiers have been more merciful than our Hague diplomatists,
+for in spite of the reservation of the right to use this
+ammunition, every effort has been made to exclude it from the
+firing line. An unfortunate incident early in the campaign gave
+our enemies some reason to suspect us. The facts are these.</p>
+
+<p>At the end of the spring of 1899 some hundreds of thousands
+of hollow-headed bullets, made in England, were condemned as
+unsatisfactory, not being true to gauge, &amp;c., and were sent to
+South Africa for target practice only. A quantity of this ammunition,
+known as 'Metford Mark IV.,' was sent up to Dundee by
+order of General Symons for practice in field firing. As Mark IV.
+was not for use in a war with white races all these cartridges were
+called in as soon as Kruger declared war, and the officers responsible
+thought they were every one returned. By some blundering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
+in the packing at home, however, some of this Mark IV. must have
+got mixed up with the ordinary, or Mark II., ammunition, and was
+found on our men by the Boers on October 30. Accordingly a very
+careful inspection was ordered, and a few Mark IV. bullets were
+found in our men's pouches, and at once removed. Their presence was
+purely accidental, and undoubtedly caused by a blunder in
+the Ordnance Department long before the war, and it was in
+consequence of this that some hollow-headed bullets were fired by
+the English early in the war without their knowledge.</p>
+
+<p>What is usually known as the dum-dum bullet is a 'soft-nosed'
+one: but the regulation Mark II. is also made at the
+dum-dum factory, and the Boers, seeing the dum-dum label on
+boxes containing the latter, naturally thought the contents were
+the soft-nosed, which they were not.</p>
+
+<p>It must be admitted that there was some carelessness in
+permitting sporting ammunition ever to get to the front at all.
+When the Derbyshire Militia were taken by De Wet at Roodeval, a
+number of cases of sporting cartridges were captured by the Boers
+(the officers had used them for shooting springbok). My friend,
+Mr. Langman, who was present, saw the Boers, in some instances,
+filling their bandoliers from these cases on the plausible excuse
+that they were only using our own ammunition. Such cartridges
+should never have been permitted to go up. But in spite of
+instances of bungling, the evidence shows that every effort has
+been made to keep the war as humane as possible. I am inclined
+to hope that a fuller knowledge will show that the same holds
+good for our enemies, and that in spite of individual exceptions,
+they have never systematically used anything except what one of
+their number described as a 'gentlemanly' bullet.</p>
+
+<h3>Conduct to Prisoners on the Field.</h3>
+
+<p>On this count, also, the British soldiers have been exposed to
+attacks, both at home and abroad, which are as unfounded and as
+shameful as most of those which have been already treated.</p>
+
+<p>The first occasion upon which Boer prisoners fell into our
+hands was at the Battle of Elandslaagte, on October 21, 1899.
+That night was spent by the victorious troops in a pouring rain,
+round such fires as they were able to light. It has been recorded
+by several witnesses that the warmest corner by the fire was
+reserved for the Boer prisoners. It has been asserted, and is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span>
+again asserted, that when the Lancers charged a small body of
+the enemy after the action, they gave no quarter&mdash;'too well
+substantiated and too familiar,' says one critic of this assertion.
+I believe, as a matter of fact, that the myth arose from a sensational
+picture in an illustrated paper. The charge was delivered
+late in the evening, in uncertain light. Under such circumstances
+it is always possible, amid so wild and confused a scene, that a
+man who would have surrendered has been cut down or ridden
+over. But the cavalry brought back twenty prisoners, and the
+number whom they killed or wounded has not been placed higher
+than that, so that it is certain there was no indiscriminate slaying.
+I have read a letter from the officer who commanded the cavalry
+and who directed the charge, in which he tells the whole story
+confidentially to a brother officer. He speaks of his prisoners,
+but there is no reference to any brutality upon the part of the
+troopers.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Stead makes a great deal of some extracts from the letters
+of private soldiers at the front who talk of bayonetting their
+enemies. Such expressions should be accepted with considerable
+caution, for it may amuse the soldier to depict himself as rather a
+terrible fellow to his home-staying friends. Even if isolated
+instances could be corroborated, it would merely show that men
+of fiery temperament in the flush of battle are occasionally not
+to be restrained, either by the power of discipline or by the
+example and exhortations of their officers. Such instances, I do
+not doubt, could be found among all troops in all wars. But to
+found upon it a general charge of brutality or cruelty is unjust
+in the case of a foreigner, and unnatural in the case of our own
+people.</p>
+
+<p>There is one final and complete answer to all such charges.
+It is that we have now in our hands 42,000 males of the Boer
+nations. They assert, and we cannot deny, that their losses in
+killed have been extraordinarily light during two years of warfare.
+How are these admitted and certain facts compatible with any
+general refusal of quarter? To anyone who, like myself, has seen
+the British soldiers jesting and smoking cigarettes with their
+captives within five minutes of their being taken, such a charge
+is ludicrous, but surely even to the most biassed mind the fact
+stated above must be conclusive.</p>
+
+<p>In some ways I fear that the Conventions of The Hague will
+prove, when tested on a large scale, to be a counsel of perfection.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
+It will certainly be the extreme test of self-restraint and discipline&mdash;a
+test successfully endured by the British troops at Elandslaagte,
+Bergendal, and many other places&mdash;to carry a position by assault
+and then to give quarter to those defenders who only surrender at
+the last instant. It seems almost too much to ask. The assailants
+have been terribly punished: they have lost their friends and
+their officers, in the frenzy of battle they storm the position, and
+then at the last instant the men who have done all the mischief
+stand up unscathed from behind their rocks and claim their own
+personal safety. Only at that moment has the soldier seen his
+antagonist or been on equal terms with him. He must give
+quarter, but it must be confessed that this is trying human nature
+rather high.</p>
+
+<p>But if this holds good of an organised force defending a position,
+how about the solitary sniper? The position of such a man has
+never been defined by the Conventions of The Hague, and no
+rules are laid down for his treatment. It is not wonderful if the
+troops who have been annoyed by him should on occasion take
+the law into their own hands and treat him in a summary fashion.</p>
+
+<p>The very first article of the Conventions of The Hague states
+that a belligerent must (1) Be commanded by some responsible
+person; (2) Have a distinctive emblem visible at a distance;
+(3) Carry arms openly. Now it is evident that the Boer sniper
+who draws his Mauser from its hiding-place in order to have a
+shot at the Rooineks from a safe kopje does not comply with any
+one of these conditions. In the letter of the law, then, he is
+undoubtedly outside the rules of warfare.</p>
+
+<p>In the spirit he is even more so. Prowling among the rocks
+and shooting those who cannot tell whence the bullet comes, there
+is no wide gap between him and the assassin. His victims never
+see him, and in the ordinary course he incurs no personal danger.
+I believe such cases to have been very rare, but if the soldiers
+have occasionally shot such a man without reference to the officers,
+can it be said that it was an inexcusable action, or even that it was
+outside the strict rules of warfare?</p>
+
+<p>I find in the 'Gazette de Lausanne' a returned Swiss soldier
+named Pache, who had fought for the Boers, expresses his amazement
+at the way in which the British troops after their losses in
+the storming of a position gave quarter to those who had inflicted
+those losses upon them.</p>
+
+<p>'Only once,' he says, 'at the fight at Tabaksberg, have I seen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span>
+the Boers hold on to their position to the very end. At the last
+rush of the enemy they opened a fruitless magazine fire, and then
+threw down their rifles and lifted their hands, imploring quarter
+from those whom they had been firing at at short range. I was
+astounded at the clemency of the soldiers, who allowed them to
+live. For my part I should have put them to death.'</p>
+
+<p>Of prisoners after capture there is hardly need to speak.
+There is a universal consensus of opinion from all, British or
+foreign, who have had an opportunity of forming an opinion, that
+the prisoners have been treated with humanity and generosity.
+The same report has come from Green Point, St. Helena, Bermuda,
+Ceylon, Ahmednager, and all other camps. An outcry was raised
+when Ahmednager in India was chosen for a prison station, and it
+was asserted, with that recklessness with which so many other
+charges have been hurled against the authorities, that it was a hot-bed
+of disease. Experience has shown that there was no grain of
+truth in these statements, and the camp has been a very healthy
+one. As it remains the only one which has ever been subjected
+to harsh criticism, it may be of use to append the conclusions
+of Mr. Jesse Collings during a visit to it last month:</p>
+
+<p>'The Boer officers said, speaking for ourselves and men, we
+have nothing at all to complain of. As prisoners of war we could
+not be better treated, and Major Dickenson' (this they wished
+specially to be inserted), 'is as kind and considerate as it is possible
+to be.'</p>
+
+<p>Some sensational statements were also made in America as to
+the condition of the Bermuda Camps, but a newspaper investigation
+has shown that there is no charge to be brought against
+them.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. John J. O'Rorke writes to the 'New York Times,' saying,
+'That in view of the many misrepresentations regarding the
+treatment of the Boer prisoners in Bermuda, he recently
+obtained a trustworthy opinion from one of his correspondents
+there.'... The correspondent's name is Musson Wainwright, and
+Mr. O'Rorke describes him 'as one of the influential residents in
+the island.' He says, 'That the Boers in Bermuda are better off
+than many residents in New York. They have plenty of beef,
+plenty of bread, plenty of everything except liberty. There are
+good hospitals and good doctors. It is true that some of the Boers
+are short of clothing, but these are very few, and the Government
+is issuing clothing to them. On the whole,' says Mr. Wainwright,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span>
+'Great Britain is treating the Boers far better than most people
+would.'</p>
+
+<p>Compare this record with the undoubted privations, many of
+them unnecessary, which our soldiers endured at Waterval near
+Pretoria, the callous neglect of the enteric patients there, and
+the really barbarous treatment of British Colonial prisoners who
+were confined in cells on the absurd plea that in fighting for their
+flag they were traitors to the Africander cause.</p>
+
+<h3>Executions.</h3>
+
+<p>The number of executions of Boers, as distinguished from the
+execution of Cape rebels, has been remarkably few in a war which
+has already lasted twenty-six months. So far as I have been able to
+follow them, they have been limited to the execution of Cordua for
+broken parole and conspiracy upon August 24, 1900, at Pretoria,
+the shooting of one or two horse-poisoners in Natal, and the shooting
+of three men after the action of October 27, 1900, near Fredericstad.
+These men, after throwing down their arms and receiving
+quarter, picked them up again and fired at the soldiers from
+behind. No doubt there have been other cases, scattered up and
+down the vast scene of warfare, but I can find no record of them,
+and if they exist at all they must be few in number. Since the
+beginning of 1901 four men have been shot in the Transvaal,
+three in Pretoria as spies and breakers of parole, one in Johannesburg
+as an aggravated case of breaking neutrality by inciting
+Boers to resist.</p>
+
+<p>At the beginning of the war 90 per cent. of the farmers in
+the northern district of Cape Colony joined the invaders. Upon
+the expulsion of the Boers these men for the most part surrendered.
+The British Government, recognising that pressure had been put
+upon them and that their position had been a difficult one,
+inflicted no penalty upon the rank-and-file beyond depriving them
+of the franchise for a few years. A few who, like the Douglas
+rebels, were taken red-handed upon the field of battle, were
+condemned to periods of imprisonment which varied from one to
+five years.</p>
+
+<p>This was in the year 1900. In 1901 there was an invasion of
+the Colony by Boers which differed very much from the former
+one. In the first case the country had actually been occupied by
+the Boer forces, who were able to exert real pressure upon the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
+inhabitants. In the second the invaders were merely raiding
+bands who traversed many places but occupied none. A British
+subject who joined on the first occasion might plead compulsion,
+on the second it was undoubtedly of his own free will.</p>
+
+<p>These Boer bands being very mobile, and never fighting save
+when they were at an overwhelming advantage, penetrated all
+parts of the Colony and seduced a number of British subjects
+from their allegiance. The attacking of small posts and the
+derailing of trains, military or civilian, were their chief employment.
+To cover their tracks they continually murdered natives
+whose information might betray them. Their presence kept the
+Colony in confusion and threatened the communications of the
+Army.</p>
+
+<p>The situation may be brought home to a continental reader by
+a fairly exact parallel. Suppose that an Austrian army had
+invaded Germany, and that while it was deep in German territory
+bands of Austrian subjects who were of German extraction began
+to tear up the railway lines and harass the communications.
+That was our situation in South Africa. Would the Austrians
+under these circumstances show much mercy to those rebel bands,
+especially if they added cold-blooded murder to their treason? Is
+it likely that they would?</p>
+
+<p>The British, however, were very long-suffering. Many hundreds
+of these rebels passed into their hands, and most of them
+escaped with fine and imprisonment. The ringleaders, and those
+who were convicted of capital penal offences, were put to death.
+I have been at some pains to make a list of the executions in
+1901, including those already mentioned. It is at least approximately
+correct:</p>
+
+<div class='center'>
+<table class="hd1" border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="">
+<tr class="tr1"><td class="tdb">Number</td><td class="center">Place</td><td class="center" colspan="2">Date</td><td class="td5">Reason</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">&nbsp;</td><td class="tda">&nbsp;</td><td class="tdb" colspan="2"><small>1901</small></td><td class="tde">&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">2</td><td class="tda">De Aar</td><td class="tdc">March</td><td class="tdd">19</td><td class="tde">Train-wrecking.</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">2</td><td class="tda">Pretoria</td><td class="tdc">June</td><td class="tdd">11</td><td class="tde">Boers breaking oath of neutrality.</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Middelburg</td><td class="tdc">July</td><td class="tdd">10</td><td class="tde">Fighting.</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Cape Town</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">13</td><td class="tdce">"</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Cradock</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">13</td><td class="tdce">"</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">2</td><td class="tda">Middelburg</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">24</td><td class="tdce">"</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">2</td><td class="tda">Kenhardt</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">25</td><td class="tdce">"</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Pretoria</td><td class="tdc">Aug.</td><td class="tdd">22</td><td class="tde">Boer spy.</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">3</td><td class="tda">Colesburg</td><td class="tdc">Sept.</td><td class="tdd">4</td><td class="tde">Fighting.</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Middelburg</td><td class="tdc">Oct.</td><td class="tdd">10</td><td class="tdce">"</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Middelburg</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">11</td><td class="tdce">"</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Vryburg (hanged)</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">12</td><td class="tdce">"</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">Several</td><td class="tda">Tarkastad</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">12</td><td class="tdce">"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Tarkastad</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">14</td><td class="tdce">"</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Middelburg</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">15</td><td class="tdce">"</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">2</td><td class="tda">Cradock (1 hanged, 1 shot)</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">17</td><td class="tde">Train-wrecking and murdering native.</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">2</td><td class="tda">Vryburg</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">29</td><td class="tde">Fighting.</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Mafeking</td><td class="tdc">Nov.</td><td class="tdd">11</td><td class="tde">Shooting a Native.</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Colesburg</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">12</td><td class="tde">Fighting, marauding, and assaulting, &amp;c.</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Johannesburg</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">23</td><td class="tde">Persuading surrendered burghers to break oath.</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Aliwal North</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">26</td><td class="tde">Cape Police Deserter.</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr2"><td class="tdb">1</td><td class="tda">Krugersdorp</td><td class="tdc">Dec.</td><td class="tdd">26</td><td class="tde">Shooting wounded.</td></tr>
+<tr class="tr3"><td class="tdb">2</td><td class="tda">Mafeking</td><td class="tdcd">"</td><td class="tdd">27</td><td class="tde">Kaffir murder.</td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p>Allowing 3 for the 'several' at Tarkastad on October 12, that
+makes a total of 34. Many will undoubtedly be added in the
+future, for the continual murder of inoffensive natives, some of
+them children, calls for stern justice. In this list 4 were train-wreckers
+(aggravated cases by rebels), 1 was a spy, 4 were
+murderers of natives, 1 a deserter who took twenty horses from
+the Cape Police, and the remaining 23 were British subjects
+taken fighting and bearing arms against their own country.</p>
+
+<h3>Hostages upon Railway Trains.</h3>
+
+<p>Here the military authorities are open, as it seems to me, to a
+serious charge, not of inhumanity to the enemy but of neglecting
+those steps which it was their duty to take in order to safeguard
+their own troops. If all the victims of derailings and
+railway cuttings were added together it is not an exaggeration to
+say that it would furnish as many killed and wounded as a
+considerable battle. On at least five occasions between twenty
+and thirty men were incapacitated, and there are very numerous
+cases where smaller numbers were badly hurt.</p>
+
+<p>Let it be said at once that we have no grievance in this. To
+derail a train is legitimate warfare, with many precedents to
+support it. But to checkmate it by putting hostages upon the
+trains is likewise legitimate warfare, with many precedents to
+support it also. The Germans habitually did it in France, and the
+result justified them as the result has justified us. From the
+time (October 1901) that it was adopted in South Africa we have
+not heard of a single case of derailing, and there can be no doubt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+that the lives of many soldiers, and possibly of some civilians,
+have been saved by the measure.</p>
+
+<p>I will conclude this chapter by two extracts chosen out of many
+from the diary of the Austrian, Count Sternberg. In the first he
+describes his capture:</p>
+
+<p>'Three hours passed thus without our succeeding in finding
+our object. The sergeant then ordered that we should take a rest.
+We sat down on the ground, and chatted good-humouredly with
+the soldiers. They were fine fellows, without the least sign of
+brutality&mdash;in fact, full of sympathy. They had every right to be
+angry with us, for we had spoiled their sleep after they had gone
+through a trying day; yet they did not visit it on us in any way,
+and were most kind. They even shared their drinking-water
+with us. I cannot describe what my feelings were that night.
+A prisoner!'</p>
+
+<p>He adds: 'I can only repeat that the English officers and the
+English soldiers have shown in this war that the profession of
+arms does not debase, but rather ennobles man.'</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h2><small>THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION</small></h2>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">Writing</span> in November 1900, after hearing an expression of
+opinion from many officers from various parts of the seat of war,
+I stated in 'The Great Boer War': 'The Boers have been the
+victims of a great deal of cheap slander in the press. The men
+who have seen most of the Boers in the field are the most
+generous in estimating their character. That the white flag was
+hoisted by the Boers as a cold-blooded device for luring our men
+into the open, is an absolute calumny. To discredit their valour
+is to discredit our victory.' My own opinion would have been
+worthless, but this was, as I say, the result of considerable
+inquiry. General Porter said: 'On a few occasions the white
+flag was abused, but in what large community would you not find
+a few miscreants?' General Lyttelton said: 'The Boers are
+brave men, and I do not think that the atrocities which have been
+reported are the acts of the regular Dutch burghers, but of the
+riff-raff who get into all armies.'</p>
+
+<p>It is a painful fact, but the words could not possibly be written
+to-day. Had the war only ended when it should have ended, the
+combatants might have separated each with a chivalrous feeling of
+respect for a knightly antagonist. But the Boers having appealed
+to the God of battles and heard the judgment, appealed once
+more against it. Hence came the long, bitter, and fruitless
+struggle which has cost so many lives, so much suffering, and a
+lowering of the whole character of the war.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that during the first year there were many things to
+exasperate the troops. The Boers were a nation of hunters and
+they used many a ruse which seemed to the straightforward
+soldier to be cowardly and unfair. Individuals undoubtedly
+played the white-flag trick, and individuals were guilty of holding
+up their hands in order to lure the soldiers from their cover.
+There are many instances of this&mdash;indeed, in one case Lord<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+Roberts was himself a witness of it. Appended is his official
+protest:</p>
+
+<p>'Another instance having occurred of a gross abuse of the
+white flag and of the signal of holding up the hands in token of
+surrender, it is my duty to inform your Honour that if such abuse
+occurs again I shall most reluctantly be compelled to order my
+troops to disregard the white flag entirely.</p>
+
+<p>'The instance occurred on the kopje east of Driefontein Farm
+yesterday evening, and was witnessed by several of my own staff
+officers, as well as by myself, and resulted in the wounding of
+several of my officers and men.</p>
+
+<p>'A large quantity of explosive bullets of three different kinds
+was found in Cronje's laager, and after every engagement with
+your Honour's troops.</p>
+
+<p>'Such breaches of the recognised usages of war and of the
+Geneva Convention are a disgrace to any civilised power.'</p>
+
+<p>But British officers were not unreasonable. They understood
+that they were fighting against a force in which the individual
+was a law unto himself. It was not fair to impute to deliberate
+treachery upon the part of the leaders every slim trick of an unscrupulous
+burgher. Again, it was understood that a coward may
+hoist an unauthorised white flag and his braver companions may
+refuse to recognise it, as our own people might on more than one
+occasion have done with advantage. For these reasons there was
+very little bitterness against the enemy, and most officers would,
+I believe, have subscribed the opinion which I have expressed.</p>
+
+<p>From the first the position of the Boers was entirely irregular
+as regards the recognised rules of warfare. The first article of the
+Conventions of The Hague insists that an army in order to claim
+belligerent rights must first wear some emblem which is visible at
+a distance. It is true that the second article is to the effect that
+a population which has no time to organise themselves and who
+are defending themselves may be excused from this rule; but the
+Boers were the invaders at the outset of the war, and in view
+of their long and elaborate preparations it is absurd to say that
+they could not have furnished burghers on commando with some
+distinctive badge. When they made a change it was for the
+worse, for they finally dressed themselves in the khaki uniforms
+of our own soldiers, and by this means effected several surprises.
+It is typical of the good humour of the British that very many of
+these khaki-clad burghers have passed through our hands, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
+that no penalty has ever been inflicted upon them for their
+dangerous breach of the rules of war. In this, as in the case of
+the train hostages, we have gone too far in the direction of
+clemency. Had the first six khaki-clad burghers been shot, the
+lives of many of our soldiers would have been saved.</p>
+
+<p>The question of uniform was condoned, however, just as the
+white-flag incidents were condoned. We made allowance for the
+peculiarities of the warfare, and for the difficulties of our enemies.
+We tried to think that they were playing the game as fairly as
+they could. Already their methods were certainly rough. Here,
+for example, is a sworn narrative of a soldier taken in the fighting
+before Ladysmith:</p>
+
+<p>'Evidence of No. 6418 Private F. Ayling, 3rd Batt. King's
+Royal Rifles.</p>
+
+<div class="mt"><p class="td3">'Near Colenso, February 25, 1900.</p></div>
+
+<p>'I was taken prisoner about 5 <span class="smcapl">A.M.</span> on 23rd instant by the
+Boers, being too far in front of my company to retire. I was
+allowed to go about 10 <span class="smcapl">A.M.</span> on the 25th, and rejoined my
+regiment.</p>
+
+<p>'During this time I was kept in the Boer trenches without
+food or drink. There were quite twenty of our wounded lying
+close to the trenches, and asking for water all the time, which was
+always refused. If any of the wounded moved they were shot at.
+Most of them died for want of assistance, as they were lying there
+two days and two nights. The Boers (who seemed to be all
+English) said, "Let them die, and give them no water."'</p>
+
+<p>Such instances may, however, be balanced against others
+where kind-hearted burghers have shown commiseration and
+generosity to our wounded and prisoners.</p>
+
+<p>As the war dragged on, however, it took a more savage
+character upon the part of our enemy, and it says much for the
+discipline of the British troops that they have held their hands
+and refused to punish a whole nation for the cruelty and treachery
+of a few. The first absolute murder in the war was that of Lieutenant
+Neumeyer, which occurred at the end of November 1900.
+The facts, which have since been officially confirmed, were thus
+reported at the time from Aliwal:</p>
+
+<p>'Lieutenant Neumeyer, commanding the Orange River Police
+at Smithfield, was driving here, unarmed, in a cart yesterday,
+when he was "held up" by two Boers. He was taken prisoner,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
+handcuffed, and treacherously shot in the back with a revolver
+and again through the head.</p>
+
+<p>'The murderers stripped off the leggings which Lieutenant
+Neumeyer was wearing, searched his clothes for money, and afterwards
+dragged the body to a sluit, where, later in the day it was
+discovered by the Cape Police and brought here. Two natives
+were eye-witnesses of the murder. Lieutenant Neumeyer had
+served with distinction in the Rhodesian campaign.'</p>
+
+<p>At this latter period of the war began that systematic
+murdering of the Kaffirs by the Boers which has been the most
+savage and terrible feature in the whole business. On both sides
+Kaffirs have been used as teamsters, servants, and scouts, but on
+neither side as soldiers. The British could with the greatest ease
+have swamped the whole Boer resistance at the beginning of the
+war by letting loose the Basutos, the Zulus, and the Swazis, all of
+whom have blood-feuds with the Boers. It is very certain that
+the Boers would have had no such compunctions, for when in 1857
+the Transvaalers had a quarrel with the Free State we have Paul
+Botha's evidence for the fact that they intrigued with a Kaffir
+chief to attack their kinsmen from the rear. Botha says:</p>
+
+<p>'I have particular knowledge of this matter, because I took
+part in the commando which our Government sent to meet the
+Transvaal forces. The dispute was eventually amicably settled,
+but, incredible as it may seem, the Transvaal had actually sent
+five persons, headed by the notorious Karel Geere, to Moshesh, the
+Basuto chief, to prevail upon him to attack <i>us</i>, their kinsmen, in
+the rear! I was one of the patrol that captured Geere and his
+companions, some of whom I got to know subsequently, and who
+revealed to me the whole dastardly plot.'</p>
+
+<p>This will give some idea as to what we might have had to
+expect had native sympathy gone the other way. In the letter
+already quoted, written by Snyman to his brother, he asserts that
+Kruger told him that he relied upon the assistance of the Swazis
+and Zulus. As it was, however, beyond allowing natives to defend
+their own lives and property when attacked, as in the case of the
+Baralongs at Mafeking, and the Kaffirs in the Transkei, we have
+only employed Kaffirs in the pages of the continental cartoons.</p>
+
+<p>As teamsters, servants, guides, and scouts the Kaffirs were,
+however, essential to us, and realising this the Boers, when the
+war began to go against them, tried to terrorise them into deserting
+us by killing them without mercy whenever they could in any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
+way connect them with the British. How many hundreds were
+done to death in this fashion it is impossible to compute. After a
+British defeat no mercy was shown to the drivers of the wagons
+and the native servants. Boer commandos covered their tracks by
+putting to death every Kaffir who might give information.
+Sometimes they killed even the children. Thus Lord Kitchener,
+in his report, narrates a case where a British column hard upon
+the track of a Boer commando found four little Kaffir boys with
+their brains dashed out in the kraal which the Boers had just
+evacuated.</p>
+
+<p>A case which particularly touched the feelings of the British
+people was that of Esau, the coloured blacksmith, who was a man
+of intelligence and education, living as a loyal British subject in
+the British town of Calvinia. There was no possible case of
+'spying' here, since the man had not left his own town. The
+appended documents will show why the nation will not have done
+its duty until justice has been done upon the murderers. A
+touching letter has been published from Esau to the governor of
+the district in which he says that, come what may, he would be
+loyal to the flag under which he was born. The next news of
+him was of his brutal murder:</p>
+
+<p>'Abraham Esau, a loyal coloured blacksmith, was mercilessly
+flogged for refusing to give information as to where arms were
+buried. Inflammation of the kidneys set in; nevertheless he was
+again beaten through the village with sjamboks until he was
+unable to walk, and was then shot dead.'&mdash;Calvinia, February 8.
+('Times,' February 16, 1901, p. 7 [3]).</p>
+
+<p>'The district surgeon at Calvinia, writing to the Colonial
+secretary, has fully confirmed the flogging and shooting of Esau
+by a Boer named Strydom, who stated that he acted in accordance
+with orders. No trial was held, and no reason is alleged for the
+deed.'&mdash;Cape Town, February 19. ('Times,' February 20, 1901,
+p. 5 [3]).</p>
+
+<p>'The authority for the statement of the flogging by the Boers
+of a coloured man named Esau at Calvinia was a Reuter's telegram,
+confirmed subsequently by the report made to Cape Town
+by the district surgeon of Calvinia.'&mdash;From Mr. Brodrick's reply
+to Mr. Labouchere in House of Commons, February 21. ('Times,'
+February 22, 1901).</p>
+
+<p>'I had a telegram from Sir A. Milner in confirmation of the
+reports from various quarters that have reached me. The High<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
+Commissioner states that the name of the district surgeon who
+reported the mal-treatment of the coloured man is Foote. Sir A.
+Milner adds: "There is absolutely no doubt about the murder of
+Esau."'&mdash;From Mr. Brodrick's reply to Mr. Dillon in House of
+Commons, February 22. ('Times,' February 23, 1901).</p>
+
+<p>The original rule of the British Service was that the black
+scouts should be unarmed, so as to avoid all accusations of arming
+natives. When it was found that they were systematically shot
+they were given rifles, as it was inhuman to expose them to death
+without any means of defence. I believe that some armed Kaffirs
+who watch the railway line have also been employed in later
+phases of the war, the weapons to be used in self-defence.
+Considering how pressed the British were at one time, and considering
+that by a word they could have thrown a large and
+highly disciplined Indian army into the scales, I think that their
+refusal to do so is one of the most remarkable examples of moderation
+in history. The French had no hesitation in using Turcos
+against the Germans, nor did the Americans refrain from using
+Negro regiments against the Spaniards. We made it a white
+man's war, however, and I think that we did wisely and well.</p>
+
+<p>So far did the Boers carry their murderous tactics against the
+natives, that British prisoners with dark complexions were
+in imminent danger. Thus at a skirmish at Doorn River on
+July 27, 1901, the seven Kaffir scouts taken with the British were
+shot in cold blood, and an Englishman named Finch was shot
+with them in the alleged belief that he had Kaffir blood. Here is
+the evidence of the latter murder:</p>
+
+<p>No. 28284 Trooper Charles Catton, 22nd Imperial Yeomanry,
+being duly sworn, states:</p>
+
+<p>'At Doorn River on 27th July, 1901, I was one of the patrol
+captured by the Boers, and after we had surrendered I saw a man
+lying on the ground, wounded, between two natives. I saw a
+Boer go up to him and shoot him through the chest. I noticed
+the man, Trooper Finch, was alive. I do not know the name of
+the Boer who shot him, but I could recognise him again.'</p>
+
+<p>No. 33966 Trooper F. W. Madams, having been duly sworn,
+states:</p>
+
+<p>'I was one of the patrol captured by the Boers on 27th July,
+1901, near Doorn River. After we had surrendered I went to look
+for my hat, and after finding it I was passing the wounded man,
+Trooper Finch, when I saw a Boer, whose name I do not know,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
+shoot Trooper Finch through the chest with a revolver. I could
+identify the man who shot him.'</p>
+
+<p>This scandal of the murder of the Kaffirs, a scandal against
+which no protest seems to have been raised by the pro-Boer press
+in England or the Continent, has reached terrible proportions. I
+append some of the evidence from recent official reports from the
+front:</p>
+
+<p>Case at Magaliesberg.&mdash;About October or November 1900,
+the bodies of nine natives were found lying together on the top
+of the Magaliesberg. Of these five were intelligence natives, the
+remainder being boys employed by the Boers, but suspected of
+giving information. The witnesses in this case are now difficult
+to find, as they are all natives; but it appears that the natives
+were tried by an informal court, of which B. A. Klopper,
+ex-President of the Volksraad, was president, and condemned to
+death. Hendrik Schoeman, son of the late general, and Piet
+Joubert are reported to have acted as escort.</p>
+
+<p>Case of five natives murdered near Wilge River.&mdash;On capturing
+a train near Wilge River, Transvaal, on March 11, 1901, the
+Boers took five unarmed natives on one side and shot them,
+throwing their bodies into a ditch. Corporal Sutton, of the
+Hampshire Regiment, saw, after the surrender, a Boer put five
+shots into a native who was lying down. Other soldiers on the
+train vouch to seeing one man deliberately shoot five boys in cold
+blood.</p>
+
+<p>Case of eight Kaffir boys.&mdash;On or about July 17, 1901, eight
+Kaffir boys, between the ages of twelve and fourteen, went out
+from Uitkijk, near Edenburg, to get oranges. None were armed.
+Boers opened fire, shot one, captured six; one escaped, and is
+now with Major Damant. Corporal Willett, Damant's Horse,
+afterwards saw boys' bodies near farm, but so disfigured that they
+could not be recognised. Some Kaffirs were then sent out from
+Edenburg and recognised them. One boy is supposed to have
+been spared by Boers, body not found. Lieutenant Kentish,
+Royal Irish Fusiliers, saw bodies, and substantially confirms
+murder, and states Boers were under Field-Cornet Dutoit.</p>
+
+<p>Case of Klass, Langspruit, Standerton.&mdash;Klass's wife states
+that on August 3, 1901, Cornelius Laas, of Langspruit, and
+another Boer came to the kraal and told Klass to go with them.
+On his demurring they accused him of giving information to the
+British, and C. Laas shot him through the back of the head as he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span>
+ran away. Another native, the wife of a native clergyman at
+Standerton, saw the dead body.</p>
+
+<p>Case of Two Natives near Hopetown.&mdash;On August 22, 1901,
+Private C. P. Fivaz, of the Cape Mounted Police, along with two
+natives, was captured near Venter Hoek, Hopetown district, by a
+force under Commandant Van Reenan. He had off-saddled at the
+time, and the natives were sleeping in a stable. He heard Van
+Reenan give his men an order to shoot the natives, which order
+was promptly carried out in his presence as regards one man, and
+he was told that the other had also been shot. The resident on
+the farm, A. G. Liebenberg, who warned Fivaz at 5 <span class="smcapl">A.M.</span> of the
+approach of the enemy, buried both the bodies where he found
+them&mdash;viz., one about forty yards from the house and the other
+about five hundred yards away. His statement is corroborated by
+his son, who saw one of the boys killed.</p>
+
+<p>Case of John Makran.&mdash;John Makran and Alfius Bampa (the
+witness) are unarmed natives living near Warmbaths, north of
+Pretoria. On the evening of September 17, 1901, Andries Van
+der Walt and a party of Boers surrounded Makran's house. Van
+der Walt told the boy to come out, and when he did so two men
+seized him. While two men held Makran's hands up Van der
+Walt stood five yards behind him and shot him through the head
+with a Mauser rifle. When the boy fell he shot him again through
+the heart, and then with a knife cut a deep gash across his forehead.
+Both these boys formerly worked for Van der Walt.</p>
+
+<p>Case at Zandspruit.&mdash;On the night of October 1, 1901, about
+11.30 <span class="smcapl">P.M.</span>, a party of Boers surrounded a native house at Dassie
+Klip, near Zandspruit, and killed four natives in or about the
+house. The party consisted of twenty-four, under the following
+leaders: Dirk Badenhorst, of Dassie Klip; Cornelius Erasmus, of
+Streepfontein; and C. Van der Merwe, of Rooi Draai. The witnesses
+in this case are all natives residing at Dassie Klip, who knew
+the assailants well. In one case a native called Karle was endeavouring
+to escape over a wall, but was wounded in the thigh. On
+seeing he was not dead, Stoffel Visagie, of Skuilhoek, drew a
+revolver and shot him through the head. The charge against
+these natives appears to have been that they harboured British
+scouts.</p>
+
+<p>Case of Jim Zulu.&mdash;On or about October 18, 1901, V. C. Thys
+Pretorius (presumably of Pretoria), with seventy men, visited
+Waterval North, on the Pretoria-Pietersburg line, and practically<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
+murdered two natives, wounding three others, one of whom afterwards
+died. The witnesses state that on the morning of October
+18, 1901, Pretorius came to a colliery near Waterval North and
+called for Jim Zulu, and on his appearance shot him through the
+face. Three days later this native died of his wounds. At the
+same time he and another man, named Dorsehasmus, also shot
+three other natives.</p>
+
+<p>Here is a further list, showing how systematic has been this
+brutality. I reproduce it in its official curtness:</p>
+
+<p>Report of Resident Magistrate, Barkly West, January 28,
+1900.&mdash;Native despatch rider shot and mutilated.</p>
+
+<p>November or December 1900.&mdash;Near Virginia two natives
+were shot, being accused of showing the British the road to
+Ventersburg.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Resident Magistrate, Taungs, December 4, 1900.&mdash;Three
+natives murdered at Border Siding.</p>
+
+<p>December 18, 1900.&mdash;Native, Philip, shot at Vlakplaats, eight
+miles south-west of Pretoria, by J. Johnson and J. Dilmar, of
+J. Joubert's commando.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Resident Magistrate, Taungs, December 24, 1900.&mdash;Native
+shot by Boers at Pudimoe. Three natives killed at
+Christiana.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Resident Magistrate, Herschel, January 6, 1901.&mdash;Two
+natives shot as spies.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Resident Magistrate, Calvinia, January 29, 1901.&mdash;Esau
+case and ill-treatment of other natives.</p>
+
+<p>February 28, 1901.&mdash;Zulu boy shot dead at Zevenfontein,
+between Pretoria and Johannesburg, charged with giving information
+to the British, by men of Field-Cornet Jan Joubert's
+commando.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Resident Magistrate, Cradock, March 21, 1901.&mdash;Murder
+of native witness, Salmon Booi.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Resident Magistrate, Taungs, May 8, 1901.&mdash;Natives
+shot by Boers at Manthe.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Resident Magistrate, Gordonia, May 23, 1901.&mdash;Native
+shot dead.</p>
+
+<p>May 25, 1901.&mdash;District Harrismith. A native accused of
+laziness and insolence was shot by men in M. Prinsloo's commando.</p>
+
+<p>May 28, 1901.&mdash;At Sannah's Post three natives were captured
+and shot.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>June 5, 1901.&mdash;Three natives with Colonel Plumer's column
+captured and shot near Paardeberg.</p>
+
+<p>July 27, 1901.&mdash;Seven natives captured with a patrol of
+Imperial Yeomanry near Doorn River Hut were shot on the spot.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Intelligence, East Cape Colony, July 29, 1901.&mdash;Shooting
+of natives by Commandant Myburgh.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Resident Magistrate, Aliwal North, July 30, 1901.&mdash;Shooting
+of natives at refugee camp.</p>
+
+<p>August 23, 1901.&mdash;Native captured with a private of the
+Black Watch near Clocolan and shot in his presence.</p>
+
+<p>September 1, 1901.&mdash;Four natives with Colonel Dawkins's
+column captured in Fauresmith district and shot by order of
+Judge Hertzog.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Resident Magistrate, Aliwal North, September 4,
+1901.&mdash;Brutal treatment of natives by Boers under Bester, J.P.,
+of Aliwal North.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Resident Magistrate, Riversdale, September 4,
+1901.&mdash;Two coloured despatch riders severely flogged.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Intelligence, South Cape Colony, September 18,
+1901.&mdash;Natives murdered by Theron's orders.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Chief Commissioner, Richmond, September 23,
+1901.&mdash;Two unarmed natives shot by Commandant Malan.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Resident Magistrate, Prieska, September 26, 1901.&mdash;Murder
+of two unarmed natives.</p>
+
+<p>Report of Colonel Hickman, Ladismith, October 1, 1901.&mdash;Shooting
+of two natives by Scheepers.</p>
+
+<p>Date uncertain.&mdash;A native in Petrusburg Gaol was shot in his
+cell by two Boers on the approach of the British troops.</p>
+
+<p>So much for the Kaffir murders. It is to be earnestly hoped
+that no opportunism or desire to conciliate our enemies at the
+expense of justice will prevent a most thorough examination into
+every one of these black deeds, and a most stern punishment for
+the criminals.</p>
+
+<p>I return, however, to the question of the conduct of the
+Boers to their white opponents. So long as they were fighting as
+an army under the eyes of the honourable men who led them,
+their conduct was on the whole good, but guerilla warfare brought
+with it the demoralisation which it always does bring, and there
+was a rapid falling away from the ordinary humanity between
+civilised opponents. I do not mean by this to assert that the
+Boer guerillas behaved as did the Spanish guerillas in 1810, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
+the Mexican in 1866. Such an assertion would be absurd. The
+Boers gave quarter and they received it. But several isolated
+instances, and several general cases have shown the demoralisation
+of their ranks. Of the former I might quote the circumstances of
+the death of Lieutenant Miers.</p>
+
+<p>The official intimation was as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="mt"><p class="td3">'Pretoria: September 27.</p></div>
+
+<p>'Lieutenant Miers, Somerset Light Infantry, employed with
+South African Constabulary, went out from his post at Riversdraai,
+25th September, to meet three Boers approaching under white flag,
+who, after short conversation, were seen to shoot Lieutenant
+Miers dead and immediately gallop away. Inquiry being made
+and evidence recorded.'</p>
+
+<p>A more detailed account was sent by the non-commissioned
+officer who was present. He described how the Boers approached
+the fort waving a white flag, how a corporal went out to them, and
+was told that they wished to speak with an officer, how Captain
+Miers rode out alone, and then:</p>
+
+<p>'As soon as the officer had gone but a short distance on the
+far side of the spruit, the Boer with the white flag advanced to
+meet him; the officer also continued to advance till he came up
+with the blackguard. At the end of three or four minutes we saw
+the two walking back to the two Boers (who were standing a good
+two miles off from this fort of ours). When they reached the two
+Boers we saw the captain dismount, the group being barely visible
+owing to a rise in the ground. At the end of five or ten minutes
+we were just able to distinguish the sound of a shot, immediately
+after which we saw the officer's grey mare bolting westwards across
+the veldt riderless, with one of the Boers galloping for all he was
+worth after it.'</p>
+
+<p>Of the general demoralisation here is the evidence of a witness
+in that very action at Graspan on June 6, which has been made
+so much of by the slanderers of our Army:</p>
+
+<p>No. 4703 Lance-Corporal James Hanshaw, 2nd Batt. Bedfordshire
+Regiment, being duly sworn, states: 'At Graspan on
+June 6, 1901, I was present when we were attacked by the
+Boers, having previously captured a convoy from them. On
+going towards the wagons I found the Boers already there;
+finding we were outnumbered and resistance hopeless, we threw
+down our arms and held our hands up. Private Blunt, who was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
+with me, shouted. "Don't shoot me, I have thrown down my
+rifle." The Boers then shot Private Blunt dead. He was holding
+his hands above his head at the time. Lieutenant Mair then
+shouted, "Have mercy, you cowards." The Boers then deliberately
+shot Lieutenant Mair dead as he was standing with his hands
+above his head. They then shot at Privates Pearse and Harvey,
+who were both standing with their hands up, the same bullet
+hitting Private Pearse in the nose, and killing Private Harvey.
+Two Boers then rushed from the wagons and threatened to shoot
+me, kicked me, and told me to lie down.'</p>
+
+<p>No. 3253 Private E. Sewell, 2nd Batt. Bedfordshire Regiment,
+being duly sworn, states: 'I was at the fight at Graspan on
+June 6, 1901. About noon on that date the Boers attacked the
+convoy. I retired to Lieutenant Mair's party, when, finding we
+were outnumbered and surrounded, we put our hands up. The
+Boers took our arms from us and retired round some kraals;
+shortly afterwards they came back, and two men shouted,
+"Hands up." We said we were already prisoners, and that our
+arms had been collected. Private Blunt held up his hands, and
+at the same time said, "Don't shoot me, I am already hands up."
+The Boers then said, "Take that," and shot him through the
+stomach. Lieutenant Mair then stepped out from the wagons,
+and said, "Have mercy, you cowards." The Boer then shot him
+dead from his horse. The Boer was sitting on his horse almost
+touching Lieutenant Mair at the time. The Boer then shot at
+Lance-Corporal Harvey and Private Pearse, who were standing
+together with their hands up above their heads, the shot wounding
+Private Pearse and killing Lance-Corporal Harvey.'</p>
+
+<p>Here is the evidence of the murder of the wounded at Vlakfontein
+on May 29, 1901:</p>
+
+<p>Private D. Chambers, H Company, 1st Batt. Derbyshire
+Regiment, being duly sworn, states: 'Whilst lying on the ground
+wounded I saw a Boer shoot two of our wounded who were lying
+on the ground near me. This Boer also fired at me, but
+missed me.'</p>
+
+<p>Privates W. Bacon and Charles Girling, 1st Batt. Derbyshire
+Regiment, being duly sworn, state: 'Whilst lying wounded on
+the ground with two other wounded men four Boers came up to
+us, dismounted, and fired a volley at us. We were all hit again,
+and Private Goodwin, of our regiment, was killed. The Boers
+then took our arms away, and after swearing at us rode away.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Corporal Sargent, 1st Batt. Derbyshire Regiment, being duly
+sworn, states: 'While lying wounded behind a rock I saw a Boer
+shoot a Yeomanry officer who was walking away, wounded in the
+hand.'</p>
+
+<p>Acting-Sergeant Chambers, 69th Company Imperial Yeomanry,
+being duly sworn, states: 'I saw a Boer, a short man with a dark
+beard, going round carrying his rifle under his arm, as one would
+carry a sporting rifle, and shoot three of our wounded.'</p>
+
+<p>Private A. C. Bell, 69th Company Imperial Yeomanry, being
+duly sworn, states: 'I heard a Boer call to one of our men to put
+up his hands, and when he did so the Boer shot him from about
+fifteen yards off; I was about twenty yards off.'</p>
+
+<p>Private T. George, 69th Company Imperial Yeomanry, being
+duly sworn, states: 'I was walking back to camp wounded, when
+I saw a Boer about seventeen years of age shoot at a wounded
+Derby man who was calling for water; the Boer then came up to
+me and took my bandolier away.'</p>
+
+<p>Gunner W. H. Blackburn, 28th Battery Royal Field Artillery,
+being duly sworn, states: 'I saw a Boer take a rifle and
+bandolier from a wounded Derby man, and then shoot him; the
+Boer then came to me and asked me for my rifle; I showed it
+him where it was lying on the ground.'</p>
+
+<p>Things of this sort are progressive. Here is what occurred
+at Brakenlaagte when the rear of Benson's column was destroyed.</p>
+
+<p>Major N. E. Young, D.S.O., Royal Field Artillery, sends the
+report to the Commander-in-Chief of Boer cruelty to the officers
+and men wounded in the action with Colonel Benson's column at
+Brakenlaagte. It is dated Pretoria, November 7, and Lord
+Kitchener's covering letter is dated November 9.</p>
+
+<p>Major Young, who made the inquiries into the charges of
+cruelty in accordance with Lord Kitchener's instructions, says:</p>
+
+<p>'Out of a total of 147 wounded non-commissioned officers and
+men seen by me fifty-four had not been in the hands of the Boers.
+Of the remaining ninety-three men, eighteen informed me they
+had nothing to complain of.</p>
+
+<p>'Seventy-five non-commissioned officers and men made complaint
+of ill-treatment of a more or less serious nature; nearly all
+of these had been robbed of whatever money they possessed, also
+of their watches and private papers.</p>
+
+<p>'Many had been deprived of other articles of clothing, hats,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
+jackets, and socks, in some cases being left with an old shirt and
+a pair of drawers only.</p>
+
+<p>'There is a consensus of opinion that the wounded lying
+round the guns were fired on by Boers, who had already disarmed
+them, for a long period, after all firing in their neighbourhood
+from our side had ceased.</p>
+
+<p>'Even the late Colonel Benson was not respected, though he
+was protected for some time by a man in authority; eventually
+his spurs, gaiters, and private papers were removed.'</p>
+
+<p>Major Young, in concluding his report, says:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>'I was impressed with the idea that the statements made to
+me were true and not wilfully exaggerated, so simply were they
+made. There seems no doubt that though the Boer commandants
+have the will they have no longer the power to repress outrage
+and murder on the part of their subordinates.'</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant G. Acland Troyte, King's Royal Rifle Corps, 25th
+Mounted Infantry, states: 'I was wounded on October 25 in a
+rearguard action with Colonel Benson's force, near Kaffirstadt.
+The Boers came up and stripped me of everything except my
+drawers, shirt, and socks, they gave me an old pair of trousers,
+and later a coat.'</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Reginald Seymour, 1st Batt. King's Royal
+Rifle Corps, 25th Mounted Infantry:&mdash;'On October 30 my
+company was sent back to the support of Colonel Benson's rearguard.
+I was wounded early in the day. The Boers came up.
+They took my greatcoat, gaiters, spurs, and helmet; they took
+the money and watches from the other wounded, but left them
+their clothes except the coat of one man. They then left us
+without assistance. Two Boers afterwards returned and took away
+a greatcoat belonging to one of our men which had been left over
+me. One of the party who stripped us was addressed by the
+remainder as Commandant.'</p>
+
+<p>Captain C. W. Collins, Cheshire Regiment:&mdash;'I was signalling
+officer to Colonel Benson on October 30. I was wounded, and
+lying near the guns about a hundred yards in rear of them. A
+field-cornet came up and went away without molesting me. At
+about 5.30 <span class="smcapl">P.M.</span>, or a little later, the ambulances came and picked
+me up; my ambulance went on some distance farther, and Colonel
+Benson and some men were put in it. There seemed to be a lot
+of delay, which annoyed the Colonel, and he asked to be allowed
+to get away. The delay, however, continued till a Boer came and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
+took away Colonel Benson's documents from his pocket, notwithstanding
+his protest that they were all private papers, and that
+they had been seen by a commandant earlier in the day, who said
+they were not required.'</p>
+
+<p>Private E. Rigby, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps, states
+the Boers took all his clothes except his shirt. This man is not
+quite able to speak yet.</p>
+
+<p>Trooper Hood, 2nd Scottish Horse: 'While I was lying
+wounded on the ground the Boers came up and stripped me of
+my hat and coat, boots, 15<i>s.</i>, and a metal watch. I saw them
+fire at another wounded man as he was coming to me for a drink.'</p>
+
+<p>Trooper Alexander Main, 2nd Scottish Horse: 'While lying
+on the ground, the Boers came close up and stood about fifteen to
+twenty yards away from where we were lying wounded round the
+guns. All were wounded at this time, and no one was firing. I
+saw the Boers there fire at the wounded. Captain Lloyd, a staff
+officer, was lying beside me wounded in the leg at this time; he
+received one or two more shots in the body, and shortly afterwards
+he died. I myself received three more wounds.'</p>
+
+<p>Trooper Jamieson, Scottish Horse: 'The Boers took off his
+boots and they hurt his shattered arm in a terrible manner while
+getting off his bandolier. His arm has been removed.'</p>
+
+<p>Private Parrish, 1st Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps: 'Our
+ridge was not firing any more, but whenever a wounded man
+showed himself, they fired at him, in this way several were killed;
+one man who was waving a bit of blue stuff with the idea of
+getting an ambulance, received about twenty shots.'</p>
+
+<p>Private Prickett, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps: 'On
+October 30 I was lying wounded. I saw the Boers come up, and
+an old Boer with black beard and whiskers, and wearing leggings,
+whom I should be able to recognise again, shot my friend, Private
+F. Foster, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps, by putting the
+muzzle of his rifle to his side. Private Foster had been firing
+under cover of an ant-heap till the Boers took the position; he
+then threw away his rifle to put his hands up, but was shot all the
+same.'</p>
+
+<p>Private N. H. Grierson, Scottish Horse: 'I was wounded and
+lying by the side of Colonel Benson. When the Boers came up
+they wanted to begin to loot; Colonel Benson stopped them,
+telling them he had received a letter from Commandant Grobelaar
+saying the wounded would be respected. Colonel Benson asked if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
+he could see Grobelaar; they said they would fetch him, and
+brought up someone who was in authority, but I do not think it
+was Grobelaar. Colonel Benson told him the wounded were not to
+be touched, and he said he would do his best; he himself protected
+Colonel Benson for about an hour, but he was still there
+when a Boer took off Colonel Benson's spurs and gaiters.'</p>
+
+<p>Sergeant Ketley, 7th Hussars: 'I was wounded in the head
+and hip just before the Boers rushed the guns. I was covered
+with blood. A Boer came up, took away my carbine and revolver
+and asked me to put up my hands. I could not do this, being
+too weak with the loss of blood. He loaded my own carbine and
+aimed from his breast while kneeling, and pointed at my breast.
+He fired and hit me in the right arm just below the shoulder.'</p>
+
+<p>Private Bell, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps, 25th
+Mounted Infantry: 'When the Boers came up they took my
+boots off very roughly, hurting my wounded leg very much. I
+saw them taking watches and money off the other men.'</p>
+
+<p>Private C. Connor, Royal Dublin Fusiliers: 'I was lying beside
+the guns among a lot of our wounded, who were not firing. Every
+time one of our wounded attempted to move the Boers fired at
+them; several men (about ten or eleven) were killed in this
+way.'</p>
+
+<p>Lieutenant Bircham, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps:
+'Was in the same ambulance wagon as Lieutenant Martin, King's
+Own Yorkshire Light Infantry (since deceased), and the latter
+told him that when he (Lieutenant Martin) was lying on the
+ground wounded the Boers took off his spurs and gaiters. In
+taking off his spurs they wrenched his leg, the bone of which
+was shattered, completely round, so as to be able to get at the
+spurs more easily, though Lieutenant Martin told them where he
+was hit.'</p>
+
+<p>Corporal P. Gower, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps, 25th
+Mounted Infantry: 'I was wounded and unconscious. When
+I came to, the Boers were stripping the men round me. A
+man, Private Foster, who was not five yards from me, put up
+his hands in token of surrender, but was shot at about five-yards
+range by a tall man with a black beard. He was killed.'</p>
+
+<p>Corporal Atkins, 84th Battery Royal Field Artillery: 'The
+Boers came up to me and said, "Can you work this gun?"
+I said, "Yes." He said, "Get up and show me." I said, "How
+can I? I have one hand taken away, and I am wounded in both<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
+legs"&mdash;this last was not true. He then said, "Give us your
+boots"&mdash;he took them and my mackintosh. He took what money
+was in my belt. One of our men, Bombardier Collins, got up to
+try and put up a white flag, as we were being fired at both from
+the camp and by the Boers; as soon as he got up they began
+shooting at him. I saw a Kaffir fire three shots from about thirty
+yards off.'</p>
+
+<p>Bombardier Collins, 84th Battery Royal Field Artillery:
+'When lying wounded near the guns after the Boers had been
+up to them I tried to raise a white flag as our own people were
+dropping their bullets close to us. When I did this they fired
+at me.'</p>
+
+<p>So long as an excuse could be found for a brave enemy we
+found it. But the day is rapidly approaching when we must
+turn to the world with our evidence and say, 'Are these the
+deeds of soldiers or of brigands? If they act as brigands, then,
+why must we for ever treat them as soldiers?' I have read
+letters from soldiers who saw their own comrades ill-treated at
+Brakenlaagte. I trust that they will hold their hands, but it is
+almost more than can be asked of human nature.</p>
+
+<hr /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span></p>
+<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h2><small>CONCLUSIONS</small></h2>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class="smcap">I have</span> now dealt with the various vexed questions of the war, and
+have, I hope, said enough to show that we have no reason to blush
+for our soldiers, but only for those of their fellow-countrymen
+who have traduced them. But there are a number of opponents
+of the war who have never descended to such baseness, and who
+honestly hold that the war might have been avoided, and also
+that we might, after it broke out, have found some terms which
+the Boers could accept. At their back they have all those amiable
+and goodhearted idealists who have not examined the question
+very critically, but are oppressed by the fear that the Empire is
+acting too roughly towards these pastoral republics. Such an
+opinion is just as honest as, and infinitely more respectable than,
+that of some journalists whose arrogance at the beginning of the
+war brought shame upon us. There is no better representative of
+such views than Mr. Methuen in his 'Peace or War,' an able and
+moderate statement. Let us examine his conclusions, omitting the
+causes of the war, which have already been treated at some length.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Methuen draws a close comparison between the situation
+and that of the American Revolution. There are certainly points
+of resemblance&mdash;and also of difference. Our cause was essentially
+unjust with the Americans and essentially just with the Boers.
+We have the Empire at our back now. We have the command of
+the seas. We are very wealthy. These are all new and important
+factors.</p>
+
+<p>The revolt of the Boer States against the British suzerainty
+is much more like the revolt of the Southern States against the
+Government of Washington. The situation here after Colenso
+was that of the North after Bull's Run. Mr. Methuen has much
+to say of Boer bitterness, but was it greater than Southern
+bitterness? That war was fought to a finish and we see what
+has come of it. I do not claim that the parallel is exact, but it
+is at least as nearly exact as that from which Mr. Methuen draws<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
+such depressing conclusions. He has many gloomy remarks upon
+our prospects, but it is in facing gloomy prospects with a high
+heart that a nation proves that it is not yet degenerate. Better
+pay all the price which he predicts than shrink for one instant
+from our task.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Methuen makes a good deal of the foolish and unchivalrous,
+even brutal, way in which some individuals and some
+newspapers have spoken of the enemy. I suppose there are few
+gentlemen who have not winced at such remarks. But let Mr.
+Methuen glance at the continental press and see the work of the
+supporters of the enemy. It will make him feel more charitable
+towards his boorish fellow-countrymen. Or let him examine the
+Dutch press in South Africa and see if all the abuse is on one
+side. Here are some appreciations from the first letter of P.S. (of
+Colesburg) in the 'Times':</p>
+
+<p>'Your lazy, dirty, drunken, lower classes.'</p>
+
+<p>'Your officers are pedantic scholars or frivolous society men.'</p>
+
+<p>'The major part of your population consists of females,
+cripples, epileptics, consumptives, cancerous people, invalids, and
+lunatics of all kinds.'</p>
+
+<p>'Nine-tenths of your statesmen and higher officials are
+suffering from kidney disease.'</p>
+
+<p>'We will not be governed by a set of British curs.'</p>
+
+<p>No great chivalry or consideration of the feelings of one's
+opponent there! Here is a poem from the 'Volksstem' on
+August 26, 1899, weeks before the war, describing the Boer
+programme. A translation runs thus:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'Then shall our ears with pleasure listen<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To widow's wail and orphan's cry;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And shall we gird, as joyful witness,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The death-watch of your villainy.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'Then shall we massacre and butcher<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">You, and swallow glad your blood;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And count it "capital with interest"&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Villain's interest&mdash;sweet and good.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'And when the sun shall set in Heaven,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Dark with the clouds of steaming blood,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A ghastly, woeful, dying murmur<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Will be the Briton's last salute.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">'Then shall we start our jolly banquet,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And toast the first "the British blood."'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p class="noin"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>No doubt a decent Boer would be as ashamed of this as we are
+of some of our Jingo papers. But even their leaders, Reitz,
+Steyn, and Kruger, have allowed themselves to use language about
+the British which cannot, fortunately, be matched upon our side.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Methuen is severe upon Lord Salisbury for the uncompromising
+nature of his reply to the Presidents' overtures for
+peace in March 1900. But what other practical course could he
+suggest? Is it not evident that if independence were left to the
+Boers the war would have been without result, since all the causes
+which led to it would be still open and unsolved. On the morrow
+of such a peace we should be faced by the Franchise question,
+the Uitlander question, and every other question for the settling
+of which we have made such sacrifices. Is that a sane policy?
+Is it even tenable on the grounds of humanity, since it
+is perfectly clear that it must lead to another and a greater
+struggle in the course of a few years? When the work was
+more than half done it would have been madness to hold our
+hand.</p>
+
+<p>Surely there is no need for gloomy forebodings. The war has
+seemed long to us who have endured it, but to our descendants
+it will probably seem a very short time for the conquest of so
+huge a country and so stubborn a foe. Our task is not endless.
+Four-fifths of the manhood of the country is already in our
+hands, and the fifth remaining diminishes week by week. Our
+mobility and efficiency increase. There is not the slightest
+ground for Mr. Methuen's lament about the condition of the
+Army. It is far fitter than when it began. It is mathematically
+certain that a very few months must see the last commando
+hunted down. Meanwhile civil life is gaining strength once
+more. Already the Orange River Colony pays its own way, and
+the Transvaal is within measurable distance of doing the same.
+Industries are waking up, and on the Rand the roar of the stamps
+has replaced that of the cannon. Fifteen hundred of them will
+soon be at work, and the refugees are returning at the rate of 400
+a week.</p>
+
+<p>It is argued that the bitterness of this struggle will never die
+out, but history has shown that it is the fights which are fought
+to an absolute finish which leave the least rancour. Remember
+Lee's noble words: 'We are a Christian people. We have fought
+this fight as long and as well as we knew how. We have been
+defeated. For us, as a Christian people, there is now but one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+course to pursue. We must accept the situation.' That is how
+a brave man accepts the judgment of the God of battles. So it
+may at last be with the Boers. These prison camps and concentration
+camps have at least brought them, men and women, in
+contact with our people. Perhaps the memories left behind will
+not be entirely bitter. Providence works in strange ways, and
+possibly the seeds of reconciliation, may be planted even there.</p>
+
+<p>As to the immediate future it is probable that the Transvaal,
+with the rush of immigrants which prosperity will bring, will
+soon be, next to Natal, the most British of the South African
+States. With Natal British, Rhodesia British, the Transvaal
+British, the Cape half and half, and only the Orange River Colony
+Dutch, the British would be assured of a majority in a parliament
+of United South Africa. It would be well to allow Natal to absorb
+the Vryheid district of the Transvaal.</p>
+
+<p>It has occurred to me&mdash;a suggestion which I put forward with
+all diffidence&mdash;that it would be a wise and practicable step to
+form a Boer Reservation in the northern districts of the Transvaal
+(Watersberg and Zoutpansberg). Let them live there as Basutos
+live in Basutoland, or Indians in Indian territory, or the inhabitants
+of a protected state in India. Guarantee them, as long as
+they remain peaceable under the British flag, complete protection
+from the invasion of the miner or the prospector. Let them live
+their own lives in their own way, with some simple form of home
+rule of their own. The irreconcilable men who could never rub
+shoulders with the British could find a home there, and the
+British colonies would be all the stronger for the placing in
+quarantine of those who might infect their neighbours with their
+own bitterness. Such a State could not be a serious source of
+danger, since we could control all the avenues by which arms
+could reach it. I am aware that the Watersberg and the Zoutpansberg
+are not very desirable places of residence, but the thing
+is voluntary and no man would need to go there unless he wished.
+Without some such plan the Empire will have no safety-valve in
+South Africa.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot conclude this short review of the South African
+question without some allusion to the attitude of continental
+nations during the struggle. This has been in all cases correct
+upon the part of the governments, and in nearly all cases incorrect
+upon the part of the people. A few brave and clear-headed men,
+like Yves Guyot in France, and M. Tallichet and M. Naville in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
+Switzerland, have been our friends, or rather the friends of truth;
+but the vast majority of all nations have been carried away by that
+flood of prejudice and lies which has had its source in a venal, or at
+best an ignorant, press. In this country the people in the long run
+can always impose its will upon the Government, and it has, I
+believe, come to some very definite conclusions which will affect
+British foreign policy for many years to come.</p>
+
+<p>Against France there is no great bitterness, for we feel that
+France has never had much reason to look upon us in any light
+save that of an enemy. For many years we have wished to be
+friendly, but the traditions of centuries are not so easily forgotten.
+Besides, some of our shortcomings are of recent date. Many of us
+were, and are, ashamed of the absurd and hysterical outcry in this
+country over the Dreyfus case. Are there no miscarriages of
+justice in the Empire? An expression of opinion was permissible,
+but the wholesale national abuse has disarmed us from resenting
+some equally immoderate criticism of our own character and morals.
+To Russia also we can bear no grudge, for we know that there is
+no real public opinion in that country, and that their press has no
+means for forming first-hand conclusions. Besides, in this case
+also there is a certain secular enmity which may account for a
+warped judgment.</p>
+
+<p>But it is very different with Germany. Again and again
+in the world's history we have been the friends and the allies of
+these people. It was so in the days of Marlborough, in those
+of the Great Frederick, and in those of Napoleon. When we
+could not help them with men we helped them with money.
+Our fleet has crushed their enemies. And now, for the first time
+in history, we have had a chance of seeing who were our friends
+in Europe, and nowhere have we met more hatred and more
+slander than from the German press and the German people.
+Their most respectable journals have not hesitated to represent
+the British troops&mdash;troops every bit as humane and as highly
+disciplined as their own&mdash;not only as committing outrages on
+person and property, but even as murdering women and
+children.</p>
+
+<p>At first this unexpected phenomenon merely surprised the
+British people, then it pained them, and, finally, after two years
+of it, it has roused a deep and enduring anger in their minds.
+There is a rumour which crops up from time to time, and which
+appears to have some foundation, that there is a secret agreement<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span>
+by which the Triple Alliance can, under certain circumstances,
+claim the use of the British fleet. There are, probably, only a
+few men in Europe who know whether this is so or not. But if
+it is, it would be only fair to denounce such a treaty as soon
+as may be, for very many years must pass before it would be
+possible for the public to forget and forgive the action of Germany.
+Nor can we entirely exonerate the German Government, for we
+know the Germans to be a well-disciplined people; and we cannot
+believe that Anglophobia could have reached the point of mania
+without some official encouragement&mdash;or, at least, in the face of
+any official discouragement.</p>
+
+<p>The agitation reached its climax in the uproar over the
+reference which Mr. Chamberlain made to the war of 1870 in his
+speech at Edinburgh. In this speech Mr. Chamberlain very
+justly remarked that we could find precedents for any severe
+measures which we might be compelled to take against the
+guerillas, in the history of previous campaigns&mdash;those of the
+French in Algiers, the Russians in the Caucasus, the Austrians
+in Bosnia, and the Germans in France. Such a remark implied,
+of course, no blame upon these respective countries, but pointed
+out the martial precedents which justify such measures. It is
+true that the Germans in France never found any reason to lay
+the country waste, for they were never faced with a universal
+guerilla warfare as we have been, but they gave the <i>franc-tireur</i>,
+or the man who was found cutting the wire of the line, very short
+shrift; whereas we have never put to death a single <i>bon&acirc;-fide</i>
+Boer for this offence. Possibly it was not that the Germans were
+too severe, but that we were too lax. In any case, it is evident
+that there was nothing offensive in the statement, and those who
+have been well informed as to the doings of the British soldiers in
+the war will know that any troops in the world might be proud to
+be classed with them, either in valour or humanity.</p>
+
+<p>But the agitators did not even trouble to ascertain the words
+which Mr. Chamberlain had used&mdash;though they might have seen
+them in the original on the table of the <i>Lesezimmer</i> of the nearest
+hotel. On the strength of a garbled report a tumult arose over the
+whole country and many indignation meetings were held. Six hundred
+and eighty clergymen were found whose hearts and heads were
+soft enough to be imposed upon by absurd tales of British atrocities,
+and these reverend gentlemen subscribed an insulting protest
+against them. The whole movement was so obviously artificial&mdash;or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
+at least based upon misapprehension&mdash;that it excited as much
+amusement as anger in this country; but still the honour of our
+Army is very dear to us, and the continued attacks upon it have
+left an enduring feeling of resentment amongst us, which will
+not, and should not, die away in this generation. It is not too
+much to say that five years ago a complete defeat by Germany
+in a European war would have certainly caused British intervention.
+Public sentiment and racial affinity would never have
+allowed us to see her really go to the wall. And now it is
+certain that in our lifetime no British guinea and no soldier's
+life would under any circumstances be spent for such an end.
+That is one strange result of the Boer war, and in the long run it
+is possible that it may prove not the least important.</p>
+
+<p>Yet some allowance must be made for people who for years
+have had only one side of the question laid before them, and have
+had that one side supported by every sort of malignant invention
+and misrepresentation. Surely the day will come when truth will
+prevail, if only for the reason that the sources of corruption will
+run dry. It is difficult to imagine that any permanent policy can
+ever be upheld by falsehood. When that day does come, and the
+nations of Europe see how they have been hoodwinked and made
+tools of by a few artful and unscrupulous men, it is possible that
+a tardy justice will be done to the dignity and inflexible resolution
+which Great Britain has shown throughout. Until the dawn
+breaks we can but go upon our way, looking neither to the right
+nor to the left, but keeping our eyes fixed ever upon one great
+object&mdash;a South Africa in which there shall never again be strife,
+and in which Boer and Briton shall enjoy the same rights and the
+same liberties, with a common law to shield them and a common
+love of their own fatherland to weld them into one united nation.</p>
+
+<p class="hd4">PRINTED BY<br />
+SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. LTD., NEW STREET SQUARE<br />
+LONDON</p>
+
+<div class="trans1"><b>Transcriber's Note:</b><br />
+Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
+Obsolete spellings have been retained.</div>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA***</p>
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The War in South Africa, by Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The War in South Africa
+       Its Cause and Conduct
+
+
+Author: Arthur Conan Doyle
+
+
+
+Release Date: March 29, 2008  [eBook #24951]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Jonathan Ingram, Stephen Blundell, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+   Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
+
+   The oe ligature is shown as [oe].
+
+   Obsolete spellings have been retained.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA
+
+Its Cause and Conduct
+
+by
+
+A. CONAN DOYLE
+
+Author of 'The Great Boer War'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Published by
+Smith, Elder, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, London, S.W.
+
+All Copies for the Colonies and India supplied by
+G. Bell & Sons, London and Bombay
+
+1902
+
+[All rights reserved]
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE
+
+
+For some reason, which may be either arrogance or apathy, the British
+are very slow to state their case to the world. At present the reasons
+for our actions and the methods which we have used are set forth in many
+Blue-books, tracts, and leaflets, but have never, so far as I know, been
+collected into one small volume. In view of the persistent slanders to
+which our politicians and our soldiers have been equally exposed, it
+becomes a duty which we owe to our national honour to lay the facts
+before the world. I wish someone more competent, and with some official
+authority, had undertaken the task, which I have tried to do as best I
+might from an independent standpoint.
+
+There was never a war in history in which the right was absolutely on
+one side, or in which no incidents of the campaign were open to
+criticism. I do not pretend that it was so here. But I do not think that
+any unprejudiced man can read the facts without acknowledging that the
+British Government has done its best to avoid war, and the British Army
+to wage it with humanity.
+
+To my publisher and to myself this work has been its own reward. In this
+way we hope to put the price within the reach of all, and yet leave a
+profit for the vendor. Our further ambition is, however, to translate it
+into all European tongues, and to send a free copy to every deputy and
+every newspaper on the Continent and in America. For this work money
+will be needed--a considerable sum. We propose to make an appeal to the
+public for these funds. Any sums which are sent to me or to my publisher
+will be devoted to this work. There cannot be too much, for the more we
+get the more we shall do.
+
+I may add that I have not burdened my pages with continual references.
+My quotations are reliable and can always, if necessary, be
+substantiated.
+
+                                                       A. CONAN DOYLE.
+ UNDERSHAW, HINDHEAD:
+   _January, 1902._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+ CHAP.                                            PAGE
+
+    I. THE BOER PEOPLE                               9
+
+   II. THE CAUSE OF QUARREL                         23
+
+  III. THE NEGOTIATIONS                             41
+
+   IV. SOME POINTS EXAMINED                         61
+
+    V. THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE                   73
+
+   VI. THE FARM-BURNING                             84
+
+  VII. THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS                      94
+
+ VIII. THE BRITISH SOLDIER IN SOUTH AFRICA         107
+
+   IX. FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST BRITISH TROOPS      123
+
+    X. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION              133
+
+   XI. CONCLUSIONS                                 150
+
+
+
+
+THE WAR:
+
+ITS CAUSE AND CONDUCT
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+THE BOER PEOPLE
+
+
+It is impossible to appreciate the South African problem and the causes
+which have led up to the present war between the British Empire and the
+Boer republics without some knowledge, however superficial, of the past
+history of South Africa. To tell the tale one must go back to the
+beginning, for there has been complete continuity of history in South
+Africa, and every stage has depended upon that which has preceded it. No
+one can know or appreciate the Boer who does not know his past, for he
+is what his past has made him.
+
+It was about the time when Oliver Cromwell was at his zenith--in 1652,
+to be pedantically accurate--that the Dutch made their first lodgment at
+the Cape of Good Hope. The Portuguese had been there before them, but,
+repelled by the evil weather, and lured forward by rumours of gold, they
+had passed the true seat of empire, and had voyaged farther, to settle
+along the eastern coast. But the Dutchmen at the Cape prospered and grew
+stronger in that robust climate. They did not penetrate far inland, for
+they were few in number, and all they wanted was to be found close at
+hand. But they built themselves houses, and they supplied the Dutch East
+India Company with food and water, gradually budding off little
+townlets, Wynberg, Stellenbosch, and pushing their settlements up the
+long slopes which lead to that great central plateau which extends for
+1,500 miles from the edge of the Karoo to the Valley of the Zambesi.
+
+For a hundred more years the history of the colony was a record of the
+gradual spreading of the Africanders over the huge expanse of veldt
+which lay to the north of them. Cattle-raising became an industry, but
+in a country where six acres can hardly support a sheep, large farms are
+necessary for even small herds. Six thousand acres was the usual size,
+and 5_l._ a year the rent payable to Government. The diseases which
+follow the white man had in Africa, as in America and Australia, been
+fatal to the natives, and an epidemic of smallpox cleared the country
+for the new-comers. Farther and farther north they pushed, founding
+little towns here and there, such as Graaf-Reinet and Swellendam, where
+a Dutch Reformed Church and a store for the sale of the bare necessaries
+of life formed a nucleus for a few scattered dwellings. Already the
+settlers were showing that independence of control and that detachment
+from Europe which has been their most prominent characteristic. Even the
+mild sway of the Dutch Company had caused them to revolt. The local
+rising, however, was hardly noticed in the universal cataclysm which
+followed the French Revolution. After twenty years, during which the
+world was shaken by the Titanic struggle in the final counting up of the
+game and paying of the stakes, the Cape Colony was added in 1814 to the
+British Empire.
+
+In all the vast collection of British States there is probably not one
+the title-deeds to which are more incontestable than to this. Britain
+had it by two rights, the right of conquest and the right of purchase.
+In 1806 troops landed, defeated the local forces, and took possession of
+Cape Town. In 1814 Britain paid the large sum of six million pounds to
+the Stadtholder for the transference of this and some South American
+land. It was a bargain which was probably made rapidly and carelessly in
+that general redistribution which was going on. As a house of call upon
+the way to India the place was seen to be of value, but the country
+itself was looked upon as unprofitable and desert. What would
+Castlereagh or Liverpool have thought could they have seen the items
+which they were buying for six million pounds? The inventory would have
+been a mixed one of good and of evil: nine fierce Kaffir wars, the
+greatest diamond mines in the world, the wealthiest gold mines, two
+costly and humiliating campaigns with men whom we respected even when we
+fought with them, and now at last, we hope, a South Africa of peace and
+prosperity, with equal rights and equal duties for all men.
+
+The title-deeds to the estate are, as I have said, good ones, but there
+is one singular and ominous flaw in their provisions. The ocean has
+marked three boundaries to it, but the fourth is undefined. There is no
+word of the 'hinterland,' for neither the term nor the idea had then
+been thought of. Had Great Britain bought those vast regions which
+extended beyond the settlements? Or were the discontented Dutch at
+liberty to pass onwards and found fresh nations to bar the path of the
+Anglo-Celtic colonists? In that question lay the germ of all the trouble
+to come. An American would realise the point at issue if he could
+conceive that after the founding of the United States the Dutch
+inhabitants of the State of New York had trekked to the westward and
+established fresh communities under a new flag. Then, when the American
+population overtook these western States, they would be face to face
+with the problem which this country has had to solve. If they found
+these new States fiercely anti-American and extremely unprogressive,
+they would experience that aggravation of their difficulties with which
+British statesmen have had to deal.
+
+At the time of their transference to the British flag the
+colonists--Dutch, French, and German--numbered some thirty thousand.
+They were slaveholders, and the slaves were about as numerous as
+themselves. The prospect of complete amalgamation between the British
+and the original settlers would have seemed to be a good one, since they
+were of much the same stock, and their creeds could only be
+distinguished by their varying degrees of bigotry and intolerance. Five
+thousand British emigrants were landed in 1820, settling on the Eastern
+borders of the colony, and from that time onwards there was a slow but
+steady influx of English-speaking colonists. The Government had the
+historical faults and the historical virtues of British rule. It was
+mild, clean, honest, tactless, and inconsistent. On the whole, it might
+have done very well had it been content to leave things as it found
+them. But to change the habits of the most conservative of Teutonic
+races was a dangerous venture, and one which has led to a long series of
+complications, making up the troubled history of South Africa.
+
+The Imperial Government has always taken an honourable and philanthropic
+view of the rights of the native and the claim which he has to the
+protection of the law. We hold, and rightly, that British justice, if
+not blind, should at least be colour-blind. The view is irreproachable
+in theory and incontestable in argument, but it is apt to be irritating
+when urged by a Boston moralist or a London philanthropist upon men
+whose whole society has been built upon the assumption that the black is
+the inferior race. Such a people like to find the higher morality for
+themselves, not to have it imposed upon them by those who live under
+entirely different conditions.
+
+The British Government in South Africa has always played the unpopular
+part of the friend and protector of the native servants. It was upon
+this very point that the first friction appeared between the old
+settlers and the new administration. A rising with bloodshed followed
+the arrest of a Dutch farmer who had maltreated his slave. It was
+suppressed, and five of the participants were hanged. This punishment
+was unduly severe and exceedingly injudicious. A brave race can forget
+the victims of the field of battle, but never those of the scaffold. The
+making of political martyrs is the last insanity of statesmanship.
+However, the thing was done, and it is typical of the enduring
+resentment which was left behind that when, after the Jameson Raid, it
+seemed that the leaders of that ill-fated venture might be hanged, the
+beam was actually brought from a farmhouse at Cookhouse Drift to
+Pretoria, that the Englishmen might die as the Dutchmen had died in
+1816. Slagter's Nek marked the dividing of the ways between the British
+Government and the Africanders.
+
+And the separation soon became more marked. With vicarious generosity,
+the English Government gave very lenient terms to the Kaffir tribes who
+in 1834 had raided the border farmers. And then, finally, in this same
+year there came the emancipation of the slaves throughout the British
+Empire, which fanned all smouldering discontents into an active flame.
+
+It must be confessed that on this occasion the British philanthropist
+was willing to pay for what he thought was right. It was a noble
+national action, and one the morality of which was in advance of its
+time, that the British Parliament should vote the enormous sum of twenty
+million pounds to pay compensation to the slaveholders, and so to remove
+an evil with which the mother country had no immediate connection. It
+was as well that the thing should have been done when it was, for had we
+waited till the colonies affected had governments of their own it could
+never have been done by constitutional methods. With many a grumble the
+good British householder drew his purse from his fob, and paid for what
+he thought to be right. If any special grace attends the virtuous action
+which brings nothing but tribulation in this world, then we may hope for
+it over this emancipation. We spent our money, we ruined our West Indian
+colonies, and we started a disaffection in South Africa, the end of
+which we have not seen.
+
+But the details of the measure were less honourable than the principle.
+It was carried out suddenly, so that the country had no time to adjust
+itself to the new conditions. Three million pounds were ear-marked for
+South Africa, which gives a price per slave of from 60_l._ to 70_l._, a
+sum considerably below the current local rates. Finally, the
+compensation was made payable in London, so that the farmers sold their
+claims at reduced prices to middlemen. Indignation meetings were held in
+every little townlet and cattle-camp on the Karoo. The old Dutch spirit
+was up--the spirit of the men who cut the dykes. Rebellion was useless.
+But a vast untenanted land stretched to the north of them. The nomad
+life was congenial to them, and in their huge ox-drawn wagons--like
+those bullock-carts in which some of their old kinsmen came to
+Gaul--they had vehicles and homes and forts all in one. One by one they
+were loaded up, the huge teams were inspanned, the women were seated
+inside, the men with their long-barrelled guns walked alongside, and the
+great exodus was begun. Their herds and flocks accompanied the
+migration, and the children helped to round them in and drive them. One
+tattered little boy of ten cracked his sjambok whip behind the bullocks.
+He was a small item in that singular crowd, but he was of interest to
+us, for his name was Paul Stephanus Kruger.
+
+It was a strange exodus, only comparable in modern times to the sallying
+forth of the Mormons from Nauvoo upon their search for the promised land
+of Utah. The country was known and sparsely settled as far north as the
+Orange River, but beyond there was a great region which had never been
+penetrated save by some daring hunter or adventurous pioneer. It
+chanced--if there be indeed such an element as chance in the graver
+affairs of man--that a Zulu conqueror had swept over this land and left
+it untenanted, save by the dwarf bushmen, the hideous aborigines, lowest
+of the human race. There were fine grazing and good soil for the
+emigrants. They travelled in small detached parties, but their total
+numbers were considerable, from six to ten thousand according to their
+historian, or nearly a quarter of the whole population of the colony.
+Some of the early bands perished miserably. A large number made a
+trysting-place at a high peak to the east of Bloemfontein, in what was
+lately the Orange Free State. One party of the emigrants was cut off by
+the formidable Matabeli, a branch of the great Zulu nation.
+
+The final victory of the 'voortrekkers' cleared all the country between
+the Orange River and the Limpopo, the sites of what have been known as
+the Transvaal and the Orange Free State. In the meantime another body of
+the emigrants had descended into Natal, and had defeated Dingaan, the
+great Chief of the Zulus.
+
+And now at the end of their great journey, after overcoming the
+difficulties of distance, of nature, and of savage enemies, the Boers
+saw at the end of their travels the very thing which they desired
+least--that which they had come so far to avoid--the flag of Great
+Britain. The Boers had occupied Natal from within, but England had
+previously done the same by sea, and a small colony of Englishmen had
+settled at Port Natal, now known as Durban. The home Government,
+however, had acted in a vacillating way, and it was only the conquest of
+Natal by the Boers which caused them to claim it as a British colony. At
+the same time they asserted the unwelcome doctrine that a British
+subject could not at will throw off his allegiance, and that, go where
+they might, the wandering farmers were still only the pioneers of
+British colonies. To emphasise the fact three companies of soldiers were
+sent in 1842 to what is now Durban--the usual Corporal's guard with
+which Great Britain starts a new empire. This handful of men was waylaid
+by the Boers and cut up, as their successors have been so often since.
+The survivors, however, fortified themselves, and held a defensive
+position--as also their successors have done so many times since--until
+reinforcements arrived and the farmers dispersed. Natal from this time
+onward became a British colony, and the majority of the Boers trekked
+north and east with bitter hearts to tell their wrongs to their brethren
+of the Orange Free State and of the Transvaal.
+
+Had they any wrongs to tell? It is difficult to reach that height of
+philosophic detachment which enables the historian to deal absolutely
+impartially where his own country is a party to the quarrel. But at
+least we may allow that there is a case for our adversary. Our
+annexation of Natal had been by no means definite, and it was they and
+not we who first broke that bloodthirsty Zulu power which threw its
+shadow across the country. It was hard after such trials and such
+exploits to turn their back upon the fertile land which they had
+conquered, and to return to the bare pastures of the upland veldt. They
+carried out of Natal a heavy sense of injury, which has helped to poison
+our relations with them ever since. It was, in a way, a momentous
+episode, this little skirmish of soldiers and emigrants, for it was the
+heading off of the Boer from the sea and the confinement of his ambition
+to the land. Had it gone the other way, a new and possibly formidable
+flag would have been added to the maritime nations.
+
+The emigrants who had settled in the huge tract of country between the
+Orange River in the south and the Limpopo in the north had been
+recruited by new-comers from the Cape Colony until they numbered some
+fifteen thousand souls. This population was scattered over a space as
+large as Germany, and larger than Pennsylvania, New York, and New
+England. Their form of government was individualistic and democratic to
+the last degree compatible with any sort of cohesion. Their wars with
+the Kaffirs and their fear and dislike of the British Government appear
+to have been the only ties which held them together. They divided and
+subdivided within their own borders, like a germinating egg. The
+Transvaal was full of lusty little high-mettled communities, who
+quarrelled among themselves as fiercely as they had done with the
+authorities at the Cape. Lydenburg, Zoutpansberg, and Potchefstroom were
+on the point of turning their rifles against each other. In the south,
+between the Orange River and the Vaal, there was no form of government
+at all, but a welter of Dutch farmers, Basutos, Hottentots, and
+half-breeds living in a chronic state of turbulence, recognising neither
+the British authority to the south of them nor the Transvaal republics
+to the north. The chaos became at last unendurable, and in 1848 a
+garrison was placed in Bloemfontein and the district incorporated in the
+British Empire. The emigrants made a futile resistance at Boomplaats,
+and after a single defeat allowed themselves to be drawn into the
+settled order of civilised rule.
+
+At this period the Transvaal, where most of the Boers had settled,
+desired a formal acknowledgment of their independence, which the British
+authorities determined once and for all to give them. The great barren
+country, which produced little save marksmen, had no attractions for a
+Colonial Office which was bent upon the limitation of its liabilities. A
+Convention was concluded between the two parties, known as the Sand
+River Convention, which is one of the fixed points in South African
+history. By it the British Government guaranteed to the Boer farmers the
+right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves by their own
+laws without any interference upon the part of the British. It
+stipulated that there should be no slavery, and with that single
+reservation washed its hands finally, as it imagined, of the whole
+question. So the Transvaal Republic came formally into existence.
+
+In the very year after the Sand River Convention, a second republic, the
+Orange Free State, was created by the deliberate withdrawal of Great
+Britain from the territory which she had for eight years occupied. The
+Eastern Question was already becoming acute, and the cloud of a great
+war was drifting up, visible to all men. British statesmen felt that
+their commitments were very heavy in every part of the world, and the
+South African annexations had always been a doubtful value and an
+undoubted trouble. Against the will of a large part of the inhabitants,
+whether a majority or not it is impossible to say, we withdrew our
+troops as amicably as the Romans withdrew from Britain, and the new
+republic was left with absolute and unfettered independence. On a
+petition being presented against the withdrawal, the Home Government
+actually voted 48,000_l._ to compensate those who had suffered from the
+change. Whatever historical grievance the Transvaal may have against
+Great Britain, we can at least, save perhaps in one matter, claim to
+have a very clear conscience concerning our dealings with the Orange
+Free State. Thus in 1852 and in 1854 were born those sturdy States who
+have been able for a time to hold at bay the united forces of the
+Empire.
+
+In the meantime Cape Colony, in spite of these secessions, had prospered
+exceedingly, and her population--British, German, and Dutch--had grown
+by 1870 to over two hundred thousand souls, the Dutch still slightly
+predominating. According to the liberal colonial policy of Great
+Britain, the time had come to cut the cord and let the young nation
+conduct its own affairs. In 1872 complete self-government was given to
+it, the Governor, as the representative of the Queen, retaining a
+nominal unexercised veto upon legislation. According to this system the
+Dutch majority of the colony could, and did, put their own
+representatives into power and run the government upon Dutch lines.
+Already Dutch law had been restored, and Dutch put on the same footing
+as English as the official language of the country. The extreme
+liberality of such measures, and the uncompromising way in which they
+have been carried out, however distasteful the legislation might seem to
+English ideas, are among the chief reasons which made the illiberal
+treatment of British settlers in the Transvaal so keenly resented at the
+Cape. A Dutch Government was ruling the British in a British colony, at
+a moment when the Boers would not give an Englishman a vote upon a
+municipal council in a city which he had built himself.
+
+For twenty-five years after the Sand River Convention the burghers of
+the Transvaal Republic had pursued a strenuous and violent existence,
+fighting incessantly with the natives and sometimes with each other,
+with an occasional fling at the little Dutch republic to the south.
+Disorganisation ensued. The burghers would not pay taxes and the
+treasury was empty. One fierce Kaffir tribe threatened them from the
+north, and the Zulus on the east. It is an exaggeration to pretend that
+British intervention saved the Boers, for no one can read their military
+history without seeing that they were a match for Zulus and Sekukuni
+combined. But certainly a formidable invasion was pending, and the
+scattered farmhouses were as open to the Kaffirs as our farmers'
+homesteads were in the American colonies when the Indians were on the
+war-path. Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the British Commissioner, after an
+inquiry of three months, solved all questions by the formal annexation
+of the country. The fact that he took possession of it with a force of
+some twenty-five men showed the honesty of his belief that no armed
+resistance was to be feared. This, then, in 1877, was a complete
+reversal of the Sand River Convention and the opening of a new chapter
+in the history of South Africa.
+
+There did not appear to be any strong feeling at the time against the
+annexation. The people were depressed with their troubles and weary of
+contention. Burgers, the President, put in a formal protest, and took up
+his abode in Cape Colony, where he had a pension from the British
+Government. A memorial against the measure received the signatures of a
+majority of the Boer inhabitants, but there was a fair minority who took
+the other view. Kruger himself accepted a paid office under Government.
+There was every sign that the people, if judiciously handled, would
+settle down under the British flag.
+
+But the Empire has always had poor luck in South Africa, and never worse
+than on that occasion. Through no bad faith, but simply through
+preoccupation and delay, the promises made were not instantly fulfilled.
+If the Transvaalers had waited, they would have had their Volksraad and
+all that they wanted. But the British Government had some other local
+matters to set right, the rooting out of Sekukuni and the breaking of
+the Zulus, before they would fulfil their pledges. The delay was keenly
+resented. And we were unfortunate in our choice of Governor. The
+burghers are a homely folk, and they like an occasional cup of coffee
+with the anxious man who tries to rule them. The 300_l._ a year of
+coffee-money allowed by the Transvaal to its President is by no means a
+mere form. A wise administrator would fall into the social and
+democratic habits of the people. Sir Theophilus Shepstone did so. Sir
+Owen Lanyon did not. There was no Volksraad and no coffee, and the
+popular discontent grew rapidly. In three years the British had broken
+up the two savage hordes which had been threatening the land. The
+finances, too, had been restored. The reasons which had made so many
+burghers favour the annexation were weakened by the very power which had
+every interest in preserving them.
+
+It cannot be too often pointed out that in this annexation, the
+starting-point of our troubles, Great Britain, however mistaken she may
+have been, had no possible selfish interest in view. There were no Rand
+mines in those days, nor was there anything in the country to tempt the
+most covetous. An empty treasury and two expensive native wars were the
+reversion which we took over. It was honestly considered that the
+country was in too distracted a state to govern itself, and had, by its
+weakness, become a scandal and a danger to its neighbours and to itself.
+There was nothing sordid in the British action, though it may have been
+premature and injudicious. There is some reason to think that if it had
+been delayed it would eventually have been done on the petition of the
+majority of the inhabitants.
+
+In December 1880 the Boers rose. Every farmhouse sent out its riflemen,
+and the trysting-place was the outside of the nearest British fort. All
+through the country small detachments were surrounded and besieged by
+the farmers. Standerton, Pretoria, Potchefstroom, Lydenburg,
+Wakkerstroom, Rustenburg, and Marabastad were all invested and all held
+out until the end of the war. In the open country the troops were less
+fortunate. At Bronkhorst Spruit a small British force was taken by
+surprise and shot down without harm to their antagonists. The surgeon
+who treated them has left it on record that the average number of wounds
+was five per man. At Laing's Nek an inferior force of British
+endeavoured to rush a hill which was held by Boer riflemen. Half of the
+men were killed and wounded. Ingogo may be called a drawn battle, though
+the British loss was more heavy than that of the enemy. Finally came the
+defeat of Majuba Hill, where 400 infantry upon a mountain were defeated
+and driven off by a swarm of sharpshooters who advanced under the cover
+of boulders. Of all these actions there was not one which was more than
+a skirmish, and had they been followed by a final British victory they
+would now be hardly remembered. It is the fact that they were skirmishes
+which succeeded in their object which has given them an importance which
+is exaggerated.
+
+The defeat at Majuba Hill was followed by the complete surrender of the
+Gladstonian Government, an act which was either the most pusillanimous
+or the most magnanimous in recent history. It is hard for the big man to
+draw away from the small before blows are struck, but when the big man
+has been knocked down three times it is harder still. An overwhelming
+British force was in the field, and the General declared that he held
+the enemy in the hollow of his hand. British military calculations have
+been falsified before now by these farmers, and it may be that the task
+of Wood and Roberts would have been harder than they imagined; but on
+paper, at least, it looked as if the enemy could be crushed without
+difficulty. So the public thought, and yet they consented to the
+upraised sword being stayed. With them, as apart from the politicians,
+the motive was undoubtedly a moral and Christian one. They considered
+that the annexation of the Transvaal had evidently been an injustice,
+that the farmers had a right to the freedom for which they fought, and
+that it was an unworthy thing for a great nation to continue an unjust
+war for the sake of a military revenge. Such was the motive of the
+British public when it acquiesced in the action of the Government. It
+was the height of idealism, and the result has not been such as to
+encourage its repetition.
+
+An armistice was concluded on March 5, 1881, which led up to a peace on
+the 23rd of the same month. The Government, after yielding to force
+what it had repeatedly refused to friendly representations, made a
+clumsy compromise in their settlement. A policy of idealism and
+Christian morality should have been thorough if it were to be tried at
+all. It was obvious that if the annexation were unjust, then the
+Transvaal should have reverted to the condition in which it was before
+the annexation, as defined by the Sand River Convention. But the
+Government for some reason would not go so far as this. They niggled and
+quibbled and bargained until the State was left as a curious hybrid
+thing such as the world has never seen. It was a republic which was part
+of the system of a monarchy, dealt with by the Colonial Office, and
+included under the heading of 'Colonies' in the news columns of the
+'Times.' It was autonomous, and yet subject to some vague suzerainty,
+the limits of which no one has ever been able to define. Altogether, in
+its provisions and in its omissions, the Convention of Pretoria appears
+to prove that our political affairs were as badly conducted as our
+military in this unfortunate year of 1881.
+
+It was evident from the first that so illogical and contentious an
+agreement could not possibly prove to be a final settlement, and indeed
+the ink of the signatures was hardly dry before an agitation was on foot
+for its revision. The Boers considered, and with justice, that if they
+were to be left as undisputed victors in the war then they should have
+the full fruits of victory. On the other hand, the English-speaking
+colonies had their allegiance tested to the uttermost. The proud
+Anglo-Celtic stock is not accustomed to be humbled, and yet they found
+themselves through the action of the home Government converted into
+members of a beaten race. It was very well for the citizen of London to
+console his wounded pride by the thought that he had done a magnanimous
+action, but it was different with the British colonist of Durban or Cape
+Town who, by no act of his own, and without any voice in the settlement,
+found himself humiliated before his Dutch neighbour. An ugly feeling of
+resentment was left behind, which might perhaps have passed away had the
+Transvaal accepted the settlement in the spirit in which it was meant,
+but which grew more and more dangerous, as during eighteen years our
+people saw, or thought that they saw, that one concession led always to
+a fresh demand, and that the Dutch republics aimed not merely at
+equality, but at dominance in South Africa. Professor Bryce, a friendly
+critic, after a personal examination of the country and the question,
+has left it upon record that the Boers saw neither generosity nor
+humanity in our conduct, but only fear. An outspoken race, they conveyed
+their feelings to their neighbours. Can it be wondered at that South
+Africa has been in a ferment ever since, and that the British Africander
+has yearned with an intensity of feeling unknown in England for the hour
+of revenge?
+
+The Government of the Transvaal after the war was left in the hands of a
+triumvirate, but after one year Kruger became President, an office which
+he continued to hold for eighteen years. His career as ruler vindicates
+the wisdom of that wise but unwritten provision of the American
+Constitution by which there is a limit to the tenure of this office.
+Continued rule for half a generation must turn a man into an autocrat.
+The old President has said himself, in his homely but shrewd way, that
+when one gets a good ox to lead the team it is a pity to change him. If
+a good ox, however, is left to choose his own direction without
+guidance, he may draw his wagon into trouble.
+
+During three years the little State showed signs of a tumultuous
+activity. Considering that it was larger than France and that the
+population could not have been more than fifty thousand, one would have
+thought that they might have found room without any inconvenient
+crowding. But the burghers passed beyond their borders in every
+direction. The President cried aloud that he had been shut up in a
+kraal, and he proceeded to find ways out of it. A great trek was
+projected for the north, but fortunately it miscarried. To the east they
+raided Zululand, and succeeded, in defiance of the British settlement of
+that country, in tearing away one-third of it and adding it to the
+Transvaal. To the west, with no regard to the three-year-old treaty,
+they invaded Bechuanaland, and set up the two new republics of Goshen
+and Stellaland. So outrageous were these proceedings that Great Britain
+was forced to fit out in 1884 a new expedition under Sir Charles Warren
+for the purpose of turning these freebooters out of the country. It may
+be asked, Why should these men be called freebooters if the founders of
+Rhodesia were pioneers? The answer is that the Transvaal was limited by
+treaty to certain boundaries which these men transgressed, while no
+pledges were broken when the British power expanded to the north. The
+upshot of these trespasses was the scene upon which every drama of South
+Africa rings down. Once more the purse was drawn from the pocket of the
+unhappy taxpayer, and a million or so was paid out to defray the
+expenses of the police force necessary to keep these treaty-breakers in
+order. Let this be borne in mind when we assess the moral and material
+damage done to the Transvaal by the Jameson Raid.
+
+In 1884 a deputation from the Transvaal visited England, and at their
+solicitation the clumsy Treaty of Pretoria was altered into the still
+more clumsy Convention of London. The changes in the provisions were all
+in favour of the Boers, and a second successful war could hardly have
+given them more than Lord Derby handed them in time of peace. Their
+style was altered from the Transvaal to the South African Republic, a
+change which was ominously suggestive of expansion in the future. The
+control of Great Britain over their foreign policy was also relaxed,
+though a power of veto was retained. But the most important thing of
+all, and the fruitful cause of future trouble, lay in an omission. A
+suzerainty is a vague term, but in politics, as in theology, the more
+nebulous a thing is the more does it excite the imagination and the
+passions of men. This suzerainty was declared in the preamble of the
+first treaty, and no mention of it was made in the second. Was it
+thereby abrogated or was it not? The British contention is that only the
+articles were changed, and that the preamble continued to hold good for
+both treaties. They point out that not only the suzerainty, but also the
+independence, of the Transvaal is proclaimed in that preamble, and that
+if one lapses the other must do so also. On the other hand, the Boers
+point to the fact that there is actually a preamble to the second
+convention, which would seem, therefore, to take the place of the first.
+As a matter of fact, the discussion is a barren one, since both parties
+agree that Great Britain retained certain rights over the making of
+treaties by the Republic, which rights place her in a different position
+to an entirely independent state. Whether this difference amounts to a
+suzerainty or not is a subject for the academic discussion of
+international jurists. What is of importance is the fact, not the word.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+THE CAUSE OF QUARREL
+
+
+Gold had been known to exist in the Transvaal before, but it was only in
+1886 that it was realised that the deposits which lie some thirty miles
+south of the capital are of a very extraordinary and valuable nature.
+The proportion of gold in the quartz is not particularly high, nor are
+the veins of a remarkable thickness, but the peculiarity of the Rand
+mines lies in the fact that throughout this 'banket' formation the metal
+is so uniformly distributed that the enterprise can claim a certainty
+which is not usually associated with the industry. It is quarrying
+rather than mining. Add to this that the reefs which were originally
+worked as outcrops have now been traced to enormous depths, and present
+the same features as those at the surface. A conservative estimate of
+the value of the gold has placed it at seven hundred millions of pounds.
+
+Such a discovery produced the inevitable effect. A great number of
+adventurers flocked into the country, some desirable and some very much
+the reverse. There were circumstances, however, which kept away the
+rowdy and desperado element who usually make for a newly-opened
+goldfield. It was not a class of mining which encouraged the individual
+adventurer. It was a field for elaborate machinery, which could only be
+provided by capital. Managers, engineers, miners, technical experts, and
+the tradesmen and middlemen who live upon them, these were the
+Uitlanders, drawn from all races under the sun, but with the
+Anglo-Celtic vastly predominant. The best engineers were American, the
+best miners were Cornish, the best managers were English, the money to
+run the mines was largely subscribed in England. As time went on,
+however, the German and French interests became more extensive, until
+their joint holdings are now probably as heavy as those of the British.
+Soon the population of the mining centres became about as numerous as
+that of the whole Boer community, and consisted mainly of men in the
+prime of life--men, too, of exceptional intelligence and energy.
+
+The situation was an extraordinary one. I have already attempted to
+bring the problem home to an American by suggesting that the Dutch of
+New York had trekked west and founded an anti-American and highly
+unprogressive State. To carry out the analogy we will now suppose that
+that State was California, that the gold of that State attracted a large
+inrush of American citizens, that these citizens were heavily taxed and
+badly used, and that they deafened Washington with their outcry about
+their injuries. That would be a fair parallel to the relations between
+the Transvaal, the Uitlanders, and the British Government.
+
+That these Uitlanders had very real and pressing grievances no one could
+possibly deny. To recount them all would be a formidable task, for their
+whole lives were darkened by injustice. There was not a wrong which had
+driven the Boer from Cape Colony which he did not now practise himself
+upon others--and a wrong may be excusable in 1835 which is monstrous in
+1895. The primitive virtue which had characterised the farmers broke
+down in the face of temptation. The country Boers were little affected,
+some of them not at all, but the Pretoria Government became a most
+corrupt oligarchy, venal and incompetent to the last degree. Officials
+and imported Hollanders handled the stream of gold which came in from
+the mines, while the unfortunate Uitlander who paid nine-tenths of the
+taxation was fleeced at every turn, and met with laughter and taunts
+when he endeavoured to win the franchise by which he might peaceably set
+right the wrongs from which he suffered. He was not an unreasonable
+person. On the contrary, he was patient to the verge of meekness, as
+capital is likely to be when it is surrounded by rifles. But his
+situation was intolerable, and after successive attempts at peaceful
+agitation, and numerous humble petitions to the Volksraad, he began at
+last to realise that he would never obtain redress unless he could find
+some way of winning it for himself.
+
+Without attempting to enumerate all the wrongs which embittered the
+Uitlanders, the more serious of them may be summed up in this way:
+
+1. That they were heavily taxed and provided about seven-eighths of the
+revenue of the country. The revenue of the South African Republic--which
+had been 154,000_l._ in 1886, when the goldfields were opened--had
+grown in 1899 to four million pounds, and the country through the
+industry of the new-comers had changed from one of the poorest to the
+richest in the whole world (per head of population).
+
+2. That in spite of this prosperity which they had brought, they were
+left without a vote, and could by no means influence the disposal of the
+great sums which they were providing. Such a case of taxation without
+representation has never been known.
+
+3. That they had no voice in the choice or payment of officials. Men of
+the worst private character might be placed with complete authority over
+valuable interests. The total official salaries had risen in 1899 to a
+sum sufficient to pay 40_l._ per head to the entire male Boer
+population.
+
+4. That they had no control over education. Mr. John Robinson, the
+Director-General of the Johannesburg Educational Council, has reckoned
+the sum spent on the Uitlander schools as 650_l._ out of 63,000_l._
+allotted for education, making 1_s._ 10_d._ per head per annum on
+Uitlander children, and 8_l._ 6_s._ per head on Boer children--the
+Uitlander, as always, paying seven-eighths of the original sum.
+
+5. No power of municipal government. Watercarts instead of pipes, filthy
+buckets instead of drains, a corrupt and violent police, a high
+death-rate in what should be a health resort--all this in a city which
+they had built themselves.
+
+6. Despotic government in the matter of the Press and of the right of
+public meeting.
+
+7. Disability from service upon a jury.
+
+8. Continual harassing of the mining interest by vexatious legislation.
+Under this head come many grievances, some special to the mines and some
+affecting all Uitlanders. The dynamite monopoly, by which the miners had
+to pay 600,000_l._ extra per annum in order to get a worse quality of
+dynamite; the liquor laws, by which the Kaffirs were allowed to be
+habitually drunk; the incompetence and extortions of the State-owned
+railway; the granting of concessions for numerous articles of ordinary
+consumption to individuals, by which high prices were maintained; the
+surrounding of Johannesburg by tolls from which the town had no
+profit--these were among the economical grievances, some large, some
+petty, which ramified through every transaction of life. These are the
+wrongs which Mr. W. T. Stead has described as 'the twopenny-halfpenny
+grievances of a handful of Englishmen.'
+
+The manner in which the blood was sucked from the Uitlanders, and the
+rapid spread of wealth among the Boer officials, may be gathered from
+the list of the salaries of the State servants from the opening of the
+mines to the outbreak of the war:
+
+                       L
+    1886             51,831
+    1887             99,083
+    1888            164,466
+    1889            249,641
+    1890            324,520
+    1891            332,888
+    1892            323,608
+    1893            361,275
+    1894            419,775
+    1895            570,047
+    1896            813,029
+    1897            996,959
+    1898          1,080,382
+    1899          1,216,394
+
+which shows, as Mr. FitzPatrick has pointed out, that the salary list
+had become twenty-four times what it was when the Uitlanders arrived,
+and five times as much as the total revenue was then.
+
+But outside and beyond all the definite wrongs from which they suffered,
+there was a constant irritation to freeborn and progressive men,
+accustomed to liberal institutions, that they should be despotically
+ruled by a body of men some of whom were ignorant bigots, some of them
+buffoons, and nearly all of them openly and shamelessly corrupt. Out of
+twenty-five members of the First Volksraad twenty-one were, in the case
+of the Selati Railway Company, publicly and circumstantially accused of
+bribery, with full details of the bribes received, their date, and who
+paid them. The black-list includes the present vice-president, Schalk
+Burger; the vice-president of that date; Eloff, the son-in-law of
+Kruger; and the secretary of the Volksraad. Apparently every man of the
+executive and the legislature had his price.
+
+A corrupt assembly is an evil master, but when it is narrow-minded and
+bigoted as well, it becomes indeed intolerable. The following tit-bits
+from the debates in the two Raads show the intelligence and spirit of
+the men who were ruling over one of the most progressive communities in
+the world:
+
+'Pillar-boxes in Pretoria were opposed on the grounds that they were
+extravagant and effeminate. Deputy Taljaard said that he could not see
+why people wanted to be always writing letters; he wrote none himself.
+In the days of his youth he had written a letter and had not been afraid
+to travel fifty miles and more on horseback and by wagon to post it--and
+now people complained if they had to go one mile.'
+
+A debate on the possibility of decreasing the plague of locusts led to
+the following enlightened discussion:
+
+'_July 21._--Mr. Roos said locusts were a plague, as in the days of King
+Pharaoh, sent by God, and the country would assuredly be loaded with
+shame and obloquy if it tried to raise its hand against the mighty hand
+of the Almighty.
+
+'Messrs. Declerq and Steenkamp spoke in the same strain, quoting largely
+from the Scriptures.
+
+'The Chairman related a true story of a man whose farm was always spared
+by the locusts, until one day he caused some to be killed. His farm was
+then devastated.
+
+'Mr. Stoop conjured the members not to constitute themselves terrestrial
+gods and oppose the Almighty.
+
+'Mr. Lucas Meyer raised a storm by ridiculing the arguments of the
+former speakers, and comparing the locusts to beasts of prey which they
+destroyed.
+
+'Mr. Labuschagne was violent. He said the locusts were quite different
+from beasts of prey. They were a special plague sent by God for their
+sinfulness.'
+
+In a further debate:
+
+'Mr. Jan de Beer complained of the lack of uniformity in neckties. Some
+wore a Tom Thumb variety, and others wore scarves. This was a state of
+things to be deplored, and he considered that the Raad should put its
+foot down and define the size and shape of neckties.'
+
+The following note of a debate gives some idea of how far the
+legislators were qualified to deal with commercial questions:
+
+'_May 8._--On the application of the Sheba G. M. Co. for permission to
+erect an aerial tram from the mine to the mill,
+
+'Mr. Grobelaar asked whether an aerial tram was a balloon or whether it
+could fly through the air.
+
+'The only objection that the Chairman had to urge against granting the
+tram was that the Company had an English name, and that with so many
+Dutch ones available.
+
+'Mr. Taljaard objected to the word "participeeren" (participate) as not
+being Dutch, and to him unintelligible: "I can't believe the word is
+Dutch; why have I never come across it in the Bible if it is?"
+
+'_June 18._--On the application for a concession to treat tailings,
+
+'Mr. Taljaard wished to know if the words "pyrites" and "concentrates"
+could not be translated into the Dutch language. He could not understand
+what it meant. He had gone to night-school as long as he had been in
+Pretoria, and even now he could not explain everything to his burghers.
+He thought it a shame that big hills should be made on ground under
+which there might be rich reefs, and which in future might be required
+for a market or outspan. He would support the recommendation on
+condition that the name of the quartz should be translated into Dutch,
+as there might be more in this than some of them imagined.'
+
+Such debates as these may be amusing at a distance, but they are less
+entertaining when they come from an autocrat who has complete power over
+the conditions of your life.
+
+From the fact that they were a community extremely preoccupied by their
+own business, it followed that the Uitlanders were not ardent
+politicians, and that they desired to have a share in the government of
+the State for the purpose of making the conditions of their own industry
+and of their own daily lives more endurable. How far there was need of
+such an interference may be judged by any fair-minded man who reads the
+list of their complaints. A superficial view may recognise the Boers as
+the champions of liberty, but a deeper insight must see that they (as
+represented by their elected rulers) have in truth stood for all that
+history has shown to be odious in the form of exclusiveness and
+oppression. Their conception of liberty has been a narrow and selfish
+one, and they have consistently inflicted upon others far heavier wrongs
+than those against which they had themselves rebelled.
+
+As the mines increased in importance and the miners in numbers, it was
+found that these political disabilities affected some of that
+cosmopolitan crowd far more than others, in proportion to the amount of
+freedom to which their home institutions had made them accustomed. The
+Continental Uitlanders were more patient of that which was unendurable
+to the American and the Briton. The Americans, however, were in so great
+a minority that it was upon the British that the brunt of the struggle
+for freedom fell. Apart from the fact that the British were more
+numerous than all the other Uitlanders combined, there were special
+reasons why they should feel their humiliating position more than the
+members of any other race. In the first place, many of the British were
+British South Africans, who knew that in the neighbouring countries
+which gave them birth the most liberal possible institutions had been
+given to the kinsmen of these very Boers who were refusing them the
+management of their own drains and water-supply. And again, every Briton
+knew that Great Britain claimed to be the paramount Power in South
+Africa, and so he felt as if his own land, to which he might have looked
+for protection, was conniving at and acquiescing in his ill-treatment.
+As citizens of the paramount Power, it was peculiarly galling that they
+should be held in political subjection. The British, therefore, were the
+most persistent and energetic of the agitators.
+
+But it is a poor cause which cannot bear to fairly state and honestly
+consider the case of its opponents. The Boers had made, as has been
+briefly shown, great efforts to establish a country of their own. They
+had travelled far, worked hard, and fought bravely. After all their
+efforts they were fated to see an influx of strangers into their
+country, some of them men of questionable character, who threatened to
+outnumber the original inhabitants. If the franchise were granted to
+these, there could be no doubt that, though at first the Boers might
+control a majority of the votes, it was only a question of time before
+the new-comers would dominate the Raad and elect their own President,
+who might adopt a policy abhorrent to the original owners of the land.
+Were the Boers to lose by the ballot-box the victory which they had won
+by their rifles? Was it fair to expect it? These new-comers came for
+gold. They got their gold. Their companies paid a hundred per cent. Was
+not that enough to satisfy them? If they did not like the country, why
+did they not leave it? No one compelled them to stay there. But if they
+stayed, let them be thankful that they were tolerated at all, and not
+presume to interfere with the laws of those by whose courtesy they were
+allowed to enter the country.
+
+That is a fair statement of the Boer position, and at first sight an
+impartial man might say that there was a good deal to say for it; but a
+closer examination would show that, though it might be tenable in
+theory, it is unjust and impossible in practice.
+
+In the present crowded state of the world a policy of Thibet may be
+carried out in some obscure corner, but it cannot be done in a great
+tract of country which lies right across the main line of industrial
+progress. The position is too absolutely artificial. A handful of people
+by the right of conquest take possession of an enormous country over
+which they are dotted at such intervals that it is their boast that one
+farmhouse cannot see the smoke of another, and yet, though their numbers
+are so disproportionate to the area which they cover, they refuse to
+admit any other people upon equal terms, but claim to be a privileged
+class who shall dominate the new-comers completely. They are outnumbered
+in their own land by immigrants who are far more highly educated and
+progressive, and yet they hold them down in a way which exists nowhere
+else upon earth. What is their right? The right of conquest. Then the
+same right may be justly invoked to reverse so intolerable a situation.
+This they would themselves acknowledge. 'Come on and fight! Come on!'
+cried a member of the Volksraad when the franchise petition of the
+Uitlanders was presented. 'Protest! Protest! What is the good of
+protesting?' said Kruger to Mr. W. Y. Campbell; 'you have not got the
+guns, I have.' There was always the final court of appeal. Judge Creusot
+and Judge Mauser were always behind the President.
+
+Again, the argument of the Boers would be more valid had they received
+no benefit from these immigrants. If they had ignored them they might
+fairly have stated that they did not desire their presence. But even
+while they protested they grew rich at the Uitlanders' expense. They
+could not have it both ways. It would be consistent to discourage him
+and not profit by him, or to make him comfortable and build the State
+upon his money; but to ill-treat him and at the same time grow strong by
+his taxation must surely be an injustice.
+
+And again, the whole argument is based upon the narrow racial
+supposition that every naturalised citizen not of Boer extraction must
+necessarily be unpatriotic. This is not borne out by the examples of
+history. The new-comer soon becomes as proud of his country and as
+jealous of her liberty as the old. Had President Kruger given the
+franchise generously to the Uitlander, his pyramid would have been firm
+upon its base and not balanced upon its apex. It is true that the
+corrupt oligarchy would have vanished, and the spirit of a broader, more
+tolerant freedom influenced the counsels of the State. But the republic
+would have become stronger and more permanent with a population who, if
+they differed in details, were united in essentials. Whether such a
+solution would have been to the advantage of British interests in South
+Africa is quite another question. In more ways than one President Kruger
+has been a good friend to the Empire.
+
+At the time of the Convention of Pretoria (1881) the rights of
+burghership might be obtained by one year's residence. In 1882 it was
+raised to five years, the reasonable limit which obtains both in Great
+Britain and in the United States. Had it remained so, it is safe to say
+that there would never have been either an Uitlander question or a war.
+Grievances would have been righted from the inside without external
+interference.
+
+In 1890 the inrush of outsiders alarmed the Boers, and the franchise was
+raised so as to be only attainable by those who had lived fourteen years
+in the country. The Uitlanders, who were increasing rapidly in numbers
+and were suffering from the formidable list of grievances already
+enumerated, perceived that their wrongs were so numerous that it was
+hopeless to have them set right seriatim, and that only by obtaining the
+leverage of the franchise could they hope to move the heavy burden which
+weighed them down. In 1893 a petition of 13,000 Uitlanders, couched in
+most respectful terms, was submitted to the Raad, but met with
+contemptuous neglect. Undeterred, however, by this failure, the National
+Reform Union, an association which was not one of capitalists, came back
+to the attack in 1894. They drew up a petition which was signed by
+35,000 adult male Uitlanders, as great a number probably as the total
+Boer male population of the country. A small liberal body in the Raad
+supported this memorial and endeavoured in vain to obtain some justice
+for the new-comers. Mr. Jeppe was the mouthpiece of this select band.
+'They own half the soil, they pay at least three-quarters of the taxes,'
+said he. 'They are men who in capital, energy, and education are at
+least our equals. What will become of us or our children on that day
+when we may find ourselves in a minority of one in twenty without a
+single friend among the other nineteen, among those who will then tell
+us that they wished to be brothers, but that we by our own act have made
+them strangers to the republic?' Such reasonable and liberal sentiments
+were combated by members who asserted that the signatures could not
+belong to law-abiding citizens, since they were actually agitating
+against the law of the franchise, and others whose intolerance was
+expressed by the defiance of the member already quoted, who challenged
+the Uitlanders to come out and fight. The champions of exclusiveness and
+racial hatred won the day. The memorial was rejected by sixteen votes to
+eight, and the franchise law was, on the initiative of the President,
+actually made more stringent than ever, being framed in such a way that
+during the fourteen years of probation the applicant should give up his
+previous nationality, so that for that period he would belong to no
+country at all. No hopes were held out that any possible attitude upon
+the part of the Uitlanders would soften the determination of the
+President and his burghers. One who remonstrated was led outside the
+State buildings by the President, who pointed up at the national flag.
+'You see that flag?' said he. 'If I grant the franchise, I may as well
+pull it down.' His animosity against the immigrants was bitter.
+'Burghers, friends, thieves, murderers, new-comers, and others,' is the
+conciliatory opening of one of his public addresses. Though Johannesburg
+is only thirty-two miles from Pretoria, and though the State of which he
+was the head depended for its revenue upon the goldfields, he paid it
+only three visits in nine years.
+
+This settled animosity was deplorable, but not unnatural. A man imbued
+with the idea of a chosen people, and unread in any book save the one
+which cultivates this very idea, could not be expected to have learned
+the historical lessons of the advantages which a State reaps from a
+liberal policy. To him it was as if the Ammonites and Moabites had
+demanded admission into the twelve tribes. He mistook an agitation
+against the exclusive policy of the State for one against the existence
+of the State itself. A wide franchise would have made his republic
+firm-based and permanent. It was a minority of the Uitlanders who had
+any desire to come into the British system. They were a cosmopolitan
+crowd, only united by the bond of a common injustice. The majority of
+the British immigrants had no desire to subvert the State. But when
+every other method had failed, and their petition for the rights of
+freemen had been flung back at them, it was natural that their eyes
+should turn to that flag which waved to the north, the west, and the
+south of them--the flag which means purity of government with equal
+rights and equal duties for all men. Constitutional agitation was laid
+aside, arms were smuggled in, and everything prepared for an organised
+rising.
+
+It had been arranged that the town was to rise upon a certain night,
+that Pretoria should be attacked, the fort seized, and the rifles and
+ammunition, used to arm the Uitlanders. It was a feasible device, though
+it must seem to us, who have had such an experience of the military
+virtues of the burghers, a very desperate one. But it is conceivable
+that the rebels might have held Johannesburg until the universal
+sympathy which their cause excited throughout South Africa would have
+caused Great Britain to intervene. Unfortunately they had complicated
+matters by asking for outside help. Mr. Cecil Rhodes was Premier of the
+Cape, a man of immense energy, and one who had rendered great services
+to the empire. The motives of his action are obscure--certainly, we may
+say that they were not sordid, for he has always been a man whose
+thoughts were large and whose habits were simple. But whatever they may
+have been--whether an ill-regulated desire to consolidate South Africa
+under British rule, or a burning sympathy with the Uitlanders in their
+fight against injustice--it is certain that he allowed his lieutenant,
+Dr. Jameson, to assemble the mounted police of the Chartered Company, of
+which Rhodes was founder and director, for the purpose of co-operating
+with the rebels at Johannesburg. Moreover, when the revolt at
+Johannesburg was postponed, on account of a disagreement as to which
+flag they were to rise under, it appears that Jameson (with or without
+the orders of Rhodes) forced the hand of the conspirators by invading
+the country with a force absurdly inadequate to the work which he had
+taken in hand. Five hundred policemen and two field-guns made up the
+forlorn hope who started from near Mafeking and crossed the Transvaal
+border upon December 29, 1895. On January 2 they were surrounded by the
+Boers amid the broken country near Dornkop, and after losing many of
+their number killed and wounded, without food and with spent horses,
+they were compelled to lay down their arms. Six burghers lost their
+lives in the skirmish.
+
+Determined attempts have been made to connect the British Government
+with this fiasco, and to pretend that the Colonial Secretary and other
+statesmen were cognisant of it. Such an impression has been fostered by
+the apparent reluctance of the Commission of Inquiry to push their
+researches to the uttermost. It is much to be regretted that every
+possible telegram and letter should not have been called for upon that
+occasion; but the idea that this was not done for fear that Mr.
+Chamberlain and the British Government would be implicated, becomes
+absurd in the presence of the fact that the Commission included among
+its members Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Sir William Harcourt. Is it
+conceivable that these gentlemen held their hands for fear of damaging
+the Government, or that Mr. Chamberlain could afterwards have the
+effrontery to publicly and solemnly deny all knowledge of the business
+in the presence of gentlemen who had connived at the suppression of the
+proofs that he _did_ know? Such a supposition is ridiculous, and yet it
+is involved in the theory that the Commission refrained from pushing
+their examination because they were afraid of showing their country to
+have been in the wrong.
+
+Again, even the most embittered enemy of Mr. Chamberlain must admit that
+he is a clear-headed man, a man of resolution, and a man with some sense
+of proportion as to the means which should be used for an end. Is such a
+man, knowing the military record of the burghers, the sort of man to
+connive at the invasion of their country by 500 policemen and two guns?
+Would he be likely, even if he approved of the general aim, to sanction
+such a harebrained piece of folly? And, having sanctioned it, would he
+be so weak of purpose as to take energetic steps, the instant that he
+heard of the invasion, to undo that which he is supposed himself to have
+done, and to cause the failure of his own scheme? Why should he on such
+a supposition send energetic messages to Johannesburg forbidding the
+British to co-operate with the raiders? The whole accusation is so
+absurd that it is only the mania of party spite or of national hatred
+which could induce anyone to believe it.
+
+Again, supposing for an instant that the British Government knew
+anything about the coming raid, what is the first and most obvious thing
+which they would have done? Whether Jameson got safely to Johannesburg
+or not there was evidently a probability of a great race-struggle in
+South Africa. Would they not then, on some pretext or another, have
+increased the strength of the British force in the country, which was
+so weak that it was powerless to influence the course of events? It is
+certain that this is so. But nothing of the kind was done.
+
+Mr. Chamberlain's own denial is clear and emphatic:
+
+'I desire to say in the most explicit manner that I had not then, and
+that I never had, any knowledge, or until, I think it was the day before
+the actual raid took place, the slightest suspicion of anything in the
+nature of a hostile or armed invasion of the Transvaal.'--(British South
+Africa Committee, 1897. Q. 6223.)
+
+The Earl of Selborne, Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, was no
+less explicit:
+
+'Neither then nor at any subsequent period prior to the raid did we know
+of what is now called "Jameson's plan," nor that the revolution at
+Johannesburg was being largely controlled and financed from Cape Colony
+and Rhodesia.... Sir Hercules Robinson had no suspicion of what was
+impending, nor apparently President Kruger, nor Mr. Hofmeyr, nor any
+public man in South Africa, except those who were preparing the plan. At
+any rate the fact remains that from no quarter did the Colonial Office
+receive any warning. I submit, therefore, it would have been a most
+extraordinary thing if any suspicion had occurred to us.'
+
+The finding of the Committee--a Committee composed of men of all
+parties, some of whom, as we know, were yearning 'to give Joe a
+fall'--was unanimous in condemning the raid and equally unanimous in
+exonerating the Government from any knowledge of it. Their Report said:
+
+'Your Committee fully accept the statements of the Secretary of State
+for the Colonies, and of the Under-Secretary, and entirely exonerate the
+officials of the Colonial Office of having been in any sense cognisant
+of the plans which led up to the incursion of Dr. Jameson's force into
+the South African Republic....
+
+'Neither the Secretary of State for the Colonies, nor any of the
+officials of the Colonial Office received any information which made
+them, or should have made them, or any of them, aware of the plot during
+its development.'
+
+And yet to this day it is one of the articles of faith of a few
+crack-brained fanatics in this country, and of many ill-informed and
+prejudiced editors upon the Continent, that the British Government was
+responsible for the raid.
+
+The Uitlanders have been severely criticised for not having sent out a
+force to help Jameson in his difficulties, but it is impossible to see
+how they could have acted in any other manner. They had done all they
+could to prevent Jameson coming to their relief, and now it was rather
+unreasonable to suppose that they should relieve their reliever. Indeed,
+they had an entirely exaggerated idea of the strength of the force which
+he was bringing, and received the news of his capture with incredulity.
+When it became confirmed they rose, but in a half-hearted fashion which
+was not due to want of courage, but to the difficulties of their
+position. On the one hand the British Government disowned Jameson
+entirely, and did all it could to discourage the rising; on the other,
+the President had the raiders in his keeping at Pretoria, and let it be
+understood that their fate depended upon the behaviour of the
+Uitlanders. They were led to believe that Jameson would be shot unless
+they laid down their arms, though, as a matter of fact, Jameson and his
+people had surrendered upon a promise of quarter. So skilfully did
+Kruger use his hostages that he succeeded, with the help of the British
+Commissioner, in getting the thousands of excited Johannesburgers to lay
+down their arms without bloodshed. Completely out-man[oe]uvred by the
+astute old President, the leaders of the reform movement used all their
+influence in the direction of peace, thinking that a general amnesty
+would follow; but the moment that they and their people were helpless
+the detectives and armed burghers occupied the town, and sixty of their
+number were hurried to Pretoria Gaol.
+
+To the raiders themselves the President behaved with generosity. Perhaps
+he could not find it in his heart to be harsh to the men who had managed
+to put him in the right and won for him the sympathy of the world. His
+own illiberal and oppressive treatment of the new-comers was forgotten
+in the face of this illegal inroad of filibusters. The true issues were
+so obscured by this intrusion that it has taken years to clear them, and
+perhaps they will never be wholly cleared. It was forgotten that it was
+the bad government of the country which was the real cause of the
+unfortunate raid. From then onwards the government might grow worse and
+worse, but it was always possible to point to the raid as justifying
+everything. Were the Uitlanders to have the franchise? How could they
+expect it after the raid? Would Britain object to the enormous
+importation of arms and obvious preparations for war? They were only
+precautions against a second raid. For years the raid stood in the way,
+not only of all progress, but of all remonstrance. Through an action
+over which they had no control, and which they had done their best to
+prevent, the British Government was left with a bad case and a weakened
+moral authority.
+
+The raiders were sent home, where the rank and file were very properly
+released, and the chief officers were condemned to terms of imprisonment
+which certainly did not err upon the side of severity. In the meantime,
+both President Kruger and his burghers had shown a greater severity to
+the political prisoners from Johannesburg than to the armed followers of
+Jameson. The nationality of these prisoners is interesting and
+suggestive. There were twenty-three Englishmen, sixteen South Africans,
+nine Scotchmen, six Americans, two Welshmen, one Irishman, one
+Australian, one Hollander, one Bavarian, one Canadian, one Swiss, and
+one Turk. The list is sufficient comment upon the assertion that only
+the British Uitlanders made serious complaints of subjection and
+injustice. The prisoners were arrested in January, but the trial did not
+take place until the end of April. All were found guilty of high
+treason. Mr. Lionel Phillips, Colonel Rhodes (brother of Mr. Cecil
+Rhodes), George Farrar, and Mr. Hammond, the American engineer, were
+condemned to death, a sentence which was afterwards commuted to the
+payment of an enormous fine. The other prisoners were condemned to two
+years' imprisonment, with a fine of 2,000_l._ each. The imprisonment was
+of the most arduous and trying sort, and was embittered by the harshness
+of the gaoler, Du Plessis. One of the unfortunate men cut his throat,
+and several fell seriously ill, the diet and the sanitary conditions
+being equally unhealthy. At last, at the end of May, all the prisoners
+but six were released. Four of the six soon followed, two stalwarts,
+Sampson and Davies, refusing to sign any petition and remaining in
+prison until they were set free in 1897. Altogether the Transvaal
+Government received in fines from the reform prisoners the enormous sum
+of 212,000_l._ A certain comic relief was immediately afterwards given
+to so grave an episode by the presentation of a bill to Great Britain
+for 1,677,938_l._ 3_s._ 3_d._--the greater part of which was under the
+heading of moral and intellectual damage. It is to be feared that even
+the 3_s._ 3_d._ remains still unpaid.
+
+The raid was past and the reform movement was past, but the causes
+which produced them both remained. It is hardly conceivable that a
+statesman who loved his country would have refrained from making some
+effort to remove a state of things which had already caused such grave
+dangers, and which must obviously become more serious with every year
+that passed. But Paul Kruger had hardened his heart, and was not to be
+moved. The grievances of the Uitlanders became heavier than ever. The
+one power in the land to which they had been able to appeal for some
+sort of redress amid their troubles was the law courts. Now it was
+decreed that the courts should be dependent on the Volksraad. The Chief
+Justice protested against such a degradation of his high office, and he
+was dismissed in consequence without a pension. The judge who had
+condemned the reformers was chosen to fill the vacancy, and the
+protection of a fixed law was withdrawn from the Uitlanders.
+
+A commission appointed by the State was sent to examine into the
+condition of the mining industry and the grievances from which the
+new-comers suffered. The chairman was Mr. Schalk Burger, one of the most
+liberal of the Boers, and the proceedings were thorough and impartial.
+The result was a report which amply vindicated the reformers, and
+suggested remedies which would have gone a long way towards satisfying
+the Uitlanders. With such enlightened legislation their motives for
+seeking the franchise would have been less pressing. But the President
+and his Raad would have none of the recommendations of the commission.
+The rugged old autocrat declared that Schalk Burger was a traitor to his
+country for having signed such a document, and a new reactionary
+committee was chosen to report upon the report. Words and papers were
+the only outcome of the affair. No amelioration came to the new-comers.
+But at least they had again put their case publicly upon record, and it
+had been endorsed by the most respected of the burghers. Gradually in
+the press of the English-speaking countries the raid was ceasing to
+obscure the issue. More and more clearly it was coming out that no
+permanent settlement was possible where half the population was
+oppressed by the other half. They had tried peaceful means and failed.
+They had tried warlike means and failed. What was there left for them to
+do? Their own country, the paramount power of South Africa, had never
+helped them. Perhaps if it were directly appealed to it might do so. It
+could not, if only for the sake of its own imperial prestige, leave its
+children for ever in a state of subjection. The small spark which caused
+a final explosion came from the shooting of a British subject named
+Edgar by a Boer policeman, Jones, in Johannesburg. The action of the
+policeman was upheld by the authorities, and the British felt that their
+lives were no longer safe in the presence of an armed overbearing
+police. At another time the incident might have been of no great
+importance, but at that moment it seemed to be taken as the crowning
+example of the injustice under which the miners suffered. A meeting of
+protest called by the British residents was broken up by gangs of
+workmen under Boer officials. Driven to desperation the Uitlanders
+determined upon a petition to Queen Victoria, and in doing so they
+brought their grievances out of the limits of a local controversy into
+the broader field of international politics. Great Britain must either
+protect them or acknowledge that their protection was beyond her power.
+A direct petition to the Queen praying for protection was signed in
+April 1899 by 21,000 Uitlanders.
+
+The lines which this historical petition took may be judged from the
+following excerpt:
+
+'The condition of Your Majesty's subjects in this State has indeed
+become well-nigh intolerable.
+
+'The acknowledged and admitted grievances of which Your Majesty's
+subjects complained prior to 1895, not only are not redressed, but exist
+to-day in an aggravated form. They are still deprived of all political
+rights, they are denied any voice in the government of the country, they
+are taxed far above the requirements of the country, the revenue of
+which is misapplied and devoted to objects which keep alive a continuous
+and well-founded feeling of irritation, without in any way advancing the
+general interest of the State. Maladministration and peculation of
+public moneys go hand-in-hand, without any vigorous measures being
+adopted to put a stop to the scandal. The education of Uitlander
+children is made subject to impossible conditions. The police afford no
+adequate protection to the lives and property of the inhabitants of
+Johannesburg; they are rather a source of danger to the peace and safety
+of the Uitlander population.
+
+'A further grievance has become prominent since the beginning of the
+year. The power vested in the Government by means of the Public Meetings
+Act has been a menace to Your Majesty's subjects since the enactment of
+the Act in 1894. This power has now been applied in order to deliver a
+blow that strikes at the inherent and inalienable birthright of every
+British subject--namely, his right to petition his Sovereign. Straining
+to the utmost the language and intention of the law, the Government have
+arrested two British subjects who assisted in presenting a petition to
+Your Majesty on behalf of four thousand fellow-subjects. Not content
+with this, the Government, when Your Majesty's loyal subjects again
+attempted to lay their grievances before Your Majesty, permitted their
+meeting to be broken up, and the objects of it to be defeated, by a body
+of Boers, organised by Government officials and acting under the
+protection of the police. By reason, therefore, of the direct, as well
+as the indirect, act of the Government, Your Majesty's loyal subjects
+have been prevented from publicly ventilating their grievances, and from
+laying them before Your Majesty.
+
+'Wherefore Your Majesty's humble petitioners humbly beseech Your Most
+Gracious Majesty to extend Your Majesty's protection to Your Majesty's
+loyal subjects resident in this State, and to cause an inquiry to be
+made into grievances and complaints enumerated and set forth in this
+humble petition, and to direct Your Majesty's representative in South
+Africa to take measures which will insure the speedy reform of the
+abuses complained of, and to obtain substantial guarantees from the
+Government of this State for a recognition of their rights as British
+subjects.'
+
+From the date of this direct petition from our ill-used people to their
+Sovereign events moved inevitably towards one end. Sometimes the surface
+was troubled and sometimes smooth, but the stream always ran swiftly and
+the roar of the fall sounded ever louder in the ears.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+THE NEGOTIATIONS
+
+
+The British Government and the British people do not desire any direct
+authority in South Africa. Their one supreme interest is that the
+various States there should live in concord and prosperity, and that
+there should be no need for the presence of a British redcoat within the
+whole great peninsula. Our foreign critics, with their misapprehension
+of the British colonial system, can never realise that whether the
+four-coloured flag of the Transvaal or the Union Jack of a
+self-governing colony waved over the gold mines would not make the
+difference of one shilling to the revenue of Great Britain. The
+Transvaal as a British province would have its own legislature, its own
+revenue, its own expenditure, and its own tariff against the mother
+country, as well as against the rest of the world, and Britain be none
+the richer for the change. This is so obvious to a Briton that he has
+ceased to insist upon it, and it is for that reason perhaps that it is
+so universally misunderstood abroad. On the other hand, while she is no
+gainer by the change, most of the expense of it in blood and in money
+falls upon the home country. On the face of it, therefore, Great Britain
+had every reason to avoid so formidable a task as the conquest of the
+South African Republic. At the best she had nothing to gain, and at the
+worst she had an immense deal to lose. There was no room for ambition or
+aggression. It was a case of shirking or fulfilling a most arduous duty.
+
+There could be no question of a plot for the annexation of the
+Transvaal. In a free country the Government cannot move in advance of
+public opinion, and public opinion is influenced by and reflected in the
+newspapers. One may examine the files of the press during all the months
+of negotiations and never find one reputable opinion in favour of such a
+course, nor did one in society ever meet an advocate of such a measure.
+But a great wrong was being done, and all that was asked was the minimum
+change which would set it right, and restore equality between the white
+races in Africa. 'Let Kruger only be liberal in the extension of the
+franchise,' said the paper which is most representative of the sanest
+British opinion, 'and he will find that the power of the republic will
+become not weaker, but infinitely more secure. Let him once give the
+majority of the resident males of full age the full vote, and he will
+have given the republic a stability and power which nothing else can. If
+he rejects all pleas of this kind, and persists in his present policy,
+he may possibly stave off the evil day, and preserve his cherished
+oligarchy for another few years; but the end will be the same.' The
+extract reflects the tone of all the British press with the exception of
+one or two papers which considered that even the persistent ill-usage of
+our people, and the fact that we were peculiarly responsible for them in
+this State, did not justify us in interfering in the internal affairs of
+the republic. It cannot be denied that the Jameson Raid had weakened the
+force of those who wished to interfere energetically on behalf of
+British subjects. There was a vague but widespread feeling that perhaps
+the capitalists were engineering the situation for their own ends. It is
+difficult to imagine how a state of unrest and insecurity, to say
+nothing of a state of war, can ever be to the advantage of capital, and
+surely it is obvious that if some arch-schemer were using the grievances
+of the Uitlanders for his own ends the best way to checkmate him would
+be to remove those grievances. The suspicion, however, did exist among
+those who like to ignore the obvious and magnify the remote, and
+throughout the negotiations the hand of Great Britain was weakened, as
+her adversary had doubtless calculated that it would be, by an earnest
+but fussy and faddy minority.
+
+It was in April 1899 that the British Uitlanders sent their petition
+praying for protection to their native country. Since the April previous
+a correspondence had been going on between Dr. Leyds, Secretary of State
+for the South African Republic, and Mr. Chamberlain, Colonial Secretary,
+upon the existence or non-existence of the suzerainty. On the one hand,
+it was contended that the substitution of a second convention had
+entirely annulled the first; on the other, that the preamble of the
+first applied also to the second. If the Transvaal contention were
+correct it is clear that Great Britain had been tricked and jockeyed
+into such a position, since she had received no _quid pro quo_ in the
+second convention, and even the most careless of Colonial Secretaries
+could hardly have been expected to give away a very substantial
+something for nothing. But the contention throws us back upon the
+academic question of what a suzerainty is. The Transvaal admitted a
+power of veto over their foreign policy, and this admission in itself,
+unless they openly tore up the convention, must deprive them of the
+position of a sovereign State.
+
+But now to this debate, which had so little of urgency in it that seven
+months intervened between statement and reply, there came the bitterly
+vital question of the wrongs and appeal of the Uitlanders. Sir Alfred
+Milner, the British Commissioner in South Africa, a man of liberal
+politics who had been appointed by a Conservative Government, commanded
+the respect and confidence of all parties. His record was that of an
+able, clear-headed man, too just to be either guilty of or tolerant of
+injustice. To him the matter was referred, and a conference was arranged
+between President Kruger and him at Bloemfontein, the capital of the
+Orange Free State. They met on May 31, 1899.
+
+There were three different classes of subject which had to be discussed
+at the Conference. One included all those alleged breaches of the
+Convention of London which had caused so much friction between the two
+Governments, and which had thrice in eighteen years brought the States
+to the verge of war. Among these subjects would be the Boer annexations
+of native territory, such interference with trade as the stopping of the
+Drifts, the question of suzerainty, and the possibility of arbitration.
+The second class of questions would deal with the grievances of the
+Uitlanders, which presented a problem which had in no way been provided
+for in the Conventions. The third class contained the question of the
+ill-treatment of British Indians, and other causes of quarrel. Sir
+Alfred Milner was faced with the alternative either to argue over each
+of these questions in turn--an endless and unprofitable business--or to
+put forward some one test-question which would strike at the root of the
+matter and prove whether a real attempt would be made by the Boer
+Government to relieve the tension. The question which he selected was
+that of the franchise for the Uitlanders, for it was evident that if
+they obtained not a fair share--such a request was never made--but any
+appreciable share in the government of the country, they would in time
+be able to relieve their own grievances and so spare the British
+Government the heavy task of acting as their champions. But the
+Conference was quickly wrecked upon this question. Milner contended for
+a five-years' retroactive franchise, with provisions to secure adequate
+representation for the mining districts. Kruger offered a seven-years'
+franchise, coupled with numerous conditions which whittled down its
+value very much; promised five members out of thirty-one to represent
+half the male adult population; and added a provision that all
+differences should be subject to arbitration by foreign powers--a
+condition which is incompatible with any claim to suzerainty. This offer
+dropped the term for the franchise from fourteen years to seven, but it
+retained a number of conditions which might make it illusory, while
+demanding in exchange a most important concession from the British
+Government. The proposals of each were impossible to the other, and
+early in June Sir Alfred Milner was back in Cape Town and President
+Kruger in Pretoria, with nothing settled except the extreme difficulty
+of a settlement.
+
+On June 12 Sir Alfred Milner received a deputation at Cape Town and
+reviewed the situation. 'The principle of equality of races was,' he
+said, 'essential for South Africa. The one State where inequality
+existed kept all the others in a fever. Our policy was one not of
+aggression, but of singular patience, which could not, however, lapse
+into indifference.' Two days later Kruger addressed the Raad. 'The other
+side had not conceded one tittle, and I could not give more. God has
+always stood by us. I do not want war, but I will not give more away.
+Although our independence has once been taken away, God had restored
+it.' He spoke with sincerity no doubt, but it is hard to hear God
+invoked with such confidence for the system which encouraged the liquor
+traffic to the natives, and bred the most corrupt set of officials that
+the modern world has seen.
+
+A despatch from Sir Alfred Milner, giving his views upon the situation,
+made the British public recognise, as nothing else had done, how serious
+the position was, and how essential it was that an earnest national
+effort should be made to set it right. In it he said:
+
+'The case for intervention is overwhelming. The only attempted answer is
+that things will right themselves if left alone. But, in fact, the
+policy of leaving things alone has been tried for years, and it has led
+to their going from bad to worse. It is not true that this is owing to
+the raid. They were going from bad to worse before the raid. We were on
+the verge of war before the raid, and the Transvaal was on the verge of
+revolution. The effect of the raid has been to give the policy of
+leaving things alone a new lease of life, and with the old consequences.
+
+'The spectacle of thousands of British subjects kept permanently in the
+position of helots, constantly chafing under undoubted grievances, and
+calling vainly to her Majesty's Government for redress, does steadily
+undermine the influence and reputation of Great Britain within the
+Queen's dominions. A section of the press, not in the Transvaal only,
+preaches openly and constantly the doctrine of a republic embracing all
+South Africa, and supports it by menacing references to the armaments of
+the Transvaal, its alliance with the Orange Free State, and the active
+sympathy which, in case of war, it would receive from a section of her
+Majesty's subjects. I regret to say that this doctrine, supported as it
+is by a ceaseless stream of malignant lies about the intentions of her
+Majesty's Government, is producing a great effect on a large number of
+our Dutch fellow-colonists. Language is frequently used which seems to
+imply that the Dutch have some superior right, even in this colony, to
+their fellow-citizens of British birth. Thousands of men peaceably
+disposed, and if left alone perfectly satisfied with their position as
+British subjects, are being drawn into disaffection, and there is a
+corresponding exasperation upon the part of the British.
+
+'I can see nothing which will put a stop to this mischievous propaganda
+but some striking proof of the intention of her Majesty's Government not
+to be ousted from its position in South Africa.'
+
+Such were the grave and measured words with which the British pro-consul
+warned his countrymen of what was to come. He saw the stormcloud piling
+in the north, but even his eyes had not yet discerned how near and how
+terrible was the tempest.
+
+Throughout the end of June and the early part of July much was hoped
+from the mediation of the heads of the Afrikander Bond, the political
+union of the Dutch Cape colonists. On the one hand, they were the
+kinsmen of the Boers; on the other, they were British subjects, and were
+enjoying the blessings of those liberal institutions which we were
+anxious to see extended to the Transvaal. 'Only treat our folk as we
+treat yours!' Our whole contention was compressed into that prayer. But
+nothing came of the mission, though a scheme endorsed by Mr. Hofmeyr and
+Mr. Herholdt, of the Bond, with Mr. Fischer of the Free State, was
+introduced into the Raad and applauded by Mr. Schreiner, the Africander
+Premier of Cape Colony. In its original form the provisions were obscure
+and complicated, the franchise varying from nine years to seven under
+different conditions. In debate, however, the terms were amended until
+the time was reduced to seven years, and the proposed representation of
+the Goldfields placed at five. The concession was not a great one, nor
+could the representation, five out of thirty-one, be considered a
+generous provision for half the adult male population; but the reduction
+of the years of residence was eagerly hailed in England as a sign that a
+compromise might be effected. A sigh of relief went up from the country.
+'If,' said the Colonial Secretary, 'this report is confirmed, this
+important change in the proposals of President Kruger, coupled with
+previous amendments, leads Government to hope that the new law may prove
+to be the basis of a settlement on the lines laid down by Sir Alfred
+Milner in the Bloemfontein Conference.' He added that there were some
+vexatious conditions attached, but concluded, 'Her Majesty's Government
+feel assured that the President, having accepted the principle for which
+they have contended, will be prepared to reconsider any detail of his
+scheme which can be shown to be a possible hindrance to the full
+accomplishment of the object in view, and that he will not allow them to
+be nullified or reduced in value by any subsequent alterations of the
+law or acts of administration.' At the same time, the 'Times' declared
+the crisis to be at an end: 'If the Dutch statesmen of the Cape have
+induced their brethren in the Transvaal to carry such a Bill, they will
+have deserved the lasting gratitude, not only of their own countrymen
+and of the English colonists in South Africa, but of the British Empire
+and of the civilised world.' The reception of the idea that the crisis
+was at an end is surely a conclusive proof how little it was desired in
+England that that crisis should lead to war.
+
+But this fair prospect was soon destined to be overcast. Questions of
+detail arose which, when closely examined, proved to be matters of very
+essential importance. The Uitlanders and British South Africans, who had
+experienced in the past how illusory the promises of the President might
+be, insisted upon guarantees. The seven years offered were two years
+more than that which Sir Alfred Milner had declared to be an irreducible
+minimum. The difference of two years would not have hindered their
+acceptance, even at the expense of some humiliation to our
+representative. But there were conditions which excited distrust when
+drawn up by so wily a diplomatist. One was that the alien who aspired to
+burghership had to produce a certificate of continuous registration for
+a certain time. But the law of registration had fallen into disuse in
+the Transvaal, and consequently this provision might render the whole
+Bill valueless. Since it was carefully retained, it was certainly meant
+for use. The door had been opened, but a stone was placed to block it.
+Again, the continued burghership of the new-comers was made to depend
+upon the resolution of the first Raad, so that should the mining members
+propose any measure of reform, not only their Bill but they also might
+be swept out of the house by a Boer majority. What could an Opposition
+do if a vote of the Government might at any moment unseat them all? It
+was clear that a measure which contained such provisions must be very
+carefully sifted before a British Government could accept it as a final
+settlement and a complete concession of justice to its subjects. On the
+other hand, it naturally felt loth to refuse those clauses which offered
+some prospect of an amelioration in their condition. It took the course,
+therefore, of suggesting that each Government should appoint delegates
+to form a joint commission which should inquire into the working of the
+proposed Bill before it was put into a final form. The proposal was
+submitted to the Raad on August 7, with the addition that when this was
+done Sir Alfred Milner was prepared to discuss anything else, including
+arbitration without the interference of foreign powers.
+
+The suggestion of this joint commission has been criticised as an
+unwarrantable intrusion into the internal affairs of another country.
+But then the whole question from the beginning was about the internal
+affairs of another country, since there could be no rest in South Africa
+so long as one race tried to dominate the other. It is futile to suggest
+analogies, and to imagine what France would do if Germany were to
+interfere in a question of French franchise. Supposing that France
+contained nearly as many Germans as Frenchmen, and that they were
+ill-treated, Germany would interfere quickly enough and continue to do
+so until some fair _modus vivendi_ was established. The fact is that the
+case of the Transvaal stands alone, that such a condition of things has
+never been known, and that no previous precedent can apply to it, save
+the general rule that white men who are heavily taxed must have some
+representation. Sentiment may incline to the smaller nation, but reason
+and justice are all on the side of Britain.
+
+A long delay followed upon the proposal of the Secretary of the
+Colonies. No reply was forthcoming from Pretoria. But on all sides there
+came evidence that those preparations for war which had been quietly
+going on even before the Jameson Raid were now being hurriedly
+perfected. For so small a State enormous sums were being spent upon
+military equipment. Cases of rifles and boxes of cartridges streamed
+into the arsenal, not only from Delagoa Bay, but even, to the
+indignation of the English colonists, through Cape Town and Port
+Elizabeth. Huge packing-cases, marked 'Agricultural Instruments' and
+'Mining Machinery,' arrived from Germany and France, to find their
+places in the forts of Johannesburg or Pretoria. As early as May the
+Orange Free State President, who was looked upon by the simple and
+trustful British as the honest broker who was about to arrange a peace,
+was writing to Grobler, the Transvaal official, claiming his share of
+the twenty-five million cartridges which had then been imported. This
+was the man who was posing as mediator between the two parties a
+fortnight later at Bloemfontein.
+
+For three years the Transvaal had been arming to the teeth. So many
+modern magazine-rifles had been imported that there were enough to
+furnish five to every male burgher in the country. The importation of
+ammunition was on the same gigantic scale. For what were these
+formidable preparations? Evidently for a war with Great Britain, and not
+for a defensive war. It is not in a defensive war that a State provides
+sufficient rifles to arm every man of Dutch blood in the whole of South
+Africa. No British reinforcements had been sent during the years that
+the Transvaal was obviously preparing for a struggle. In that one
+eloquent fact lies a complete proof as to which side forced on a war,
+and which side desired to avoid one. For three weeks and more, during
+which Mr. Kruger was silent, these preparations went on more
+energetically and more openly.
+
+But beyond them, and of infinitely more importance, there was one fact
+which dominated the situation and retarded the crisis. A burgher cannot
+go to war without his horse, his horse cannot move without grass, grass
+will not come until after rain, and it was still some weeks before the
+rain would be due. Negotiations, then, must not be unduly hurried while
+the veldt was a bare russet-coloured dust-swept plain. Mr. Chamberlain
+and the British public waited week after week for an answer. But there
+was a limit to their patience, and it was reached on August 26, when the
+Colonial Secretary showed, with a plainness of speech which is as
+unusual as it is welcome in diplomacy, that the question could not be
+hung up for ever. 'The sands are running down in the glass,' said he.
+'If they run out we shall not hold ourselves limited by that which we
+have already offered, but, having taken the matter in hand, we will not
+let it go until we have secured conditions which once for all shall
+establish which is the paramount power in South Africa, and shall secure
+for our fellow-subjects there those equal rights and equal privileges
+which were promised them by President Kruger when the independence of
+the Transvaal was granted by the Queen, and which is the least that in
+justice ought to be accorded them.' Lord Salisbury, a short time before,
+had been equally emphatic: 'No one in this country wishes to disturb the
+conventions so long as it is recognised that while they guarantee the
+independence of the Transvaal on the one side, they guarantee equal
+political and civil rights for settlers of all nationalities upon the
+other. But these conventions are not like the laws of the Medes and the
+Persians. They are mortal, they can be destroyed ... and once destroyed
+they can never be reconstructed in the same shape.' The long-enduring
+patience of Great Britain was beginning to show signs of giving way.
+
+Pressure was in the meanwhile being put upon the old President and upon
+his advisers, if he can be said ever to have had any advisers, in order
+to induce him to accept the British offer of a joint committee of
+inquiry. Sir Henry de Villiers, representing the highest Africander
+opinion of the Cape, wrote strongly pleading the cause of peace, and
+urging Mr. Fischer of the Free State to endeavour to give a more
+friendly tone to the negotiations. 'Try to induce President Kruger to
+meet Mr. Chamberlain in a friendly way, and remove all the causes of
+unrest which have disturbed this unhappy country for so many years.'
+Similar advice came from Europe. The Dutch minister telegraphed as
+follows:
+
+'_August 4, 1899._--Communicate confidentially to the President that,
+having heard from the Transvaal Minister the English proposal of the
+International Commission, I recommend the President, in the interest of
+the country, not peremptorily to refuse that proposition.'
+
+'_August 15, 1899._--Please communicate confidentially to the President
+that the German Government entirely shares my opinion expressed in my
+despatch of August 4, not to refuse the English proposal. The German
+Government is, like myself, convinced that every approach to one of the
+Great Powers in this very critical moment will be without any results
+whatever, and very dangerous for the Republic.'
+
+But neither his Africander brothers nor his friends abroad could turn
+the old man one inch from the road upon which he had set his foot. The
+fact is, that he knew well that his franchise proposals would not bear
+examination; that, in the words of an eminent lawyer, they 'might as
+well have been seventy years as seven,' so complicated and impossible
+were the conditions. For a long time he was silent, and when he at last
+spoke it was to open a new phase of the negotiations. His ammunition was
+not all to hand yet, his rifles had not all been distributed, the grass
+had not appeared upon the veldt. The game must be kept going for a
+couple of months. 'You are such past-masters in the art of gaining
+time!' said Mr. Labouchere to Mr. Montague White. The President
+proceeded to prove it.
+
+His new suggestions were put forward on August 12. In them the Joint
+Commission was put aside, and the proposal was made that the Boer
+Government should accede to the franchise proposals of Sir Alfred Milner
+on condition that the British Government withdrew or dropped her claim
+to a suzerainty, agreed to arbitration by a British and South African
+tribunal, and promised never again to interfere in the internal affairs
+of the Republic. To this Great Britain answered that she would agree to
+such arbitration; that she hoped never again to have occasion to
+interfere for the protection of her own subjects, but that with the
+grant of the franchise all occasion for such interference would pass
+away; and, finally, that she would never consent to abandon her position
+as suzerain power. Mr. Chamberlain's despatch ended by reminding the
+Government of the Transvaal that there were other matters of dispute
+open between the two Governments apart from the franchise, and that it
+would be as well to have them settled at the same time. By these he
+meant such questions as the position of the native races and the
+treatment of Anglo-Indians.
+
+For a moment there seemed now to be a fair prospect of peace. There was
+no very great gap between the two parties, and had the negotiations
+been really _bona fide_ it seems incredible that it could not be
+bridged. But the Transvaal was secure now of the alliance of the Orange
+Free State; it believed that the Colony was ripe for rebellion; and it
+knew that with 60,000 cavalry and 100 guns it was infinitely the
+strongest military power in Africa. One cannot read the negotiations
+without being convinced that they were never meant to succeed, and the
+party which did not mean them to succeed was the party which prepared
+all the time for war. De Villiers, a friendly critic, says of the
+Transvaal Government: 'Throughout the negotiations they have always been
+wriggling to prevent a clear and precise decision.' Surely the sequel
+showed clearly enough why this was so. Their military hand was stronger
+than their political one, and it was with that that they desired to play
+the game. It would not do, therefore, to get the negotiations into such
+a stage that a peaceful solution should become inevitable. What was the
+use of all those rifles and cannon if the pen were after all to effect a
+compromise? 'The only thing that we are afraid of,' wrote young
+Blignant, 'is that Chamberlain with his admitted fitfulness of temper
+should cheat us out of our war and, consequently, the opportunity of
+annexing the Cape Colony and Natal, and forming the Republican United
+States of South Africa'--a legitimate national ambition perhaps, but not
+compatible with _bona-fide_ peaceful negotiations.
+
+It was time, then, to give a less promising turn to the situation. On
+September 2 the answer of the Transvaal Government was returned. It was
+short and uncompromising. They withdrew their offer of the franchise.
+They reasserted the non-existence of the suzerainty. The negotiations
+were at a deadlock. It was difficult to see how they could be reopened.
+In view of the arming of the burghers, the small garrison of Natal had
+been taking up positions to cover the frontier. The Transvaal asked for
+an explanation of their presence. Sir Alfred Milner answered that they
+were guarding British interests, and preparing against contingencies.
+The roar of the fall was sounding loud and near.
+
+On September 8 there was held a Cabinet Council--one of the most
+important in recent years. The military situation was pressing. The
+handful of troops in Africa could not be left at the mercy of the large
+and formidable force which the Boers could at any time hurl against
+them. On the other hand, it was very necessary not to appear to threaten
+or to appeal to force. For this reason reinforcements were sent upon
+such a scale as to make it evident that they were sent for defensive,
+and not for offensive, purposes. Five thousand men were sent from India
+to Natal, and the Cape garrisons were strengthened from England.
+
+At the same time that they took these defensive measures, a message was
+sent to Pretoria, which even the opponents of the Government have
+acknowledged to be temperate, and offering the basis for a peaceful
+settlement. It begins by repudiating emphatically the claim of the
+Transvaal to be a sovereign international State in the same sense in
+which the Orange Free State is one. Any proposal made conditional upon
+such an acknowledgment could not be entertained. The status of the
+Transvaal was settled by certain conventions agreed to by both
+Governments, and nothing had occurred to cause us to acquiesce in a
+radical change in it.
+
+The British Government, however, was prepared to accept the five years'
+franchise as stated in the note of August 19, assuming at the same time
+that in the Raad each member might use his own language.
+
+'Acceptance of these terms by the South African Republic would at once
+remove tension between the two Governments, and would in all probability
+render unnecessary any future intervention to secure redress for
+grievances which the Uitlanders themselves would be able to bring to the
+notice of the Executive Council and the Volksraad.
+
+'Her Majesty's Government are increasingly impressed with the danger of
+further delay in relieving the strain which has already caused so much
+injury to the interests of South Africa, and they earnestly press for an
+immediate and definite reply to the present proposal. If it is acceded
+to they will be ready to make immediate arrangements ... to settle all
+details of the proposed tribunal of arbitration.... If, however, as they
+most anxiously hope will not be the case, the reply of the South African
+Republic should be negative or inconclusive, I am to state that Her
+Majesty's Government must reserve to themselves the right to reconsider
+the situation _de novo_, and to formulate their own proposals for a
+final settlement.'
+
+This despatch was so moderate in form and so courteous in tone that
+press and politicians of every shade of opinion were united in approving
+it, and hoping for a corresponding reply which would relax the tension
+between the two nations. Mr. Morley, Mr. Leonard Courtney, the 'Daily
+Chronicle'--all the most strenuous opponents of the Government
+policy--were satisfied that it was a message of peace. But nothing at
+that time, save a complete and abject surrender upon the part of the
+British, could have satisfied the Boers, who had the most exaggerated
+ideas of their own military prowess and no very high opinion of our own.
+The continental conception of the British wolf and the Transvaal lamb
+would have raised a laugh in Pretoria, where the outcome of the war was
+looked upon as a foregone conclusion. The burghers were in no humour for
+concessions. They knew their own power, and they concluded with justice
+that they were for the time far the strongest military power in South
+Africa. 'We have beaten England before, but it is nothing to the licking
+that we shall give her now!' said one prominent citizen. 'Reitz seemed
+to treat the whole matter as a big joke,' remarked de Villiers. 'Is it
+really necessary for you to go,' said the Chief Justice of the Transvaal
+to an English clergyman. 'The war will be over in a fortnight. We shall
+take Kimberley and Mafeking and give the English such a beating in Natal
+that they will sue for peace.' Such were the extravagant ideas which
+caused them to push aside the olive-branch of peace.
+
+On September 18 the official reply of the Boer Government to the message
+sent from the Cabinet Council was published in London. In manner it was
+unbending and unconciliatory; in substance, it was a complete rejection
+of all the British demands. It refused to recommend or propose to the
+Raad the five-years' franchise and the other provisions which had been
+defined as the minimum which the Home Government could accept as a fair
+measure of justice towards the Uitlanders. The suggestion that the
+debates of the Raad should be bilingual, as they are in the Cape Colony
+and in Canada, was absolutely waved aside. The British Government had
+stated in their last despatch that if the reply should be negative or
+inconclusive they reserved to themselves the right to 'reconsider the
+situation _de novo_, and to formulate their own proposals for a final
+settlement.' The reply had been both negative and inconclusive, and on
+September 22 a council met to determine what the next message should be.
+It was short and firm, but so planned as not to shut the door upon
+peace. Its purport was that the British Government expressed deep regret
+at the rejection of the moderate proposals which had been submitted in
+their last despatch, and that now, in accordance with their promise,
+they would shortly put forward their own plans for a settlement. The
+message was not an ultimatum, but it foreshadowed an ultimatum in the
+future.
+
+In the meantime, upon September 21, the Raad of the Orange Free State
+had met, and it became more and more evident that this republic, with
+whom we had no possible quarrel, but, on the contrary, for whom we had a
+great deal of friendship and admiration, intended to throw in its weight
+against Great Britain. Some time before, an offensive and defensive
+alliance had been concluded between the two States, which must, until
+the secret history of these events comes to be written, appear to have
+been a singularly rash and unprofitable bargain for the smaller one. She
+had nothing to fear from Great Britain, since she had been voluntarily
+turned into an independent republic by her, and had lived in peace with
+her for forty years. Her laws were as liberal as our own. But by this
+suicidal treaty she agreed to share the fortunes of a State which was
+deliberately courting war by its persistently unfriendly attitude, and
+whose reactionary and narrow legislation would, one might imagine, have
+alienated the sympathy of her progressive neighbour. The trend of events
+was seen clearly in the days of President Brand, who was a sane and
+experienced politician. 'President Brand,' says Paul Botha (himself a
+voortrekker and a Boer of the Boers), 'saw clearly what our policy ought
+to have been. He always avoided offending the Transvaal, but he loved
+the Orange Free State and its independence for its own sake and not as
+an appendage to the Transvaal. And in order to maintain its character he
+always strove for the friendship of England.
+
+'President Brand realised that closer union with the turbulent and
+misguided Transvaal, led by Kruger's challenging policy, would
+inevitably result in a disastrous war with England.
+
+'I [Paul Botha] felt this as strongly, and never ceased fighting against
+closer union. I remember once stating these arguments in the Volksraad,
+and wound up my speech by saying, "May Heaven grant that I am wrong in
+what I fear, because, if I am right, then woe, woe to the Orange Free
+State."'
+
+It is evident that if the Free State rushed headlong to utter
+destruction it was not for want of wise voices which tried to guide her
+to some safer path. But there seems to have been a complete
+hallucination as to the comparative strength of the two opponents, and
+as to the probable future of South Africa. Under no possible future
+could the Free State be better off than it was already, a perfectly free
+and independent republic; and yet the country was carried away by
+race-prejudice spread broadcast from a subsidised press and an
+unchristian pulpit. 'When I come to think of the abuse the pulpit made
+of its influence,' says Paul Botha, 'I feel as if I cannot find words
+strong enough to express my indignation. God's word was prostituted. A
+religious people's religion was used to urge them to their destruction.
+A minister of God told me himself, with a wink, that he had to preach
+anti-English because otherwise he would lose favour with those in
+power.' Such were the influences which induced the Free State to make an
+insane treaty, compelling it to wantonly take up arms against a State
+which had never injured it and which bore it nothing but good will.
+
+The tone of President Steyn at the meeting of the Raad, and the support
+which he received from the majority of his burghers, showed unmistakably
+that the two republics would act as one. In his opening speech Steyn
+declared uncompromisingly against the British contention, and declared
+that his State was bound to the Transvaal by everything which was near
+and dear. Among the obvious military precautions which could no longer
+be neglected by the British Government, was the sending of some small
+force to protect the long and exposed line of railway which lies just
+outside the Transvaal border from Kimberley to Rhodesia. Sir Alfred
+Milner communicated with President Steyn as to this movement of troops,
+pointing out that it was in no way directed against the Free State. Sir
+Alfred Milner added that the Imperial Government was still hopeful of a
+friendly settlement with the Transvaal, but if this hope were
+disappointed they looked to the Orange Free State to preserve strict
+neutrality and to prevent military intervention by any of its citizens.
+They undertook that in that case the integrity of the Free State
+frontier would be strictly preserved. Finally, he stated that there was
+absolutely no cause to disturb the good relations between the Free State
+and Great Britain, since we were animated by the most friendly
+intentions towards them. To this the President returned a somewhat
+ungracious answer, to the effect that he disapproved of our action
+towards the Transvaal, and that he regretted the movement of troops,
+which would be considered a menace by the burghers. A subsequent
+resolution of the Free State Raad, ending with the words, 'Come what
+may, the Free State will honestly and faithfully fulfil its obligations
+towards the Transvaal by virtue of the political alliance existing
+between the two republics,' showed how impossible it was that this
+country, formed by ourselves, and without a shadow of a cause of quarrel
+with us, could be saved from being drawn into the whirlpool.
+
+In the meantime, military preparations were being made upon both sides,
+moderate in the case of the British and considerable in that of the
+Boers.
+
+On August 15, at a time when the negotiations had already assumed a very
+serious phase, after the failure of the Bloemfontein Conference and the
+despatch of Sir Alfred Milner, the British forces in South Africa were
+absolutely and absurdly inadequate for the purpose of the defence of our
+own frontier. Surely such a fact must open the eyes of those who, in
+spite of all the evidence, persist that the war was forced on by the
+British. A statesman who forces on a war usually prepares for a war, and
+this is exactly what Mr. Kruger did and the British authorities did not.
+The overbearing suzerain power had at that date, scattered over a huge
+frontier, two cavalry regiments, three field batteries, and six and a
+half infantry battalions--say six thousand men. The innocent pastoral
+States could put in the field more than fifty thousand mounted riflemen,
+whose mobility doubled their numbers, and a most excellent artillery,
+including the heaviest guns which have ever been seen upon a
+battlefield. At this time it is most certain that the Boers could have
+made their way easily either to Durban or to Cape Town. The British
+force, condemned to act upon the defensive, could have been masked and
+afterwards destroyed, while the main body of the invaders would have
+encountered nothing but an irregular local resistance, which would have
+been neutralised by the apathy or hostility of the Dutch colonists. It
+is extraordinary that our authorities seem never to have contemplated
+the possibility of the Boers taking the initiative, or to have
+understood that in that case our belated reinforcements would certainly
+have had to land under the fire of the republican guns. They ran a great
+military risk by their inaction, but at least they made it clear to all
+who are not wilfully blind how far from the thoughts or wishes of the
+British Government it has always been that the matter should be decided
+by force.
+
+In answer to the remonstrances of the Colonial Prime Minister the
+garrison of Natal was gradually increased, partly by troops from
+Europe, and partly by the despatch of 5,000 British troops from India.
+Their arrival late in September raised the number of troops in South
+Africa to 22,000, a force which was inadequate to a contest in the open
+field with the numerous, mobile, and gallant enemy to whom they were to
+be opposed, but which proved to be strong enough to stave off that
+overwhelming disaster which, with our fuller knowledge, we can now see
+to have been impending.
+
+In the weeks which followed the despatch of the Cabinet message of
+September 8, the military situation had ceased to be desperate, but was
+still precarious. Twenty-two thousand regular troops were on the spot
+who might hope to be reinforced by some ten thousand Colonials, but
+these forces had to cover a great frontier, the attitude of Cape Colony
+was by no means whole-hearted and might become hostile, while the black
+population might conceivably throw in its weight against us. Only half
+the regulars could be spared to defend Natal, and no reinforcements
+could reach them in less than a month from the outbreak of hostilities.
+If Mr. Chamberlain was really playing a game of bluff, it must be
+confessed that he was bluffing from a very weak hand.
+
+For purposes of comparison we may give some idea of the forces which Mr.
+Kruger and Mr. Steyn could put in the field. The general press estimate
+of the forces of the two republics varied from 25,000 to 35,000 men. Mr.
+J. B. Robinson, a personal friend of President Kruger's and a man who
+had spent much of his life among the Boers, considered the latter
+estimate to be too high. The calculation had no assured basis to start
+from. A very scattered and isolated population, among whom large
+families were the rule, is a most difficult thing to estimate. Some
+reckoned from the supposed natural increase during eighteen years, but
+the figure given at that date was itself an assumption. Others took
+their calculation from the number of voters in the last presidential
+election; but no one could tell how many abstentions there had been, and
+the fighting age is five years earlier than the voting age in the
+republics. We recognise now that all calculations were far below the
+true figure. It is probable, however, that the information of the
+British Intelligence Department was not far wrong. No branch of the
+British Service has come better out of a very severe ordeal than this
+one, and its report before the war is so accurate, alike in facts and in
+forecast, as to be quite prophetic.
+
+According to this the fighting strength of the Transvaal alone was
+32,000 men, and of the Orange Free State 22,000. With mercenaries and
+rebels from the colonies they would amount to 60,000, while a
+considerable rising of the Cape Dutch would bring them up to 100,000.
+Our actual male prisoners now amount to 42,000, and we can account for
+10,000 casualties, so that, allowing another 10,000 for the burghers at
+large, the Boer force, excluding a great number of Cape rebels, would
+reach 62,000. Of the quality of this large force there is no need to
+speak. The men were brave, hardy, and fired with a strange religious
+enthusiasm. They were all of the seventeenth century, except their
+rifles. Mounted upon their hardy little ponies, they possessed a
+mobility which practically doubled their numbers and made it an
+impossibility ever to outflank them. As marksmen they are supreme. Add
+to this that they had the advantage of acting upon internal lines with
+shorter and safer communications, and one gathers how formidable a task
+lay before the soldiers of the Empire. When we turn from such an
+enumeration of their strength to contemplate the 12,000 men, split into
+two detachments, who awaited them in Natal, we may recognise that, far
+from bewailing our disasters, we should rather congratulate ourselves
+upon our escape from losing that great province which, situated as it is
+between Britain, India, and Australia, must be regarded as the very
+keystone of the imperial arch.
+
+But again one must ask whether in the face of these figures it is still
+possible to maintain that Great Britain was deliberately attempting to
+overthrow by force the independence of the republics.
+
+There was a lull in the political exchanges after the receipt of the
+Transvaal despatch of September 16, which rejected the British proposals
+of September 8. In Africa all hope or fear of peace had ended. The Raads
+had been dissolved and the old President's last words had been that war
+was certain, with a stern invocation of the Lord as the final arbiter.
+Britain was ready less obtrusively, but no less heartily, to refer the
+quarrel to the same dread judge.
+
+On October 2 President Steyn informed Sir Alfred Milner that he had
+deemed it necessary to call out the Free State burghers--that is, to
+mobilise his forces. Sir A. Milner wrote regretting these preparations,
+and declaring that he did not yet despair of peace, for he was sure that
+any reasonable proposal would be favourably considered by her Majesty's
+Government. Steyn's reply was that there was no use in negotiating
+unless the stream of British reinforcements ceased coming into South
+Africa. As our forces were still in a great minority, it was impossible
+to stop the reinforcements, so the correspondence led to nothing. On
+October 7 the army reserves for the First Army Corps were called out in
+Great Britain, and other signs shown that it had been determined to send
+a considerable force to South Africa. Parliament was also summoned, that
+the formal national assent might be gained for those grave measures
+which were evidently pending.
+
+It has been stated that it was the action of the British in calling out
+the reserves which caused the ultimatum from the Boers and so
+precipitated the war. Such a contention is absurd, for it puts the cart
+before the horse. The Transvaal commandos had mobilised upon September
+27, and those of the Free State on October 2. The railways had been
+taken over, the exodus from Johannesburg had begun, and an actual act of
+war had been committed by the stopping of a train and the confiscation
+of the gold which was in it. The British action was subsequent to all
+this, and could not have been the cause of it. But no Government could
+see such portents and delay any longer to take those military
+preparations which were called for by the critical situation. As a
+matter of fact, the Boer ultimatum was prepared before the date of the
+calling out of the reserves, and was only delivered later because the
+final details for war were not quite ready.
+
+It was on October 9 that the somewhat leisurely proceedings of the
+British Colonial Office were brought to a head by the arrival of an
+unexpected and audacious ultimatum from the Boer Government. In contests
+of wit, as of arms, it must be confessed that the laugh has up to now
+been usually upon the side of our simple and pastoral South African
+neighbours. The present instance was no exception to the rule. The
+document was very firm and explicit, but the terms in which it was drawn
+were so impossible that it was evidently framed with the deliberate
+purpose of forcing an immediate war. It demanded that the troops upon
+the borders of the republic should be instantly withdrawn, that all
+reinforcements which had arrived within the last year should leave South
+Africa, and that those who were now upon the sea should be sent back
+without being landed. Failing a satisfactory answer within forty-eight
+hours, 'The Transvaal Government will with great regret be compelled to
+regard the action of her Majesty's Government as a formal declaration
+of war, for the consequences of which it will not hold itself
+responsible.' The audacious message was received throughout the empire
+with a mixture of derision and anger. The answer was despatched next day
+through Sir Alfred Milner.
+
+'_October 10._--Her Majesty's Government have received with great regret
+the peremptory demands of the Government of the South African Republic,
+conveyed in your telegram of the 9th October. You will inform the
+Government of the South African Republic in reply that the conditions
+demanded by the Government of the South African Republic are such as her
+Majesty's Government deem it impossible to discuss.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+SOME POINTS EXAMINED
+
+
+Such is a general sketch of the trend of the negotiations and of the
+events which led up to the war. Under their different headings I will
+now examine in as short a space as possible the criticisms to which the
+British Government has been subjected. Various damaging theories and
+alternate lines of action have been suggested, each of which may be
+shortly discussed.
+
+1. _That Mr. Chamberlain was personally concerned in the raid and that
+out of revenge for that failure, or because he was in the power of Mr.
+Rhodes, he forced on the war._--The theory that Mr. Chamberlain was in
+the confidence of the raiders, has been already examined and shown to be
+untenable. That he knew that an insurrection might probably result from
+the despair of the Uitlanders is very probable. It was his business to
+know what was going on so far as he could, and there is no reason why
+his private sympathies, like those of every other Englishman, should not
+be with his own ill-used people. But that he contemplated an invasion of
+the Transvaal by a handful of policemen is absurd. If he did, why should
+he instantly take the strongest steps to render the invasion abortive?
+What could he possibly do to make things miscarry which he did not do?
+And if he were conscious of being in the power of Mr. Rhodes, how would
+he dare to oppose with such vigour that gentleman's pet scheme? The very
+facts and the very telegrams upon which critics rely to prove Mr.
+Chamberlain's complicity will really, when looked at with unprejudiced
+eyes, most clearly show his entire independence. Thus when Rhodes, or
+Harris in Rhodes's name, telegraphs, 'Inform Chamberlain that I shall
+get through all right if he will support me, but he must not send cable
+like he sent to the High Commissioner,' and again, 'Unless you can make
+Chamberlain instruct the High Commissioner to proceed at once to
+Johannesburg the whole position is lost,' is it not perfectly obvious
+that there has been no understanding of any sort, and that the
+conspirators are attempting to force the Colonial Secretary's hand?
+Again, critics make much of the fact that shortly before the raid Mr.
+Chamberlain sold to the Chartered Company the strip of land from which
+the raid started, and that he made a hard bargain, exacting as much as
+200,000_l._ for it. Surely the perversion of an argument could hardly go
+further, for if Mr. Chamberlain were in their confidence and in favour
+of their plan it is certain that he would have given them easy and not
+difficult terms for the land for which they asked. The supposition that
+Mr. Chamberlain was the tool of Rhodes in declaring war, presupposes
+that Mr. Chamberlain could impose his will without question upon a
+Cabinet which contained Lord Salisbury, Lord Lansdowne, Arthur Balfour,
+Hicks-Beach, and the other ministers. Such a supposition is too
+monstrous to discuss.
+
+2. _That it is a capitalists' war, engineered by company promoters and
+Jews._--After the Jameson Raid a large body of the public held this
+view, and it was this which to a great extent tied the hands of the
+Government, and stopped them from taking that strong line which might
+have prevented the accumulation of those huge armaments which could only
+be intended for use against ourselves. It took years to finally
+dissipate the idea, but how thoroughly it has been dissipated in the
+public mind is best shown by the patient fortitude with which our people
+have borne the long and weary struggle in which few families in the land
+have not lost either a friend or a relative. The complaisance of the
+British public towards capitalists goes no further than giving them
+their strict legal rights--and certainly does not extend to pouring out
+money and blood like water for their support. Such a supposition is
+absurd, nor can any reason be given why a body of high-minded and
+honourable British gentlemen like the Cabinet should sacrifice their
+country for the sake of a number of cosmopolitan financiers, most of
+whom are German Jews. The tax which will eventually be placed upon the
+Transvaal mining industry, in order to help to pay for the war, will in
+itself prove that the capitalists have no great voice in the councils of
+the nation. We know now that the leading capitalists in Johannesburg
+were the very men who most strenuously resisted an agitation which might
+lead to war. This seems natural enough when one considers how much
+capitalists had at stake, and how much to lose by war. The agitation for
+the franchise and other rights was a _bona-fide_ liberal agitation,
+started by poor men, employes and miners, who intended to live in the
+country, not in Park Lane. The capitalists were the very last to be
+drawn into it. When I say capitalists I mean the capitalists with
+British sympathies, for there is indeed much to be said in favour of the
+war being a capitalists' war, in that it was largely caused by the
+anti-British attitude and advice of the South African Netherlands
+Company, the Dynamite Monopoly, and other leeches which drained the
+country. To them a free and honest government meant ruin, and they
+strained every nerve, even to paying bogus English agitators, in order
+to hinder the cause of reform. Their attitude undoubtedly had something
+to do with stiffening the backs of the Boers and so preventing
+concessions.
+
+3. _That Britain wanted the gold mines._--No possible accusation is more
+popular or more widely believed upon the Continent, and yet none could
+be more ridiculous when it is examined. The gold mines are private
+companies, with shares held by private shareholders, German and French,
+as well as British. Whether the British or the Boer flag flew over the
+country would not alienate a single share from any holder, nor would the
+wealth of Britain be in any way greater. She will be the poorer by the
+vast expense of the war, and it is unlikely that more than one-third of
+this expenditure can be covered by taxation of the profits of the gold
+mines. Apart from this limited contribution towards the war, how is
+Britain the richer because her flag flies over the Rand? The Transvaal
+will be a self-governing colony, like all other British colonies, with
+its own finance minister, its own budget, its own taxes, even its own
+power of imposing duties upon British merchandise. They will pay a
+British governor 10,000_l._, and he will be expected to spend 15,000_l._
+_We_ know all this because it is part of our British system, but it is
+not familiar to those nations who look upon colonies as sources of
+direct revenue to the mother country. It is the most general, and at the
+same time the most untenable, of all Continental comments upon the war.
+The second Transvaal war was the logical sequel of the first, and the
+first was fought before gold was discovered in the country.
+
+4. _That it was a monarchy against a republic._--This argument
+undoubtedly had weight with those true republics like the United States,
+France, and Switzerland, where people who were ignorant of the facts
+were led away by mere names. As a matter of fact Great Britain and the
+British colonies are among the most democratic communities in the
+world. They preserve, partly from sentiment, partly for political
+convenience, a hereditary chief, but the will of the people is decisive
+upon all questions, and every man by his vote helps to mould the destiny
+of the State. There is practically universal suffrage, and the highest
+offices of the State are within reach of any citizen who is competent to
+attain them. On the other hand, the Transvaal is an oligarchy, not a
+democracy, where half the inhabitants claim to be upon an entirely
+different footing from the other half. This rule represents the
+ascendency of one race over the other, such an ascendency as existed in
+Ireland in the eighteenth century. Technically the one country is a
+republic and the other a monarchy, but in truth the empire stood for
+liberty and the republic for tyranny, race ascendency, corruption,
+taxation without representation, and all that is most opposed to the
+broader conception of freedom.
+
+5. _That it was a strong nation attacking a weak one._--That appeal to
+sentiment and to the sporting instincts of the human race must always be
+a powerful one. But in this instance it is entirely misapplied. The
+preparation for war, the ultimatum, the invasion, and the first shedding
+of blood, all came from the nation which the result has shown to be the
+weaker. The reason why this smaller nation attacked so audaciously was
+that they knew perfectly well that they were at the time far the
+stronger power in South Africa, and all their information led them to
+believe that they would continue to be so even when Britain had put
+forth all her strength. It certainly seemed that they were justified in
+this belief. The chief military critics of the Continent had declared
+that 100,000 men was the outside figure which Britain could place in the
+field. Against these they knew that without any rising of their kinsmen
+in the Cape they could place fifty or sixty thousand men, and their
+military history had unfortunately led them to believe that such a force
+of Boers, operating under their own conditions with their own horses in
+their own country, was far superior to this number of British soldiers.
+They knew how excellent was their artillery, and how complete their
+preparations. A dozen extracts could be given to show how confident they
+were of success, from Blignant's letter with his fears that Chamberlain
+would do them out of the war, to Esselen's boast that he would not wash
+until he reached the sea. What they did not foresee, and what put out
+their plans, was that indignant wave of public opinion throughout the
+British Empire which increased threefold--as it would, if necessary,
+have increased tenfold--the strength of the army and so enabled it to
+beat down the Boer resistance. When war was declared, and for a very
+long time afterwards, it was the Boers who were the strong power and the
+British who were the weak one, and any sympathy given on the other
+understanding was sympathy misapplied. From that time onwards the war
+had to take its course, and the British had no choice but to push it to
+its end.
+
+6. _That the British refused to arbitrate._--This has been repeated _ad
+nauseam_, but the allegation will not bear investigation. There are some
+subjects which can be settled by arbitration, and all those Great
+Britain freely consented to treat in this fashion, before a tribunal
+which should be limited to Great Britain and South Africa. Such a
+tribunal would by no means be necessarily drawn from judges who were
+committed to one side or the other. There were many men whose moderation
+and discretion both sides would admit. Such a man, for example, was Rose
+Innes amongst the British, and de Villiers among those who had
+Africander sympathies. Both the Transvaal and the British Governments
+agreed that such a tribunal was competent, but they disagreed upon the
+point that the British Government desired to reserve some subjects from
+this arbitration.
+
+The desire upon the part of Great Britain to exclude outsiders from the
+arbitration tribunal was due to the fact that to admit them was to give
+away the case before going into Court. The Transvaal claimed to be a
+sovereign international state. Great Britain denied it. If the Transvaal
+could appeal to arbitration as a peer among peers in a court of nations,
+she became _ipso facto_ an international state. Therefore Great Britain
+refused such a court.
+
+But why not refer all subjects to such a South African court as was
+finally accepted by both sides? The answer is that it is a monstrous
+hypocrisy to carry cases into an arbitration court, when you know
+beforehand that by their very nature they cannot possibly be settled by
+such a court. To quote Milner's words, 'It is, of course, absurd to
+suggest that the question whether the South African Republic does or
+does not treat British residents in that country with justice, and the
+British Government with the consideration and respect due to any
+friendly, not to say suzerain power, is a question capable of being
+referred to arbitration. You cannot arbitrate on broad questions of
+policy any more than on questions of national honour.' On this point of
+the limitation of arbitration the Transvaal leaders appear to have been
+as unanimous as the British, so that it is untrue to lay the blame of
+the restriction upon one side only. Mr. Reitz, in his scheme of
+arbitration formulated upon June 9, has the express clause 'That each
+side shall have the right to reserve and exclude points which appear to
+it to be too important to be submitted to arbitration.' To this the
+British Government agreed, making the further very great concession that
+an Orange Free Stater should not be regarded as a foreigner. The matter
+was in this state when the Transvaal sent its ultimatum. Up to the
+firing of the first shot the British Government still offered the only
+form of arbitration which was possible without giving away the question
+at issue. It was the Transvaal which, after agreeing to such a Court,
+turned suddenly to the arbitrament of the Mauser and the Creusot.
+
+7. _That the war was to avenge Majuba._--There can be no doubt that our
+defeat in this skirmish had left considerable heart-burnings which were
+not allayed by the subsequent attitude of the Boers and their
+assumption, testified to by Bryce and other friendly observers, that
+what we did after the action was due not to a magnanimous desire to
+repair a wrong but to craven fear. From the outset of the war there was
+a strong desire on the part of the soldiers to avenge Majuba, which was
+fully gratified when, upon the anniversary of that day, Cronje and his
+4,000 brave companions had to raise the white flag. But that a desire to
+avenge Majuba swayed the policy of the country cannot be upheld in view
+of the fact that eighteen years had elapsed; that during that time the
+Boers had again and again broken the conventions by extending their
+boundaries; that three times matters were in such a position that war
+might have resulted and yet that peace was successfully maintained. War
+might very easily have been forced upon the Boers during the years
+before they turned their country into an arsenal, when it would have
+been absolutely impossible for them to have sustained a long campaign.
+That it was not done and that the British Government remained patient
+until it received the outrageous ultimatum, is a proof that Majuba may
+have rankled in our memory but was not allowed to influence our policy.
+
+8. _What proof is there that the Boers ever had any aggressive designs
+upon the British?_--It would be a misuse of terms to call the general
+Boer designs against the British a conspiracy, for it was openly
+advocated in the press, preached from the pulpit, and preached upon the
+platform, that the Dutch should predominate in South Africa, and that
+the portion of it which remained under the British flag should be
+absorbed by that which was outside it. So widespread and deep-seated was
+this ambition, that it was evident that Great Britain must, sooner or
+later, either yield to it or else sustain her position by force of arms.
+She was prepared to give Dutch citizens within her borders the vote, the
+power of making their own laws, complete religious and political
+freedom, and everything which their British comrades could have, without
+any distinction whatever; but when it came to hauling down the flag, it
+was certainly time that a stand should be made.
+
+How this came about cannot be expressed more clearly than in the words
+of Paul Botha, who, as I have already said, was a voortrekker like
+Kruger himself, and a Boer of the Boers, save that he seems to have been
+a man with wider and more liberal views than his fellows. He was member
+for Kroonstadt in the Free State Raad.
+
+'I am convinced,' he says, 'that Kruger's influence completely changed
+the character of the Afrikander Bond--an organisation which I believe
+Hofmeyr started at the Cape with the legitimate purpose of securing
+certain political privileges, but which, under Kruger's henchmen--Sauer,
+Merriman, Te Water, and others--raised unrest in the Cape Colony.
+
+'This successful anti-British policy of Kruger created a number of
+imitators--Steyn, Fischer, Esselen, Smuts, and numerous other young
+educated Africanders of the Transvaal, Orange Free State, and the Cape
+Colony, who, misled by his successes, ambitiously hoped by the same
+means to raise themselves to the same pinnacle.
+
+'Krugerism under them developed into a reign of terror. If you were
+anti-Kruger you were stigmatised as "Engelschgezind," and a traitor to
+your people, unworthy of a hearing. I have suffered bitterly from this
+taunt, especially under Steyn's _regime_. The more hostile you were to
+England the greater patriot you were accounted.
+
+'This gang, which I wish to be clearly understood was spread over the
+whole of South Africa, the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and the
+Cape Colony, used the Bond, the press, and the pulpit to further its
+schemes.
+
+'Reitz, whom I believe to have been an honest enthusiast, set himself up
+as second sponsor to the Bond and voiced the doctrine of this gang:
+"Africa for the Africanders. Sweep the English into the sea." With an
+alluring cry like this, it will be readily understood how easy it was to
+inflame the imagination of the illiterate and uneducated Boer, and to
+work upon his vanity and prejudices. That pernicious rag, Carl
+Borckenhagen's "Bloemfontein Express," enormously contributed to
+spreading this doctrine in the Orange Free State. I myself firmly
+believe that the "Express" was subsidised by Kruger. It was no mystery
+to me from where Borckenhagen, a full-blooded German, got his ardent
+Free State patriotism.
+
+'In the Transvaal this was done by the "Volksstem," written by a
+Hollander and subsidised by Kruger; by the "Rand Post," also written by
+a Hollander, also subsidised by Paul Kruger; and in the Cape Colony by
+the "Patriot," which was started by intriguers and rebels to their own
+Government, at the Paarl--a hot-bed of false Africanderism. "Ons Land"
+may be an honest paper, but by fostering impossible ideas it has done us
+incalculable harm. It grieves me to think that my poor people, through
+want of education, had to swallow this poison undiluted.
+
+'Is it possible to imagine that Steyn, Fischer, and the other educated
+men of the Free State did not know that, following Kruger's hostile
+policy of eliminating the preponderating Power in South Africa, meant
+that that Power would be forced either to fight in self-preservation or
+to disappear ignominiously? For I maintain that there were only two
+courses open to England in answer to Kruger's challenging policy--to
+fight or to retire from South Africa. It was only possible for men
+suffering from tremendously swollen heads, such as our leaders were
+suffering from, not to see the obvious or to doubt the issue.'
+
+So much for a Boer's straightforward account of the forces at work, and
+the influences which were at the back of those forces. It sums the
+situation up tersely, but the situation itself was evident and dominated
+Cape politics. The ambitions of Africanderdom were discussed in the
+broad light of day in the editorial, in the sermon, in the speech,
+though the details by which those ambitions were to be carried out were
+only whispered on the Dutch stoeps.
+
+Here are the opinions of Reitz, the man who more than all others, save
+his master, has the blood of the fallen upon his conscience. It is taken
+from the 'Reminiscences' of Mr. Theophilus Schreiner, the brother of the
+ex-Prime Minister of the Cape:
+
+'I met Mr. Reitz, then a judge of the Orange Free State, in Bloemfontein
+between seventeen and eighteen years ago, shortly after the retrocession
+of the Transvaal, and when he was busy establishing the Afrikander Bond.
+It must be patent to everyone that at that time, at all events, England
+and its Government had no intention of taking away the independence of
+the Transvaal, for she had just "magnanimously" granted the same; no
+intention of making war on the republics, for she had just made peace;
+no intention to seize the Rand gold fields, for they were not yet
+discovered. At that time, then, I met Mr. Reitz, and he did his best to
+get me to become a member of his Afrikander Bond, but, after studying
+its constitution and programme, I refused to do so, whereupon the
+following colloquy in substance took place between us, which has been
+indelibly imprinted on my mind ever since:
+
+'_Reitz_: Why do you refuse? Is the object of getting the people to take
+an interest in political matters not a good one?
+
+'_Myself_: Yes, it is; but I seem to see plainly here between the lines
+of this constitution much more ultimately aimed at than that.
+
+'_Reitz_: What?
+
+'_Myself_: I see quite clearly that the ultimate object aimed at is the
+overthrow of the British power and the expulsion of the British flag
+from South Africa.
+
+'_Reitz_ (_with his pleasant conscious smile, as of one whose secret
+thought and purpose had been discovered, and who was not altogether
+displeased that such was the case_): Well, what if it is so?
+
+'_Myself_: You don't suppose, do you, that that flag is going to
+disappear from South Africa without a tremendous struggle and fight?
+
+'_Reitz_ (_with the same pleasant self-conscious, self-satisfied, and
+yet semi-apologetic smile_): Well, I suppose not; but even so, what of
+that?
+
+'_Myself_: Only this, that when that struggle takes place you and I will
+be on opposite sides; and what is more, the God who was on the side of
+the Transvaal in the late war, because it had right on its side, will be
+on the side of England, because He must view with abhorrence any
+plotting and scheming to overthrow her power and position in South
+Africa, which have been ordained by Him.
+
+'_Reitz_: We'll see.
+
+'Thus the conversation ended, but during the seventeen years that have
+elapsed I have watched the propaganda for the overthrow of British power
+in South Africa being ceaselessly spread by every possible means--the
+press, the pulpit, the platform, the schools, the colleges, the
+Legislature--until it has culminated in the present war, of which Mr.
+Reitz and his co-workers are the origin and the cause. Believe me, the
+day on which F. W. Reitz sat down to pen his ultimatum to Great Britain
+was the proudest and happiest moment of his life, and one which had for
+long years been looked forward to by him with eager longing and
+expectation.'
+
+Compare with these utterances of a Dutch politician of the Cape, and of
+a Dutch politician of the Orange Free State, the following passage from
+a speech delivered by Kruger at Bloemfontein in the year 1887, long
+before Jameson raids or franchise agitations:
+
+'I think it too soon to speak of a United South Africa under one flag.
+Which flag was it to be? The Queen of England would object to having her
+flag hauled down, and we, the burghers of the Transvaal, object to
+hauling ours down. What is to be done? We are now small and of little
+importance, but we are growing, and are preparing the way to take our
+place among the great nations of the world.'
+
+'The dream of our life,' said another, 'is a union of the States of
+South Africa, and this has to come from within, not from without. When
+that is accomplished, South Africa will be great.'
+
+Always the same theory from all quarters of Dutch thought, to be
+followed by many signs that the idea was being prepared for in practice.
+I repeat, that the fairest and most unbiassed historian cannot dismiss
+the movement as a myth.
+
+And to this one may retort, Why should they not do so? Why should they
+not have their own views as to the future of South Africa? Why should
+they not endeavour to have one universal flag and one common speech? Why
+should they not win over our colonists, if they can, and push us into
+the sea? I see no reason why they should not. Let them try if they will.
+And let us try to prevent them. But let us have an end of talk about
+British aggression, of capitalist designs upon the gold fields, of the
+wrongs of a pastoral people, and all the other veils which have been
+used to cover the issue. Let those who talk about British designs upon
+the republics turn their attention for a moment to the evidence which
+there is for republican designs upon the colonies. Let them reflect that
+in the British system all white men are equal, and that in the Boer one
+race has persecuted the other; and let them consider under which the
+truest freedom lies, which stands for universal liberty, and which for
+reaction and racial hatred. Let them ponder and answer all this before
+they determine where their sympathies lie.
+
+Long before the war, when the British public and the British Government
+also had every confidence that the solution would be found in peace,
+every burgher had been provided with his rifle, his ammunition, and his
+instructions as to the part which he was to play in that war which they
+looked upon as certain. A huge conspiracy as to the future, which might
+be verbally discussed but which must not be written, seems to have
+prevailed among the farmers. Curious evidence of it came into my own
+hands in this fashion. After a small action at which I was present I
+entered a deserted Boer farmhouse which had been part of the enemy's
+position, and, desiring to carry away some souvenir which should be of
+no value, I took some papers which appeared to be children's
+writing-exercises. They were so, but among them were one or two letters,
+one of which I append in all its frankness and simplicity. The date is
+some fourteen weeks _before_ the declaration of war, when the British
+were anxious for and confident in a peaceful solution:
+
+                                              'Paradys, June 25, 1899.
+
+'MY DEAR HENRY,--I taking my pen up to write you these few lines. That
+we all are in good health, hoping to hear the same from you all. And the
+letter of the 18th is handed to me. And I feel very much obliged that I
+hear you are all in good health.... Here by us are the fields very dry,
+and the dams just by dry also. _Dear Henry, the war are by us very much.
+How is it there by you. News is very scarce to write, but much to speak
+by ourselves._ I must now close with my letter because I see that you
+will be tired out to read it. With best love to you and your family so I
+remain your faithfully friend,
+
+                                                       'PIETER WIESE.'
+
+Here is, in itself, as it seems to me, evidence of that great
+conspiracy, not of ambitions (for there was no reason why they should
+not be openly discussed), but of weapons and of dates for using them,
+which was going on all the time behind that cloud of suspicious
+negotiations with which the Boer Governments veiled their resolution to
+attack the British. A small straw, no doubt, but the result has shown
+how deep and dangerous was the current which it indicates. Here is a
+letter from one of the Snymans to his brother at a later period, but
+still a month before the war. He is talking of Kruger:
+
+'The old chap was nearly raving about it, and said that the burghers
+wanted to tie his hands, and so, brother, the thing is simply war and
+nothing else. He said we had gone too far, and help from oversea was
+positively promised, only unanimity of opinion must reign here or we
+could neither expect nor obtain assistance. Brother, the old man and his
+Hollander dogs talk very easily about the thing; but what shall we do,
+because if one speaks against it one is simply a rebel? So I remain
+dumb.
+
+'On the stoep it is nothing but war, but in the Raad everything is peace
+and Queen. Those are the politics they talk. I have nothing more to say
+here, but I can tell you a good deal. Brother, old Reitz says
+Chamberlain will have a great surprise one of these days, and the
+burghers must sleep with one eye open.
+
+'It is rumoured here that our military officers work day and night to
+send old Victoria an ultimatum before she is ready.'
+
+'On the stoep it is nothing but war, but in the Raad everything is
+peace.' No wonder the British overtures were in vain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE
+
+
+This is not an attempt to write the history of the war, which I have
+done elsewhere, but only to touch upon those various points upon which
+attempts have been made to mislead continental and American opinion. I
+will endeavour to treat each of these subjects in turn, not in the
+spirit of a lawyer preparing a brief, but with an honest endeavour to
+depict the matter as it is, even when I venture to differ from the
+action either of the British Government or of the generals in the field.
+In this chapter I will deal with the question of making peace, and
+examine how far the British are to blame for not having brought those
+negotiations which have twice been opened to a successful conclusion.
+
+The outset of the war saw the Boers aggressive and victorious. They
+flocked into British territory, drove the small forces opposed to them
+into entrenched positions, and held them there at Ladysmith, Kimberley,
+and Mafeking. At the same time they drove back at Colenso and at
+Magersfontein the forces which were sent to relieve these places. During
+this long period of their predominance from October 1899 to February
+1900, there was no word of peace. On the contrary, every yard of British
+territory which was occupied was instantly annexed either by the
+Transvaal or by the Orange Free State. This is admitted and beyond
+dispute. What becomes then of the theory of a defensive war, and what
+can they urge against the justice which awarded the same fate to the
+land of the Boers when it in turn was occupied by us? The Boers did not
+use their temporary victory in any moderate spirit. At the end of
+January 1900, Dr. Leyds, while on his visit to Berlin, said:
+
+'I believe that England will have to give us back a good part of the
+territory formerly snatched away from us.... The Boers will probably
+demand the cession of the strip of coast between Durban and Delagoa Bay,
+with the harbours of Lucia and Kosi. The Orange Free State and the
+Transvaal are to be united and to form one State, together with parts of
+Natal and the northern districts of Cape Colony.'--(_Daily News_ Berlin
+correspondent, February 1, March 16, 1900.)
+
+They were to go to the sea, and nothing but going to the sea would
+satisfy them. The war would end when their flag flew over Cape Town. But
+there came a turn of the tide. The resistance of the garrisons, the
+tenacity of the relieving forces, and the genius of Lord Roberts altered
+the whole situation. The Boers were driven back to the first of their
+capitals. Then for the first time there came from them those proposals
+for peace, which were never heard when the game was going in their
+favour. Here is President Kruger's telegram:
+
+          'THE PRESIDENTS OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE AND OF THE
+          SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC TO THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY.
+
+                                         'Bloemfontein: March 5, 1900.
+
+'The blood and the tears of the thousands who have suffered by this war,
+and the prospect of all the moral and economic ruin with which South
+Africa is now threatened, make it necessary for both belligerents to ask
+themselves dispassionately, and as in the sight of the Triune God, for
+what they are fighting, and whether the aim of each justifies all this
+appalling misery and devastation.
+
+'With this object, and in view of the assertions of various British
+statesmen to the effect that this war was begun and is being carried on
+with the set purpose of undermining Her Majesty's authority in South
+Africa, and of setting up an Administration over all South Africa
+independent of Her Majesty's Government, we consider it our duty
+solemnly to declare that this war was undertaken solely as a defensive
+measure to safeguard the threatened independence of the South African
+Republic, and is only continued in order to secure and safeguard the
+incontestable independence of both Republics as Sovereign International
+States, and to obtain the assurance that those of Her Majesty's subjects
+who have taken part with us in this war shall suffer no harm whatsoever
+in person or property.
+
+'On these conditions, but on these conditions alone, are we now, as in
+the past, desirous of seeing peace re-established in South Africa, and
+of putting an end to the evils now reigning over South Africa; while, if
+Her Majesty's Government is determined to destroy the independence of
+the Republics, there is nothing left to us and to our people but to
+persevere to the end in the course already begun, in spite of the
+overwhelming pre-eminence of the British Empire, confident that that God
+who lighted the unextinguishable fire of the love of freedom in the
+hearts of ourselves and of our fathers will not forsake us, but will
+accomplish His work in us and in our descendants.
+
+'We hesitated to make this declaration earlier to Your Excellency, as we
+feared that as long as the advantage was always on our side, and as long
+as our forces held defensive positions far in Her Majesty's colonies,
+such a declaration might hurt the feelings of honour of the British
+people; but now that the prestige of the British Empire may be
+considered to be assured by the capture of one of our forces by Her
+Majesty's troops, and that we are thereby forced to evacuate other
+positions which our forces had occupied, that difficulty is over, and we
+can no longer hesitate clearly to inform your Government and people in
+the sight of the whole civilised world why we are fighting, and on what
+conditions we are ready to restore peace.'
+
+Here is Lord Salisbury's reply:
+
+                                      'Foreign Office: March 11, 1900.
+
+'I have the honour to acknowledge Your Honours' telegram dated the 5th
+of March from Bloemfontein, of which the purport is principally to
+demand that Her Majesty's Government shall recognise the "incontestable
+independence" of the South African Republic and Orange Free State "as
+Sovereign International States," and to offer, on those terms, to bring
+the war to a conclusion.
+
+'In the beginning of October last peace existed between Her Majesty and
+the two Republics under the Conventions which then were in existence. A
+discussion had been proceeding for some months between Her Majesty's
+Government and the South African Republic, of which the object was to
+obtain redress for certain very serious grievances under which British
+residents in the South African Republic were suffering. In the course of
+those negotiations the South African Republic had, to the knowledge of
+Her Majesty's Government, made considerable armaments, and the latter
+had, consequently, taken steps to provide corresponding reinforcements
+to the British garrisons of Cape Town and Natal. No infringement of the
+rights guaranteed by the Conventions had up to that point taken place on
+the British side. Suddenly, at two days' notice, the South African
+Republic, after issuing an insulting ultimatum, declared war upon Her
+Majesty, and the Orange Free State, with whom there had not even been
+any discussion, took a similar step. Her Majesty's dominions were
+immediately invaded by the two Republics, siege was laid to three towns
+within the British frontier, a large portion of the two colonies was
+overrun, with great destruction to property and life, and the Republics
+claimed to treat the inhabitants of extensive portions of Her Majesty's
+dominions as if those dominions had been annexed to one or other of
+them. In anticipation of these operations, the South African Republic
+had been accumulating for many years past military stores on an enormous
+scale, which by their character could only have been intended for use
+against Great Britain.
+
+'Your Honours make some observations of a negative character upon the
+object with which these preparations were made. I do not think it
+necessary to discuss the question you have raised. But the result of
+these preparations, carried on with great secrecy, has been that the
+British Empire has been compelled to confront an invasion which has
+entailed upon the Empire a costly war and the loss of thousands of
+precious lives. This great calamity has been the penalty which Great
+Britain has suffered for having in recent years acquiesced in the
+existence of the two Republics.
+
+'In view of the use to which the two Republics have put the position
+which was given to them, and the calamities which their unprovoked
+attack has inflicted upon Her Majesty's dominions, Her Majesty's
+Government can only answer Your Honours' telegram by saying that they
+are not prepared to assent to the independence either of the South
+African Republic or of the Orange Free State.'
+
+Is there any sane man of any nation who can contend that a British
+statesman could possibly have taken any other view? From the firing of
+the first shot the irresistible logic of events showed that either the
+Republics must dominate Africa or they must cease to exist. For the
+sparing of the Orange Free State there might, I think, be a fair
+argument, but they had put themselves out of court by annexing every
+foot of British territory which they could lay their hands upon. For the
+sparing of the Transvaal there could be no possible reason. Had that
+State been reconstituted we should instantly have been faced once more
+with the Franchise question, the Uitlander question, the corrupt
+oligarchy, the anti-British conspiracy, and everything which we had
+spent so much blood and money to set right. The desperate situation from
+which the British power was only just emerging was so fresh in our minds
+that we could not feel justified in leaving the possibility--indeed the
+certainty--of its recurrence to our children. Remember, you who judge
+us, that we had done all this before. Once before within our own
+memories we had patched up an inconclusive peace, and left these people
+the power to hurt us. And what had come of it? Eternal trouble ending in
+a great war which strained the resources of the Empire. Could we be
+asked to do the same again? Would any nation on earth have done the same
+again? From the day of the signing of peace we should know that we had
+an implacable and formidable foe to the north of us, nursing his wrath
+and preparing his strength for the day when he might strike us at an
+advantage. Our colonies would lie ever in the shadow of its menace. Who
+can blame us for deciding that the job should be done now in such a way
+that it should never, so far as we could help it, need to be done once
+more?
+
+Such was the end of the first negotiations for peace. The war was
+resumed, and in time the second capital of the Boers was taken and
+President Kruger withdrew to Europe, leaving South Africa in the welter
+to which he had reduced it. Then, for the second time, negotiations for
+peace were opened on the initiative of General Botha, which led to a
+meeting upon February 28, 1901, between Kitchener and Botha. Kitchener
+had already explained that for the reasons given above the restoration
+of independence was impossible, and the negotiations were carried
+through on that understanding. Here is Lord Kitchener's own account of
+the interview and of the points at issue:
+
+ [_Telegram._]                     'Pretoria: March 1, 1901, 2.20 P.M.
+
+'_28th February._--I have had a long interview with Botha, who showed
+very good feeling and seemed anxious to bring about peace. He asked for
+information on a number of subjects which he said that he should submit
+to his Government and people, and if they agreed he should visit Orange
+River Colony and get them to agree. They should all then hand in their
+arms and finish the war. He told me that they could go on for some time,
+and that he was not sure of being able to bring about peace without
+independence. He tried very hard for some kind of independence, but I
+declined to discuss such a point, and said that a modified form of
+independence would be most dangerous and likely to lead to war in the
+future. Subject was then dropped, and--
+
+'Firstly.--The nature of future government of Colonies asked about. He
+wanted more details than were given by Colonial Secretary, and I said
+that, subject to correction from home, I understood that when
+hostilities ceased military guard would be replaced by Crown Colony
+administration, consisting of nominated Executive, with elected assembly
+to advise administration, to be followed after a period by
+representative government. He would have liked representative government
+at once, but seemed satisfied with above.
+
+'Secondly.--Whether a Boer would be able to have a rifle to protect him
+from native? I said I thought he would be by a licence and on
+registration.
+
+'Thirdly.--He asked whether Dutch language would be allowed? I said that
+English and Dutch would, I thought, have equal rights. He expressed hope
+that officials dealing with farmers would know Dutch.
+
+'Fourthly.--The Kaffir question. This turned at once on franchise of
+Kaffirs, and a solution seemed to be that franchise should not be given
+to Kaffirs until after representative government was granted to
+Colonies. Orange Free State laws for Kaffirs were considered good.
+
+'Fifthly.--That Dutch Church property should remain untouched.
+
+'Sixthly.--Public trusts and orphan funds to be left intact. He asked
+whether British Government, in taking over the assets of Republics,
+would also take over legal debts. This he made rather a strong point of,
+and he intended it to include debts legally contracted since the war
+began. He referred to notes issued amounting to less than a million.
+
+'Seventhly.--He asked if any war tax would be imposed on farmers? I said
+I thought not.
+
+'Eighthly.--When would prisoners of war return?
+
+'Ninthly.--He referred to pecuniary assistance to repair burnt farms,
+and enable farmers to start afresh. I said I thought some assistance
+would be given.
+
+'Tenthly.--Amnesty to all at end of war. We spoke of Colonials who
+joined Republics, and he seemed not adverse to their being
+disfranchised.
+
+'I arranged with him that I should write and let him know the view of
+the Government on these points. All I said during the interview was
+qualified by being subject to confirmation from home. He was anxious to
+get an answer soon.'
+
+There followed some correspondence between Lord Kitchener, Sir Alfred
+Milner, and Mr. Chamberlain upon the exact terms which could be given to
+Botha. They ended in the following offer, which was submitted to him
+upon March 7. That, in consideration of a complete military surrender,
+
+'1. There should be a complete amnesty for all _bona fide_ acts of war
+for all burghers of the Republics. In the case of Colonial rebels, if
+they returned to their Colonies some inquiry must be held on their
+conduct.
+
+'2. All prisoners to be at once sent back.
+
+'3. Crown Colony government to be given as soon as possible; this in
+turn to change to representative government, as in all other free
+British possessions. The courts of law to be independent of the
+government.
+
+'4. The Dutch and English languages to be put upon an equality.
+
+'5. That the Government should help to replace the farmers on their
+farms, to restore their buildings, should pledge itself not to specially
+tax them, and should pay as an act of grace one million pounds to meet
+the debt incurred by the Republican governments to their own people
+during the war.
+
+'6. That the burghers be allowed sporting fire-arms.
+
+'7. That the Kaffirs should have the protection of the law, but should
+not have the vote.
+
+'In conclusion,' says Lord Kitchener, 'I must inform your honour that if
+the terms are not accepted after a reasonable delay for consideration,
+they must be regarded as cancelled.'
+
+But the wise and chivalrous Botha was overruled by the men around him,
+many of whom had little to lose by a continuance of the struggle. It was
+evident that he did not himself consider independence vital, since he
+had gravely discussed terms which were based upon loss of independence.
+But other influences had been brought to bear upon him, and this was his
+reply--a reply which has already cost the lives of so many of each side:
+
+'I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of Your Excellency's letter
+stating what steps Your Excellency's Government is prepared to take in
+the event of a general and total cessation of hostilities. I have
+advised my Government of Your Excellency's said letter; but, after the
+mutual exchange of views at our interview at Middelburg on 28th February
+last, it will certainly not surprise Your Excellency to know that I do
+not feel disposed to recommend that the terms of the said letter shall
+have the earnest consideration of my Government. I may add also that my
+Government and my chief officers here entirely agree to my views.'
+
+It will be observed that in this reply Botha bases his refusal upon his
+own views as expressed in the original interview with Kitchener; and we
+have his own authority, therefore, to show that they were not determined
+by any changes which Chamberlain may have made in the terms--a favourite
+charge of that gentleman's enemies.
+
+It is impossible to say how, short of independence, Great Britain could
+have improved upon these terms, and it has already been shown that to
+offer independence would mean having to fight the war over again. It has
+been suggested that Great Britain might have offered a definite date
+upon which representative institutions should come in force, but such a
+promise must be disingenuous, for it must evidently depend not upon a
+date, but upon the state of the country. The offers of loans to the
+farmers towards the stocking and rebuilding the farms were surely
+generous to our defeated foes, and, indeed, it is clear now that in some
+respects our generosity went too far, and that the interests of the
+Empire would have suffered severely had these terms been accepted. To
+have given more would certainly seem not to have offered peace, but to
+have implored it.
+
+Whatever the final terms of peace may prove to be, it is to be earnestly
+hoped that 40,000 male prisoners will not be returned, as a matter of
+right, without any guarantee for their future conduct. It is also much
+to be desired that the bastard taal language, which has no literature
+and is almost as unintelligible to a Hollander as to an Englishman, will
+cease to be officially recognised. These two omissions may repay in the
+long run for weary months of extra war since, upon Botha's refusal, the
+British Government withdrew these terms and the hand moved onwards upon
+the dial of fate, never to turn back.
+
+De Wet had said in reference to Kitchener's terms of peace, 'What is
+the use of examining all the points, as the only object for which we are
+fighting is our independence and our national existence?' It is evident,
+however, that Botha did not consider this an absolute bar to renewing
+the negotiations, for upon May 10, two months later, he wrote the
+following letter to Lord Kitchener:
+
+                             'Commandant-General's Camp, May 10, 1901.
+
+'EXCELLENCY,--As I have already assured Your Excellency I am very
+desirous of terminating this war, and its sad consequences. It is,
+however, necessary, in order to comply with the "Grondwet" of this
+Republic and otherwise, that, before any steps are taken in that
+direction, the condition of our country and our cause be brought to the
+notice of His Honour, State President Kruger, in Europe; and I therefore
+wish to send two persons to him in order to acquaint him fully with that
+condition.
+
+'As speed in this matter is of great consequence to both contending
+parties, and as such despatch without Your Excellency's assistance would
+take a considerable time, I should like to hear from Your Excellency
+whether Your Excellency is prepared to assist me in expediting this
+matter by allowing such person or persons to journey there and back
+unhindered, if necessary by the traffic medium within Your Excellency's
+control.--I have, &c.,
+
+                                    'LOUIS BOTHA, Commandant-General.'
+
+To this Kitchener answered:
+
+             'Army Headquarters, South Africa, Pretoria, May 16, 1901.
+
+'YOUR HONOUR,--I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your
+Honour's letter of 10th instant, and, in reply, beg to state that I can
+only deal with you and your superior officers in the field in regard to
+the cessation of hostilities, and that I do not recognise the official
+status of any other persons in the late Republics of the Orange River
+and Transvaal.
+
+'If, however, Your Honour desires, with the object of bringing
+hostilities to a close, to consult with any person in Europe, I will
+forward any telegram Your Honour desires on the subject, and let you
+have the reply. Should, however, Your Honour still desire to send
+messengers, and will inform me of their names and status, I will refer
+the matter to His Majesty's Government for decision.--I have, &c.,
+
+                       'KITCHENER, General,
+
+ 'Commanding-in-Chief, British Troops, South Africa.'
+
+At this period, the second week of May, the Boer cause was in very low
+water, as on the same date we have Botha reopening negotiations which he
+had declared to be definitely closed, and Reitz (the man who used to
+regard the whole matter as a great joke) writing a despairing letter to
+Steyn to the effect that the game was up and that it was time to take
+the last final step. A reply was received from Kruger encouraging the
+Boers to continue their hopeless and fatal resistance. His reply was to
+the effect that there were still great hopes of a successful issue of
+the war, and that he had taken steps to make proper provision for the
+Boer prisoners and for the refugee women. These steps, and very
+efficient ones, too, were to leave them to the generosity of that
+Government which he was so fond of reviling. There are signs that
+something else had occurred to give them fresh hope and also fresh
+material supplies. It looks, upon the face of it, as if, about that
+time, large supplies of rifles, ammunition, and possibly recruits must
+have reached them from some quarter, either from German Damaraland or
+the Portuguese coast. At any rate there has been so much ammunition used
+since, that either Reitz must have been raving or else large supplies
+have reached the Boers from some unknown source.
+
+So much for the official attempts at peace.
+
+They have been given in some detail in order to prove how false it is
+_that the British Government has insisted upon an unconditional
+surrender_. Far from this being so, the terms offered by the British
+Government have been so generous that they have aroused the strongest
+distrust and criticism in this country, where they have seemed to be
+surrendering by the pen all that had been won by the sword. Nothing has
+been refused the enemy, save only independence, and that can never be
+given, if the war has to continue until the last Boer is deported out of
+Africa.
+
+It is only necessary to refer briefly to the unofficial Boer attempts at
+peace. A considerable body of the Boers, including many men of influence
+and of intelligence, were disposed to accept the British flag and to
+settle down in peace. The leaders of this party were the brave Piet de
+Wet, brother of Christian, Paul Botha of Kroonstad, Fraser of
+Bloemfontein, and others. Piet de Wet, who had fought against us as hard
+as any man, wrote to his brother: 'Which is better, for the Republics to
+continue the struggle and run the risk of total ruin as a nation, or to
+submit? Could we for a moment think of taking back the country, if it
+were offered to us, with thousands of people to be supported by a
+Government which has not a farthing? Put passionate feeling aside for a
+moment and use common-sense, and you will then agree with me that the
+best thing for the people and the country is to give in, to be loyal to
+the new Government, and to get responsible government.' Such were the
+sentiments of many of the best of the burghers, and they endeavoured to
+persuade their fellows. Both in the Transvaal and in the Free State,
+Peace Committees were formed among the burghers, who sent deputies to
+lay the facts of the situation before their brethren on commando. The
+results were tragic. Two of the envoys, Morgendaal and de Koch, were
+shot in cold blood, the former having been first beaten. Several of the
+others were beaten, and all were ill-used.
+
+This severity did not, however, stop the movement, but gave it a fiercer
+turn. The burghers who were in favour of peace, finding it useless to
+argue with their fellow-countrymen and knowing that their country was
+being hopelessly ruined by the insensate resistance, took the extreme
+course at last of bearing arms against them. There are at present three
+strong commandos of burghers fighting upon the British side, commanded
+by three Boer Generals--Marais, Celliers, and the younger Cronje, all of
+whom had made their names in fighting against us. This fact alone goes
+far to dispel those stories of British barbarity with which I shall
+presently deal. They are believed in by political fanatics in England
+and by dupes abroad, but the answer which many of the Boers upon the
+spot make to them is to enlist and fight under the British flag. They
+are in the best position for knowing the truth, and how can they show in
+a stronger way what they believe that truth to be?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+THE FARM-BURNING
+
+
+In the official correspondence which is published between the Boer and
+British leaders in South Africa may very clearly be traced the way in
+which this practice came to assume proportions which shocked public
+opinion. It must be admitted that the results have not justified it, and
+that, putting all moral questions apart, a burned-out family is the last
+which is likely to settle down, as we hope that the Boers may eventually
+settle down, as contented British citizens. On the other hand, when a
+nation adopts guerilla tactics it deliberately courts those sufferings
+to the whole country which such tactics invariably entail. They have
+been the same in all wars and at all times. The army which is stung by
+guerillas, strikes round it furiously and occasionally indiscriminately.
+An army which is continually sniped and harassed becomes embittered, and
+a General feels called upon to take those harsher measures which
+precedent and experience suggest. That such measures have not been
+pushed to an extreme by the British authorities is shown by the fact
+that the captured guerilla has been made a prisoner of war--unlike his
+prototype, the _franc-tireur_. The general question of guerillas may be
+discussed later. At present we will confine our attention to the burning
+of farms.
+
+The first protest from the Boer side is dated February 3, 1900. In it
+the two Presidents accuse the British troops 'of burning and blowing up
+with dynamite the farmhouses, and of the devastation of farms.' The
+document also includes an accusation of having used armed natives
+against the Boers.
+
+Lord Roberts replied upon February 5 to the effect that stringent
+instructions had been given to the British troops to respect private
+property. 'All wanton destruction or injury to peaceful inhabitants is
+contrary to British practice and tradition, and will, if necessary, be
+rigorously repressed by me.' He added that it was an untrue statement
+that natives had ever been encouraged by British officers to commit
+depredations. The charge, which has been the subject of many effective
+cartoons upon the Continent, is as absurd as most of the other works of
+the same artists. Why should the State which refused the aid of its own
+highly trained Indian army of 150,000 men, avail itself of that of
+savages? Lord Roberts denied the assertion with befitting warmth, and it
+is not again repeated in the course of the despatches.
+
+Lord Roberts in this document was not content with denying the Boer
+allegations, but carried the war into the enemy's country:
+
+'I regret to say that it is the Republican forces which have in some
+cases been guilty of carrying on the war in a manner not in accordance
+with civilised usage. I refer especially to the expulsion of loyal
+subjects of Her Majesty from their homes in the invaded districts of
+this Colony, because they refused to be commandeered by the invader. It
+is barbarous to attempt to force men to take sides against their own
+Sovereign and country by threats of spoliation and expulsion. Men,
+women, and children have had to leave their homes owing to such
+compulsion, and many of those who were formerly in comfortable
+circumstances are now being maintained by charity.'
+
+He adds: 'I beg to call your Honours' attention to the wanton
+destruction of property by the Boer forces in Natal. They not only have
+helped themselves freely to the cattle and other property of farmers
+without payment, but they have utterly wrecked the contents of many
+farmhouses. As an instance I would specify Mr. Theodore Wood's farm
+"Longwood" near Springfield. I point out how very different is the
+conduct of the British troops. It is reported to me from Modder River
+that farms within the actual area of the British Camp have never even
+been entered, the occupants are unmolested, and their houses, gardens,
+and crops remain absolutely untouched.'
+
+On March 26 Lord Roberts's Proclamation spoke with no uncertain voice
+upon the subject of private property. It says:
+
+'The following Proclamation, issued by me in the name of Her Majesty's
+Government on the 26th March, begins: Notice is hereby given that all
+persons who within the territories of the South African Republic or
+Orange Free State shall authorise or be guilty of the wanton destruction
+or damage or the counselling, aiding, or assisting in the wanton
+destruction or damage of public or private property, such destruction or
+damage not being justified by the usages and customs of civilised
+warfare, will be held responsible in their persons and property for all
+such wanton destruction and damage.'
+
+This was during the period of the halt at Bloemfontein. I can well
+remember that then and for long afterwards the consideration which was
+shown upon this point seemed to those who were at the spot to be
+exaggerated and absurd. I can remember that when we applied for leave to
+use the deserted villas to put our sick soldiers into--the hospitals
+being full--we were told that it could only be done by private treaty
+with the owners, who were at that time on commando against us. I
+remember also suggesting that the corrugated-iron fencing round the
+cricket field should be used for making huts, and being told that it was
+impossible, as it was private property.
+
+The same extreme respect for personal property was shown during Lord
+Roberts's advance. The country through which he passed swarmed with
+herds and flocks, but, with as scrupulous a regard for the rights of
+property as Wellington showed in the south of France, no hungry soldier
+was allowed to take so much as a chicken. The punishment for looting was
+prompt and stern. It is true that farms were burned occasionally and the
+stock confiscated, but this was as a punishment for some particular
+offence and not part of a system. The limping Tommy looked askance at
+the fat geese which covered the dam by the roadside, but it was as much
+as his life was worth to allow his fingers to close round those tempting
+white necks. On foul water and bully beef he tramped through a land of
+plenty.
+
+A most striking example of British discipline and forbearance was
+furnished at this period, while the war could still be called regular
+upon the Boer side, by Rundle's Division, christened the 'Hungry Eighth'
+by the Army. This Division had the misfortune to be stationed for
+several months some distance from the railway line, and in consequence
+had great difficulty in getting supplies. They were on half-rations for
+a considerable period, and the men were so reduced in strength that
+their military efficiency was much impaired. Yet they lived in a land of
+plenty--a land of large farms well stocked with every sort of food. Why
+it was impossible to get this food for the men I do not know, but I do
+know that the prices for bread, eggs, milk, and other such things were
+kept very high by the wives of the farmers who were away upon commando;
+and that the hungry soldiers were quite unable to buy, and were not
+permitted to take, the nourishment which was essential.
+
+On May 19, while Lord Roberts's force was advancing on Pretoria, De Wet
+sent in a despatch to complain of the destruction of two farms, Paarde
+Kraal and Leeuw Kop. Lord Roberts replied that these two farms were
+destroyed because, while a white flag was flying from the houses, the
+troops were fired upon from the farmsteads. 'I have had two farms near
+Kroonstad,' he adds, 'destroyed for similar reasons, and shall continue
+to punish all such cases of treachery by the destruction of the farms
+where they occur.' Here is a definite declaration of policy, quite
+distinct from wanton destruction, and it is difficult to see how any
+General could take any other steps, with justice to his own men. These
+farms, and all which are included in this category, were justly and
+properly destroyed--the families being removed without violence to a
+place of safety.
+
+The next representations from the Boer Commander were more definite in
+their nature.
+
+'Complaints are repeatedly reaching me,' he writes, 'that private
+dwellings are plundered, and in some cases totally destroyed, and all
+provisions taken from women and children, so that they are compelled to
+wander about without food or covering. To quote several instances: It
+has just been brought to my notice by way of sworn affidavit that the
+house of Field-Cornet S. Buys on the farm, Leeuwspruit district,
+Middelburg, was set on fire and destroyed on 20th June last. His wife,
+who was at home, was given five minutes' time to remove her bedding and
+clothing, and even what she took out was again taken from her. Her food,
+sugar, &c., was all taken, so that for herself and her children she had
+neither covering nor food for the following night. She was asked for the
+key of the safe, and after it was given up by her she was threatened
+with a sword, and money was demanded. All the money that was in the
+house was taken away, all the papers in the safe were torn up, and
+everything at the homestead that could not be taken away was destroyed.
+The house of Field-Cornet Buys's son was also destroyed, the doors and
+windows broken, &c.
+
+'It has also been reported to me that my own buildings, on the farm
+Varkenspruit, district Standerton, as well as the house of Field-Cornet
+Badenhorst, on the adjoining farm, have been totally destroyed, and such
+of the stock as was not removed was shot dead on the farm.
+
+'Further, there is the sworn declaration of Mrs. Hendrik Badenhorst,
+which speaks for itself.
+
+'I cannot believe that such godless barbarities take place with Your
+Excellency's consent, and thus I deem it my solemn duty to protest most
+strongly against such destruction and vindictiveness as being entirely
+contrary to civilised warfare.'
+
+The greater part of these alleged outrages had occurred on General
+Buller's side of the Transvaal, so the matter was referred to him. He
+acknowledged that he had ordered six farmhouses to be destroyed:
+
+'The following circumstances induced me to give the order. On entering
+the Transvaal I caused the attached Proclamation (A) to be widely
+distributed along my line of route. We marched from Volksrust to
+Standerton practically unopposed. Shortly after our arrival at
+Standerton our telegraph line was cut on several nights following, and
+attempts were made to damage the military line by placing dynamite
+cartridges with detonators attached upon it. These attempts were all
+made on or in close vicinity to the estates above named. A watch was
+kept and it was found that the attempts were made not by any formed
+force of the enemy, but by a few scattered banditti who were given
+shelter during the night in the houses I afterwards had destroyed, and
+who thence, when they could, tried to murder our patrols, and sallied
+out at night to damage the line. It was further ascertained that these
+men came and usually returned through Varkenspruit. I directed that
+copies of Proclamation (A) should be personally left at each house, and
+the inmates of each should be warned that these depredations could not
+be permitted, and that if people living under our protection allowed
+these sort of men to resort to their houses without informing us, they
+must take the consequences, and their houses would be destroyed. This
+warning had some effect for a day or two, but on 1st and 2nd of July the
+nuisance recommenced, and on the 7th July, having acquired full proof
+that the houses were being regularly used as shelters for men who were
+hostile to us, and who were not under any proper command, in fact, who
+were only acting as banditti, I had the houses destroyed.
+
+'The women and children occupying the farms were removed elsewhere with
+as little inconvenience to themselves as we could arrange.'
+
+Here again it is impossible to doubt that the British commanders were
+well within their rights. It is true that Article XXIII. of The Hague
+Conventions makes it illegal to destroy the enemy's property, but it
+adds: 'Unless such destruction be imperatively demanded by the
+necessities of war.' Now nothing can be more imperative in war than the
+preservation of the communications of the army. A previous clause of the
+same Article makes it illegal to 'kill or wound treacherously
+individuals belonging to the hostile army.' It is incontestable that to
+take the cover of a farmhouse which flies the white flag in order to
+make attacks is to 'kill or wound treacherously,' and so on a double
+count the action of the British becomes legal, and even inevitable. Lord
+Roberts's message to De Wet upon August 3, 1900, restates both his
+intentions and his reasons for it:
+
+'Latterly, many of my soldiers have been shot from farmhouses over which
+the white flag has been flying, the railway and telegraph lines have
+been cut, and trains wrecked. I have therefore found it necessary, after
+warning your Honour, to take such steps as are sanctioned by the customs
+of war to put an end to these and similar acts, and have burned down the
+farmhouses at or near which such deeds have been perpetrated. This I
+shall continue to do whenever I consider the occasion demands it.
+
+'The remedy lies in your Honour's own hands. The destruction of property
+is most distasteful to me, and I shall be greatly pleased when your
+Honour's co-operation in the matter renders it no longer necessary.'
+
+This raises the question of the legality of the burning of farmhouses in
+the vicinity of the place where the railway is cut. The question
+presented itself forcibly to my mind when I saw with my own eyes the
+tall plumes of smoke rising from six farmhouses, De Wet's among them, in
+the neighbourhood of Roodeval. There is no doubt whatever that in the
+war of 1870--the classic type of modern war--the villages and
+populations near the scene of a cut railway were severely punished. But
+The Hague Conventions had not then been signed. On the one hand, it may
+be urged that it is impossible without such disciplinary measures to
+preserve a line of 1,000 miles running all the way through a hostile or
+semi-hostile country. Also that it is 'imperatively demanded by the
+necessities of war.' On the other hand, there is Article L., which says,
+'No general penalty can be inflicted on the population on account of the
+acts of individuals, for which it cannot be regarded as collectively
+responsible.' An argument might be advanced for either side, but what
+will actually determine is the strongest argument of all--that of
+self-preservation. An army situated as the British Army was, and
+dependent for its supplies upon its communications, _must_ keep them
+open even if it strains the Conventions in doing so. As a matter of
+fact, farm-burning had no effect in checking the railway-cutting, and
+had a considerable effect in embittering the population. Yet a General
+who was cut off from his base thirty times in a month was bound to leave
+the argument of legality to the jurists, and to adopt the means which
+seemed most likely to stop the nuisance. The punishment fell with cruel
+injustice upon some individuals. Others may have been among the actual
+raiders.
+
+On September 2 Lord Roberts communicated his intentions to General
+Botha:
+
+'SIR,--I have the honour to address your Honour regarding the operations
+of those comparatively small bands of armed Boers who conceal themselves
+on farms in the neighbourhood of our lines of communication and thence
+endeavour to damage the railway, thus endangering the lives of
+passengers travelling by train who may or may not be combatants.
+
+'2. My reason for again referring to this subject is that, except in the
+districts occupied by the Army under the personal command of your
+Honour, there is now no formed body of Boer troops in the Transvaal or
+Orange River Colony, and that the war is degenerating into operations
+carried on by irregular and irresponsible guerillas. This would be so
+ruinous to the country and so deplorable from every point of view, that
+I feel bound to do everything in my power to prevent it.
+
+'3. The orders I have at present issued, to give effect to these views,
+are that the farm nearest the scene of any attempt to injure the line or
+wreck a train is to be burnt, and that all farms within a radius of 10
+miles are to be completely cleared of all their stock, supplies, &c.'
+
+Granting that the penalty is legal at all, it must be allowed that it is
+put in a minimum form, since only one farm in each case is to be
+destroyed; and the further clearing of stock is undoubtedly justified,
+since it would tend to cripple the mobility of Boer raiders approaching
+the line. Yet one farm for each attack becomes a formidable total when
+the attacks are on an average of one per day.
+
+We have treated two causes for which farms were burned: (1) For being
+used as cover for snipers; (2) as a punishment for the cutting of
+railways. A third cause now comes to the front. A large number of
+burghers had taken the oath of neutrality and had been allowed to return
+to their farms by the British. These men were persuaded or terrorised by
+the fighting commandos into breaking their parole and abandoning those
+farms on which they had sworn to remain. The farmhouses were their bail,
+and Lord Roberts decreed that it was forfeited. On August 23 he
+announced his decision to General Botha:
+
+'Your Honour represents that well-disposed families living on their
+farms have been driven from their houses, and that their property has
+been taken away or destroyed. This no doubt is true, but not in the
+sense which your letter would imply. Burghers who are well-disposed
+towards the British Government, and anxious to submit to my authority,
+have had their property seized by the Boer commandos, and have been
+threatened with death if they refused to take up arms against the
+British forces. Your Honour's contention that a solemn oath of
+neutrality which the burghers have voluntarily taken in order to remain
+in unmolested occupation of their farms is null and void, because you
+have not consented to it, is hardly open to discussion. I shall punish
+those who violate their oath and confiscate their property, no burgher
+having been forced to take the oath against his will.'
+
+It is quite certain that the Boer Government committed a very clear
+breach of the Conventions of The Hague in compelling, or even in
+permitting, these men to rejoin the ranks. 'In such cases,' says Article
+X., 'their own Government shall not require of, nor accept from, them
+any service incompatible with the parole given.' This is clear as
+regards the Government. But in the case of the men it is different.
+Their promise was in a sense conditional upon effective protection from
+our troops. We had no right to place a man in so terrible a position
+that he had to choose between breaking his parole and death at the hands
+of his own countrymen. If we were not sure that we could protect them,
+we could have retained them in guarded camps, as we eventually did. If
+we chose to turn them loose upon the wide veldt, then it was our fault
+more than theirs that they were forced into the ranks of the enemy. To
+their credit be it said that even under such pressure many of them were
+true to their oath.
+
+But if their guilt is indeed no greater than our own, then how are we
+justified in burning down their houses? It seems to me that these cases
+are very different from those in the other two categories, and that the
+question of compensation to these men should be at least considered. I
+take it that the numerous cases where 'on commando' is marked against a
+burned farm on the official list, means that he had returned to commando
+after giving his parole. The destruction of his house under those
+circumstances is, in the peculiar conditions of the case, a harsh
+measure, but if 'on commando' means simply that the man was away doing
+his duty to his country, without any question of parole, then our
+conscience can never permit that man to go without compensation.
+
+We can trace in this account of the communications between the leaders
+the growth of those harsher measures which have been so generally
+deplored in this country. So long as the war was regular it is certain
+that nothing could be more regular than the British conduct. When,
+however, the war became irregular upon the part of the Boers, and their
+army dissolved into small bands which harried the lines of
+communications, the small posts, and the convoys, there was a
+corresponding change upon the part of the troops. Towards the end of the
+year 1900 that change was pushed to considerable lengths. Certain
+districts which had been Boer centres, where they habitually collected
+time after time, were devastated and destroyed. Such districts were
+those of Kroonstad, Heilbron, Ventersburg, and Winburg. In these four
+districts about one hundred and seventy houses were destroyed. The
+village of Bothaville, which was a depot of the enemy, was also
+destroyed. It consisted of forty-three houses. In the Transvaal the
+number of houses actually destroyed for strategic purposes seems to have
+been very much smaller. In the official returns only about twelve houses
+are so mentioned. Altogether the houses which have been burned for
+reasons which are open to dispute, including those of the men upon
+commando, do not appear to exceed two hundred and fifty.
+
+It must be confessed that the case of these houses is entirely different
+from the others which have been destroyed, because they were used for
+active warlike operations. Of the 630 buildings which we know to have
+been destroyed, more than half have been used by snipers, or in some
+other direct fashion have brought themselves within the laws of warfare.
+But it cannot be said that these others have done so. The cost of the
+average farmhouse is a mere trifle. A hundred pounds would build a small
+one, and 300_l._ a large. If we take the intermediate figure, then the
+expenditure of 50,000_l._ would compensate for those cases where
+military policy and international law may have been at variance with
+each other. The burning of houses ceased in the year 1900, and, save in
+very special instances, where there was an overwhelming military
+necessity, it has not been resorted to since. In the sweeping of the
+country carried out by French in the Eastern Transvaal and by Blood to
+the north of the Delagoa Railway, no buildings appear to have been
+destroyed, although it was a military necessity to clear the farms of
+every sort of supply in order to hamper the movements of the commandos.
+The destruction of the crops and herds of the Boers, distasteful as such
+work must be, is exactly analogous to the destruction by them of our
+supply trains on which the Army depended for their food. Guerilla
+warfare cannot enjoy all its own advantages and feel none of its own
+defects. It is a two-edged weapon, and the responsibility for the
+consequences rests upon the combatant who first employs it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS
+
+
+When considerable districts of the country were cleared of food in order
+to hamper the movements of the commandos, and when large numbers of
+farmhouses were destroyed under the circumstances already mentioned, it
+became evident that it was the duty of the British, as a civilised
+people, to form camps of refuge for the women and children, where, out
+of reach, as we hoped, of all harm, they could await the return of
+peace. There were three courses open. The first was to send the Boer
+women and children into the Boer lines--a course which became impossible
+when the Boer army broke into scattered bands and had no longer any
+definite lines; the second was to leave them where they were; the third
+was to gather them together and care for them as best we could.
+
+It is curious to observe that the very people who are most critical of
+the line of policy actually adopted, were also most severe when it
+appeared that the alternative might be chosen. The British nation would
+have indeed remained under an ineffaceable stain had they left women and
+children without shelter upon the veldt in the presence of a large
+Kaffir population. Even Mr. Stead could hardly have ruined such a case
+by exaggeration. On some rumour that it would be so, he drew harrowing
+pictures of the moral and physical degradation of the Boer women in the
+vicinity of the British camps. No words can be too strong to stigmatise
+such assertions unless the proof of them is overwhelmingly strong--and
+yet the only 'proof' adduced is the bare assertion of a partisan writer
+in a partisan paper, who does not claim to have any personal knowledge
+of the matter. It is impossible without indignation to know that a
+Briton has written on such evidence of his own fellow-countrymen that
+they have 'used famine as a pander to lust.'
+
+Such language, absurd as it is, shows very clearly the attacks to which
+the British Government would have been subjected had they _not_ formed
+the camps of refuge. It was not merely that burned-out families must be
+given a shelter, but it was that no woman on a lonely farm was safe amid
+a black population, even if she had the means of procuring food. Then,
+again, we had learned our lesson as regards the men who had given their
+parole. They should not again be offered the alternative of breaking
+their oaths or being punished by their own people. The case for the
+formation of the camps must be admitted to be complete and overwhelming.
+They were formed, therefore, by the Government at convenient centres,
+chiefly at Pretoria, Johannesburg, Krugersdorp, Middelburg,
+Potchefstroom, Rustenburg, Heidelburg, Standerton, Pietersburg,
+Klerksdorp, and Volksrust in the Transvaal; Bloemfontein, Kroonstad,
+Bethulie, and Edenburg in the Orange Free State.
+
+Such camps as refuges were no new things, for the British refugees from
+Johannesburg have been living for over a year in precisely such places.
+As no political capital and no international sentiment could be
+extracted from their sufferings, and as they have borne their troubles
+with dignity and restraint, we have heard little of the condition of
+their lives, which is in many ways more deplorable than that of the
+Boers.
+
+Having determined to form the camps, the authorities carried out the
+plan with great thoroughness. The sites seem to have been well chosen,
+and the arrangements in most cases all that could be wished. They were
+formed, however, at an unfortunate moment. Great strain had been placed
+upon our Commissariat by the large army, over 200,000 men, who had to be
+supplied by three tiny railways, which were continually cut. In January
+1901 De Wet made his invasion of Cape Colony, and the demand upon the
+lines was excessive. The extraordinary spectacle was presented at that
+time of the British straining every nerve to feed the women and children
+of the enemy, while that enemy was sniping the engineers and derailing
+the trains which were bringing up the food.
+
+The numbers of the inmates of the refugee camps increased rapidly from
+20,000 at the end of the year 1900, up to more than 100,000 at the end
+of 1901. Great efforts were made by the military authorities to
+accommodate the swelling tide of refugees, and no money was spared for
+that purpose. Early in the year 1901 a painful impression was created in
+England by the report of Miss Hobhouse, an English lady, who had
+visited the camps and criticised them unfavourably. The value of her
+report was discounted, however, by the fact that her political
+prejudices were known to be against the Government. Mr. Charles
+Hobhouse, a relation of hers, and a Radical member of Parliament, has
+since then admitted that some of her statements will not bear
+examination. With the best will in the world her conclusions would have
+been untrustworthy, since she could speak no Dutch, had no experience of
+the Boer character, and knew nothing of the normal conditions of South
+African life.
+
+Her main contentions were that the diet was not sufficient, that there
+was little bedding, that the water-supply was short, that the sanitation
+was bad, that there was overcrowding, and that there was an excessive
+death-rate, especially among the children.
+
+As to diet, the list which she gives agrees roughly with that which is
+officially quoted as the daily allowance at Irene Camp, near Pretoria,
+in July. It is as follows:
+
+    Meat                               1/2 lb.
+    Coffee                             2 oz.
+    Flour                              3/4 lb.
+    Sugar                              2 oz.
+    Salt                               1/2 oz.
+    To every child under six, a bottle of milk
+
+It must be confessed that the diet is a spare one, and that as supplies
+become more plentiful it might well be increased. The allowance may,
+however, be supplemented by purchase, and there is a considerable
+outside fund, largely subscribed by British people, which is used to
+make the scale more liberal. A slight difference was made at first
+between the diet of a family which had surrendered and of that the head
+of which was still in arms against us. A logical distinction may
+certainly be made, but in practice it was felt to be unchivalrous and
+harsh, so it was speedily abandoned.
+
+As to the shortness of the water-supply, it is the curse of all South
+Africa, which alternately suffers from having too much water and too
+little. With artesian wells and better arrangements this difficulty is
+being overcome, but it has applied as strongly to our own camps as to
+those of the Boer refugees.
+
+There seems to be a consensus of opinion from all the camps that the
+defects in sanitation are due to the habits of the inmates, against
+which commandants and doctors are perpetually fighting. Camp life
+without cleanliness must become unhygienic. The medical reports are
+filled with instances of the extreme difficulty which has been
+experienced in enforcing discipline upon those who have been accustomed
+to the absolute liberty of the lonely veldt.
+
+On the question of overcrowding, the demand for tents in South Africa
+has been excessive, and it may well have taxed all the power of the
+authorities to find accommodation for the crowds of women and children.
+The evil has been remedied since the time of Miss Hobhouse's report. It
+is well known that the Boers in their normal life have no objection to
+crowded rooms, and that the inmates of a farmhouse are accustomed to
+conditions which would be unendurable to most. To overcrowd a tent is
+hygienically almost impossible, for the atmosphere of a tent, however
+crowded, will never become tainted in the same sense as a room.
+
+All these things are of human contrivance, and the authorities were
+doing their best to set them right, as Miss Hobhouse herself
+acknowledged. 'They are, I believe, doing their best with very limited
+means,' said she, and in so saying reduced her whole report to nothing.
+For if they are really doing their best, then what more can be said? The
+only alternative is the breaking up of the camps and the dispersal of
+the women. But in that case Mr. Stead is waiting for us with some 'Blood
+and Hell' broadsheet to tell us of the terrible fate of those women upon
+the veldt. It must be one or the other. Of the two I prefer Miss
+Hobhouse and the definite grievances which she reports, to the infinite
+possibilities of Mr. Stead. As to the suggestion that this enormous
+crowd of women and children should be quartered upon their kinsmen in
+the Colony, it is beyond all argument. There has been no offer of such
+wholesale hospitality nor have we any means for enforcing it.
+
+But then we come to the great and piteous tragedy of the refugee camps,
+the mortality, and especially the mortality among the children. That is
+deplorable--more deplorable even than the infant mortality in Mafeking,
+Ladysmith, and Kimberley. But is it avoidable? Or is it one of those
+misfortunes, like that enteric outbreak which swept away so many British
+soldiers, which is beyond our present sanitary science and can only be
+endured with sad resignation? The nature of the disease which is mainly
+responsible for the high mortality shows that it has no direct
+connection with the sanitary conditions of the camps, or with anything
+which it was in our power to alter. Had the deaths come from some
+filth-disease, such as typhus fever, or even from enteric or diphtheria,
+the sanitation of the camps might be held responsible. But it is to a
+severe form of measles that the high mortality is due. Apart from that
+the record of the camps would have been a very fair one. Now measles
+when once introduced among children runs through a community without any
+regard to diet or conditions of life. The only possible hope is the
+segregation of the sufferer. To obtain this early quarantine the
+co-operation of the parent is needed: but in the case in point the Boer
+mothers, with a natural instinct, preferred to cling to the children and
+to make it difficult for the medical men to remove them in the first
+stages of the disease. The result was a rapid spread of the epidemic,
+which was the more fatal as many of the sufferers were in low health
+owing to the privations unavoidably endured in the journey from their
+own homes to the camps. Not only was the spread of the disease assisted
+by the mother, but in her mistaken zeal she frequently used remedies
+which were as fatal as the disease. Children died of arsenical-poisoning,
+having been covered from head to foot with green paint; and others of
+opium-poisoning, having quack drugs which contain laudanum administered
+to them. 'In Potchefstroom as at Irene,' says Dr. Kendal Franks, 'the
+death-rate is attributable not so much to the severity of the epidemic
+as to the ignorance, perverseness, and dirty habits of the parents
+themselves.' But whatever the immediate cause the death of these
+numerous children lies heavy, not upon the conscience, but upon the
+heart of our nation. It is some mitigation to know that the death-rate
+among children is normally quite remarkably high in South Africa, and
+that the rate in the camps was frequently not higher than that of the
+towns near which the camp was situated.
+
+Be this as it may, we cannot deny that the cause of the outbreak of
+measles was the collection of the women and children by us into the
+camps. But why were they collected into camps? Because they could not be
+left on the veldt. And why could they not be left on the veldt? Because
+we had destroyed the means of subsistence. And why had we destroyed the
+means of subsistence? To limit the operations of the mobile bands of
+guerillas. At the end of every tragedy we are forced back to the common
+origin of all of them, and made to understand that the nation which
+obstinately perseveres in a useless guerilla war prepares much trouble
+for its enemy, but absolute ruin for itself.
+
+We have pushed our humanity in this matter of the refugees so far that
+we have looked after our enemies far better than our friends. I
+recognise that the two cases are not on all fours, since the Boers are
+compelled to be in camps and the loyalist refugees are not. But the fact
+remains that the loyalists _are_ in camps, through no fault of their
+own, and that their condition is a worse one than that of our enemies.
+At East London, for example, there are two refugee camps, Boer and
+British. The former has 350, the latter 420 inhabitants. The former are
+by far the better fed, clad, and housed, with a hospital, a school, and
+a washhouse, all of which are wanting in the British camp. At Port
+Elizabeth there is a Boer camp. A Dutch deputation came with 50_l._ to
+expend in improving their condition, but returned without spending the
+money as nothing was needed. The Boer refugees and the British are
+catered for by the same man at Port Elizabeth. He is allowed 15_d._ per
+head for the Boers per day, and 8_d._ for the British. These are the
+'Methods of Barbarism.'
+
+I shall now take a few opinions of the camps from British sources and
+from Boer. I have only seen one British witness who was in sympathy with
+Miss Hobhouse, and that is a lady (name not mentioned) who is quoted in
+the appendix of Mr. Methuen's 'Peace or War.' She takes much the same
+view, insisting mainly upon the insufficient diet, the want of fuel and
+of bed-clothing. Against these two ladies I shall very shortly and in
+condensed form cite a few witnesses from both sides.
+
+Mr. Seaton, of Johannesburg (Secretary of the Congregational Church and
+of the burgher camp), says: 'The reports you send make our blood boil.
+They are frightfully exaggerated, and in many instances not only
+misleading but untrue.... A more healthy spot it would be difficult to
+find.... There is no overcrowding.
+
+'Some weeks ago there was an epidemic of measles in camp of a very
+severe type, and naturally there were many deaths among the children.
+The doctor and nurses worked to the very utmost, and I am pleased to say
+the epidemic is stamped out. No doubt this is what caused the talk by
+the pro-Boers in the House of Commons and elsewhere, but it is one of
+those epidemics which could not be prevented among the class of people
+we have here. They had absolutely no regard for sanitary conveniences,
+and the officials had the greatest difficulty in enforcing the most
+ordinary rules of cleanliness. Another difficulty we had was to get them
+to bring their children when sick into the hospital, where there is
+every convenience. They prefer to disobey the doctor and try the old
+women's remedies, which, as you know, are very plentiful among such
+people. The doctor has had a most trying position, and has worked like a
+slave. Nearly all the deaths have been from measles. We are having a
+fairly mild winter. About three months ago it was bitterly cold, but
+they are used to outdoor life, and this is no worse than they have
+always been used to. The tents are all military tents, and there is no
+sign of leakage. I know they all want tents when they come here, if it
+is possible to get them. On the whole, the inmates are contented, and
+the children are particularly happy. They skip and play about from morn
+till eve.'
+
+The Rev. R. Rogers (Wesleyan minister) writes:
+
+'What is the use of persons ignorant of the life and customs of the
+Boers coming to investigate these burgher camps? I have seen, and do not
+hesitate to say, that most of them are better housed, better clothed,
+and better fed than in their own homes of wattle and daub, and mud
+floors.'
+
+Mr. Howe of the Camp Soldiers' Homes says:
+
+'We do not pass judgment; we only state facts.
+
+'When the first concentration camp was formed we were on the spot, and
+also saw others spring up. We admit that there has been suffering, but
+we solemnly affirm that the officers in charge of the several camps
+known to us were only too anxious to make the helpless people as
+comfortable as possible. We have seen the huge cases and bales of
+comforts for the inmates, and know that, in order to expedite the
+despatch of these things, military stores and ordnance have been kept
+back.'
+
+The Rev. R. B. Douglas (Presbyterian minister) writes:
+
+'I am glad to see that you are not giving credence to the tales of
+brutality and cruelty which are being freely circulated by disloyal
+agitators about the treatment of the Boer refugees. But one point on
+which you ask for more information is worth being noticed--the
+difference of treatment between families of those on commando and
+others. I am in a position to state that the whole difference made
+amounted to two ounces of coffee and four ounces of sugar per week, and
+that even this distinction totally disappeared by the middle of March.
+As a set-off to this, the local Dutch Committee, in distributing some
+sixty cases of clothing, &c., sent out by the charitable, refused to
+give any help to the families of some who were not on commando, on the
+ground that these articles were for the benefit of those who were
+fighting for their country.'
+
+Mrs. Gauntlett, of Johannesburg, writes:
+
+'I have read certain statements you sent me from English papers on
+cruelty to Boer refugee families. I am amazed at the iniquity of men who
+circulate such lies, and the credulity of those who believe them. The
+opinion of Germans, French, Americans, and even many Dutch, here on the
+spot, is that the leniency and amazing liberality of the Government to
+their foes is prolonging the war. A Dutch girl in the Pretoria Camp
+declared to the nurse that for seven months they had not been able to
+get such good food as was given them by the British.'
+
+Mr. Soutar, Secretary of the Pretoria Camp, writes:
+
+'The Boer women and children get as much food as they require, and have
+all sorts of medical comforts, such as beef-tea, extracts of meat,
+jellies, brandy and wine, and the advantage of fully qualified
+attendants. Not only are their absolute requirements provided for, but
+even their "fads" are considered.'
+
+Mr. Scholtz, Inspector of Camps for the Transvaal, reports:
+
+'Many of the children, when they first arrived at the camp, were little
+better than skin and bone, and, being in so emaciated a condition, it
+was not surprising that, when they did catch measles, they could not
+cope with the disease. Many of the women would not open their tents to
+admit fresh air, and, instead of giving the children the proper
+medicines supplied by the military, preferred to give them home
+remedies. The mothers would not sponge the children, and the greatest
+difficulty was experienced in inducing them to send the patients to
+hospital. The cause of the high death-rate among children from measles
+is due to the fact that the women let their children out as soon as the
+measles rash has subsided. Pneumonia and bronchitis naturally supervene.
+Another cause is that the mothers persist in giving their children meat
+and other indigestible foods, even when the doctors strictly prohibit
+it, dysentery resulting as a matter of course. In other respects the
+health of the camp is good, there being only one case of typhoid out of
+5,000 residents in camp.'
+
+Here is light on the Krugersdorp Camp:
+
+'JOHANNESBURG, July 31st.--(Reuter's Special Service.)--Commandant
+Alberts, commanding the Boers near Krugersdorp, has sent a letter to the
+officer commanding the British forces at Krugersdorp, stating that as he
+has with him on commando several families whose male relatives have
+recently surrendered, he wishes to know if he will receive these
+families, as they would like to go to Krugersdorp. The officer replied
+that he would be pleased to receive them, and they are expected to
+arrive to-day.
+
+'This action on the part of the Boers clearly shows that the families
+themselves have no longer any objection to the Refugee Camps, where
+everything is done to promote their comfort, or any disinclination to
+being placed under our care and protection.'
+
+From Reuter's agent at Springfontein:
+
+'I to-day visited the Boer Refugee Camp here, containing 2,700 inmates.
+The camp is splendidly situated, and well laid out. I spoke to several
+refugees, and met with no complaint, all being satisfied with the
+treatment received. The hospital arrangements are excellent, and there
+is very little sickness in the camp.'
+
+From Mr. Celliers, Dutch Minister from Aberdeen, Cape Colony, sent to
+inspect the Port Elizabeth Refugee Camp:
+
+'He was writing this to show that the British Government were doing
+everything in their power to help the exiles, and to show that, although
+these exiles' relatives and friends were still in the field, yet the
+powers were merciful and kind to the exiles, showing them no enmity, for
+which they felt grateful. He wished the people to understand that he was
+at liberty to speak to them privately, and that he had a fair
+opportunity to hear any complaints, if there were any to be made. Mr.
+Hess allowed him to go round, placing full confidence in him, and he
+felt satisfied that if there had been anything wrong he should have
+heard of it. It had been his opinion all along that the Military, in
+sending these exiles down there, had done so for their own safety and
+advantage; and that it had preserved them, and been a blessing in
+disguise, which would be acknowledged by all in time to come.'
+
+Major Harold Sykes's (2nd Dragoons) evidence is reported as follows:
+
+He arranged the first of the Refugee Concentrated Camps, and when he
+left he had a camp of about six thousand women and children under his
+care. All charges of cruelty and inhumanity were vile and calumnious
+falsehoods. Nay, worse, they were miserable, despicable concoctions.
+Both women and children were better off, the great bulk of them, than
+ever they were in their lives. The only thing approaching cruelty to
+them was at the authorities insisted upon cleanliness and proper
+attention to sanitary regulations, which the average Boer, being a
+stranger to, utterly disliked. He had seen all the workings of these
+camps. He could give an unqualified denial to all the villainous
+allegations that had recently been made in public meeting and in the
+House of Commons.
+
+Under date November 1, an officer of the Kroonstad Camp writes:
+
+'We have cricket, tennis, and croquet for them, and they are all jolly
+well treated. Besides other amusements, they have a band twice a week,
+and the other day they got up a concert.'
+
+This is what Mr. Stead calls 'doing to death by slow torture all the
+women and children whom we have penned behind the barbed wire of our
+prison camps.' Can a cause be a sound one which is pleaded in such
+terms!
+
+Now for some Boer voices.
+
+Commandant Alberts writes:
+
+'Major WALTER, Boksburg.--Honoured Sir,--I must express to you and the
+other officers of Boksburg my heartfelt thanks for the great kindness
+shown towards my wife, and at the same time for the message, and I hope
+that this kindness may some time be repaid to you.
+
+'May you and I be spared to have a personal meeting.
+
+'I have the honour to be your honour's servant,
+
+                              '(Signed)       H. ALBERTS, Commandant.'
+
+A Dutch minister writes to Captain SNOWDEN, O.C. of Boer Camp,
+Johannesburg:--'Sir,--I am directed by the Committee of the Dutch
+Reformed Churches here to convey to you the appreciation of the
+Committee for the kindly interest and sympathy shown by you to the women
+and children under your charge.'
+
+One hundred male refugee Boers in the camp at Kroonstad sign the
+following sentiment:
+
+'We also wish to tender Your Excellency our heartiest thanks for the
+interest you take in the education of our youth, and we trust you will
+succeed in your endeavours, and that the growing-up generation will be
+taught to be God-fearing, honest, and loyal citizens under the British
+flag. We regret, however, to state that, notwithstanding the highly
+appreciated efforts of our worthy superintendent and doctors, still so
+many cases of sickness and deaths occur daily in this camp, still we
+hope and trust Your Excellency will do all in your power for the health
+in this camp.
+
+'We trust that the efforts of our worthy superintendent towards
+promoting our welfare under trying circumstances will be appreciated by
+Your Excellency. We are happy to state that the spirit of loyalty is
+daily increasing in this camp, and that the majority of the male
+refugees have taken the oath of allegiance.'
+
+Mr. Dudley Keys, a surrendered burgher, writes to his brother:
+
+'I have been in camp now for more than seven months--a sufficient time,
+you will allow, for reflection--and the immutability of the life
+provides ample scope for indulgence in that direction. How we long for
+the settlement you cannot imagine, nor can you imagine with what disgust
+and impatience we regard every endeavour on the part of the pro-Boers,
+as they are called, to divert the natural and inevitable course of
+things. You will not be surprised at hearing this from a one-time Dutch
+Republican when you take into consideration that all of us who have
+surrendered are fully aware of the fact that we were the aggressors, and
+that our statesmen are to blame for our present predicament. A large
+number of Boers, of course, will never come to view the matter in this
+light. That, of course, is not the result of thought and reflection, but
+utter and total ignorance. When Miss Hobhouse was here I frequently saw
+her priming herself or being primed. Some of our women would tell her
+anything for a dress or a pair of boots. If she knew our countrymen and
+women as well as we know them, her story would have been a short one.
+Now the home Government are despatching this commission. Well, when they
+see the women and children in camp they will naturally feel sorry for
+them. Who would not? But if they only remember that this is war and not
+a picnic, they will satisfy the people in England on their return that
+all we want is peace, and plenty of it.'
+
+He adds:
+
+'In spite of the lack of gratitude shown by our people, the authorities
+continue to make improvements and to lessen the hardships. That this
+entails enormous expenditure you will see by the statistics frequently
+published in the English papers. When I hear our people grumble, I often
+wonder how they would have treated the Britishers if the positions were
+reversed, and I am bound to acknowledge that it would not compare
+favourably with the treatment we receive.'
+
+A Boer woman, writing from Pietermaritzburg, says:
+
+'Those who complain of anything must lie, for we are in good
+circumstances.'
+
+In a second letter she says:
+
+'I can make no complaint at all.'
+
+Mrs. Blignant, writing from the Port Elizabeth Refugee Camp, says:
+
+'If we had to complain it would be false complaint, and all the stories
+about ill-treatment are untrue as far as I can find out.' Among the
+women cared for in this camp was one from Jagersfontein, who
+boasted--and with truth--that she had shot two unarmed British soldiers
+with a revolver.
+
+Such is some of the evidence to be placed against Miss Hobhouse's
+report, and that of the unnamed lady in Pretoria. In justice it must be
+acknowledged that some camps may have been more open to criticism than
+others, and that (as we should expect) they became more perfect with
+time. But I cannot believe that any impartial mind can read the evidence
+without seeing that the British Government was doing its best under
+difficult circumstances to carry out the most humane plan possible, and
+that any other must involve consequences from which a civilised nation
+must shrink.
+
+Towards the end of 1901 an attempt was made to lessen the mortality in
+the camps by bringing them down to the sea-coast. The problem was
+complicated by the fact that many of the refugees were averse from
+leaving their own country, and had come in upon a promise that they
+would not be asked to do so. Those who would were moved down, and the
+camps at East London, Port Elizabeth, and Merebank, near Durban, largely
+increased. 'No expense must be allowed to stand in the way,' said Mr.
+Chamberlain in an official message. In Blue Book (Cd. 853) we find Lord
+Milner and the Colonial Secretary discussing every means by which the
+mortality might be lessened and the comfort of the camps increased.
+
+It is worthy of record that the portrait of an emaciated child has been
+circulated upon the Continent and in America as a proof positive of the
+horrors of the concentration system. It is only too probable that there
+are many emaciated children in the camps, for they usually arrive in
+that condition. This particular portrait however was, as I am credibly
+informed, taken by the British authorities on the occasion of the
+criminal trial of the mother for the ill-usage of the child. The
+incident is characteristic of the unscrupulous tactics which have been
+used from the beginning to poison the mind of the world against Great
+Britain.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+THE BRITISH SOLDIER IN SOUTH AFRICA
+
+
+When Lord Roberts desired to sum up the character of the soldiers whom
+he had led, he declared that they had behaved like gentlemen. I believe
+that statement to be no exaggeration, and I think that when the bitter
+animosities of warfare have subsided, it will be acknowledged by the
+Boers themselves that it is true. They have had some unsavoury work to
+do--for guerilla warfare brings much in its train which is hateful--but
+officers and men have ameliorated and softened the asperities of warfare
+wherever it has been possible to do so. Their character has been most
+foully attacked by politicians at home, and by the ignorant or
+malevolent abroad. Let us examine the evidence.
+
+There were many military attaches present with our Army. Have any of
+them reported against the discipline of our soldiers? So far as their
+reports are known, nothing of the sort has been alleged. Captain Slocum,
+the American representative, writes from Bloemfontein:
+
+'The British have been too merciful, and I believe, had a more rigorous
+course been adopted when the Army first entered this capital and the
+enemy thoroughly stampeded, the war would have been materially
+shortened.'
+
+The French military attache said: 'What I admire most in this campaign
+is the conduct of your soldiers. Here they are trekking and fighting
+daily in an uninteresting country, scorched by day, cold by night,
+without drink, without women. Any other soldiers in Europe would have
+mutinied long ago.'
+
+There were several foreign war-correspondents with our army. Of these
+the only Frenchman, M. Carrere of the 'Matin' was an ardent pro-Boer.
+Read his book, 'En pleine Epopee.' He is bitter against our policy and
+our politicians. His eyes are very keenly open for flaws in our Army.
+But from cover to cover he has nothing but praise for the devoted Tommy
+and his chivalrous officer.
+
+Three American correspondents were there--there may have been more, but
+three I knew. These were Messrs. Julian Ralph, James Barnes, and Unger.
+The first two were much impressed by the humanity and discipline of the
+British troops, though Mr. Ralph was, I believe, like Captain Slocum, of
+the opinion that it was occasionally pushed too far. Mr. Unger's
+published impressions of the war confirm the same idea.
+
+Here, then, is practical unanimity among all the impartial witnesses. On
+the opinions of our own correspondents I will not dwell. I have the
+advantage of knowing nearly all of them, and though among them are
+several gentlemen who have a chivalrous and idealistic sympathy for the
+Boers, I cannot recollect that I have ever once heard one of them record
+a single instance where they had been shocked by the conduct of a
+soldier.
+
+I may, perhaps, be permitted to add my own testimony. I went to South
+Africa with great sympathy for the individual Boer, and with a belief
+that I should find soldiers in the field very different from soldiers in
+peace. I was three months in Bloemfontein when there were from ten to
+thirty thousand men encamped round the town. During that time I only
+once saw a man drunk. I never saw a man drunk during the short time that
+I was in Pretoria and Johannesburg. I once heard of a soldier striking a
+Boer. It was because the man had refused to raise his hat at the burial
+of the soldier's comrade. I not only never saw any outrage, but in many
+confidential talks with officers I never heard of one. I saw twenty Boer
+prisoners within five minutes of their capture. The soldiers were giving
+them cigarettes. Only two assaults on women came to my ears while I was
+in Africa. In each case the culprit was a Kaffir, and the deed was
+promptly avenged by the British Army.
+
+Miss Hobhouse has mixed with a great number of refugees, many of whom
+are naturally very bitter against us. She is not reticent as to the
+tales which they told her. Not one of them all has a story of outrage.
+One woman, she says, was kicked by a drunken soldier, for which, she
+adds, he was punished.
+
+An inmate of the Springfontein Refugee Camp, Mr. Maltman, of
+Philippolis, writes: 'All the Boer women here speak in the highest terms
+of the treatment they have received at the hands of soldiers.'
+
+Here is the testimony of a burgher's wife, Mrs. Van Niekirk:
+
+'Will you kindly allow me to give my testimony to the kindly treatment
+of the Dutch women and children by the British troops? As the wife of a
+Transvaal burgher, I have lived in Krugersdorp since 1897, until three
+weeks ago. The town was taken in June last, and since then there has
+always been a fairly large force of men in, or quite near it; indeed, on
+several occasions the numbers have amounted to ten thousand, or more,
+and have been of many different regiments, English, Scotch, Irish, and
+Colonial.
+
+'At such times the streets and the few shops open were thronged with
+soldiers, while, even when the town was quietest, there were always
+numbers of them about. The women were at first afraid, but they very
+soon discovered that they could move about as freely as in ordinary
+times, without fear of any annoyance. During the whole six months I
+never saw or heard of a single instance where a woman was treated with
+the slightest disrespect; the bearing of both officers and men was
+invariably deferential to all women, and kindly to children.
+
+'Last July a detachment of Gordon Highlanders was camped on the veldt
+for a week in front of my house, which stands almost alone on the
+outskirts of the town. My husband was away during the time, and I was
+alone with my young children. The nearest camp-fires were not a dozen
+yards from my gate, yet I never experienced the least annoyance, nor
+missed from my ground even so much as a stick of wood.
+
+'I could multiply instances, but after this little need be said; if I
+had not seen it I could not have believed that a victorious army would
+behave with such humanity and consideration in the territory of a people
+even then in arms against them; and if they behave so in Krugersdorp--a
+place mind you, where during the last six months their doings could not
+be openly criticised--is it likely that their conduct in other places
+will be so entirely different?--I am, &c.'
+
+This is the testimony of a woman. Here it is from a man's point of
+view--an old burgher who had very special opportunities for studying the
+conduct of British troops:
+
+'Allow me to state here, once for all, that throughout the entire war
+all the English officers--and a great many of all ranks came to see
+us--treated us with the greatest kindness and courtesy. They knew, too,
+that I was a burgher, and that I had several sons who were doing their
+duty in fighting for the independence of our country.
+
+'I return once more to the conduct of "Tommy Atkins." We saw numbers of
+convoys, some of which were more than sixteen kilometres long, bringing
+a great many Boer prisoners and their families to Pretoria. Tommy was
+everywhere, watching the wagons, marching without a word in clouds of
+dust, frequently in mud to the ankle, never rough towards women or
+children, as has been so often repeated. We have heard the contrary
+stated by our tried friends and by our own children.
+
+'During halts, Tommy was the best and readiest creature imaginable; he
+got the water boiled, laid himself out to attend to the children in a
+thousand ways, and comforted the broken-hearted mothers. His hand was
+ready with help for every invalid. At our farm he helped of his own free
+will in saving a drowning beast, or in removing a fat pig that had been
+killed, sometimes even in rounding-in cattle that had strayed out of
+bounds, and so on, giving help in a thousand ways. For all that he
+wanted no reward. Rewards he refused altogether simply because it was
+good-feeling which made him do these things.
+
+'Sir, these are indisputable facts, which I have repeated as accurately
+as I could, leaving your readers to draw their own conclusions.
+
+                                        'OLD BURGHER OF THE TRANSVAAL.
+
+ 'Rustenburg, Transvaal: July 1901.'
+
+A long and curious letter appears in the 'Suisse Liberale' from a young
+Swiss who spent the whole time of the war upon a farm in the Thabanchu
+district of the Orange Free State. It is very impartial in its
+judgments, and remarks, among other things--talking of the life of the
+local garrison:
+
+'They make frequent visits, send out invitations, and organise picnics.
+In the town they get up charity concerts, balls, sports, and
+horse-races. It is a curious thing that the English, even when they are
+at war, cannot live without their usual sports, and the conquered do not
+show the slightest repugnance to joining the victors in their games or
+to mixing in society with them.'
+
+Is this consistent with stories of military brutality? It appears to be
+a very modified hell which is loose in that portion of Africa.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Osborn Howe were the directors of the Camp Soldiers' Homes
+in South Africa. They have seen as much of the army in South Africa as
+most people, and have looked at it with critical eyes. Here are some of
+their conclusions:
+
+'Neither we nor our staff, scattered between De Aar and Pretoria, have
+ever heard of a single case of outrage or ill-treatment. One and all
+indignantly denied the accusations against our soldiers, and have given
+us many instances of great kindness shown by the troops towards helpless
+women and children.
+
+'We ourselves saw nothing which we could not tell to a gathering of
+schoolgirls.
+
+'When living in the Orange River Colony we were in the midst of the
+farm-burning district, and witnessed Lord Roberts's efforts to spare the
+people suffering by issuing warning proclamations. We saw how the
+officers waited till the farmers had had time to digest these repeated
+warnings, and then with what reluctance both officers and men went to
+carry out the work of destruction, but we never heard of a case where
+there had not first been some overt act on the part of the enemy.
+
+'A story of reported outrage at a Dutch mission-house in the slums of a
+large town was found after personal investigation to have been anything
+but an outrage as the result proved. The young soldiers who entered the
+house when the door was opened in answer to their knock, withdrew after
+they had discovered that the ladies who occupied the house were
+missionaries, nor had anything been removed or injured. But the garbled
+story, with its misuse of the word "outrage," reached a district in Cape
+Colony where it did no little mischief in fanning the flames of
+animosity and rebellion. Thus the reported "outrage" was not even a
+common assault.
+
+'It may be said that our love for the soldiers has warped our judgment.
+We would say we love God, and we love truth more than the honour of our
+soldiers. If there was another side we should not hide it.'
+
+So much for the general facts. But it is notoriously difficult to prove
+a negative. Let us turn then to particular instances which have been
+raked together, and see what can be made of them. One of them occurred
+early in the war, when it was stated that there had been two assaults
+upon women in Northern Natal. Here are the lies duly nailed to the
+counter.
+
+The Vicar of Dundee, Colony of Natal, on being requested by the Bishop
+of Natal to inquire into the truth of a statement that four women of a
+family near Dundee, named Bester, were outraged by English soldiers,
+reported that he had had an interview with the father-in-law of Bester,
+Jacobus Maritz, who is one of the most influential farmers in the
+district. Maritz said to him:
+
+'Well, Mr. Bailey, you do right in coming to me, for our family (Mrs.
+Bester is his daughter) is the _only_ family of Bester in the district,
+and you can say from me, that the story is nothing but a pack of lies.'
+
+The other case, alleged at Dundee, furnished no names. The only thing
+specified was that one of the men was in the uniform of a Highlander.
+The Vicar replies to this: 'As you are aware, no Highland regiment has
+been stationed at Dundee during the war.'
+
+The weapons of slander were blunted by the fact that about May 1900 the
+Transvaal Government, wishing to allay the fears of the women in the
+farms, published an announcement in the 'Volksstem' advising every
+burgher to leave his family upon the farms as the enemy were treating
+women and children with the utmost consideration and respect. We know
+that both President Kruger and General Botha acted up to this advice by
+leaving their own wives under our protection while they carried on their
+campaign against us. At the very instant that Kruger was falsely stating
+at Marseilles that we were making war on women and children, his own
+infirm wife was being so sedulously guarded by British soldiers that the
+passer-by was not even allowed to stare curiously at the windows or to
+photograph the house.
+
+There was a lull in the campaign of calumny which was made up for by the
+whole-hearted effort of M. van Broekhuizen. This man was a minister in
+Pretoria, and, like most of the Dutch ministers, a red-hot politician.
+Having given his parole to restrain his sentiments, he was found to be
+still preaching inflammatory political sermons; so he was advised to
+leave, and given a passage gratis to Europe. He signalised his arrival
+by an article printed in the 'Independence Belge,' declaring among other
+statements that 30 per cent. of the Boer women had been ruined by the
+British troops. Such a statement from such a source raised a feeling of
+horror in Europe, and one of deep anger and incredulity on the side of
+those who knew the British Army. The letter was forwarded to Pretoria
+for investigation, and elicited the following unofficial comments from
+M. Constancon, the former Swiss Consul in that city, who had been
+present during the whole British occupation:
+
+'I am more than astonished, I am disgusted, that a Lausanne paper should
+print such abominable and filthy lies.
+
+'The whole article from the beginning to the end is nothing but a pack
+of lies, and the writer, a minister of the Gospel, of all men, ought to
+know better than to perjure himself and his office in the way he does.
+
+'I have lived for the last eighteen years in or around Pretoria, and
+know almost every Boer family in the district. The two names mentioned
+by Broekhuizen of women assaulted by the troops are quite unknown to me,
+and are certainly not Boer names.
+
+'Ever since the entry of the troops in the Transvaal, I have travelled
+constantly through the whole of Pretoria district and part of the
+Waterberg. I have often put up at Boer houses for the night, and stopped
+at all houses on my road on my business. In most of these houses the men
+were away fighting against the British; women and children alone were to
+be found on the farms. Nowhere and in no instance have I heard a single
+word of complaint against the troops; here and there a few fowls were
+missing and fencing poles pulled out for firewood; but this can only be
+expected from troops on the march. On the other hand, the women could
+not say enough in praise of the soldiers, and their behaviour towards
+their sex. Whenever a camp was established close to the homestead, the
+officers have always had a picket placed round the house for the object
+of preventing all pilfering, and the women, rich or poor, have
+everywhere been treated as ladies.
+
+'Why the Boer women were so unanimous in their praises is because they
+were far from expecting such treatment at the hands of the victors.
+
+'Our town is divided into wards, and every woman and child has been fed
+whenever they were without support, and in one ward we have actually
+five hundred of these receiving rations from the British Government,
+although in most cases the men are still fighting. In the towns the
+behaviour of the troops has been, admirable, all canteens have been
+closed, and in the last six months I have only seen two cases of
+drunkenness amongst soldiers.
+
+'We are quite a little Swiss colony here, and I don't know one of my
+countrymen who would not endorse every word of my statement.
+
+'Many may have sympathies with the Boers, but in all justice they will
+always give credit to the British troops and their officers for the
+humane way this war is carried on, and for the splendid way in which
+Tommy Atkins behaves himself.'
+
+With this was printed in the 'Gazette de Lausanne,' which instituted
+the inquiry, a letter from Mr. Gray, Presbyterian minister in Pretoria,
+which says:
+
+'A few days ago I received an extract from your issue of November 17
+last entitled "La Civilisation Anglaise en Afrique." It consisted mainly
+of a letter over the signature of H. D. van Broekhuizen (not
+Broesehuizen as printed), Boer pastor of Pretoria. Allow me, sir, to
+assure you that the wholesale statements with regard to the atrocities
+of British soldiers contained in that letter are a tissue of falsehoods,
+and constitute an unfounded calumny which it would be difficult to
+parallel in the annals of warfare. It is difficult to conceive the
+motives that actuate the writer, but that they have been violent enough
+to make him absolutely reckless as to facts, is evident.
+
+'When I got the article from your paper I immediately went out to make
+inquiry as to what possible foundation there was for the charges hurled
+so wildly at the British soldier. Having lived in Pretoria for the last
+eleven years I am acquainted with many of the local Boers. Those of them
+whom I questioned assured me that they had never known a case in which
+British soldiers had outraged a woman. One case was rumoured, but had
+never been substantiated, and was regarded as very doubtful. Let it be
+granted that some solitary cases of rudeness may have occurred, that
+would not be surprising under the circumstances. Still it would not
+furnish a ground for the libelling of a whole army. The astonishing fact
+is, however, that in this country one only hears of the surprise
+everywhere felt that the British soldier has been so self-restrained and
+deferential towards women.'
+
+To this M. van Broekhuizen's feeble reply was that there was no
+ex-consul of the name of Constancon in Pretoria. The 'Gazette de
+Lausanne' then pointed out that the gentleman was well known, that he
+had acted in that capacity for many years, and added that if M. van
+Broekhuizen was so ill-informed upon so simple a matter, it was not
+likely that he was very correct upon other more contentious ones. Thus
+again a false coin was nailed to the counter, but only after it had
+circulated so widely that many who had passed it would never know that
+it was proved to be base metal. Incredible as it may seem, the infamous
+falsehood was repeated in 1902 by a Dr. Vallentin, in the 'Deutsche
+Rundschau,' from which it was copied into other leading German papers
+without any reference to its previous disproof in 1901.
+
+Now we will turn for a moment to the evidence of Miss Alice Bron, the
+devoted Belgian nurse, who served on both sides during the war and has
+therefore a fair standard of comparison. Here are a few sentences from
+her reports:
+
+'I have so often heard it said and repeated that the British soldiers
+are the dregs of London and the scum of the criminal classes, that their
+conduct astounded me.'
+
+This is the opinion of a lady who spent two years in the service of
+humanity on the veldt.
+
+Here are one or two other sidelights from Miss Bron:
+
+'How grateful and respectful they all are! I go to the hospital at night
+without the slightest fear, and when a sentry hears my reply, "Sister,"
+to his challenge, he always humbly begs my pardon.
+
+'I have seen the last of them and their affectionate attentions, their
+respect, and their confidence. On this head I could relate many
+instances of exquisite feeling on the part of these poor soldiers.
+
+'A wounded English soldier was speaking of Cronje. "Ah, sister," said
+he, "I am glad that we have made so many prisoners."
+
+'"Why?" I asked, fearing to hear words of hatred.
+
+'"Oh," he said, "I was glad to hear it because I know that they at least
+would be neither wounded nor killed. They will not leave wife nor
+children, neither will they suffer what we are suffering."'
+
+She describes how she met General Wavell:
+
+'"You see I have come to protect you," he said.
+
+'We smiled and bowed, and I thought, "I know your soldiers too well,
+General. We don't need any protection."'
+
+But war may have brutalised the combatants, and so it is of interest to
+have Nurse Bron's impressions at the end of 1901. She gives her
+conversation with a Boer:
+
+'"All that I have to say to you is that what you did down there has
+never been seen in any other war. _Never_ in any country in the world
+has such a dastardly act been committed as the shooting of one who goes
+to meet the white flag."
+
+'Very pale, the chief, a true "gentleman" fifty-three years old, and the
+father of eleven children, answered, "You are right, sister."
+
+'"And since we talk of these things," I said, "I will say that I
+understand very well that you are defending your country, but what I do
+not excuse is your lying as you do about these English."
+
+'"We repeat what we are told."
+
+'"No," I said, "you all of you lie, and you know that you are lying,
+with the Bible on your knees and invoking the name of God, and, thanks
+to your lies, all Europe believes that the English army is composed of
+assassins and thieves. You see how they treat you here!"'
+
+She proceeds to show how they were treated. The patients, it may be
+observed, were not Boer combatants but Cape rebels, liable to instant
+execution. This is the diet after operations:
+
+'For eight, or ten days, the patient has champagne _of the choicest
+French brands_ (her italics), in considerable quantity, then old cognac,
+and finally port, stout, or ale at choice, with five or six eggs a day
+beaten up in brandy and milk, arriving at last at a complete diet of
+which I, though perfectly well, could not have absorbed the half.'
+
+'This,' she says, 'is another instance of the "ferocity" with which,
+according to the European press, the English butchers have conducted the
+war.'
+
+The Sisters of Nazareth in South Africa are a body who are above
+political or racial prejudice. Here are the published words of the
+Mother Superior:
+
+'I receive letters by every mail, but a word that would imply the least
+shadow of reproach on the conduct of the soldiers has never been
+written. As for the British soldier in general, our sisters in various
+parts of the colony, who have come a great deal in contact with the
+military of all ranks, state that they can never say enough of their
+courtesy, politeness, and good behaviour at all times.'
+
+These are not the impressions which the Boer agents, with their command
+of secret-service money and their influence on the European press, have
+given to the world. A constant stream of misrepresentations and lies
+have poisoned the mind of Europe and have made a deep and enduring
+breach between ourselves and our German kinsmen.
+
+The British troops have been accused of shooting women. It is wonderful
+that many women have not been shot, for it has not been unusual for
+farmhouses to be defended by the men when there were women within. As a
+matter of fact, however, very few cases have occurred where a woman has
+been injured. One amazon was killed in the fighting line, rifle in hand,
+outside Ladysmith. A second victim furnished the famous Eloff myth,
+which gave material for many cartoons and editorials. The accusation was
+that in cold blood we had shot Kruger's niece, and a Berlin morning
+paper told the story, with many artistic embellishments, as follows:
+
+'As the Boer saw his wife down, just able to raise herself, he made an
+attempt to run to her assistance, but the inhumans held him fast. The
+officer assured him that she was shot through the temples and must
+anyhow die, and they left her therefore lying. In the evening he heard
+his name called. It was his wife who still lived after twelve hours'
+agony. When they reached Rustenburg she was dead. This woman was Frau
+Eloff, Kruger's niece. In addition to the sympathy for the loss Kruger
+has suffered, this report will renew the bitter feeling of all against
+the brutality of English warfare.'
+
+This story was dished up in many ways by many papers. Here is Lord
+Kitchener's plain account of the matter:
+
+'No woman of that name has been killed, but the report may refer to the
+death of a Mrs. Vandermerve, who unfortunately was killed at a farmhouse
+from which her husband was firing. Mrs. Vandermerve is a sister-in-law
+of Eloff. The death of a woman from a stray bullet is greatly to be
+regretted, but it appears clear that her husband was responsible for the
+fighting which caused the accident.'
+
+So perished another myth. I observe, however, now (Christmas 1901), a
+continental journalist describing an interview with Kruger says, 'he
+wore mourning on account of his niece who died of a gun-shot.' Might not
+his wife's death possibly account for the mourning?
+
+And yet another invention which is destined to the same fate, is the
+story that at the skirmish of Graspan, near Reitz, upon June 6, the
+British used the Boer women as cover, a subject which also afforded
+excellent material for the caricaturists of the Fatherland. The picture
+of rows of charming Boer maidens chained in the open with bloodthirsty
+soldiers crouching behind them was too alluring for the tender-hearted
+artist. Nothing was wanting for a perfect cartoon--except the original
+fact. Here is the report as it appeared in a German paper:
+
+'When the English on June 6 were attacked by the Boers, they ordered the
+women and children to leave the wagons. Placing these in front of the
+soldiers, they shot beneath the women's arms upon the approaching Boers.
+Eight women and two children fell through the Boers' fire. When the
+Boers saw this they stopped firing. Yelling like wild beasts, they broke
+through the soldiers' lines, beating to death the Tommies like mad dogs
+with the butt ends of their rifles.'
+
+The true circumstances of the action so far as they can be collected are
+as follows: Early on June 6 Major Sladen, with 200 mounted infantry, ran
+down a Boer convoy of 100 wagons. He took forty-five male prisoners, and
+the wagons were full of women and children. He halted his men and waited
+for the main British force (De Lisle's) to come up. While he was waiting
+he was fiercely attacked by a large body of Boers, five or six hundred,
+under De Wet. The British threw themselves into a Kaffir kraal and made
+a desperate resistance. The long train of wagons with the women still in
+them extended from this village right across the plain, and the Boers
+used them as cover in skirmishing up to the village. The result was that
+the women and children were under a double fire from either side. One
+woman and two children appear to have been hit, though whether by Boer
+or Briton it must have been difficult to determine. The convoy and the
+prisoners remained eventually in the hands of the British. It will be
+seen then that it is as just to say that the Boers used their women as
+cover for their advance as the British for their defence. Probably in
+the heat of the action both sides thought more of the wagons than of
+what was inside them.
+
+These, with one case at Middelburg, where in a night attack of the Boers
+one or two inmates of the refugee camp are said to have been
+accidentally hit, form the only known instances in the war. And yet so
+well known a paper as the German 'Kladderadatsch' is not ashamed to
+publish a picture of a ruined farm with dead women strewed round it, and
+the male child hanging from the branch of a tree. The 'Kladderadatsch'
+has a reputation as a comic paper, but there should be some limits to
+its facetiousness.
+
+In his pamphlet on 'Methods of Barbarism,' Mr. Stead has recently
+produced a chapter called 'A Glimpse of the Hellish Panorama,' in which
+he deals with the evidence at the Spoelstra trial. Spoelstra was a
+Hollander who, having sworn an oath of neutrality, afterwards despatched
+a letter to a Dutch newspaper without submitting it to a censor, in
+which he made libellous attacks upon the British Army. He was tried for
+the offence and sentenced to a fine of 100_l._, his imprisonment being
+remitted. In the course of the trial he called a number of witnesses for
+the purpose of supporting his charges against the troops, and it is on
+their evidence that Mr. Stead dilates under the characteristic headline
+given above.
+
+Mr. Stead begins his indictment by a paragraph which speaks for itself:
+'It is a cant cry with many persons, by no means confined to those who
+have advocated the war, that the British Army has spent two years in the
+South African Republics without a single case of impropriety being
+proved against a single soldier. I should be very glad to believe it;
+but there is Rudyard Kipling's familiar saying that Tommy Atkins is no
+plaster saint, but a single man in barracks, or, in this case, a single
+man in camp, remarkably like other human beings. We all know him at
+home. There is not one father of a family in the House or on the London
+Press who would allow his servant girl to remain out all night on a
+public common in England in time of profound peace in the company of a
+score of soldiers. If he did, he would feel that he had exposed the girl
+to the loss of her character. This is not merely admitted, but acted
+upon by all decent people who live in garrison towns or in the
+neighbourhood of barracks. Why, then, should they suppose that when the
+same men are released from all the restraints of civilisation, and sent
+forth to burn, destroy, and loot at their own sweet will and pleasure,
+they will suddenly undergo so complete a transformation as to
+scrupulously respect the wives and daughters of the enemy? It is very
+unpopular to say this, and I already hear in advance the shrieks of
+execration of those who will declare that I am calumniating the gallant
+soldiers who are spending their lives in the defence of the interests of
+the Empire. But I do not say a word against our soldiers. I only say
+that they are men.'
+
+He adds:
+
+'It is an unpleasant fact, but it has got to be faced like other facts.
+No war can be conducted--and this war has not been conducted--without
+exposing multitudes of women, married and single, to the worst
+extremities of outrage. It is an inevitable incident of war. It is one
+of the normal phenomena of the military Inferno. It is absolutely
+impossible to attempt any comparative or quantitative estimate of the
+number of women who have suffered wrong at the hands of our troops.'
+
+Was ever such an argument adduced in this world upon a serious matter!
+When stripped of its rhetoric it amounts to this, '250,000 men have
+committed outrages. How do I prove it? Because they are 250,000 men,
+and therefore _must_ commit outrages.' Putting all chivalry, sense of
+duty, and every higher consideration upon one side, is Mr. Stead not
+aware that if a soldier had done such a thing and if his victim could
+have pointed him out, the man's life would be measured by the time that
+was needed to collect a military court to try him? Is there a soldier
+who does not know this? Is there a Boer who does not know it? It is the
+one offence for which there would be no possible forgiveness. Are the
+Boers so meek-spirited a race that they have no desire for vengeance?
+Would any officer take the responsibility of not reporting a man who was
+accused of such a crime? Where, then, are the lists of the men who must
+have suffered if this cruel accusation were true? There are no such
+lists, because such things have never occurred.
+
+Leading up to the events of the trial, Mr. Stead curdles our blood by
+talking of the eleven women who stood up upon oath to testify to the
+ill-treatment which they had received at the hands of our troops. Taken
+with the context, the casual reader would naturally imagine that these
+eleven women were all complaining of some sexual ill-usage. In the very
+next sentence he talks about 'such horrible and shameful incidents.' But
+on examination it proves that eight out of the eleven cases have nothing
+sexual or, indeed, in many of them, anything criminal in their
+character. One is, that a coffin was dug up to see if there were arms in
+it. On this occasion the search was a failure, though it has before now
+been a success. Another was that the bed of a sick woman was
+searched--without any suggestion of indelicacy. Two others, that women
+had been confined while on the trek in wagons. 'The soldiers did not
+bother the woman during or after the confinement. They did not peep into
+the wagon,' said the witness. These are the trivialities which Mr. Stead
+tries to bluff us into classifying as 'horrible and shameful incidents.'
+
+But there were three alleged cases of assault upon women. One of them is
+laid to the charge of a certain Mr. E----n, of the Intelligence
+Department. Now, the use of Mr. and the description 'Intelligence
+Department' make it very doubtful whether this man could be called a
+member of the British Army at all. The inference is that he was a
+civilian, and further, that he was a Dutch civilian. British names which
+will fit E----n are not common, while the Dutch name Esselen or Enslin
+is extremely so. 'I have never been to the Intelligence Department to
+find out whether he really belonged to that Department,' said the
+woman. She adds that E----n acted as an interpreter. Surely, then, he
+must have been a Dutchman. In that case, why is his name the only name
+which is disguised? Is it not a little suggestive?
+
+The second case was that of Mrs. Gouws, whose unfortunate experience was
+communicated to Pastor van Broekhuizen, and had such an effect upon him
+as to cause him to declare that 30 per cent. of the women of the country
+had been ruined. Mrs. Gouws certainly appears by her own account to have
+been very roughly treated, though she does not assert that her assailant
+went to the last extremity--or, indeed, that he did more than use coarse
+terms in his conversation. The husband in his evidence says: 'I have
+seen a great deal of soldiers, and they behaved well, and I could speak
+well of them.' He added that a British officer had taken his wife's
+deposition, and that both the Provost-Marshal and the Military Governor
+were interesting themselves in the case. Though no actual assault was
+committed, it is to be hoped that the man who was rude to a helpless
+woman will sooner or later be identified and punished.
+
+There remains one case, that of Mrs. Botha of Rustenburg, which, if her
+account is corroborated, is as bad as it could be. The mystery of the
+case lies in the fact that by her own account a British force was
+encamped close by, and yet that neither she nor her husband made the
+complaint which would have brought most summary punishment upon the
+criminal. This could not have been from a shrinking from publicity,
+since she was ready to tell the story in Court. There is not the least
+indication who this solitary soldier may have been, and even the date
+was unknown to the complainant. What can be done in such a case? The
+President of the court-martial, with a burst of indignation which shows
+that he at least does not share Mr. Stead's views upon the frequency of
+such crimes in South Africa, cried: 'If such a most awful thing happened
+to a woman, would it not be the first thing for a man to do to rush out
+and bring the guilty man to justice? He ought to risk his life for that.
+There was no reason for him to be frightened. We English are not a
+barbarous nation.' The husband, however, had taken no steps. We may be
+very sure that the case still engages the earnest attention of our
+Provost-Marshal, and that the man, if he exists, will sooner or later
+form an object-lesson upon discipline and humanity to the nearest
+garrison. Such was the Spoelstra trial. Mr. Stead talks fluently of the
+charges made, but deliberately omits the essential fact that after a
+patient hearing not one of them was substantiated.
+
+I cannot end the chapter better than with the words of the Rev. P. S.
+Bosman, head of the Dutch Reformed Church at Pretoria:
+
+'Not a single case of criminal assault or rape by non-commissioned
+officers or men of the British Army in Pretoria on Boer women has come
+to my knowledge. I asked several gentlemen in turn about this point and
+their testimony is the same as mine.'
+
+But Mr. Stead says that it must be so because there are 250,000 men in
+Africa. Could the perversion of argument go further? Which are we to
+believe, our enemy upon the spot or the journalist in London?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+FURTHER CHARGES AGAINST BRITISH TROOPS
+
+
+_Expansive and Explosive Bullets._
+
+When Mr. Stead indulges in vague rhetoric it is difficult to corner him,
+but when he commits himself to a definite statement he is more open to
+attack. Thus, in his 'Methods of Barbarism' he roundly asserts that
+'England sent several million rounds of expanding bullets to South
+Africa, and in the North of the Transvaal and at Mafeking for the first
+three months of the war no other bullets were used.' Mr. Methuen, on the
+authority of a letter of Lieutenant de Montmorency, R.A., states also
+that from October 12, 1899, up to January 15, 1900, the British forces
+north of Mafeking used nothing but Mark IV. ammunition, which is not a
+dum-dum but is an expansive bullet.
+
+Mr. Methuen's statement differs, as will be seen, very widely from Mr.
+Stead's; for Mr. Stead says Mafeking, and Mr. Methuen says north of
+Mafeking. There was a very great deal of fighting at Mafeking, and
+comparatively little north of Mafeking during that time, so that the
+difference is an essential one. To test Mr. Stead's assertion about
+Mafeking, I communicated with General Baden-Powell, the gentleman who is
+most qualified to speak as to what occurred there, and his answer lies
+before me: 'We had no expanding bullets in our supply at Mafeking,
+unless you call the ordinary Martini-Henry an expanding bullet. I would
+not have used them on humane principles, and moreover, an Army order had
+been issued against the use of dum-dum bullets in this campaign. On the
+other hand, explosive bullets are expressly forbidden in the Convention,
+and these the Boers used freely against us in Mafeking, especially on
+May 12.'
+
+I have endeavoured also to test the statement as it concerns the troops
+to the north of Mafeking. The same high authority says: 'With regard to
+the northern force, it is just possible that a few sportsmen in the
+Rhodesian column may have had some sporting bullets, but I certainly
+never heard of them.' A friend of mine who was in Lobatsi during the
+first week of the war assures me that he never saw anything but the
+solid bullet. It must be remembered that the state of things was very
+exceptional with the Rhodesian force. Their communications to the south
+were cut on the second day of the war, and for seven months they were
+dependent upon the long and circuitous Beira route for any supplies
+which reached them. One could imagine that under such circumstances
+uniformity of armament would be more difficult to maintain than in the
+case of an army with an assured base.
+
+The expansive bullet is not, as a matter of fact, contrary to the
+Conventions of The Hague. It was expressly held from being so by the
+representatives of the United States and of Great Britain. In taking
+this view I cannot but think that these two enlightened and humanitarian
+Powers were ill-advised. Those Conventions were of course only binding
+on those who signed them, and therefore in fighting desperate savages
+the man-stopping bullet could still have been used. Whatever our motives
+in taking the view that we did, a swift retribution has come upon us,
+for it has prevented us from exacting any retribution, or even
+complaining, when the Boers have used these weapons against us.
+Explosive bullets are, however, as my distinguished correspondent points
+out, upon a different footing, and if the Boers claim the advantages of
+the Conventions of The Hague, then every burgher found with these
+weapons in his bandolier is liable to punishment.
+
+Our soldiers have been more merciful than our Hague diplomatists, for in
+spite of the reservation of the right to use this ammunition, every
+effort has been made to exclude it from the firing line. An unfortunate
+incident early in the campaign gave our enemies some reason to suspect
+us. The facts are these.
+
+At the end of the spring of 1899 some hundreds of thousands of
+hollow-headed bullets, made in England, were condemned as
+unsatisfactory, not being true to gauge, &c., and were sent to South
+Africa for target practice only. A quantity of this ammunition, known as
+'Metford Mark IV.,' was sent up to Dundee by order of General Symons for
+practice in field firing. As Mark IV. was not for use in a war with
+white races all these cartridges were called in as soon as Kruger
+declared war, and the officers responsible thought they were every one
+returned. By some blundering in the packing at home, however, some of
+this Mark IV. must have got mixed up with the ordinary, or Mark II.,
+ammunition, and was found on our men by the Boers on October 30.
+Accordingly a very careful inspection was ordered, and a few Mark IV.
+bullets were found in our men's pouches, and at once removed. Their
+presence was purely accidental, and undoubtedly caused by a blunder in
+the Ordnance Department long before the war, and it was in consequence
+of this that some hollow-headed bullets were fired by the English early
+in the war without their knowledge.
+
+What is usually known as the dum-dum bullet is a 'soft-nosed' one: but
+the regulation Mark II. is also made at the dum-dum factory, and the
+Boers, seeing the dum-dum label on boxes containing the latter,
+naturally thought the contents were the soft-nosed, which they were not.
+
+It must be admitted that there was some carelessness in permitting
+sporting ammunition ever to get to the front at all. When the Derbyshire
+Militia were taken by De Wet at Roodeval, a number of cases of sporting
+cartridges were captured by the Boers (the officers had used them for
+shooting springbok). My friend, Mr. Langman, who was present, saw the
+Boers, in some instances, filling their bandoliers from these cases on
+the plausible excuse that they were only using our own ammunition. Such
+cartridges should never have been permitted to go up. But in spite of
+instances of bungling, the evidence shows that every effort has been
+made to keep the war as humane as possible. I am inclined to hope that a
+fuller knowledge will show that the same holds good for our enemies, and
+that in spite of individual exceptions, they have never systematically
+used anything except what one of their number described as a
+'gentlemanly' bullet.
+
+
+_Conduct to Prisoners on the Field._
+
+On this count, also, the British soldiers have been exposed to attacks,
+both at home and abroad, which are as unfounded and as shameful as most
+of those which have been already treated.
+
+The first occasion upon which Boer prisoners fell into our hands was at
+the Battle of Elandslaagte, on October 21, 1899. That night was spent by
+the victorious troops in a pouring rain, round such fires as they were
+able to light. It has been recorded by several witnesses that the
+warmest corner by the fire was reserved for the Boer prisoners. It has
+been asserted, and is again asserted, that when the Lancers charged a
+small body of the enemy after the action, they gave no quarter--'too
+well substantiated and too familiar,' says one critic of this assertion.
+I believe, as a matter of fact, that the myth arose from a sensational
+picture in an illustrated paper. The charge was delivered late in the
+evening, in uncertain light. Under such circumstances it is always
+possible, amid so wild and confused a scene, that a man who would have
+surrendered has been cut down or ridden over. But the cavalry brought
+back twenty prisoners, and the number whom they killed or wounded has
+not been placed higher than that, so that it is certain there was no
+indiscriminate slaying. I have read a letter from the officer who
+commanded the cavalry and who directed the charge, in which he tells the
+whole story confidentially to a brother officer. He speaks of his
+prisoners, but there is no reference to any brutality upon the part of
+the troopers.
+
+Mr. Stead makes a great deal of some extracts from the letters of
+private soldiers at the front who talk of bayonetting their enemies.
+Such expressions should be accepted with considerable caution, for it
+may amuse the soldier to depict himself as rather a terrible fellow to
+his home-staying friends. Even if isolated instances could be
+corroborated, it would merely show that men of fiery temperament in the
+flush of battle are occasionally not to be restrained, either by the
+power of discipline or by the example and exhortations of their
+officers. Such instances, I do not doubt, could be found among all
+troops in all wars. But to found upon it a general charge of brutality
+or cruelty is unjust in the case of a foreigner, and unnatural in the
+case of our own people.
+
+There is one final and complete answer to all such charges. It is that
+we have now in our hands 42,000 males of the Boer nations. They assert,
+and we cannot deny, that their losses in killed have been
+extraordinarily light during two years of warfare. How are these
+admitted and certain facts compatible with any general refusal of
+quarter? To anyone who, like myself, has seen the British soldiers
+jesting and smoking cigarettes with their captives within five minutes
+of their being taken, such a charge is ludicrous, but surely even to the
+most biassed mind the fact stated above must be conclusive.
+
+In some ways I fear that the Conventions of The Hague will prove, when
+tested on a large scale, to be a counsel of perfection. It will
+certainly be the extreme test of self-restraint and discipline--a test
+successfully endured by the British troops at Elandslaagte, Bergendal,
+and many other places--to carry a position by assault and then to give
+quarter to those defenders who only surrender at the last instant. It
+seems almost too much to ask. The assailants have been terribly
+punished: they have lost their friends and their officers, in the frenzy
+of battle they storm the position, and then at the last instant the men
+who have done all the mischief stand up unscathed from behind their
+rocks and claim their own personal safety. Only at that moment has the
+soldier seen his antagonist or been on equal terms with him. He must
+give quarter, but it must be confessed that this is trying human nature
+rather high.
+
+But if this holds good of an organised force defending a position, how
+about the solitary sniper? The position of such a man has never been
+defined by the Conventions of The Hague, and no rules are laid down for
+his treatment. It is not wonderful if the troops who have been annoyed
+by him should on occasion take the law into their own hands and treat
+him in a summary fashion.
+
+The very first article of the Conventions of The Hague states that a
+belligerent must (1) Be commanded by some responsible person; (2) Have a
+distinctive emblem visible at a distance; (3) Carry arms openly. Now it
+is evident that the Boer sniper who draws his Mauser from its
+hiding-place in order to have a shot at the Rooineks from a safe kopje
+does not comply with any one of these conditions. In the letter of the
+law, then, he is undoubtedly outside the rules of warfare.
+
+In the spirit he is even more so. Prowling among the rocks and shooting
+those who cannot tell whence the bullet comes, there is no wide gap
+between him and the assassin. His victims never see him, and in the
+ordinary course he incurs no personal danger. I believe such cases to
+have been very rare, but if the soldiers have occasionally shot such a
+man without reference to the officers, can it be said that it was an
+inexcusable action, or even that it was outside the strict rules of
+warfare?
+
+I find in the 'Gazette de Lausanne' a returned Swiss soldier named
+Pache, who had fought for the Boers, expresses his amazement at the way
+in which the British troops after their losses in the storming of a
+position gave quarter to those who had inflicted those losses upon them.
+
+'Only once,' he says, 'at the fight at Tabaksberg, have I seen the
+Boers hold on to their position to the very end. At the last rush of the
+enemy they opened a fruitless magazine fire, and then threw down their
+rifles and lifted their hands, imploring quarter from those whom they
+had been firing at at short range. I was astounded at the clemency of
+the soldiers, who allowed them to live. For my part I should have put
+them to death.'
+
+Of prisoners after capture there is hardly need to speak. There is a
+universal consensus of opinion from all, British or foreign, who have
+had an opportunity of forming an opinion, that the prisoners have been
+treated with humanity and generosity. The same report has come from
+Green Point, St. Helena, Bermuda, Ceylon, Ahmednager, and all other
+camps. An outcry was raised when Ahmednager in India was chosen for a
+prison station, and it was asserted, with that recklessness with which
+so many other charges have been hurled against the authorities, that it
+was a hot-bed of disease. Experience has shown that there was no grain
+of truth in these statements, and the camp has been a very healthy one.
+As it remains the only one which has ever been subjected to harsh
+criticism, it may be of use to append the conclusions of Mr. Jesse
+Collings during a visit to it last month:
+
+'The Boer officers said, speaking for ourselves and men, we have nothing
+at all to complain of. As prisoners of war we could not be better
+treated, and Major Dickenson' (this they wished specially to be
+inserted), 'is as kind and considerate as it is possible to be.'
+
+Some sensational statements were also made in America as to the
+condition of the Bermuda Camps, but a newspaper investigation has shown
+that there is no charge to be brought against them.
+
+Mr. John J. O'Rorke writes to the 'New York Times,' saying, 'That in
+view of the many misrepresentations regarding the treatment of the Boer
+prisoners in Bermuda, he recently obtained a trustworthy opinion from
+one of his correspondents there.'... The correspondent's name is Musson
+Wainwright, and Mr. O'Rorke describes him 'as one of the influential
+residents in the island.' He says, 'That the Boers in Bermuda are better
+off than many residents in New York. They have plenty of beef, plenty of
+bread, plenty of everything except liberty. There are good hospitals and
+good doctors. It is true that some of the Boers are short of clothing,
+but these are very few, and the Government is issuing clothing to them.
+On the whole,' says Mr. Wainwright, 'Great Britain is treating the
+Boers far better than most people would.'
+
+Compare this record with the undoubted privations, many of them
+unnecessary, which our soldiers endured at Waterval near Pretoria, the
+callous neglect of the enteric patients there, and the really barbarous
+treatment of British Colonial prisoners who were confined in cells on
+the absurd plea that in fighting for their flag they were traitors to
+the Africander cause.
+
+
+_Executions._
+
+The number of executions of Boers, as distinguished from the execution
+of Cape rebels, has been remarkably few in a war which has already
+lasted twenty-six months. So far as I have been able to follow them,
+they have been limited to the execution of Cordua for broken parole and
+conspiracy upon August 24, 1900, at Pretoria, the shooting of one or two
+horse-poisoners in Natal, and the shooting of three men after the action
+of October 27, 1900, near Fredericstad. These men, after throwing down
+their arms and receiving quarter, picked them up again and fired at the
+soldiers from behind. No doubt there have been other cases, scattered up
+and down the vast scene of warfare, but I can find no record of them,
+and if they exist at all they must be few in number. Since the beginning
+of 1901 four men have been shot in the Transvaal, three in Pretoria as
+spies and breakers of parole, one in Johannesburg as an aggravated case
+of breaking neutrality by inciting Boers to resist.
+
+At the beginning of the war 90 per cent. of the farmers in the northern
+district of Cape Colony joined the invaders. Upon the expulsion of the
+Boers these men for the most part surrendered. The British Government,
+recognising that pressure had been put upon them and that their position
+had been a difficult one, inflicted no penalty upon the rank-and-file
+beyond depriving them of the franchise for a few years. A few who, like
+the Douglas rebels, were taken red-handed upon the field of battle, were
+condemned to periods of imprisonment which varied from one to five
+years.
+
+This was in the year 1900. In 1901 there was an invasion of the Colony
+by Boers which differed very much from the former one. In the first case
+the country had actually been occupied by the Boer forces, who were able
+to exert real pressure upon the inhabitants. In the second the invaders
+were merely raiding bands who traversed many places but occupied none. A
+British subject who joined on the first occasion might plead compulsion,
+on the second it was undoubtedly of his own free will.
+
+These Boer bands being very mobile, and never fighting save when they
+were at an overwhelming advantage, penetrated all parts of the Colony
+and seduced a number of British subjects from their allegiance. The
+attacking of small posts and the derailing of trains, military or
+civilian, were their chief employment. To cover their tracks they
+continually murdered natives whose information might betray them. Their
+presence kept the Colony in confusion and threatened the communications
+of the Army.
+
+The situation may be brought home to a continental reader by a fairly
+exact parallel. Suppose that an Austrian army had invaded Germany, and
+that while it was deep in German territory bands of Austrian subjects
+who were of German extraction began to tear up the railway lines and
+harass the communications. That was our situation in South Africa. Would
+the Austrians under these circumstances show much mercy to those rebel
+bands, especially if they added cold-blooded murder to their treason? Is
+it likely that they would?
+
+The British, however, were very long-suffering. Many hundreds of these
+rebels passed into their hands, and most of them escaped with fine and
+imprisonment. The ringleaders, and those who were convicted of capital
+penal offences, were put to death. I have been at some pains to make a
+list of the executions in 1901, including those already mentioned. It is
+at least approximately correct:
+
+ +---------+--------------------+----------+------------------------------+
+ | Number  |       Place        |   Date   |           Reason             |
+ +---------+--------------------+----------+------------------------------+
+ |         |                    |   1901   |                              |
+ |    2    | De Aar             | March 19 | Train-wrecking.              |
+ |    2    | Pretoria           |  June 11 | Boers breaking oath of       |
+ |         |                    |          |   neutrality.                |
+ |    1    | Middelburg         |  July 10 | Fighting.                    |
+ |    1    | Cape Town          |    "  13 |    "                         |
+ |    1    | Cradock            |    "  13 |    "                         |
+ |    2    | Middelburg         |    "  24 |    "                         |
+ |    2    | Kenhardt           |    "  25 |    "                         |
+ |    1    | Pretoria           |  Aug. 22 | Boer spy.                    |
+ |    3    | Colesburg          | Sept.  4 | Fighting.                    |
+ |    1    | Middelburg         |  Oct. 10 |    "                         |
+ |    1    | Middelburg         |    "  11 |    "                         |
+ |    1    | Vryburg (hanged)   |    "  12 |    "                         |
+ | Several | Tarkastad          |    "  12 |    "                         |
+ |    1    | Tarkastad          |    "  14 |    "                         |
+ |    1    | Middelburg         |    "  15 |    "                         |
+ |    2    | Cradock (1 hanged, |    "  17 | Train-wrecking and murdering |
+ |         |   1 shot)          |          |   native.                    |
+ |    2    | Vryburg            |    "  29 | Fighting.                    |
+ |    1    | Mafeking           |  Nov. 11 | Shooting a Native.           |
+ |    1    | Colesburg          |    "  12 | Fighting, marauding, and     |
+ |         |                    |          |   assaulting, &c.            |
+ |    1    | Johannesburg       |    "  23 | Persuading surrendered       |
+ |         |                    |          |   burghers to break oath.    |
+ |    1    | Aliwal North       |    "  26 | Cape Police Deserter.        |
+ |    1    | Krugersdorp        |  Dec. 26 | Shooting wounded.            |
+ |    2    | Mafeking           |    "  27 | Kaffir murder.               |
+ +---------+--------------------+----------+------------------------------+
+
+Allowing 3 for the 'several' at Tarkastad on October 12, that makes a
+total of 34. Many will undoubtedly be added in the future, for the
+continual murder of inoffensive natives, some of them children, calls
+for stern justice. In this list 4 were train-wreckers (aggravated cases
+by rebels), 1 was a spy, 4 were murderers of natives, 1 a deserter who
+took twenty horses from the Cape Police, and the remaining 23 were
+British subjects taken fighting and bearing arms against their own
+country.
+
+
+_Hostages upon Railway Trains._
+
+Here the military authorities are open, as it seems to me, to a serious
+charge, not of inhumanity to the enemy but of neglecting those steps
+which it was their duty to take in order to safeguard their own troops.
+If all the victims of derailings and railway cuttings were added
+together it is not an exaggeration to say that it would furnish as many
+killed and wounded as a considerable battle. On at least five occasions
+between twenty and thirty men were incapacitated, and there are very
+numerous cases where smaller numbers were badly hurt.
+
+Let it be said at once that we have no grievance in this. To derail a
+train is legitimate warfare, with many precedents to support it. But to
+checkmate it by putting hostages upon the trains is likewise legitimate
+warfare, with many precedents to support it also. The Germans habitually
+did it in France, and the result justified them as the result has
+justified us. From the time (October 1901) that it was adopted in South
+Africa we have not heard of a single case of derailing, and there can be
+no doubt that the lives of many soldiers, and possibly of some
+civilians, have been saved by the measure.
+
+I will conclude this chapter by two extracts chosen out of many from the
+diary of the Austrian, Count Sternberg. In the first he describes his
+capture:
+
+'Three hours passed thus without our succeeding in finding our object.
+The sergeant then ordered that we should take a rest. We sat down on the
+ground, and chatted good-humouredly with the soldiers. They were fine
+fellows, without the least sign of brutality--in fact, full of sympathy.
+They had every right to be angry with us, for we had spoiled their sleep
+after they had gone through a trying day; yet they did not visit it on
+us in any way, and were most kind. They even shared their drinking-water
+with us. I cannot describe what my feelings were that night. A
+prisoner!'
+
+He adds: 'I can only repeat that the English officers and the English
+soldiers have shown in this war that the profession of arms does not
+debase, but rather ennobles man.'
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+THE OTHER SIDE OF THE QUESTION
+
+
+Writing in November 1900, after hearing an expression of opinion from
+many officers from various parts of the seat of war, I stated in 'The
+Great Boer War': 'The Boers have been the victims of a great deal of
+cheap slander in the press. The men who have seen most of the Boers in
+the field are the most generous in estimating their character. That the
+white flag was hoisted by the Boers as a cold-blooded device for luring
+our men into the open, is an absolute calumny. To discredit their valour
+is to discredit our victory.' My own opinion would have been worthless,
+but this was, as I say, the result of considerable inquiry. General
+Porter said: 'On a few occasions the white flag was abused, but in what
+large community would you not find a few miscreants?' General Lyttelton
+said: 'The Boers are brave men, and I do not think that the atrocities
+which have been reported are the acts of the regular Dutch burghers, but
+of the riff-raff who get into all armies.'
+
+It is a painful fact, but the words could not possibly be written
+to-day. Had the war only ended when it should have ended, the combatants
+might have separated each with a chivalrous feeling of respect for a
+knightly antagonist. But the Boers having appealed to the God of battles
+and heard the judgment, appealed once more against it. Hence came the
+long, bitter, and fruitless struggle which has cost so many lives, so
+much suffering, and a lowering of the whole character of the war.
+
+It is true that during the first year there were many things to
+exasperate the troops. The Boers were a nation of hunters and they used
+many a ruse which seemed to the straightforward soldier to be cowardly
+and unfair. Individuals undoubtedly played the white-flag trick, and
+individuals were guilty of holding up their hands in order to lure the
+soldiers from their cover. There are many instances of this--indeed, in
+one case Lord Roberts was himself a witness of it. Appended is his
+official protest:
+
+'Another instance having occurred of a gross abuse of the white flag and
+of the signal of holding up the hands in token of surrender, it is my
+duty to inform your Honour that if such abuse occurs again I shall most
+reluctantly be compelled to order my troops to disregard the white flag
+entirely.
+
+'The instance occurred on the kopje east of Driefontein Farm yesterday
+evening, and was witnessed by several of my own staff officers, as well
+as by myself, and resulted in the wounding of several of my officers and
+men.
+
+'A large quantity of explosive bullets of three different kinds was
+found in Cronje's laager, and after every engagement with your Honour's
+troops.
+
+'Such breaches of the recognised usages of war and of the Geneva
+Convention are a disgrace to any civilised power.'
+
+But British officers were not unreasonable. They understood that they
+were fighting against a force in which the individual was a law unto
+himself. It was not fair to impute to deliberate treachery upon the part
+of the leaders every slim trick of an unscrupulous burgher. Again, it
+was understood that a coward may hoist an unauthorised white flag and
+his braver companions may refuse to recognise it, as our own people
+might on more than one occasion have done with advantage. For these
+reasons there was very little bitterness against the enemy, and most
+officers would, I believe, have subscribed the opinion which I have
+expressed.
+
+From the first the position of the Boers was entirely irregular as
+regards the recognised rules of warfare. The first article of the
+Conventions of The Hague insists that an army in order to claim
+belligerent rights must first wear some emblem which is visible at a
+distance. It is true that the second article is to the effect that a
+population which has no time to organise themselves and who are
+defending themselves may be excused from this rule; but the Boers were
+the invaders at the outset of the war, and in view of their long and
+elaborate preparations it is absurd to say that they could not have
+furnished burghers on commando with some distinctive badge. When they
+made a change it was for the worse, for they finally dressed themselves
+in the khaki uniforms of our own soldiers, and by this means effected
+several surprises. It is typical of the good humour of the British that
+very many of these khaki-clad burghers have passed through our hands,
+and that no penalty has ever been inflicted upon them for their
+dangerous breach of the rules of war. In this, as in the case of the
+train hostages, we have gone too far in the direction of clemency. Had
+the first six khaki-clad burghers been shot, the lives of many of our
+soldiers would have been saved.
+
+The question of uniform was condoned, however, just as the white-flag
+incidents were condoned. We made allowance for the peculiarities of the
+warfare, and for the difficulties of our enemies. We tried to think that
+they were playing the game as fairly as they could. Already their
+methods were certainly rough. Here, for example, is a sworn narrative of
+a soldier taken in the fighting before Ladysmith:
+
+'Evidence of No. 6418 Private F. Ayling, 3rd Batt. King's Royal Rifles.
+
+                                     'Near Colenso, February 25, 1900.
+
+'I was taken prisoner about 5 A.M. on 23rd instant by the Boers, being
+too far in front of my company to retire. I was allowed to go about 10
+A.M. on the 25th, and rejoined my regiment.
+
+'During this time I was kept in the Boer trenches without food or drink.
+There were quite twenty of our wounded lying close to the trenches, and
+asking for water all the time, which was always refused. If any of the
+wounded moved they were shot at. Most of them died for want of
+assistance, as they were lying there two days and two nights. The Boers
+(who seemed to be all English) said, "Let them die, and give them no
+water."'
+
+Such instances may, however, be balanced against others where
+kind-hearted burghers have shown commiseration and generosity to our
+wounded and prisoners.
+
+As the war dragged on, however, it took a more savage character upon the
+part of our enemy, and it says much for the discipline of the British
+troops that they have held their hands and refused to punish a whole
+nation for the cruelty and treachery of a few. The first absolute murder
+in the war was that of Lieutenant Neumeyer, which occurred at the end of
+November 1900. The facts, which have since been officially confirmed,
+were thus reported at the time from Aliwal:
+
+'Lieutenant Neumeyer, commanding the Orange River Police at Smithfield,
+was driving here, unarmed, in a cart yesterday, when he was "held up" by
+two Boers. He was taken prisoner, handcuffed, and treacherously shot in
+the back with a revolver and again through the head.
+
+'The murderers stripped off the leggings which Lieutenant Neumeyer was
+wearing, searched his clothes for money, and afterwards dragged the body
+to a sluit, where, later in the day it was discovered by the Cape Police
+and brought here. Two natives were eye-witnesses of the murder.
+Lieutenant Neumeyer had served with distinction in the Rhodesian
+campaign.'
+
+At this latter period of the war began that systematic murdering of the
+Kaffirs by the Boers which has been the most savage and terrible feature
+in the whole business. On both sides Kaffirs have been used as
+teamsters, servants, and scouts, but on neither side as soldiers. The
+British could with the greatest ease have swamped the whole Boer
+resistance at the beginning of the war by letting loose the Basutos, the
+Zulus, and the Swazis, all of whom have blood-feuds with the Boers. It
+is very certain that the Boers would have had no such compunctions, for
+when in 1857 the Transvaalers had a quarrel with the Free State we have
+Paul Botha's evidence for the fact that they intrigued with a Kaffir
+chief to attack their kinsmen from the rear. Botha says:
+
+'I have particular knowledge of this matter, because I took part in the
+commando which our Government sent to meet the Transvaal forces. The
+dispute was eventually amicably settled, but, incredible as it may seem,
+the Transvaal had actually sent five persons, headed by the notorious
+Karel Geere, to Moshesh, the Basuto chief, to prevail upon him to attack
+_us_, their kinsmen, in the rear! I was one of the patrol that captured
+Geere and his companions, some of whom I got to know subsequently, and
+who revealed to me the whole dastardly plot.'
+
+This will give some idea as to what we might have had to expect had
+native sympathy gone the other way. In the letter already quoted,
+written by Snyman to his brother, he asserts that Kruger told him that
+he relied upon the assistance of the Swazis and Zulus. As it was,
+however, beyond allowing natives to defend their own lives and property
+when attacked, as in the case of the Baralongs at Mafeking, and the
+Kaffirs in the Transkei, we have only employed Kaffirs in the pages of
+the continental cartoons.
+
+As teamsters, servants, guides, and scouts the Kaffirs were, however,
+essential to us, and realising this the Boers, when the war began to go
+against them, tried to terrorise them into deserting us by killing them
+without mercy whenever they could in any way connect them with the
+British. How many hundreds were done to death in this fashion it is
+impossible to compute. After a British defeat no mercy was shown to the
+drivers of the wagons and the native servants. Boer commandos covered
+their tracks by putting to death every Kaffir who might give
+information. Sometimes they killed even the children. Thus Lord
+Kitchener, in his report, narrates a case where a British column hard
+upon the track of a Boer commando found four little Kaffir boys with
+their brains dashed out in the kraal which the Boers had just evacuated.
+
+A case which particularly touched the feelings of the British people was
+that of Esau, the coloured blacksmith, who was a man of intelligence and
+education, living as a loyal British subject in the British town of
+Calvinia. There was no possible case of 'spying' here, since the man had
+not left his own town. The appended documents will show why the nation
+will not have done its duty until justice has been done upon the
+murderers. A touching letter has been published from Esau to the
+governor of the district in which he says that, come what may, he would
+be loyal to the flag under which he was born. The next news of him was
+of his brutal murder:
+
+'Abraham Esau, a loyal coloured blacksmith, was mercilessly flogged for
+refusing to give information as to where arms were buried. Inflammation
+of the kidneys set in; nevertheless he was again beaten through the
+village with sjamboks until he was unable to walk, and was then shot
+dead.'--Calvinia, February 8. ('Times,' February 16, 1901, p. 7 [3]).
+
+'The district surgeon at Calvinia, writing to the Colonial secretary,
+has fully confirmed the flogging and shooting of Esau by a Boer named
+Strydom, who stated that he acted in accordance with orders. No trial
+was held, and no reason is alleged for the deed.'--Cape Town, February
+19. ('Times,' February 20, 1901, p. 5 [3]).
+
+'The authority for the statement of the flogging by the Boers of a
+coloured man named Esau at Calvinia was a Reuter's telegram, confirmed
+subsequently by the report made to Cape Town by the district surgeon of
+Calvinia.'--From Mr. Brodrick's reply to Mr. Labouchere in House of
+Commons, February 21. ('Times,' February 22, 1901).
+
+'I had a telegram from Sir A. Milner in confirmation of the reports from
+various quarters that have reached me. The High Commissioner states
+that the name of the district surgeon who reported the mal-treatment of
+the coloured man is Foote. Sir A. Milner adds: "There is absolutely no
+doubt about the murder of Esau."'--From Mr. Brodrick's reply to Mr.
+Dillon in House of Commons, February 22. ('Times,' February 23, 1901).
+
+The original rule of the British Service was that the black scouts
+should be unarmed, so as to avoid all accusations of arming natives.
+When it was found that they were systematically shot they were given
+rifles, as it was inhuman to expose them to death without any means of
+defence. I believe that some armed Kaffirs who watch the railway line
+have also been employed in later phases of the war, the weapons to be
+used in self-defence. Considering how pressed the British were at one
+time, and considering that by a word they could have thrown a large and
+highly disciplined Indian army into the scales, I think that their
+refusal to do so is one of the most remarkable examples of moderation in
+history. The French had no hesitation in using Turcos against the
+Germans, nor did the Americans refrain from using Negro regiments
+against the Spaniards. We made it a white man's war, however, and I
+think that we did wisely and well.
+
+So far did the Boers carry their murderous tactics against the natives,
+that British prisoners with dark complexions were in imminent danger.
+Thus at a skirmish at Doorn River on July 27, 1901, the seven Kaffir
+scouts taken with the British were shot in cold blood, and an Englishman
+named Finch was shot with them in the alleged belief that he had Kaffir
+blood. Here is the evidence of the latter murder:
+
+No. 28284 Trooper Charles Catton, 22nd Imperial Yeomanry, being duly
+sworn, states:
+
+'At Doorn River on 27th July, 1901, I was one of the patrol captured by
+the Boers, and after we had surrendered I saw a man lying on the ground,
+wounded, between two natives. I saw a Boer go up to him and shoot him
+through the chest. I noticed the man, Trooper Finch, was alive. I do not
+know the name of the Boer who shot him, but I could recognise him
+again.'
+
+No. 33966 Trooper F. W. Madams, having been duly sworn, states:
+
+'I was one of the patrol captured by the Boers on 27th July, 1901, near
+Doorn River. After we had surrendered I went to look for my hat, and
+after finding it I was passing the wounded man, Trooper Finch, when I
+saw a Boer, whose name I do not know, shoot Trooper Finch through the
+chest with a revolver. I could identify the man who shot him.'
+
+This scandal of the murder of the Kaffirs, a scandal against which no
+protest seems to have been raised by the pro-Boer press in England or
+the Continent, has reached terrible proportions. I append some of the
+evidence from recent official reports from the front:
+
+Case at Magaliesberg.--About October or November 1900, the bodies of
+nine natives were found lying together on the top of the Magaliesberg.
+Of these five were intelligence natives, the remainder being boys
+employed by the Boers, but suspected of giving information. The
+witnesses in this case are now difficult to find, as they are all
+natives; but it appears that the natives were tried by an informal
+court, of which B. A. Klopper, ex-President of the Volksraad, was
+president, and condemned to death. Hendrik Schoeman, son of the late
+general, and Piet Joubert are reported to have acted as escort.
+
+Case of five natives murdered near Wilge River.--On capturing a train
+near Wilge River, Transvaal, on March 11, 1901, the Boers took five
+unarmed natives on one side and shot them, throwing their bodies into a
+ditch. Corporal Sutton, of the Hampshire Regiment, saw, after the
+surrender, a Boer put five shots into a native who was lying down. Other
+soldiers on the train vouch to seeing one man deliberately shoot five
+boys in cold blood.
+
+Case of eight Kaffir boys.--On or about July 17, 1901, eight Kaffir
+boys, between the ages of twelve and fourteen, went out from Uitkijk,
+near Edenburg, to get oranges. None were armed. Boers opened fire, shot
+one, captured six; one escaped, and is now with Major Damant. Corporal
+Willett, Damant's Horse, afterwards saw boys' bodies near farm, but so
+disfigured that they could not be recognised. Some Kaffirs were then
+sent out from Edenburg and recognised them. One boy is supposed to have
+been spared by Boers, body not found. Lieutenant Kentish, Royal Irish
+Fusiliers, saw bodies, and substantially confirms murder, and states
+Boers were under Field-Cornet Dutoit.
+
+Case of Klass, Langspruit, Standerton.--Klass's wife states that on
+August 3, 1901, Cornelius Laas, of Langspruit, and another Boer came to
+the kraal and told Klass to go with them. On his demurring they accused
+him of giving information to the British, and C. Laas shot him through
+the back of the head as he ran away. Another native, the wife of a
+native clergyman at Standerton, saw the dead body.
+
+Case of Two Natives near Hopetown.--On August 22, 1901, Private C. P.
+Fivaz, of the Cape Mounted Police, along with two natives, was captured
+near Venter Hoek, Hopetown district, by a force under Commandant Van
+Reenan. He had off-saddled at the time, and the natives were sleeping in
+a stable. He heard Van Reenan give his men an order to shoot the
+natives, which order was promptly carried out in his presence as regards
+one man, and he was told that the other had also been shot. The resident
+on the farm, A. G. Liebenberg, who warned Fivaz at 5 A.M. of the
+approach of the enemy, buried both the bodies where he found them--viz.,
+one about forty yards from the house and the other about five hundred
+yards away. His statement is corroborated by his son, who saw one of the
+boys killed.
+
+Case of John Makran.--John Makran and Alfius Bampa (the witness) are
+unarmed natives living near Warmbaths, north of Pretoria. On the evening
+of September 17, 1901, Andries Van der Walt and a party of Boers
+surrounded Makran's house. Van der Walt told the boy to come out, and
+when he did so two men seized him. While two men held Makran's hands up
+Van der Walt stood five yards behind him and shot him through the head
+with a Mauser rifle. When the boy fell he shot him again through the
+heart, and then with a knife cut a deep gash across his forehead. Both
+these boys formerly worked for Van der Walt.
+
+Case at Zandspruit.--On the night of October 1, 1901, about 11.30 P.M.,
+a party of Boers surrounded a native house at Dassie Klip, near
+Zandspruit, and killed four natives in or about the house. The party
+consisted of twenty-four, under the following leaders: Dirk Badenhorst,
+of Dassie Klip; Cornelius Erasmus, of Streepfontein; and C. Van der
+Merwe, of Rooi Draai. The witnesses in this case are all natives
+residing at Dassie Klip, who knew the assailants well. In one case a
+native called Karle was endeavouring to escape over a wall, but was
+wounded in the thigh. On seeing he was not dead, Stoffel Visagie, of
+Skuilhoek, drew a revolver and shot him through the head. The charge
+against these natives appears to have been that they harboured British
+scouts.
+
+Case of Jim Zulu.--On or about October 18, 1901, V. C. Thys Pretorius
+(presumably of Pretoria), with seventy men, visited Waterval North, on
+the Pretoria-Pietersburg line, and practically murdered two natives,
+wounding three others, one of whom afterwards died. The witnesses state
+that on the morning of October 18, 1901, Pretorius came to a colliery
+near Waterval North and called for Jim Zulu, and on his appearance shot
+him through the face. Three days later this native died of his wounds.
+At the same time he and another man, named Dorsehasmus, also shot three
+other natives.
+
+Here is a further list, showing how systematic has been this brutality.
+I reproduce it in its official curtness:
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Barkly West, January 28, 1900.--Native
+despatch rider shot and mutilated.
+
+November or December 1900.--Near Virginia two natives were shot, being
+accused of showing the British the road to Ventersburg.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Taungs, December 4, 1900.--Three natives
+murdered at Border Siding.
+
+December 18, 1900.--Native, Philip, shot at Vlakplaats, eight miles
+south-west of Pretoria, by J. Johnson and J. Dilmar, of J. Joubert's
+commando.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Taungs, December 24, 1900.--Native shot
+by Boers at Pudimoe. Three natives killed at Christiana.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Herschel, January 6, 1901.--Two natives
+shot as spies.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Calvinia, January 29, 1901.--Esau case
+and ill-treatment of other natives.
+
+February 28, 1901.--Zulu boy shot dead at Zevenfontein, between Pretoria
+and Johannesburg, charged with giving information to the British, by men
+of Field-Cornet Jan Joubert's commando.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Cradock, March 21, 1901.--Murder of
+native witness, Salmon Booi.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Taungs, May 8, 1901.--Natives shot by
+Boers at Manthe.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Gordonia, May 23, 1901.--Native shot
+dead.
+
+May 25, 1901.--District Harrismith. A native accused of laziness and
+insolence was shot by men in M. Prinsloo's commando.
+
+May 28, 1901.--At Sannah's Post three natives were captured and shot.
+
+June 5, 1901.--Three natives with Colonel Plumer's column captured and
+shot near Paardeberg.
+
+July 27, 1901.--Seven natives captured with a patrol of Imperial
+Yeomanry near Doorn River Hut were shot on the spot.
+
+Report of Intelligence, East Cape Colony, July 29, 1901.--Shooting of
+natives by Commandant Myburgh.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Aliwal North, July 30, 1901.--Shooting of
+natives at refugee camp.
+
+August 23, 1901.--Native captured with a private of the Black Watch near
+Clocolan and shot in his presence.
+
+September 1, 1901.--Four natives with Colonel Dawkins's column captured
+in Fauresmith district and shot by order of Judge Hertzog.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Aliwal North, September 4, 1901.--Brutal
+treatment of natives by Boers under Bester, J.P., of Aliwal North.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Riversdale, September 4, 1901.--Two
+coloured despatch riders severely flogged.
+
+Report of Intelligence, South Cape Colony, September 18, 1901.--Natives
+murdered by Theron's orders.
+
+Report of Chief Commissioner, Richmond, September 23, 1901.--Two unarmed
+natives shot by Commandant Malan.
+
+Report of Resident Magistrate, Prieska, September 26, 1901.--Murder of
+two unarmed natives.
+
+Report of Colonel Hickman, Ladismith, October 1, 1901.--Shooting of two
+natives by Scheepers.
+
+Date uncertain.--A native in Petrusburg Gaol was shot in his cell by two
+Boers on the approach of the British troops.
+
+So much for the Kaffir murders. It is to be earnestly hoped that no
+opportunism or desire to conciliate our enemies at the expense of
+justice will prevent a most thorough examination into every one of these
+black deeds, and a most stern punishment for the criminals.
+
+I return, however, to the question of the conduct of the Boers to their
+white opponents. So long as they were fighting as an army under the eyes
+of the honourable men who led them, their conduct was on the whole good,
+but guerilla warfare brought with it the demoralisation which it always
+does bring, and there was a rapid falling away from the ordinary
+humanity between civilised opponents. I do not mean by this to assert
+that the Boer guerillas behaved as did the Spanish guerillas in 1810,
+or the Mexican in 1866. Such an assertion would be absurd. The Boers
+gave quarter and they received it. But several isolated instances, and
+several general cases have shown the demoralisation of their ranks. Of
+the former I might quote the circumstances of the death of Lieutenant
+Miers.
+
+The official intimation was as follows:
+
+                                              'Pretoria: September 27.
+
+'Lieutenant Miers, Somerset Light Infantry, employed with South African
+Constabulary, went out from his post at Riversdraai, 25th September, to
+meet three Boers approaching under white flag, who, after short
+conversation, were seen to shoot Lieutenant Miers dead and immediately
+gallop away. Inquiry being made and evidence recorded.'
+
+A more detailed account was sent by the non-commissioned officer who was
+present. He described how the Boers approached the fort waving a white
+flag, how a corporal went out to them, and was told that they wished to
+speak with an officer, how Captain Miers rode out alone, and then:
+
+'As soon as the officer had gone but a short distance on the far side of
+the spruit, the Boer with the white flag advanced to meet him; the
+officer also continued to advance till he came up with the blackguard.
+At the end of three or four minutes we saw the two walking back to the
+two Boers (who were standing a good two miles off from this fort of
+ours). When they reached the two Boers we saw the captain dismount, the
+group being barely visible owing to a rise in the ground. At the end of
+five or ten minutes we were just able to distinguish the sound of a
+shot, immediately after which we saw the officer's grey mare bolting
+westwards across the veldt riderless, with one of the Boers galloping
+for all he was worth after it.'
+
+Of the general demoralisation here is the evidence of a witness in that
+very action at Graspan on June 6, which has been made so much of by the
+slanderers of our Army:
+
+No. 4703 Lance-Corporal James Hanshaw, 2nd Batt. Bedfordshire Regiment,
+being duly sworn, states: 'At Graspan on June 6, 1901, I was present
+when we were attacked by the Boers, having previously captured a convoy
+from them. On going towards the wagons I found the Boers already there;
+finding we were outnumbered and resistance hopeless, we threw down our
+arms and held our hands up. Private Blunt, who was with me, shouted.
+"Don't shoot me, I have thrown down my rifle." The Boers then shot
+Private Blunt dead. He was holding his hands above his head at the time.
+Lieutenant Mair then shouted, "Have mercy, you cowards." The Boers then
+deliberately shot Lieutenant Mair dead as he was standing with his hands
+above his head. They then shot at Privates Pearse and Harvey, who were
+both standing with their hands up, the same bullet hitting Private
+Pearse in the nose, and killing Private Harvey. Two Boers then rushed
+from the wagons and threatened to shoot me, kicked me, and told me to
+lie down.'
+
+No. 3253 Private E. Sewell, 2nd Batt. Bedfordshire Regiment, being duly
+sworn, states: 'I was at the fight at Graspan on June 6, 1901. About
+noon on that date the Boers attacked the convoy. I retired to Lieutenant
+Mair's party, when, finding we were outnumbered and surrounded, we put
+our hands up. The Boers took our arms from us and retired round some
+kraals; shortly afterwards they came back, and two men shouted, "Hands
+up." We said we were already prisoners, and that our arms had been
+collected. Private Blunt held up his hands, and at the same time said,
+"Don't shoot me, I am already hands up." The Boers then said, "Take
+that," and shot him through the stomach. Lieutenant Mair then stepped
+out from the wagons, and said, "Have mercy, you cowards." The Boer then
+shot him dead from his horse. The Boer was sitting on his horse almost
+touching Lieutenant Mair at the time. The Boer then shot at
+Lance-Corporal Harvey and Private Pearse, who were standing together
+with their hands up above their heads, the shot wounding Private Pearse
+and killing Lance-Corporal Harvey.'
+
+Here is the evidence of the murder of the wounded at Vlakfontein on May
+29, 1901:
+
+Private D. Chambers, H Company, 1st Batt. Derbyshire Regiment, being
+duly sworn, states: 'Whilst lying on the ground wounded I saw a Boer
+shoot two of our wounded who were lying on the ground near me. This Boer
+also fired at me, but missed me.'
+
+Privates W. Bacon and Charles Girling, 1st Batt. Derbyshire Regiment,
+being duly sworn, state: 'Whilst lying wounded on the ground with two
+other wounded men four Boers came up to us, dismounted, and fired a
+volley at us. We were all hit again, and Private Goodwin, of our
+regiment, was killed. The Boers then took our arms away, and after
+swearing at us rode away.'
+
+Corporal Sargent, 1st Batt. Derbyshire Regiment, being duly sworn,
+states: 'While lying wounded behind a rock I saw a Boer shoot a Yeomanry
+officer who was walking away, wounded in the hand.'
+
+Acting-Sergeant Chambers, 69th Company Imperial Yeomanry, being duly
+sworn, states: 'I saw a Boer, a short man with a dark beard, going round
+carrying his rifle under his arm, as one would carry a sporting rifle,
+and shoot three of our wounded.'
+
+Private A. C. Bell, 69th Company Imperial Yeomanry, being duly sworn,
+states: 'I heard a Boer call to one of our men to put up his hands, and
+when he did so the Boer shot him from about fifteen yards off; I was
+about twenty yards off.'
+
+Private T. George, 69th Company Imperial Yeomanry, being duly sworn,
+states: 'I was walking back to camp wounded, when I saw a Boer about
+seventeen years of age shoot at a wounded Derby man who was calling for
+water; the Boer then came up to me and took my bandolier away.'
+
+Gunner W. H. Blackburn, 28th Battery Royal Field Artillery, being duly
+sworn, states: 'I saw a Boer take a rifle and bandolier from a wounded
+Derby man, and then shoot him; the Boer then came to me and asked me for
+my rifle; I showed it him where it was lying on the ground.'
+
+Things of this sort are progressive. Here is what occurred at
+Brakenlaagte when the rear of Benson's column was destroyed.
+
+Major N. E. Young, D.S.O., Royal Field Artillery, sends the report to
+the Commander-in-Chief of Boer cruelty to the officers and men wounded
+in the action with Colonel Benson's column at Brakenlaagte. It is dated
+Pretoria, November 7, and Lord Kitchener's covering letter is dated
+November 9.
+
+Major Young, who made the inquiries into the charges of cruelty in
+accordance with Lord Kitchener's instructions, says:
+
+'Out of a total of 147 wounded non-commissioned officers and men seen by
+me fifty-four had not been in the hands of the Boers. Of the remaining
+ninety-three men, eighteen informed me they had nothing to complain of.
+
+'Seventy-five non-commissioned officers and men made complaint of
+ill-treatment of a more or less serious nature; nearly all of these had
+been robbed of whatever money they possessed, also of their watches and
+private papers.
+
+'Many had been deprived of other articles of clothing, hats, jackets,
+and socks, in some cases being left with an old shirt and a pair of
+drawers only.
+
+'There is a consensus of opinion that the wounded lying round the guns
+were fired on by Boers, who had already disarmed them, for a long
+period, after all firing in their neighbourhood from our side had
+ceased.
+
+'Even the late Colonel Benson was not respected, though he was protected
+for some time by a man in authority; eventually his spurs, gaiters, and
+private papers were removed.'
+
+Major Young, in concluding his report, says:--
+
+'I was impressed with the idea that the statements made to me were true
+and not wilfully exaggerated, so simply were they made. There seems no
+doubt that though the Boer commandants have the will they have no longer
+the power to repress outrage and murder on the part of their
+subordinates.'
+
+Lieutenant G. Acland Troyte, King's Royal Rifle Corps, 25th Mounted
+Infantry, states: 'I was wounded on October 25 in a rearguard action
+with Colonel Benson's force, near Kaffirstadt. The Boers came up and
+stripped me of everything except my drawers, shirt, and socks, they gave
+me an old pair of trousers, and later a coat.'
+
+Lieutenant Reginald Seymour, 1st Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps, 25th
+Mounted Infantry:--'On October 30 my company was sent back to the
+support of Colonel Benson's rearguard. I was wounded early in the day.
+The Boers came up. They took my greatcoat, gaiters, spurs, and helmet;
+they took the money and watches from the other wounded, but left them
+their clothes except the coat of one man. They then left us without
+assistance. Two Boers afterwards returned and took away a greatcoat
+belonging to one of our men which had been left over me. One of the
+party who stripped us was addressed by the remainder as Commandant.'
+
+Captain C. W. Collins, Cheshire Regiment:--'I was signalling officer to
+Colonel Benson on October 30. I was wounded, and lying near the guns
+about a hundred yards in rear of them. A field-cornet came up and went
+away without molesting me. At about 5.30 P.M., or a little later, the
+ambulances came and picked me up; my ambulance went on some distance
+farther, and Colonel Benson and some men were put in it. There seemed to
+be a lot of delay, which annoyed the Colonel, and he asked to be allowed
+to get away. The delay, however, continued till a Boer came and took
+away Colonel Benson's documents from his pocket, notwithstanding his
+protest that they were all private papers, and that they had been seen
+by a commandant earlier in the day, who said they were not required.'
+
+Private E. Rigby, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps, states the Boers
+took all his clothes except his shirt. This man is not quite able to
+speak yet.
+
+Trooper Hood, 2nd Scottish Horse: 'While I was lying wounded on the
+ground the Boers came up and stripped me of my hat and coat, boots,
+15_s._, and a metal watch. I saw them fire at another wounded man as he
+was coming to me for a drink.'
+
+Trooper Alexander Main, 2nd Scottish Horse: 'While lying on the ground,
+the Boers came close up and stood about fifteen to twenty yards away
+from where we were lying wounded round the guns. All were wounded at
+this time, and no one was firing. I saw the Boers there fire at the
+wounded. Captain Lloyd, a staff officer, was lying beside me wounded in
+the leg at this time; he received one or two more shots in the body, and
+shortly afterwards he died. I myself received three more wounds.'
+
+Trooper Jamieson, Scottish Horse: 'The Boers took off his boots and they
+hurt his shattered arm in a terrible manner while getting off his
+bandolier. His arm has been removed.'
+
+Private Parrish, 1st Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps: 'Our ridge was not
+firing any more, but whenever a wounded man showed himself, they fired
+at him, in this way several were killed; one man who was waving a bit of
+blue stuff with the idea of getting an ambulance, received about twenty
+shots.'
+
+Private Prickett, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps: 'On October 30 I
+was lying wounded. I saw the Boers come up, and an old Boer with black
+beard and whiskers, and wearing leggings, whom I should be able to
+recognise again, shot my friend, Private F. Foster, 4th Batt. King's
+Royal Rifle Corps, by putting the muzzle of his rifle to his side.
+Private Foster had been firing under cover of an ant-heap till the Boers
+took the position; he then threw away his rifle to put his hands up, but
+was shot all the same.'
+
+Private N. H. Grierson, Scottish Horse: 'I was wounded and lying by the
+side of Colonel Benson. When the Boers came up they wanted to begin to
+loot; Colonel Benson stopped them, telling them he had received a letter
+from Commandant Grobelaar saying the wounded would be respected. Colonel
+Benson asked if he could see Grobelaar; they said they would fetch him,
+and brought up someone who was in authority, but I do not think it was
+Grobelaar. Colonel Benson told him the wounded were not to be touched,
+and he said he would do his best; he himself protected Colonel Benson
+for about an hour, but he was still there when a Boer took off Colonel
+Benson's spurs and gaiters.'
+
+Sergeant Ketley, 7th Hussars: 'I was wounded in the head and hip just
+before the Boers rushed the guns. I was covered with blood. A Boer came
+up, took away my carbine and revolver and asked me to put up my hands. I
+could not do this, being too weak with the loss of blood. He loaded my
+own carbine and aimed from his breast while kneeling, and pointed at my
+breast. He fired and hit me in the right arm just below the shoulder.'
+
+Private Bell, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps, 25th Mounted Infantry:
+'When the Boers came up they took my boots off very roughly, hurting my
+wounded leg very much. I saw them taking watches and money off the other
+men.'
+
+Private C. Connor, Royal Dublin Fusiliers: 'I was lying beside the guns
+among a lot of our wounded, who were not firing. Every time one of our
+wounded attempted to move the Boers fired at them; several men (about
+ten or eleven) were killed in this way.'
+
+Lieutenant Bircham, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps: 'Was in the same
+ambulance wagon as Lieutenant Martin, King's Own Yorkshire Light
+Infantry (since deceased), and the latter told him that when he
+(Lieutenant Martin) was lying on the ground wounded the Boers took off
+his spurs and gaiters. In taking off his spurs they wrenched his leg,
+the bone of which was shattered, completely round, so as to be able to
+get at the spurs more easily, though Lieutenant Martin told them where
+he was hit.'
+
+Corporal P. Gower, 4th Batt. King's Royal Rifle Corps, 25th Mounted
+Infantry: 'I was wounded and unconscious. When I came to, the Boers were
+stripping the men round me. A man, Private Foster, who was not five
+yards from me, put up his hands in token of surrender, but was shot at
+about five-yards range by a tall man with a black beard. He was killed.'
+
+Corporal Atkins, 84th Battery Royal Field Artillery: 'The Boers came up
+to me and said, "Can you work this gun?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Get up
+and show me." I said, "How can I? I have one hand taken away, and I am
+wounded in both legs"--this last was not true. He then said, "Give us
+your boots"--he took them and my mackintosh. He took what money was in
+my belt. One of our men, Bombardier Collins, got up to try and put up a
+white flag, as we were being fired at both from the camp and by the
+Boers; as soon as he got up they began shooting at him. I saw a Kaffir
+fire three shots from about thirty yards off.'
+
+Bombardier Collins, 84th Battery Royal Field Artillery: 'When lying
+wounded near the guns after the Boers had been up to them I tried to
+raise a white flag as our own people were dropping their bullets close
+to us. When I did this they fired at me.'
+
+So long as an excuse could be found for a brave enemy we found it. But
+the day is rapidly approaching when we must turn to the world with our
+evidence and say, 'Are these the deeds of soldiers or of brigands? If
+they act as brigands, then, why must we for ever treat them as
+soldiers?' I have read letters from soldiers who saw their own comrades
+ill-treated at Brakenlaagte. I trust that they will hold their hands,
+but it is almost more than can be asked of human nature.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+CONCLUSIONS
+
+
+I have now dealt with the various vexed questions of the war, and have,
+I hope, said enough to show that we have no reason to blush for our
+soldiers, but only for those of their fellow-countrymen who have
+traduced them. But there are a number of opponents of the war who have
+never descended to such baseness, and who honestly hold that the war
+might have been avoided, and also that we might, after it broke out,
+have found some terms which the Boers could accept. At their back they
+have all those amiable and goodhearted idealists who have not examined
+the question very critically, but are oppressed by the fear that the
+Empire is acting too roughly towards these pastoral republics. Such an
+opinion is just as honest as, and infinitely more respectable than, that
+of some journalists whose arrogance at the beginning of the war brought
+shame upon us. There is no better representative of such views than Mr.
+Methuen in his 'Peace or War,' an able and moderate statement. Let us
+examine his conclusions, omitting the causes of the war, which have
+already been treated at some length.
+
+Mr. Methuen draws a close comparison between the situation and that of
+the American Revolution. There are certainly points of resemblance--and
+also of difference. Our cause was essentially unjust with the Americans
+and essentially just with the Boers. We have the Empire at our back now.
+We have the command of the seas. We are very wealthy. These are all new
+and important factors.
+
+The revolt of the Boer States against the British suzerainty is much
+more like the revolt of the Southern States against the Government of
+Washington. The situation here after Colenso was that of the North after
+Bull's Run. Mr. Methuen has much to say of Boer bitterness, but was it
+greater than Southern bitterness? That war was fought to a finish and we
+see what has come of it. I do not claim that the parallel is exact, but
+it is at least as nearly exact as that from which Mr. Methuen draws
+such depressing conclusions. He has many gloomy remarks upon our
+prospects, but it is in facing gloomy prospects with a high heart that a
+nation proves that it is not yet degenerate. Better pay all the price
+which he predicts than shrink for one instant from our task.
+
+Mr. Methuen makes a good deal of the foolish and unchivalrous, even
+brutal, way in which some individuals and some newspapers have spoken of
+the enemy. I suppose there are few gentlemen who have not winced at such
+remarks. But let Mr. Methuen glance at the continental press and see the
+work of the supporters of the enemy. It will make him feel more
+charitable towards his boorish fellow-countrymen. Or let him examine the
+Dutch press in South Africa and see if all the abuse is on one side.
+Here are some appreciations from the first letter of P.S. (of Colesburg)
+in the 'Times':
+
+'Your lazy, dirty, drunken, lower classes.'
+
+'Your officers are pedantic scholars or frivolous society men.'
+
+'The major part of your population consists of females, cripples,
+epileptics, consumptives, cancerous people, invalids, and lunatics of
+all kinds.'
+
+'Nine-tenths of your statesmen and higher officials are suffering from
+kidney disease.'
+
+'We will not be governed by a set of British curs.'
+
+No great chivalry or consideration of the feelings of one's opponent
+there! Here is a poem from the 'Volksstem' on August 26, 1899, weeks
+before the war, describing the Boer programme. A translation runs thus:
+
+    'Then shall our ears with pleasure listen
+      To widow's wail and orphan's cry;
+    And shall we gird, as joyful witness,
+      The death-watch of your villainy.
+
+    'Then shall we massacre and butcher
+      You, and swallow glad your blood;
+    And count it "capital with interest"--
+      Villain's interest--sweet and good.
+
+    'And when the sun shall set in Heaven,
+      Dark with the clouds of steaming blood,
+    A ghastly, woeful, dying murmur
+      Will be the Briton's last salute.
+
+    'Then shall we start our jolly banquet,
+      And toast the first "the British blood."'
+
+No doubt a decent Boer would be as ashamed of this as we are of some of
+our Jingo papers. But even their leaders, Reitz, Steyn, and Kruger, have
+allowed themselves to use language about the British which cannot,
+fortunately, be matched upon our side.
+
+Mr. Methuen is severe upon Lord Salisbury for the uncompromising nature
+of his reply to the Presidents' overtures for peace in March 1900. But
+what other practical course could he suggest? Is it not evident that if
+independence were left to the Boers the war would have been without
+result, since all the causes which led to it would be still open and
+unsolved. On the morrow of such a peace we should be faced by the
+Franchise question, the Uitlander question, and every other question for
+the settling of which we have made such sacrifices. Is that a sane
+policy? Is it even tenable on the grounds of humanity, since it is
+perfectly clear that it must lead to another and a greater struggle in
+the course of a few years? When the work was more than half done it
+would have been madness to hold our hand.
+
+Surely there is no need for gloomy forebodings. The war has seemed long
+to us who have endured it, but to our descendants it will probably seem
+a very short time for the conquest of so huge a country and so stubborn
+a foe. Our task is not endless. Four-fifths of the manhood of the
+country is already in our hands, and the fifth remaining diminishes week
+by week. Our mobility and efficiency increase. There is not the
+slightest ground for Mr. Methuen's lament about the condition of the
+Army. It is far fitter than when it began. It is mathematically certain
+that a very few months must see the last commando hunted down. Meanwhile
+civil life is gaining strength once more. Already the Orange River
+Colony pays its own way, and the Transvaal is within measurable distance
+of doing the same. Industries are waking up, and on the Rand the roar of
+the stamps has replaced that of the cannon. Fifteen hundred of them will
+soon be at work, and the refugees are returning at the rate of 400 a
+week.
+
+It is argued that the bitterness of this struggle will never die out,
+but history has shown that it is the fights which are fought to an
+absolute finish which leave the least rancour. Remember Lee's noble
+words: 'We are a Christian people. We have fought this fight as long and
+as well as we knew how. We have been defeated. For us, as a Christian
+people, there is now but one course to pursue. We must accept the
+situation.' That is how a brave man accepts the judgment of the God of
+battles. So it may at last be with the Boers. These prison camps and
+concentration camps have at least brought them, men and women, in
+contact with our people. Perhaps the memories left behind will not be
+entirely bitter. Providence works in strange ways, and possibly the
+seeds of reconciliation, may be planted even there.
+
+As to the immediate future it is probable that the Transvaal, with the
+rush of immigrants which prosperity will bring, will soon be, next to
+Natal, the most British of the South African States. With Natal British,
+Rhodesia British, the Transvaal British, the Cape half and half, and
+only the Orange River Colony Dutch, the British would be assured of a
+majority in a parliament of United South Africa. It would be well to
+allow Natal to absorb the Vryheid district of the Transvaal.
+
+It has occurred to me--a suggestion which I put forward with all
+diffidence--that it would be a wise and practicable step to form a Boer
+Reservation in the northern districts of the Transvaal (Watersberg and
+Zoutpansberg). Let them live there as Basutos live in Basutoland, or
+Indians in Indian territory, or the inhabitants of a protected state in
+India. Guarantee them, as long as they remain peaceable under the
+British flag, complete protection from the invasion of the miner or the
+prospector. Let them live their own lives in their own way, with some
+simple form of home rule of their own. The irreconcilable men who could
+never rub shoulders with the British could find a home there, and the
+British colonies would be all the stronger for the placing in quarantine
+of those who might infect their neighbours with their own bitterness.
+Such a State could not be a serious source of danger, since we could
+control all the avenues by which arms could reach it. I am aware that
+the Watersberg and the Zoutpansberg are not very desirable places of
+residence, but the thing is voluntary and no man would need to go there
+unless he wished. Without some such plan the Empire will have no
+safety-valve in South Africa.
+
+I cannot conclude this short review of the South African question
+without some allusion to the attitude of continental nations during the
+struggle. This has been in all cases correct upon the part of the
+governments, and in nearly all cases incorrect upon the part of the
+people. A few brave and clear-headed men, like Yves Guyot in France, and
+M. Tallichet and M. Naville in Switzerland, have been our friends, or
+rather the friends of truth; but the vast majority of all nations have
+been carried away by that flood of prejudice and lies which has had its
+source in a venal, or at best an ignorant, press. In this country the
+people in the long run can always impose its will upon the Government,
+and it has, I believe, come to some very definite conclusions which will
+affect British foreign policy for many years to come.
+
+Against France there is no great bitterness, for we feel that France has
+never had much reason to look upon us in any light save that of an
+enemy. For many years we have wished to be friendly, but the traditions
+of centuries are not so easily forgotten. Besides, some of our
+shortcomings are of recent date. Many of us were, and are, ashamed of
+the absurd and hysterical outcry in this country over the Dreyfus case.
+Are there no miscarriages of justice in the Empire? An expression of
+opinion was permissible, but the wholesale national abuse has disarmed
+us from resenting some equally immoderate criticism of our own character
+and morals. To Russia also we can bear no grudge, for we know that there
+is no real public opinion in that country, and that their press has no
+means for forming first-hand conclusions. Besides, in this case also
+there is a certain secular enmity which may account for a warped
+judgment.
+
+But it is very different with Germany. Again and again in the world's
+history we have been the friends and the allies of these people. It was
+so in the days of Marlborough, in those of the Great Frederick, and in
+those of Napoleon. When we could not help them with men we helped them
+with money. Our fleet has crushed their enemies. And now, for the first
+time in history, we have had a chance of seeing who were our friends in
+Europe, and nowhere have we met more hatred and more slander than from
+the German press and the German people. Their most respectable journals
+have not hesitated to represent the British troops--troops every bit as
+humane and as highly disciplined as their own--not only as committing
+outrages on person and property, but even as murdering women and
+children.
+
+At first this unexpected phenomenon merely surprised the British people,
+then it pained them, and, finally, after two years of it, it has roused
+a deep and enduring anger in their minds. There is a rumour which crops
+up from time to time, and which appears to have some foundation, that
+there is a secret agreement by which the Triple Alliance can, under
+certain circumstances, claim the use of the British fleet. There are,
+probably, only a few men in Europe who know whether this is so or not.
+But if it is, it would be only fair to denounce such a treaty as soon as
+may be, for very many years must pass before it would be possible for
+the public to forget and forgive the action of Germany. Nor can we
+entirely exonerate the German Government, for we know the Germans to be
+a well-disciplined people; and we cannot believe that Anglophobia could
+have reached the point of mania without some official encouragement--or,
+at least, in the face of any official discouragement.
+
+The agitation reached its climax in the uproar over the reference which
+Mr. Chamberlain made to the war of 1870 in his speech at Edinburgh. In
+this speech Mr. Chamberlain very justly remarked that we could find
+precedents for any severe measures which we might be compelled to take
+against the guerillas, in the history of previous campaigns--those of
+the French in Algiers, the Russians in the Caucasus, the Austrians in
+Bosnia, and the Germans in France. Such a remark implied, of course, no
+blame upon these respective countries, but pointed out the martial
+precedents which justify such measures. It is true that the Germans in
+France never found any reason to lay the country waste, for they were
+never faced with a universal guerilla warfare as we have been, but they
+gave the _franc-tireur_, or the man who was found cutting the wire of
+the line, very short shrift; whereas we have never put to death a single
+_bona-fide_ Boer for this offence. Possibly it was not that the Germans
+were too severe, but that we were too lax. In any case, it is evident
+that there was nothing offensive in the statement, and those who have
+been well informed as to the doings of the British soldiers in the war
+will know that any troops in the world might be proud to be classed with
+them, either in valour or humanity.
+
+But the agitators did not even trouble to ascertain the words which Mr.
+Chamberlain had used--though they might have seen them in the original
+on the table of the _Lesezimmer_ of the nearest hotel. On the strength
+of a garbled report a tumult arose over the whole country and many
+indignation meetings were held. Six hundred and eighty clergymen were
+found whose hearts and heads were soft enough to be imposed upon by
+absurd tales of British atrocities, and these reverend gentlemen
+subscribed an insulting protest against them. The whole movement was so
+obviously artificial--or at least based upon misapprehension--that it
+excited as much amusement as anger in this country; but still the honour
+of our Army is very dear to us, and the continued attacks upon it have
+left an enduring feeling of resentment amongst us, which will not, and
+should not, die away in this generation. It is not too much to say that
+five years ago a complete defeat by Germany in a European war would have
+certainly caused British intervention. Public sentiment and racial
+affinity would never have allowed us to see her really go to the wall.
+And now it is certain that in our lifetime no British guinea and no
+soldier's life would under any circumstances be spent for such an end.
+That is one strange result of the Boer war, and in the long run it is
+possible that it may prove not the least important.
+
+Yet some allowance must be made for people who for years have had only
+one side of the question laid before them, and have had that one side
+supported by every sort of malignant invention and misrepresentation.
+Surely the day will come when truth will prevail, if only for the reason
+that the sources of corruption will run dry. It is difficult to imagine
+that any permanent policy can ever be upheld by falsehood. When that day
+does come, and the nations of Europe see how they have been hoodwinked
+and made tools of by a few artful and unscrupulous men, it is possible
+that a tardy justice will be done to the dignity and inflexible
+resolution which Great Britain has shown throughout. Until the dawn
+breaks we can but go upon our way, looking neither to the right nor to
+the left, but keeping our eyes fixed ever upon one great object--a South
+Africa in which there shall never again be strife, and in which Boer and
+Briton shall enjoy the same rights and the same liberties, with a common
+law to shield them and a common love of their own fatherland to weld
+them into one united nation.
+
+
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