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diff --git a/24951-8.txt b/24951-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..831141f --- /dev/null +++ b/24951-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6411 @@ +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 aėrial tram from the mine to the mill, + +'Mr. Grobelaar asked whether an aėrial 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 _bonā 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 _bonā-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 _bonā-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: + + 'Parad’s, 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 _bonā 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 depōt 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. Carrčre 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. Constanēon, 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 Constanēon 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 +_bonā-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. + + +PRINTED BY +SPOTTISWOODE AND CO. 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